Question - To what extent are women represented in a sexualised and objectified way in aspirational television advertising that are produced by the beauty industry.
Females are regularly represented in a sexualised and objectified way in aspirational television advertising that are produced by the beauty industry. This investigation explores whether these sexually provocative yet aspirational advertisements does or does not influence female consumer lifestyles, and whether affects such as the cultivation theory are used to make this possible.
The cultivation theory can be conveyed within aspirational adverts as they are viewed frequently. Therefore “many of these images are idealised, representing life more as it is imagined than as it actually exists”. Loren Coleman's "Copycat theory" suggests that viewers model themselves on the representations that they see in the hope that they will gain the idealistic lifestyles that are created as "Televisions roles in agenda-setting, gatekeeping and cultural leadership clearly continue to be crucial".
The aspirational advertising texts that I am investigating will explore why women are sexualised and objectified in advertising that is produced by the beauty industry and how modern advertising techniques have changed starting with a Chanel No.5 perfume and Beyoncé’s ‘Heat’ fragrance.
Furthermore, as “advertising operates predominantly by changing consumer tastes”, when audiences view female characters pursuing their needs and wants whilst living glamorous lives, they aspire to be like the characters the view, and consequently end up mimicking them. In Beyoncé’s ‘Heat’ fragrance, the main female protagonist which is Beyonce herself possesses various dominant characteristics, which are reinforced within the advert with the use of film language. This is shown as the majority of the advert is constructed in a dark room that is slightly aluminous with a hint of red. As Beyonce is seen to be wearing a low cut, sleek red dress throughout the advert, this immediately connotes that she is the central protagonist whereas the colour red could connote an seductive erotic attraction and sophistication.
As Beyonce is a world renowned music artist who is viewed by the audience to be sexy, powerful and seductive, this stereotype is clearly established within the first few seconds of the advert as many close up and medium shot are used. This is shown in the first second of the text where the audience views a close up shot of the perfume from a low angle shot with the use of high key lighting to create emphasis on the perfume lid as it is lifted into the air as though it was an angel, which could be an attempt to connote to the audience that the perfume is angelic whereas the top lighting surrounding the product shows that it may also have a fiery side which connotes power and importance. We then see Beyonce seductively lying nude in a bathtub in an attempt to capture the male gaze and shows the audience the attractiveness of the character. “Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’ is important; as 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 either as a fetishized spectacle or as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.”
This can be seen in my texts as the women protagonists sexually objectify themselves to manipulate men as “Mulvey’s theory argues that in nearly all media representations of women, the viewer is put in the masculine subject position, with the figure of the woman on screen as the object of desire. As “female characters, according to Mulvey, are there just to be looked at. In this way, the camera is like the eyes of a man, so we as the audience watch the images through the male gaze” and view the text in a masculine perception.
"Young women are especially susceptible to objectification, as they are often taught that power, respect, and wealth can be derived from one's outward appearance." This can be seen in Beyoncé’s Heat perfume advert with the use of a red warmth glow following her every step whilst matching her red coloured dress that connotes to the target audience of the advert which would mostly be young females of the ages 16-24 that if you were to purchase the perfume, you will become sexy and powerful such as Beyonce which can be seen in the advert as Beyonce says "catch the fever”. Therefore women are represented in a sexualised and objectified way in aspirational television advertising across the beauty industry “as the hypodermic needle theory implies that audiences are affected by what they see in the media.” This is because "In advertising, it is obvious that "sex sells" as women are often represented in ads from an explicitly sexual angle: their desirability is what sells." Which is shown within this advert as it attempts to sensationalise sex in order to engage male viewers as the sensationalism of sex is a part of zeitgeist in our society today.
Furthermore, this desirability is created due to Scopophilia where "Put simply, scopophilia is the pleasure of watching" and this particular desirability entices both the male and female gaze into accepting the values and ideologies that are shown in the text which are predominantly alternative representations where all the power and dominance is with the female character rather than the stereotypical dominant male. This can be seen in my texts as the female protagonists sexually objectify themselves in an attempt to manipulate men and provide voyeuristic pleasure which is a very desirable trait to many females and will therefore persuade them to buy the product as the media “brainwashes its audience with base, deceptive promises and appeals, designed to promote materialism” which alongside deception, also brings with it false hope of turning ones desirability into reality.
However, a pluralistic ideology could suggest that audiences are in fact intelligent and will not be so passive in believing that imitating these representations is what is needed in order for them to achieve the perfect lifestyles and therefore aspirational adverts may not be as influential as they may seem.
Females are continually sexualised in aspirational television adverts because "Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex." Which suggests that audiences, who view these aspirational, sexualised and often glamourized beauty product adverts, believe that by purchasing the product they can make social progress and gain power with the use of their outside image which can be seen as a Marxist view as Karl Marx’s Marxism theory suggests that the dominant groups within the hierarchy of society are in control with power and influence over the subordinate group.
This can be seen in aspirational adverts such as Beyoncé’s Heat fragrance as the elite, being Beyonce herself are “focused upon, reinforcing their perceived importance” and is also successful in reinforcing the ideology’s which state that the elite possess the very idealistic lives which others would aspire to obtain, hence reinforcing the Marxist ideas of the bourgeoisie, who control the means of production, as they choose to represent the elite in leading roles within the media.
Moreover, many people could argue that the objectification of women is empowering and consider it as an important move forward towards the sexual revolution where men and women are seen to be equal. However, degrading or not, the objectification of women is a social fact that is found in various media texts which is then used to influence many features of our society as "The media is dominated by images of women as sex objects whose value is based on their appearance. These portrayals can potentially limit girls' self-perceptions and influence their attitudes regarding the importance of appearance."
This is because women and girls who view sexualised aspirational adverts such as Beyoncé’s Heat fragrance, “develop an expected physical appearance for themselves, based on observations of others; and are aware that others are likely to observe as well as the sexual objectification and self-objectification of women is believed to influence social gender roles and inequalities between the sexes". Furthermore, "Pro-feminist cultural critics such as Robert Jensen and Sut Jhally accuse mass media and advertising of promoting the objectification of women to help promote goods and services."
This could be due to the media creating a sense of hyper reality which is a condition in which "reality" has been replaced by simulacra to persuade their audiences that this is reality and this is what you should be like, and to be like this you need to buy our product as “It is the possession of a 'sexy body' that is presented as a women's key (if not sole) source of identity.”
In contrast, my second text which is a 1984 Chanel No.5 perfume advert also entices the male gaze by providing its audience a voyeuristic gaze which is a gaze that “objectifies the recipient of the gaze in a non-sexual manner, rather through admiration”. However, the female protagonist in the Chanel advert is implicitly sexualised and objectified as a character of class and sophistication whereas Beyonce in my contemporary text is explicitly sexualised purely to seduce the male gaze.
When this advert is compared to a more recent and modern contemporary text, Beyoncé’s heat fragrance advert, we can see similarities between the two texts as body is a big factor which is highlighted within both texts through the use of frequent close up and medium shots of the female body. Another similarity between the two texts is that both females within the texts occupy the same coloured dress (red) which connotes fiery, heat, love, romance and seductive. This is in relation to persona and roles of the females within the adverts as they are shown to be sexualised in an attempt to seduce viewers.
Furthermore, differences between my two texts are also evident. This is shown within my historical text as the female protagonist parades more facial emotions and laughter in contrast to my contemporary text where the protagonist is more serious as she endeavours to seduce the audience by attempting to show dominance and power, which is shown as we view a close up pan shot of Beyonces legs, which could connote that women are powerful in this day and age as they can seduce men when they want and whenever they want as the fetishization of Beyonces legs engage the male gaze by providing voyeuristic pleasure in an attempt to eliminate the patriarchal society.
Moreover, the main difference between my two texts is the use of different ethnicities as my contemporary text shows a black female protaginist compared to my historical text where all character are white. This could suggest that over time society has become less racist and accepted different cultures into mainstream media.
Also, another difference between the two texts is that more skin and nudity is shown within my modern contemporary text rather than the historical text, as the audience views Beyonce topless yet seductively covering her breasts while lying in a bathtub in the first few seconds of the text as well as the use of many more sexual gratifications such as orgasmic facial expressions.
This could be due to today’s generation becoming desensitized to the sexual exposure which combined with the cultivation theory, results in audiences becoming less sensitive towards sex and sexual behaviours they view on television and adverts as they are increasingly being exposed to sexual acts and connotations due to the fact that sex sells.
However, these sexualised and often glamourized adverts have arguably had an negative impact on audiences as both the copycat and cultivation theory suggest that audiences can be certainly influenced, as they aspire the lifestyles they see in aspirational adverts which has led to the censorship of many adverts constructed for the beauty industry by Ofcom. For example, Beyonces Heat perfume was banned from daytime TV. The ad campaign which was run by the perfume company Coty UK, featured Beyoncé wearing a short red dress and acting seductively, was described by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) as "sexually provocative" and "unsuitable to be seen by young children".
Coty said that the TV ad which was set to the song Fever, was "intended to reflect the singer Beyoncé's personal 'sexy chic' style" and that the ad was not "overly graphic or explicitly sexual and at no point was Beyoncé naked". The company also stated that the commercial was "stylised and in keeping with other ads in the genre". It is known that beauty product adverts consist of sexual content, however “ads that are indecent, sexist, sexy [...] present a constant and ever growing problem” because the main target of this sexual content should be to provide audiences with sexual gratifications. Nevertheless, many of these adverts are harmful to audiences the over exposure of sexual images that we consume is desensitising audiences and altering audiences ideologies to believe over exposure of sex in adverts is part of the norm.
Furthermore, Blumer and Katz Uses and gratifications theory can be applied to my texts as they provide the user gratifications of entertainment, escapism and personal identification through the protagonists, such as in Beyonces Heat fragrance the protagonist is represented as powerful, sexy and seductive which teenagers will aspire to as it may provide escapism from their day to day lives as “particular target audiences for advertisements may well have vastly differing conceptions of what is most desirable as masculine (or feminine) traits”. In contrast, Chanel No.5 perfume advert is aimed at mainstreamers as the use of a classical orchestra suggests their audience is sophisticated yet classy women.
To conclude, it is evident that beauty product advertisements aim to influence consumer lifestyles, which I would agree that they are successful in doing so. This is due to producers who create superficial idealistic lifestyles which audiences cannot resist aspiring to become like the people they are viewing in these advertisements. Furthermore, these aspirational beauty product adverts influence the female audience’s actions as it illustrates a way of life that they could strive to achieve. The institutions behind these adverts are aware that by sexualizing and objectifying female protagonists within their adverts as “women and girls develop an expected physical appearance for themselves, based on observations of others; and are aware that the sexual objectification and self-objectification of women is believed to influence social gender roles and inequalities between the sexes" and therefore even though many theorists and feminists believe that audiences are intelligent enough to not be swayed by these advertisement techniques, it is clearly evident that women are sexualized and objectified within aspirational television adverts which then results in an effect on female consumer lifestyles.
Word count - 2,425 words
Word count - 2,425 words
Bibliography
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Moving Image texts
Beyonce Heat Fragrance (2010)
Chanel No.5 Perfume advert (1984)
Internet
http://mediaalevel.edublogs.org/2010/07/02/the-male-gaze/ - Laura Mulvey
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm - Talks about how sexualisation in the media can harm young girls
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/too-sexual-beyonce-ad-banned-from-daytime-tv/ - Talks about how a sexually provacotive TV advert has been banned
www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/dde0301.doc - Talks about how and why sex sells
http://www.frankwbaker.com/sex_in_media.htm - Link on how sexual messages are portrayed in advertising
http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm - A article on the media influence on youth in ways such as advertisments
