MEST 4 Xmas Task #5

ESSAY PLAN

Question - To what extent are women represented in a sexualised and objectified way in aspirational television advertising that are produced by the beauty industry.

Introduction: – Brief description of my independent study

My critical investigation is going to focus on how women are represented in a sexualised and objectified way in aspirational television advertising that are produced by the beauty industry.  I will be investigating whether these sexually provocative yet aspirational adverts 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”

“Advertising operates predominantly by changing consumer tastes” because when audiences view characters pursuing their needs and wants, they aspire to be like the characters in the advert, mimicking and copying them.

“brainwashes its audience with base, deceptive promises and appeals, designed to promote materialism”  (I,R) 

P1 - So why is it that females in beauty adverts still sexualised and objectified?

"In advertising, it is obvious that "sex sells". Women are often represented in ads from an explicitly sexual angle: their desirability is what sells." 

“Particular target audiences for advertisements may well have vastly differing conceptions of what is most desirable as masculine (or feminine) traits” 

"When audiences see aspirational adverts, they associate it with a whole desirable style of life, and to feel that not owning the product would involve personal failure”. 

When audiences see aspirational adverts, mostly regarding beauty products they “associate it with a whole desirable style of life, and to feel that not owning the product would involve personal failure”  as Loren Colemen suggests in the copycat theory 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"

P2 - Introduce my text

"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 Beyonces Heat perfume advert as Beyonce is portrayed to be sexy, beautiful and powerful with the use of a red warmth following her every step matching her red coloured dress which connotes to the target audience of the advert which would mostly be young females of the ages 16-24 that if you buy the perfume, you will become sexy and powerful such as Beyonce. This is shown as in the advert Beyonce says "catch the fever".

In this advertisement,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 a high key lighting to create emphasis on the perfume lid as it lifted into the air as though it was an angel, which attempts to connote to the audience that the perfume is angelic whereas the top lighting surrounding the product shows it power and importance.

As Beyonce strolls around in the advertisement, she is followed around by a sensitive red glow which colour co-ordinates with her red dress. As red denotes heat which is co-incidentally the name of the perfume, i beileve that by suppressing the red glow around beyonce's body with her every move connotes to the audience that by wearing this perfume you will instantly become hot and sexy as the male gaze (Gammon and Marshsment) is on beyonce as she is sexually objectified as a "sexy godess" as one veiwer described her on Youtube underneath the video of the advertisement. 

Furthermore, Beyonce's body movements combined with the camera's prolonged focus on shots of her dress slipping away to partially expose her breasts creates a very sexually provocative atmosphere within the advert that could be seen as unsuitable to be shown to young children. This ideology has been reinforced by the advertising standards agency (ASA) as the advert was subsequently banned in November 2010 deemed to be "sexually provocative" and "unsuitable to be seen by young children". 

P3 - Marxism & Scopophilia 

"a cultures idea of a 'perfect woman' can shift dramatically in response to changing economic and social conditions"

Scopophilia: "Put simply, scopophilia is the pleasure of watching"

"The spectator’s gaze: the audience looking at the subject on the screen...The gaze is inextricably linked to power relationships – the bearer of the gaze has the power."

Marxism - to some it may show aspects of Marxism and how it could make it seem that by purchasing this perfume – you would have that status and style of living, this could be misleading to psychographics such as aspirers; as it may give false hope. 

Females are continually sexualised in aspirational television adverts because "Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex." Therefore audiences watch these aspirational, sexualised and often glamourised beauty product adverts and believe that by purchasing the product they can make social progress and gain power gain power with the use of their outside image. 

P4 - Criticisms of sexualisation, Hypodermic needle & Hyper reality

The hypodermic needle theory implies that audiences are influenced by what they shown in the media. Although a more pluralistic view suggests that audiences are intelligent and would not passively believe that mimicing these representations is what they need in order to get the perfect lifestyle, therefore aspirational adverts may not be as influential as they may seem.

This is due to "Women and girls developing an expected physical appearance for themselves, based on observations of others; and are aware that others are likely to observe as well. The sexual objectification and self objectification of women is believed to influence social gender roles and inequalities between the sexes"

"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 hypereality 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.

P5 - Relate contemporary to historical text and talk about how things have changed

In this paragraph i will talk about the similarities and differences between my contemporary and historical text and write about how social and economical changes have changed the way females have been sexualised and objectified over time. (S,H,E,P)

P6 - How aspirational adverts do not influence female consumer life styles (Pluralism)

As audiences are more intelligent than what producers may think, therefore by regularly seeing the same adverts not every audience will interpret it in the same way. In this paragraph I will also be looking at ofcom and censorship of adverts which have affected consumers in a negative way (I, R, P)

“we agree that many ads create wants without producing information, we do not agree that they change our tastes”

"Marketers continue to use more sex in advertising for a greater range of products. For example a ad for Linux hardware recently wrote "Dont feel bad, our servers wont go down on you either".

"Still others consider sex as inseperable from conceptions of social power as sezualized images of women maintain an unequal gender roles through objectification, disemberment and disconnection"

P7 - Conclusion 

Summary of my key points linking them back to the title of my independent study.