INVESTIGATION

Investigation

How women are represented in Men’s fragrance advertisements to sell their fragrance?

During my investigation I am to going analyse, using primary and secondary data, how females are represented in fragrances advertisements with a male target audience in order to help sell their products. The texts I will be investigating are Dolce&Gabbana's men’s fragrance Light Blue campaign (2013) and Calvin Klein’s men’s fragrance Eternity campaign; both have contrasting representations of females. To do this successfully I will assist my investigation by applying various theories: Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze, the Cultivation theory and post modernism.

Firstly I will explore if the female in Dolce and Gabbana's campaign light blue is stereotypically represented. Furthermore I will be questioning if female objectification occurs and does it gratify to its intended audience? I will also study what the brands sell apart from the product and in addition to this is it essential to sell a hyper reality and aspiration to successfully promote. I will then go on to explore Calvin Klein’s eternity campaign, applying the same aims.

Due to primary analysis I have discovered to help sell the products within the Light Blues campaign (2013) the producers have attached a narrative, which contains, a love story between the male protagonist, in the advertisement and the objectified woman. In advertisements, one could argue, woman can be represented as sexually objectified to a male to help sell the product as by creating a hyper reality through editing photos, men feel if they purchase a fragrance they will gain a woman who looks flawless. “She represents the Dolce&Gabbana woman: a self-assured beauty who her lover cannot resist" (1). The producers of the text are suggesting that the male cannot resist her due to sexual appeal rather than other intellectual assets a woman may have. Therefore degrades the woman as she  must use her sexuality to gain a male. The sexually objectification towards a female is expressed through the mise en scene and technical conventions, her facial expression is considered sexual as her mouth is open, her eyes portray a sense of power as she is scowling though only possess power due to sexual objectification. The fact that she leans on the male, with her head on his shoulder, creates connotations of reliance and need linking to the fact that that women require a man. The quote reflects how the role of women is to gain a males attention. Though this primary data reflects prominent stereotypes of women being passive towards men the text also reflects the male

gaze theory.  “97% of everything you know about yourself, your country and your world comes from a male perspective as only 3% of clout positions in advertising are women" (8). As suggested in this quote majority of advertisements we see are from a males view therefore we are cultivated to believe what we see is how the world actually is, and that this is what women are. This is reflected through the the technical conventions in Dolce&Gabbanas (2013) light blue video campaign as the camera emphasises the females body parts due to the use of close ups on her specific parts that high lights sexuality. “The camera becomes the mechanism for producing an illusion of Renaissance space, flowing movements compatible with the human eye, an ideology of representation” (11). The fact that the camera pans up her body gives her a sense of power, again, through sexuality as she stands over the man as he is getting out of the water.  In addition to this, this reflects the quotation “Brunettes represent exotic, sexual desires” (2) by putting women into a category like this, they are able to over power them.  The fact that the text is a television commercial means women also have to view the text as well, as the text highlights women’s sexuality, women view the text as men do. Meaning they are viewing themselves as sexual objects. One could also argue that years of cultivation and post modernism has created a prominent ideology that women have to look a certain way to conform to their role, Expressed in advertisements such as these. This has created controversy in the world of feminism. Due to the theory of the male gaze it exaggerates women do not get to view women from their perspective as very few women control media we endure: “Females own 5.8% of all TV and 6% of radio” (8).

 The text uses subliminal technical and visual codes to gratify their selected audience
due to the repetitive connotations of women being portrayed as sexual objects, it cultivates people to believe that women are simply sexual objects. “There are 22 ESPN sports channels” and “fox news corp, a board 16, 1 of are 16 are women” (8). This emphasises the fact our opinion leaders who are cultivating are beliefs are men as the majority of what we see is male dominated. This is demonstrated in this particular text as the female is represented in a sexual way and the male is seen as masculine, which the majority of men aspire to be.  Cultural hegemony describes domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class. The ruling class are the upper/middle class, men and white (9). Feminists have even theorised this into hegemonic masculinity: “why, in specific social formations, do certain ways of being male predominate, and particular sorts of men rule?" They do this as by degrading women, it suggests they keep women below them therefore have no competition. This links to the fact that the ruling class do this as an attempt to control the masses beliefs. As society is a big viewer for the media such as television, film and advertisements, the ruling class use the media to portray their views therefore control the masses(9).

However the second text I have studied subverts from this archetype of female representation, although at times still represents a negative stereotype of women being domesticated and viewed as carers.  My texts preferred target audience is males, though the text suggests it is for an older male who is most likely to have started a family. As we still view in from a male perspective women are domesticated and therefore viewed as carers in advertisement: “56% of women in adverts were shown as domestic housewives and only eighteen different occupations were shown for women, in comparison to forty three for men”(11) . A Hegemonic attitude is also applied here as the male is being represented as dominant and the woman is represented as the carer, which is how men view women in some cases. Calvin Kleins Eternity campaign conforms to the concept that women are domesticated and therefore certain stereotypical gender roles as the woman is not viewed sexually as we cannot see her body, but however with children therefore represented as a mother. The fact she has her head on the child shows elements of being possessive over the child. Her face does not show any expression of sexism, on the other hand she is looking down at both the children and male therefore showing her devotion to being the stereotypical mother/house wife.  Although the man also looks domesticated being around children, he represents dominance as his family crowd him as if he is most important. The fact they are leaning on him creates connotations that they rely on him, again suggesting the woman especially is domesticated.  This differs from my first text “Dolce&Gabbanna Light Blue” as the first text subverts this stereotype. However conforms the fact that women are sexualized in advertisements for men.

The text subverts from the typical sexual objectification of women that some would argue is most prominent in certain narratives:  “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium” (11). Mulvey suggest that in most cases the woman is represented as the meaningless sexual object that has no significance (11) which is implied through the visual pleasure in narrative cinema.  This subverts this stereotype and takes a different approach by still expressing male perspectives as males also view women as the domesticated carer they have power over due to the archetype that has been created. Calvin Klien’s Eternity Camaign still has connotations in common with the first text as men are in power, so still represents women as the weaker sex. Hegemony also applies here as both texts suggests cultivation of men influencing our beliefs has become prominent. The text shows how as it is 97% of men that control the media (8), we seeing their perspectives which is to create a weaker image of women for them to be most powerful: “we replicate the world we grow up in” (8).
One could argue that the norm is men are most dominant and in charge, and this shines through in advertisements and the media as men dominant not only their family and the business world, but also the media itself. “70% - 85% Men also dominate the production side of television, so it is hardly surprising then, that the masculine or patriarchal ideology is presented as the norm”. To a certain extent this advertisement adheres to this ideology though female and children are smiling and not looking directly into the camera, the male has the controls as he looks into the camera implying he has an identity and the woman/children are just part of the male. The fact the male isn’t smiling also indicates sexuality which reflects the patriarchal society that we live in and that the male are the ruling sex. Whereas the women are the secondary sex that are represented in a derogative way or seen as nothing but a wife and carer.
Through this research I have discovered our society is male dominated which is demonstrated through the Media. Women have been become objects of sex to be able to sell products, if they are not sex objects they have become part of the ideology that they are simply just mothers/wifes. This is due years of cultivation from men ruling our beliefs and perspectives as we view their personal views through the media, this is through fact that it is mostly men that work in the media. Especially my two chosen texts are male dominated due to the fact the products were made by them, therefore we view the world through a male perspective. However what helps sells these male fragrances is a hyper reality of perfectly structured women, for my first text, and the idea of a perfect good looking family where the male dominates everything. Which in a modern day society may not apply, so this again has created a hyper reality.