ESSAY

ESSAY- compare how media language is used in the contruction of gender two print advertisements for fragrances. (500-800 words).

In this essay I'll be looking at two different fragrance print ads and how they represent and portray both genders in society, leading to majority of the public conforming to it. Nevertheless I will write about whether they present this stereotypical, patricarchal and dominant ideology of objectification of women or challenge them instead.


This print advert includes a women who's looking at the camera very submissively and almost confused. She's half naked with her arms very relaxed and open in dreamful gold water whilst the perfume is directly in front of her. The lighting is directed on her face, arms and breast making those parts stand out the most. Nevertheless she also appears to be gold just like the water. Perhaps the advertisers wanted to reach their target audience who are young women by presenting this goddess like figure. As in society the dominant ideology of females are that they're expected to be 'thin' and 'beautiful'. Also she's gently touching the bottle to suggest to the audience that this product is what makes her look like this goddess. The persuasive technique used in this is reward as women would finally be able to fit to this dominant ideology and feel beautiful.  The font text is very big and bald as the audience would easily be able to tell the brand. Also written in French it says 'I love' which leads to an overall typical advert of patriarchy as the woman is portrayed to be very submissive and the 'Looked at' by being quite exposed leading to sexualisation and objectification. This is done so that the main focus is on her 'perfect' body so it attracts both men and women who conform to the ideology and by into the product. This image does seem to look photo shopped and air-brushed as her flawless skin is really enhanced. It was taken as a Midshot to only include her upper body and the perfume leaving her very mysterious as she's just laying in the water whilst there's nothing behind her making her the centre of attention.

The second print advert of a fragrance is this one with famous male celebrity Kit Harrington from 'Game of thrones' for Jimmy Choo. He looks very firmly to the camera with  a very serious, dominant and powerful facial expression, this already makes him look like the leader 'Looker'. Nevertheless he's grabbing onto a females leg as she lays rested on his shoulder half naked; gently holding onto his other shoulder as if she appreciates and conforms to his presence and authority. The camera angle is very low as he's resting on her floor, his entire body is almost visible whereas the woman's body isn't due to her face being cropped out and jus including her legs. This doesn't challenge the patriarchy and stereotype as women again are presented to be sexualised as Kit is literally objectifying this woman by grabbing onto her leg sexually in order to show his dominance and control. The font is very big and simple stating it's for 'MAN' so this would be the target audience as most men may conform to the dominant ideology of sexism and having the lead role. Both ads are Binary opposites as in the DION advert for women they symbolise how women are their best when they look submissive and sexualised as they're pleasing the 'lookers' whereas in this fragrance ad for men, the male seems to be the dominant one fully clothed and grabbing onto her leg like a sexual object. Both ads present them with different clothing as well, as Kit is wearing a leather jacket which would initially make the audience see him as tough and in control compared to the woman in the DION add who is seen as more vulnerable with less clothing.

Overall through these print ads of both male and female I realised that patriarchy and gender stereotypes are still prevalent in our society, as this dominant ideology of sexism still leads on by so many conforming to it. Women are still being looked at sexually due to ads like these that promote objectification. And men have higher authority because of this typical dominant male role that's institutionalised through the media and gender norms. However due to feminist campaigns and other protests against gender stereotypes some ads are more censored now in the UK. As the advertising standers say that "A tougher line is needed on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles". However I still think there is much improvement to be made as the ASA say they're not going to ban stereotypical ads such as women cleaning and men doing DIY, however they will seek to enjoin them such as both genders doing activities that are out of the gender expectation. Also recently female UN member have spoken about this topic during their meetings infront of powerful members such as Microsoft who vowed to eliminate stereotypes and address this major social issue. So the advertising industry to some extent is changing as some do seek to challenge stereotypes.