Monday, 2 January 2012

MEST 4 Xmas Task #4

ADDITIONAL WEB RESEARCH

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

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2631_v126/ai_20077696/ Article on how messages reinforce sexual stereotypes

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html

Women on televisionThis study fits into the contemporary media landscape due to the rise in how men and especially women are sexualised on television adverts as visual eye candy and sex objects in order to sell a product.

http://janusis.wordpress.com/2007/02/20/sexualisation-and-girls/

This link talks about the issue of sexualisation and women. S

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2025930/Huge-rise-intensely-sexualised-pictures-women--men.html

Talks about the huge rise in sexualisation of women but not men s

http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_sex.cfm

Sex and relationships in the media

http://www.genderads.com/

Gender ads website that looks into why and how are males and females sexualised.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/advertising-ban-wont-stop-brand-bullying-says-childhood-expert-2354917.html?origin=internalSearch

The Government is looking at ways to strengthen child protection on the internet but is seeking co-operation with Google, You Tube and other major web players before threatening legislation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/laurie-penny-if-sex-and-power-are-what-women-want-dont-stop-them-2291864.html?origin=internalSearch

it is harmful for an eight year old to engage with a culture that encourages her to look like a porn star, why is it any less harmful at 18 or 28?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/why-are-asian-women-aspiring-to-western-ideals-of-beauty-2136868.html?origin=internalSearch

Asian and African women are aspiring to Western ideals of physical perfection – and the results are far from pretty

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/harriet-walker-its-an-easy-way-to-put-some-glamour-back-into-our-lives-6269274.html?origin=internalSearch

When lumps and squidgy bits are shaved off celebrities, things become significant

Quotes

"Today, ads and articles in the same magazines push a much more sexualised agenda of rebellion. It's not defiance of a culture of compulsory beauty. Rather, the rebellion is against the rules by which the all-important game of beauty is played." -http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion?INTCMP=SRCH

"Beyoncé's perfume advert is part of a barrage of campaigns pushing women towards competitive sexuality" -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion?INTCMP=SRCH

"So is it better to sexualise these products, as with the Alldays ad? "I think it's outrageous to use sex to sell a pantyliner," says Pip Bishop of Rainey/Kelley/Campbell/Roalfe/Y&R, one of the few female creative directors in her industry. " -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/27/gender.uk?INTCMP=SRCH

"The best advertising concentrates on what women experience, rather than how they look," says the bishop. "A lot of women found the white trouser ads insulting." -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/27/gender.uk?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion?INTCMP=SRCH

In aspirational adverts, the elite are “often focused upon, reinforcing their perceived importance” -

“particular target audiences for advertisements may well have vastly differing conceptions of what is most desirable as masculine (or feminine) traits” – representing men: maleness and masculinity in the media, Kenneth MacKinnon, pg 93

“it is though patriarchy that power is attributed to males and withheld from females"

“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.

The cultivation theory can be applied to aspirational adverts as they are viewed on a day to day basis and “many of these images are idealised, representing life more as it is imagined than as it actually exists”

“brainwashes its audience with base, deceptive promises and appeals, designed to promote materialism” -http://iournals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=162717

Repetitive Advertising and the Consumer - Andrew S. C. Ehrenberg

“the general struggles any new medium has to go through before it gains wide social acceptance.” - Nielsen, S., Smith, J. H., & Tosca, S. P. (2008). Video Game Culture. Understanding video games: the essential introduction (p. 138)

“There is a mechanism, usually called ‘identification’, which makes viewers of ‘violence’ vulnerable to it – such that it thereby becomes a ‘message’ by which they are invaded and persuaded.”
-http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/Cat%20of%20violence.html Categories of violence

MEST 4 Xmas Task #3

HISTORICAL TEXT ANALYSIS & RESEARCH

Chanel No.5 Perfume (1984) – Historical text

A 40 second advert – for female perfume for Chanel 5
whilst viewing this text there are many difference compared to my contemporary Beyonce heat advert.

Differences + Similarities

Old Chanel 5 advert

Contemporary Beyonce advert

Society influence:

Questions the loyalty of a female to a man as in the advert we continuously see the woman being seduced by the orchestra literally behind her partners back. Therefore this shows how sexuality and loyalty was more of an issue of debate at that time.

Similarities:

there is a female protagonist being portrayed as being very seductive. Body is a big factor which is highlighted in the 2 texts through use of close up and medium shots of the female body. Another similarity between the two texts is that both females within the texts wear the same colour (red) which connotes fiery, heat, love, romance and seductive. This is in relation to persona and roles of the females within the adverts they are shown to be sexualised as they try to seduce viewers.

Differences:

In the old text, all the actors are white

setting: beach side showing vibrant colours such as red, blue as well as white which could denote purity whereas red being colour of female protaginists dress which it tries to seduce the audience with. Blue is shown as the colour of the skys which shows calm and blissfulness.

Female shows more facial emotions and laughter in contrast to the contemporary beyonce advert where the protaginist is

more serious as she is trying to seduce the audience by attempting to show dominance and power, this is shown when we see a close up pan shot of Beyonces legs.

males are shown to be more passive in the advert than females as they easily seduced by female charm which is shown in the advert when the male protaginst is seen kissing the females neck after admiring her body.

Society influence:

Tries to show 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 as it tries to tell the male viewers "catch the fever" in other words, come and get me which is successful in seducing males.

Similarities:

there is a female protaginist being portrayed as being very seductive. Body is a big factor which is highlighted in the 2 texts through use of close up and medium shots of the female body. Another similarity between the two texts is that both females within the texts wear the same colour (red) which connotes fiery, heat, love, romance and seductive. This is in relation to persona and roles of the females within the adverts they are shown to be sexualised as they try to seduce viewers.

Body is a big factor in this text which highlighted through use of high key and top lighting also from the long shots of figures and close ups of beyonces tower torso and legs. This is in relation to the shape of the bottle reflecting beyonces tiny waist and big bottom.

Differences:different ethnicities shown - black female, more skin and nudity shown in modern contemporary text rather that old text as we she beyonce topless yet covering her breasts while laying in a bathtub in the first few seconds of the text.

-Much more sexual gratifications (orgasmic facial expressions)
-females are more passive as they are both trying to seduce the male – whereas he seduces them on his own

MEST 4 Xmas Task #2

ADDITIONAL BOOK READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Culture and power: challenging discourses (2000) - By María José Coperiás Aguilar

"In advertising, it is obvious that "sex sells". Women are often represented in ads from an explicitly sexual angle: their desirability is what sells." - pg.132

Representing men: maleness and masculinity in the media (2003) , Kenneth MacKinnon

“Particular target audiences for advertisements may well have vastly differing conceptions of what is most desirable as masculine (or feminine) traits” – pg 93

The Media Student's Book (1999) By Gill Branston, Roy Stafford

"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”. - pg 379

The metrosexual: gender, sexuality, and sport (2008) By David Coad

"Passively inviting our gaze" - pg 21

Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal (Communication) (2003) By Tom Reichert

"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". - pg. 1

Television Studies: The Key Concepts (2001) (Routledge Key Guides) By Neil Casey

"The sexual objectification of women is apparent throughout a range of media texts, especially, though by no means exclusively in relations to stars and celebrities" - pg 158

"Televisions roles in agenda-setting, gatekeeping and cultural leadership clearly continue to be crucial" - pg. 169

Bibliography

Aguilar, MariÌa JoseÌ. Culture and power: challenging discourses. Valencia: Universitat de ValeÌ€ncia, 2000. Print.

Attwood, Feona. Mainstreaming Sex The Sexualization of Western Culture.. London: I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2010. Print.

Branston, Gill, and Roy Stafford. The media student's book. London: Routledge, 1999. Print.

Casey, Neil. Television studies: the key concepts. London: Taylor & Francis Books Ltd, 2001. Print.

Coad, David. The metrosexual: gender, sexuality, and sport. Albany: SUNY Press, 2008. Print.

Durham, Meenakshi Gigi. The Lolita effect: the media sexualization of young girls and what we can do about it. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2008. Print.

MacKinnon, Kenneth. Representing men maleness and masculinity in the media. London: Arnold, 2003. Print.

Reichert, Tom, and Jacqueline Lambiase. Sex in Advertising

Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal. Hoboken: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002. Print.

Singer, Linda, Judith Butler, and Maureen MacGrogan. Erotic welfare: sexual theory and politics in the age of epidemic. New York: Routledge, 1993. Print.

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

MEST 4 Xmas Task #1

Beyonce Heat Perfume – is a 31 second perfume advert advertisement.

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".

The next shot emphasises the fetishization of the Beyonces legs which are filmed from a low angle. This provocative and alluring shot shows beyonce almost teasing the male gaze with her female charm as once she stops walking, she turns to the camers and says "catch the fever" with the fever being her, therefore as fevers are known to be hot at very high temperatures, Beyonce is sexualising the product.

I believe the advert possess the following theories,
Hypodermic needle – The advert uses aspects of this theory as it is injecting messages into the minds of the viewers because it trying to draw attention to the power the producer has. As it is making it seems that having this perfume will make you instantly sexy and as hot as beyonce was both sexually and physically in the advert.

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.

Beyonce Heat advert research

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1330408/Beyonce-perfume-advert-sexy-banned-daytime-TV.html

The daily mail has published an article in which it states that this advertisement "has been banned from daytime TV amid concerns over its sexual imagery."

This is because the commercial, which begins with an image of the singer lying naked in a room, has been deemed ‘too sexually provocative’ to be seen by young children and will not be shown on British TV before 7.30pm.

The ASA watchdog accepted the advert was not obscene or offensive but was unhappy that it had been shown on daytime TV. It said: ‘Several complainants had told us their children had seen the ad broadcast during the middle of the day around family programmes.’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/17/beyonce-heat-ad
The guardian have also published an article surrounding the controversy that has been brewing due to the ad. This is because The ad campaign, by perfume company Coty UK, featured Beyoncé wearing a short red dress and acting seductively, was described by theAdvertising Standards Authority as "sexually provocative" and "unsuitable to be seen by young children". The ad was set to the song Fever.

Coty said that the TV ad was "intended to reflect the singer Beyoncé's personal 'sexy chic' style" and that the ad was not "overtly graphic or explicitly sexual and at no point was Beyoncé naked". The company added that the commercial was "stylised and in keeping with other ads in the genre".

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Wikipedia Article - Sexual Objectification

1) "Objectification is an attitude that regards a person as a commodity or as an object for use, with little or no regard for a person's personality or sentience." - Bartky, Sandra Lee, Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression(Routledge, 1990) p. 26

2) "Objectification is most commonly examined at a societal level, but can also arise at an individual level." - LeMoncheck, Linda, Loose Women, Lecherous Men: A Feminist Philosophy of Sex (Oxford University press, 1997), p. 133

3) "The concept of sexual objectification and, in particular, the objectification of women, is an important idea in feminist theory and psychological theories derived from feminism." - Barry, Kathleen, Female Sexual Slavery (NYU Press, 1994), p.247

4) "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." - APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (2007-02-19). "Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, Executive Summary". American Psychological Association. Retrieved November 2, 2007

5) "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." - Jensen, Robert, 'Using Pornography' in Dines, Gail, Robert Jensen and Ann Russo (eds)Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality (Routledge, 1998)

6) "Objectification Theory is based on the principle that girls and women develop their primary view of their physical selves from observations of others. These observations can take place in the media or through personal experience." - Bartky, Sandra Lee. (1990). Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression. Routledge. p.26

7) "Through a blend of expected and actual exposure, females are socialized to objectify their own physical characteristics from a third person perception, which is identified as self-objectification." - Kaschak, Edward. (1992). Engendered Lives: A new Psychology of Women's Experience (Basic Books) p.12

8) "Women and girls develop 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" - Handbook of experimental existential psychology; p 71–85.

9) "Sexual objectification occurs when a person is identified by their sexual body parts or sexual function. In essence, an individual loses their identity, and is recognized solely by the physical characteristics of their body" - Bartky, Sandra Lee. (1990). Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression. Routledge. p.26

10) "The earliest known use of sex in advertising is by the Pearl Tobacco brand in 1871, which featured a naked maiden on the package cover" - 1871 Tobacco Ad

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Gaurdian Links & Qoutes

"Beyoncé's perfume advert is part of a barrage of campaigns pushing women towards competitive sexuality" -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/27/gender.uk?INTCMP=SRCH

"The best advertising concentrates on what women experience, rather than how they look," says the bishop. "A lot of women found the white trouser ads insulting." -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/feb/27/gender.uk?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion?INTCMP=SRCH

Monday, 5 December 2011

10 Links + 5 Book References

5 Book references

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sex-Advertising-Perspectives-Erotic-Communication/dp/0805841180/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323129134&sr=1-1Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal (Communication)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Erotic-Welfare-Politics-Epidemic-Thinking/dp/0415902029/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323129134&sr=1-8

Erotic Welfare: Sexual Theory and Politics in the Age of Epidemic (Thinking Gender)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mainstreaming-Sex-Sexualisation-Western-Culture/dp/1845118278/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323130113&sr=1-2

Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western Culture.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lolita-Effect-Media-Sexualization-Young/dp/0715638041/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323130113&sr=1-7

The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Ads-Advertising-Dave-Saunders/dp/0713479035/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323130304&sr=1-4

Best Ads: Sex in Advertising

10 Book Quotes

"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". - Sex in advertising

"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"

"When someone hears 'Sex in advertising' they think about gender" - Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal

"We revel in a media envoiroment that capatalizes on narrow, restrictive and regressive and often harmful definitions of sex, and any critique of them is dismissed as prudishness and censorship" - The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It

"As a genre, pornography has always been categorised by a marked gender assemetry in its circuit of communication as it has been produced predominately by men for a male audience"

10 Internet search links