Gender, identity and advertising: blog task
Read this extract from Media, Gender and Identity by David Gauntlett. This is another university-level piece of academic writing so it will be challenging - but there are some fascinating ideas here regarding the changing representation of men and women in the media.
1) What examples does Gauntlett provide of the "decline of tradition"? How can we link our advertising CSPs (Score hair cream and Maybelline 'That Boss Life') to this idea?
Gauntlett says that twenty or thirty years ago, analysis of popular media often told researchers that mainstream culture was a backwards-looking force, resistant to social change and trying to push people back into traditional categories. He goes onto saying that nowadays, identity is seen as more fluid and transformable than ever before. This can be linked to the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' because you can clearly see that Manny is gay and nowadays gay people/ the LGBT community is more accepted whereas, back in the 80s/90s it would be against the law to be gay.
2) How does Gauntlett suggest the media influences the way we construct our own identities?
Gauntlett suggegsts the media influences the way we construct our own identities. They do this via Magazines which promote self confidence, information about sex, relationships and lifestyles which can be put to variety of uses. Everything that is shown in the magazine tells the reader, if you can be like this you'll have the perfect relationship, sex life etc. This way the magazine is influencing the reader to be a certain way (Change their identities) in order to have all of this. Furthermore, television programmes, pop songs, adverts, movies and the internet all also provide numerous kinds of 'guidance'.
3) How do the two CSPs reflect the generational differences that Gauntlett discusses? Is it a good thing that the media seems to promote modern liberal values?
In the Score Cream Hair advert, you can clearly see that men were represented as more dominant as the male in the advert was holding the gun and being carried by girls and women are presented as objects and things to keep men happy. In the advert the male character was being carried by females and the females were looking up to the male character which clearly portrays that the female are the vulnerable ones in this case and the male is more superior.
Surveys have found that people born in the first half of the twentieth century are less tolerant of homosexuality,
and less sympathetic to unmarried couples living together, than their younger counterparts.
Traditional attitudes may be scarce amongst the under-30s, but still thrive in the hearts of some over-65s. We cannot help but notice, of course, that older people are also unlikely to be consumers of magazines.
the mass media has become more liberal, and considerably more challenging to traditional standards, since then, and this has been a reflection of changing attitudes, but also involves the media actively disseminating modern values. It therefore remains to be seen whether the post-traditional young women and men of today will grow up to be the narrow-minded traditionalists of the future.
4) Why might Manny and Shayla be a good example of the role models that Gauntlett discusses - and also demonstrate how those role models have changed in recent years?
Gauntlett discusses role models as an important concept, although it should not be taken to mean someone that a person wants to copy.Instead, role models serve as navigation points as individuals steer their own personal routes through life. (Their general direction, we should note, however, is more likely to be shaped by parents, friends, teachers, colleagues and other people encountered in everyday life). Manny and Shayla are good examples of role models because they're creating/spreading awareness towards their younger audience and shows them it is okay to open up and its something you shouldn't be ashamed of.
5) Why does the Score hair cream advert provide such a good example of traditional masculinity? How can you link this to Gauntlett's discussion of whether masculinity is in crisis?
The Score hair cream advert provides such a good example of traditional masculinity not being in crisis because clearly the male in the advert is being praised. The advert suggests that people who are using the hair cream will be able to get girls. The male in the advert was surrounded by females and the male was holding a prop which was a gun which suggests that the male has more dominance.
6) Gauntlett consistently argues that masculinity is not in crisis. Can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be used as evidence of this?
It could be argued that masculinity is in crisis as older generations aren't used to people being openly gay. In the past, being gay was a crime however, now there is a LGBT movement to support those who are gay. For younger generations, this is seen as normal and many celebrities/young people are more comfortable to come out and not be embarrassed about it.
7) Does advertising still reinforce the "conventionally rugged, super-independent, extra-strong macho man" that Gauntlett discusses? Offer examples for both sides of the argument from the wider advertising industry.
People could argue that yes it still does reinforce toe conventionally rugged, extra-strong macho man because it is still in popular culture and it still circulates around the internet.
8) Gauntlett discusses the idea of 'girl power' and offers examples from music and film. Does advertising provide evidence to support the idea of 'girl power' or is the industry still reinforcing traditional representations of men and women?
One of the most obvious developments in recent pop culture has been the emergence of the icons and rhetoric of 'girl power', a phrase slapped into mainstream culture by the Spice Girls and subsequently incorporated into the language of government bodies as well as journalists, educationalists, culture critics, and pop fans themselves. Magazines for young women are emphatic in their determination that women must do their own thing, be themselves, and/or be as outrageously sassy and sexy as possible.
9) Do you agree with Gauntlett's argument under 'Popular feminism, women and men' where he suggests that younger generations are not threatened by traditional gender roles and are comfortable with social changes? Does advertising (and our CSPs in particular) provide examples either reinforcing or challenging this idea that younger generations are more comfortable with changing gender roles?
McRobbie further argues that 'This dynamic of generational antagonism has been overlooked by
professional feminists, particularly those in the academy, with the result that the political effectivity
of young women is more or less ignored' (ibid). There is an interesting parallel here with the
scholarship on men and masculinity - the texts on masculinity are largely focused on the difficulties
of middle-aged or older men who find it hard to shake off traditional masculine archetypes. And
perhaps predictably, these studies are apparently written by middle-aged or older men who also cannot help bringing in the older tropes of masculinity.
10) How do the two advertising CSPs show the changing 'diversity of sexualities' that Gauntlett suggests?
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are still under-represented in much of the
mainstream media, but things are slowly changing. In particular, television is offering prime-time
audiences the chance to 'get to know' nice lesbian and gay characters in soap operas, drama series
and sit-coms (see chapter four). Tolerance of sexual diversity is slowly growing in society (chapter
one), and by bringing into people's homes images of sexual identities which they might not be
familiar with, the media can play a role in making the population more - or less - comfortable with
these ways of living.
11) What examples from advertising does Gauntlett provide for the changing nature of gender in society (from the section on Judith Butler's Gender trouble)?
Judith Butler's manifesto for 'gender trouble' - the idea that the existing notions of sex, gender and sexuality should be challenged by the 'subversive confusion and proliferation' of the categories which we use to understand them. The binary division of 'male' and 'female' identities should be shattered, Butler suggested, and replaced with multiple forms of identity - not a new range of restrictive categories, but an abundance of modes of self-expression. This joyful excess of liberated forms of identity would be a fundamental challenge to the traditional understandings of gender which we largely continue to hold onto today.
12) How can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be applied to Judith Butler's work on 'gender trouble'? ("The binary division of 'male' and 'female' identities should be shattered, Butler suggested, and replaced with multiple forms of identity...")
Judith Butler suggested and replaced with other forms of identity, not a new range of restrictive categories, but an abundance of modes of self-expression.
13) How can our two advertising CSPs be used to argue that power has shifted from media institutions to audiences? (Clue: how did Manny and Shayler from the Maybelline advert first become famous?)
Maybelline have intentionally used these two electronic effects, as a result of their broad internet organizing following. Thusly, media associations use these two automated influencers to expose issues decidedly for their thing as they most likely am mindful these two have a tremendous fanbase and along these lines their picture will get apparent, on a progressively broad scale.
14) Why is advertising such a good example of the 'contradictory elements' that Gauntlett discusses with regards to the mass media? In other words, how does advertising continue to both reinforce and challenge gender stereotypes?
We cannot bring this discussion towards a close without noting the inescapable levels of contradiction within popular culture. Although we may occasionally find ourselves saying that 'the mass media suggests' a particular perspective or point of view, the truth is that not only is 'the mass media' wildly diverse, but that even quite specific parts of media culture put out a whole spectrum of messages which cannot be reconciled. It is impossible to say that women's magazines, for example, always carry a particular message, because the enormous range of titles target an equally diverse set of female audiences.
15) Finally, Gauntlett makes a clear case that things change and modern identities are increasingly fluid. How do our advertising CSPs demonstrate the changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality in society?
As we have noted numerous times, things change, and are changing. Media formats and contents change all the time. Audiences change too, albeit more slowly. Views of gender and sexuality, masculinity and femininity, identity and selfhood, are all in slow but steady processes of change and transformation. Even our views of change itself, and the possibilities for personal change and 'growth', have altered over the years.
Monday, 29 April 2019
Sunday, 28 April 2019
Advertising and Marketing index
Advertising and Marketing index
1) Advertising: Introduction - narrative in advertising
2) Advertising: persuasive techniques
3) Advertising: the representation of women in advertising
4) Advertising: Score case study and wider reading
5) Advertising: Maybelline case study and wider reading
6) Advertising: Gauntlett - Media, Gender and Identity reading and questions
Thursday, 28 March 2019
Blog task: Score advert and wider reading
Blog task: Score advert and wider reading
Complete the following tasks and wider reading on the Score hair cream advert and masculinity in advertising.
Media Factsheet - Score hair cream
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Women were objectified in adverts and they were portrayed as vulnerable and 'things' that men owned.
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?
The Score advert identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’ in this narrative. The image infers that he is ‘exulted’ as the hunter-protector of his ‘tribe’. The adoration – and availability – of the females are his reward for such masculine endeavours. This has a clear appeal to the target audience of (younger) males who would identify with the male and aspire to share the same status bestowed on him. The idea of women being sexually available and falling at the feet of a man is echoed in the long running series of Lynx deodorant commercials that ran for the greater part of the early twentieth century.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
In 1967, the audience would see the advert as normal however, in 2019 they may be more sensitive towards this advert because women are being objectified and they look like all they've got to worry about is finding the right man.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?
The male in the advert has got a gun with him which is a prop and a phallic symbol that reinforces the strength of a man. In terms of mise-en-scene, the costume that the females are wearing in the poster is a short skirt and crop top which is sexualised. The setting that this advert has taken place is a jungle which reinforces the post colonial context. One of the females in the advert is staring at the camera which makes the audience feel as if she is staring at them. This is the male gaze which tells the audience that if they use the hair cream, they will be able to pull girls.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Lisbet Van Zoonen was one of the first theorists to explicitly link gender, feminism and media studies. Writing since the 1990s, Van Zoonen is a key figure in the third wave feminism alongside theorists such as Butler and McRobbie. Van Zoonen was interested in the pleasures female audiences took from women's magazines that were heavily criticised by more radical 1970s style feminist.
8) How could Stuart Hall's theory of representation and David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?
David Gauntlett disagrees with the popular view that masculinity is 'in crisis'. This can be applied to the score cream advert because clearly the male is being praised and he has got a gun in his hand. The man is also surrounded by females which reinforces masculinity is not in crisis.
9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?
A representation of sexuality that can be found is that the male is clearly happy in the poster and he is being carried by females who are wearing short skirts and crop tops.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
Wider reading
The Drum: This Boy Can article
Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
The writer suggests that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'" because people are unlikely to talk about the issues men face and if anything, men are told to 'man up' and deal with any issue with confidence themselves. The reality is that men have committed suicide more than women and are more likely to drop out of school and get involved in crime and drugs.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
As Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
David Brockway would want advertisers to present men doing typical things a female is stereotyped to do and vice versa so gender is totally 'reinvented'.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
Lynx/Axe admits it had been relying on assumptions before its repositioning. It was only when sales growth slowed that the brand decided to invest in some proper research.
5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?
“Women have feminism. But men don’t even know they are sick. This is why we need to put men alongside women, not move them to the side to give room to women. Both genders need to be in the centre.”
Campaign: Why brands need to change
Read this Campaign article on Joseph Gelfer and why brands need to change their approach to marketing masculinity. If the Campaign website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the article relates to our work on gender and advertising then answer the following questions:
1) What are two ways advertising traditionally presented masculinity and why does the writer Joseph Gelfer suggest this needs to change?
Joseph Gelfer says that masculinity was mostly presented in one of two ways: either a glamorous James Bond-style masculinity that attracted ‘the ladies’, or a buffoon-style masculinity that was firmly under the wifely thumb.
2) What are the five stages of masculinity?
Stage 1: "Unconscious Masculinity" - Traditional view of men.
Stage 2: "Conscious Masculinity" - As above but deliberate.
Stage 3: "Critical Masculinities" - Feminist, socially constructed.
Stage 4: "Multiple Masculinities" - Anyone can be anything.
Stage 5: "Beyond Masculinities" - It doesn't exist.
3) What stage of masculinity do you feel you are at in terms of your views of gender and identity? You can read more about the five stages of masculinity here.
To be honest, I'd say most of us are stage 1: Unconscious Masculinity however, we'd tried to keep genders balanced and equal (Stage 4/5)
4) What stage of masculinity was the Score advert aiming at in 1967?
The score advert was aiming at Stage 1: "Traditional view of men"
5) Why are the stages of masculinity important for companies and advertisers when targeting an audience?
If the companies and advertisers are directly targeting Stage 1 (The traditional view of men) it may cause some controversy which can lead people to not buying the product/service that is being advertised.
Complete the following tasks and wider reading on the Score hair cream advert and masculinity in advertising.
Media Factsheet - Score hair cream
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #188: Close Study Product - Advertising - Score. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) How did advertising techniques change in the 1960s and how does the Score advert reflect this change?
Advertising agencies
in the 1960s relied less on market research and leaned more toward
creative instinct in planning their campaigns. “Eschewing portrayals
of elitism, authoritarianism, reverence for institutions and other
traditional beliefs, ads attempted to win over consumers with humour, candour and, above all, irony.
2) What representations of women were found in post-war British advertising campaigns?
Women were objectified in adverts and they were portrayed as vulnerable and 'things' that men owned.
3) Conduct your own semiotic analysis of the Score hair cream advert: What are the connotations of the mise-en-scene in the image?
4) What does the factsheet suggest in terms of a narrative analysis of the Score hair cream advert?
The Score advert identifies the man as Propp’s ‘hero’ in this narrative. The image infers that he is ‘exulted’ as the hunter-protector of his ‘tribe’. The adoration – and availability – of the females are his reward for such masculine endeavours. This has a clear appeal to the target audience of (younger) males who would identify with the male and aspire to share the same status bestowed on him. The idea of women being sexually available and falling at the feet of a man is echoed in the long running series of Lynx deodorant commercials that ran for the greater part of the early twentieth century.
5) How might an audience have responded to the advert in 1967? What about in 2019?
In 1967, the audience would see the advert as normal however, in 2019 they may be more sensitive towards this advert because women are being objectified and they look like all they've got to worry about is finding the right man.
6) How does the Score hair cream advert use persuasive techniques (e.g. anchorage text, slogan, product information) to sell the product to an audience?
The male in the advert has got a gun with him which is a prop and a phallic symbol that reinforces the strength of a man. In terms of mise-en-scene, the costume that the females are wearing in the poster is a short skirt and crop top which is sexualised. The setting that this advert has taken place is a jungle which reinforces the post colonial context. One of the females in the advert is staring at the camera which makes the audience feel as if she is staring at them. This is the male gaze which tells the audience that if they use the hair cream, they will be able to pull girls.
7) How might you apply feminist theory to the Score hair cream advert - such as van Zoonen, bell hooks or Judith Butler?
Lisbet Van Zoonen was one of the first theorists to explicitly link gender, feminism and media studies. Writing since the 1990s, Van Zoonen is a key figure in the third wave feminism alongside theorists such as Butler and McRobbie. Van Zoonen was interested in the pleasures female audiences took from women's magazines that were heavily criticised by more radical 1970s style feminist.
8) How could Stuart Hall's theory of representation and David Gauntlett's theory regarding gender identity be applied to the Score hair cream advert?
David Gauntlett disagrees with the popular view that masculinity is 'in crisis'. This can be applied to the score cream advert because clearly the male is being praised and he has got a gun in his hand. The man is also surrounded by females which reinforces masculinity is not in crisis.
9) What representation of sexuality can be found in the advert and why might this link to the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality (historical and cultural context)?
A representation of sexuality that can be found is that the male is clearly happy in the poster and he is being carried by females who are wearing short skirts and crop tops.
10) How does the advert reflect Britain's colonial past - another important historical and cultural context?
Wider reading
The Drum: This Boy Can article
Read this article from The Drum magazine on gender and the new masculinity. If the Drum website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the issues raised in this article link to our Score hair cream advert CSP and then answer the following questions:
1) Why does the writer suggest that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'"?
The writer suggests that we may face a "growing 'boy crisis'" because people are unlikely to talk about the issues men face and if anything, men are told to 'man up' and deal with any issue with confidence themselves. The reality is that men have committed suicide more than women and are more likely to drop out of school and get involved in crime and drugs.
2) How has the Axe/Lynx brand changed its marketing to present a different representation of masculinity?
As Lynx/Axe found when it undertook a large-scale research project into modern male identity, men are craving a more diverse definition of what it means to be a ‘successful’ man in 2016, and to relieve the unrelenting pressure on them to conform to suffocating, old paradigms. This insight led to the step-change ‘Find Your Magic’ campaign from the former bad-boy brand.
3) How does campaigner David Brockway, quoted in the article, suggest advertisers "totally reinvent gender constructs"?
David Brockway would want advertisers to present men doing typical things a female is stereotyped to do and vice versa so gender is totally 'reinvented'.
4) How have changes in family and society altered how brands are targeting their products?
Lynx/Axe admits it had been relying on assumptions before its repositioning. It was only when sales growth slowed that the brand decided to invest in some proper research.
5) Why does Fernando Desouches, Axe/Lynx global brand development director, say you've got to "set the platform" before you explode the myth of masculinity?
“Women have feminism. But men don’t even know they are sick. This is why we need to put men alongside women, not move them to the side to give room to women. Both genders need to be in the centre.”
Campaign: Why brands need to change
Read this Campaign article on Joseph Gelfer and why brands need to change their approach to marketing masculinity. If the Campaign website is blocked, you can find the text of the article here. Think about how the article relates to our work on gender and advertising then answer the following questions:
1) What are two ways advertising traditionally presented masculinity and why does the writer Joseph Gelfer suggest this needs to change?
Joseph Gelfer says that masculinity was mostly presented in one of two ways: either a glamorous James Bond-style masculinity that attracted ‘the ladies’, or a buffoon-style masculinity that was firmly under the wifely thumb.
2) What are the five stages of masculinity?
Stage 1: "Unconscious Masculinity" - Traditional view of men.
Stage 2: "Conscious Masculinity" - As above but deliberate.
Stage 3: "Critical Masculinities" - Feminist, socially constructed.
Stage 4: "Multiple Masculinities" - Anyone can be anything.
Stage 5: "Beyond Masculinities" - It doesn't exist.
3) What stage of masculinity do you feel you are at in terms of your views of gender and identity? You can read more about the five stages of masculinity here.
To be honest, I'd say most of us are stage 1: Unconscious Masculinity however, we'd tried to keep genders balanced and equal (Stage 4/5)
4) What stage of masculinity was the Score advert aiming at in 1967?
The score advert was aiming at Stage 1: "Traditional view of men"
5) Why are the stages of masculinity important for companies and advertisers when targeting an audience?
If the companies and advertisers are directly targeting Stage 1 (The traditional view of men) it may cause some controversy which can lead people to not buying the product/service that is being advertised.
Thursday, 21 March 2019
Representation of women in advertising
Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising
The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.
Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising
Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:
1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?
Mistry suggests that since the mid 1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which gender and sexual orientation of the subjects are markedly ambiguous.
2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
Soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate. Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity. Women begun becoming more objectified.
3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?
The increasing influence of clothes and make-up changed the representation of women in advertising because it showed that the women were only in the adverts for the way they looked. If they were pretty they'd be presented in the advert.
4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?
Laura Mulvey's (1975) theory of the 'male gaze' is important here; she contends that scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings) has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of
looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'. Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.
5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?
From the mid-1970s there was a proliferation of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New
Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position
and of the influence of the women's movement' (van Zoonen, 1994:72).
6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?
The New Woman was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfillment'
7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?
Similarly, Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that, underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman',
8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?
Christian Dior make-up to make themselves sexually attractive - and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment. Richard Dyer however, claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: [advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'
Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)
Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.
1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?
The 'Are You Beach Body Ready?' campaign launched by Protein World featured a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose.
2) Why was it controversial?
It generated so much controversy because it caused women to think about their figures.
3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?
The advert suggested that women's body should be in a specific shape to look nice.
4) How did some audiences react?
Consumers chose to disagree though, as shown by the sticker placed on the model’s stomach. When people began to campaign against the poster’s sexist portrayal, a change.org petition signed by 71,000 urged the ASA to take the adverts down. Some protesters responded visually by posing next to the advert in their bikinis, to offer a more realistic depiction of women’s bodies.
5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?
The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers.
6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns?
The campaign employed an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women twice – first based on their own self perception, and then based on that of a stranger. The outcomes demonstrated that the strangers’ descriptions were both more attractive and more accurate than the women’s own perceptions, suggesting that women are often hyper-critical of their appearances, and unable to see their own beauty. The campaign resulted in upwards of four billion PR and blogger media hits.
7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?
In relation to Stuart Hall's reception theory, the dominant reading of these case studies would be that women would need the exact figure as shown in the advertisement in order to look good.
8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?
I think the representation of women has not changed and till this day women are still being objectified. Furthermore, they're often shown in advertisements/magazines to show of their figures.
The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.
Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising
Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:
1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?
Mistry suggests that since the mid 1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which gender and sexual orientation of the subjects are markedly ambiguous.
2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
Soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate. Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity. Women begun becoming more objectified.
3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?
The increasing influence of clothes and make-up changed the representation of women in advertising because it showed that the women were only in the adverts for the way they looked. If they were pretty they'd be presented in the advert.
4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?
Laura Mulvey's (1975) theory of the 'male gaze' is important here; she contends that scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings) has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of
looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'. Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.
5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?
From the mid-1970s there was a proliferation of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New
Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position
and of the influence of the women's movement' (van Zoonen, 1994:72).
6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?
The New Woman was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfillment'
7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?
Similarly, Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that, underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman',
Christian Dior make-up to make themselves sexually attractive - and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment. Richard Dyer however, claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: [advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'
Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)
Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.
1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?
The 'Are You Beach Body Ready?' campaign launched by Protein World featured a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose.
2) Why was it controversial?
It generated so much controversy because it caused women to think about their figures.
3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?
The advert suggested that women's body should be in a specific shape to look nice.
4) How did some audiences react?
Consumers chose to disagree though, as shown by the sticker placed on the model’s stomach. When people began to campaign against the poster’s sexist portrayal, a change.org petition signed by 71,000 urged the ASA to take the adverts down. Some protesters responded visually by posing next to the advert in their bikinis, to offer a more realistic depiction of women’s bodies.
5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?
The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers.
6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns?
The campaign employed an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women twice – first based on their own self perception, and then based on that of a stranger. The outcomes demonstrated that the strangers’ descriptions were both more attractive and more accurate than the women’s own perceptions, suggesting that women are often hyper-critical of their appearances, and unable to see their own beauty. The campaign resulted in upwards of four billion PR and blogger media hits.
7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?
In relation to Stuart Hall's reception theory, the dominant reading of these case studies would be that women would need the exact figure as shown in the advertisement in order to look good.
8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?
I think the representation of women has not changed and till this day women are still being objectified. Furthermore, they're often shown in advertisements/magazines to show of their figures.
Friday, 8 March 2019
Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task
Advertising: Persuasive techniques blog task
Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Persuasive techniques'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54 (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here.
Answer the following questions on your blog:
1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?
2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?
3) How was Marmite discovered?
Marmite was discovered in the late 19th century when German scientist Justus von Liebig discovered that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten.
4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?
Marmite is owned by Unilever.
5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?
Marmite uses emotional appeal in their marketing. In the advertisement we watched, there was a numerous amount of strong feelings e.g. when the son received the results for the Marmite genes test, he was telling his father the results as if he is coming out.
6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?
I think Marmite is in the middle between popular culture and high culture as there are some people who love Marmite and there are some people don't.
7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?
Marmite positions the audience as 'superior' because there are only some people in the world who love Marmite, it isn't for everyone and Marmite wants to make those that love Marmite special.
8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?
Sunday, 3 March 2019
Narrative in advertising: blog task
Narrative in advertising: blog task
Nike has received critical acclaim for its February 2018 advert ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. Embed the advert in your blog and answer the following questions:
1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.
One of the narratives this advert uses is Propp (Familiar character types) as there are many celebrities in this trailer. An example is Michael Dappah (02:00). You can see that towards the end of the trailer Michael Dappah (Comedian) is with Alexander Iwobi (Footballer).
Another narrative that is used in this advert is Barthes Enigma & Action codes. This advert clearly portrays that everyone has their own story with Nike which tells the audience/customers that Nike products can be used for anything. This could create enigma codes such as "Should I buy a pair of Nike trainers?".
The third narrative that is used in this Nike advert is Todorov's Equilibrium. In the Nike advert at 01:42 the equilibrium is that no one plays ice hockey at London. The disequilibrium is when the ice hockey player is playing by himself on the ice rink as he is his own opponent. The new equilibrium is when Michael Dappah comes into the shot and starts rapping how he goes through worse.
2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?
The advert uses celebrities to gain a audience so customers buy their products and the advert uses less well-known people to give them hope and a sense of achievement that they've been participated and been in the advert.
3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience? ADVERT Keeps popping up despite refreshing the page a numerous amount of times.
4) What representation of London does the advert offer?
The advert offers a representation of the younger side of London and the multi-diversity along with everyone being unique in their own way as in the advert it was clear that everybody had their own story.
5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?
This advert might appeal to an audience because the audience might be able to relate e.g. In the advert when the female boxer says she has to fight her family when she gets home before she even gets into her room. Some people may relate to this as they might argue with their family as soon as they get home. Another part in the advert is when the school boy has to run a lot just to get to school with a heavy school bag, other students may be able to relate to this because when may travel/walk a lot when getting to school with a heavy school bag.
Nike has received critical acclaim for its February 2018 advert ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. Embed the advert in your blog and answer the following questions:
1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.
One of the narratives this advert uses is Propp (Familiar character types) as there are many celebrities in this trailer. An example is Michael Dappah (02:00). You can see that towards the end of the trailer Michael Dappah (Comedian) is with Alexander Iwobi (Footballer).
Another narrative that is used in this advert is Barthes Enigma & Action codes. This advert clearly portrays that everyone has their own story with Nike which tells the audience/customers that Nike products can be used for anything. This could create enigma codes such as "Should I buy a pair of Nike trainers?".
The third narrative that is used in this Nike advert is Todorov's Equilibrium. In the Nike advert at 01:42 the equilibrium is that no one plays ice hockey at London. The disequilibrium is when the ice hockey player is playing by himself on the ice rink as he is his own opponent. The new equilibrium is when Michael Dappah comes into the shot and starts rapping how he goes through worse.
2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?
The advert uses celebrities to gain a audience so customers buy their products and the advert uses less well-known people to give them hope and a sense of achievement that they've been participated and been in the advert.
3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience? ADVERT Keeps popping up despite refreshing the page a numerous amount of times.
4) What representation of London does the advert offer?
The advert offers a representation of the younger side of London and the multi-diversity along with everyone being unique in their own way as in the advert it was clear that everybody had their own story.
5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?
This advert might appeal to an audience because the audience might be able to relate e.g. In the advert when the female boxer says she has to fight her family when she gets home before she even gets into her room. Some people may relate to this as they might argue with their family as soon as they get home. Another part in the advert is when the school boy has to run a lot just to get to school with a heavy school bag, other students may be able to relate to this because when may travel/walk a lot when getting to school with a heavy school bag.
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