ESSAY

I will be analysing fragrance adverts as they are very good examples of how women and men are portrayed in the media in today’s society. One of the adverts I’m analysing is for a Calvin Klein men’s fragrance called ‘Reveal’ which connotes the idea of nudity. Underneath it say’s ‘fragrance for him’. The next advert I will be analysing is the Estee lauder perfume ‘beautiful’ which sounds a lot less sexual then the first one. It says, ‘this is your moment to be beautiful’.

Advert 1

This Calvin Klein advert shows the words ‘REVEAL’ in the centre of the page, with a handsome man in the centre background with a naked woman kissing him.

They used a mid-shot to capture the man from head to waist but also to capture the naked women from her head to the start of her bottom which is ironic because the perfume is called ‘reveal’ they’re just not ‘revealing’ the rest of her. The fact that the couple fill out the page means that we can only look at them, they’re what the advertisers want us to focus on. The mise-en-scene is the mans unbuttoned shirt which makes him look ‘sexy’ and slightly available, but not really, whereas the woman is shown as naked, she’s completely available. The perfume colour is blue to appeal to the male audience more. The encourage text say’s ‘Reveal’ which is what the people in the advert are doing, revealing themselves. It also say’s ‘the new fragrance for him’ which lets us know who the fragrance is aimed at, but the use of ‘for him’ Is more direct and makes members of the target audience feel superior, more important and as if they are the only ‘him’ then if it were to say, ‘for men’ which is very open to anyone. The ad shows that in society, men are in charge and more superior then women, the female is shown as vulnerable. The woman is objectified and shown as a ‘sex object’ because she’s completely naked and being held by the clothed man as though she is his ‘property’. The advert is reinforcing patriarchy that men are superior because he’s looking stern into the camera with confidence while the naked woman is kissing him as if he owns her ans she is shying away from the camera. The image of the two has been airbrushed to give the female a flawless, ‘sexy’ body which is also raising impossible expectations for younger generations. They are just showing the most ‘common’ type of sexuality which is heterosexuality.

Advert 2

In the advert, it features a woman on her wedding day, smelling flowers that a young boy, maybe her son, is giving her. They used a long shot so we can see both people’s full body and the background to establish they are at a wedding venue. For mise-en-scene the costume is a wedding dress, which tells us what’s happening, the flowers which may hint what the fragrance smells like and the props in the back. The anchorage text say’s ‘this is your moment to be beautiful’ which shows that it’s not about being ‘sexy’ for once, its women’s time to shine as ‘beautiful’. In this ad they show women as important, beautiful, elegant and graceful beings, not men’s puppets. No one is being objectified in this ad, she’s being seen as an idol to her son. The advert is challenging patriarchy and the stereotype that women are ‘sex objects’ however we still do have one stereotype of the role of the ‘mother’. The woman is portrayed as beautiful rather than sexy which is a step forward to equality. The Ad doesn’t tell us her sexuality, we don’t know if she’s marrying a man or a woman because it is only her and her son featured.

One major comparison in these adverts is the representation of women, in the first, the woman is seen as sexy, vulnerable, the man’s accessory, and shy. But in the second advert, she’s shown as classy, confident, independent and graceful.  Another comparison is the relationships featured, in the first it is a sexual relationship between a man and a woman, which focuses on the idea of sex, in the second, it’s a maternal relationship between a mother and her son, which focuses on love. However both images are ‘touched up’ which reinforce the false meaning of ‘beauty’ that society is giving generations.

Conclusion

From looking at these adverts and more, I’ve learnt that most of the time, women are seen in stereotypical way’s or as a man’s accessory in a sexual nature, however, some companies are trying to remove this by presenting women in a more positive way, but even when they’re removing ‘sex’ from the equation, there is still the idea of what ‘real beauty’ is, So this means that gender stereotypes are still very much existing in the world of advertising, they’re improving the way genders are stereotyped, but I don’t believe It will ever really be gone.