Prompt
Bordo assumes that the representations of men's bodies are generally read (or viewed) in the context of the similar use of women's bodies-in art, in advertising, in visual popular culture (including film and television). For this assignment, choose two sources-one ad that is directed primarily to men and another ad directed primarily to women. Write an essay in which you use Bordo's chapter and its claims to think through the ads you selected. Whether you agree with Bordo or not, construct a thesis comparing the role gender plays in your ads, using her analysis as a lens. Keep in mind that your essay should not merely reiterate the claims Bordo presents in "Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body." Rather, you should try to expand or complicate her ideas about gender and advertising as you analyze your ads' text and visuals.
Is Advertising Changing our Idea of Sex?
George Santayana said that "advertising is the modern substitute for an argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better." Throughout the last decades, modern advertising has relied on sex in order to appeal different audiences and making them react in a certain way based on the information presented to them. Sex has become an extremely important part in modern advertising. Nowadays, this kind of advertising not only includes women as "sex symbols" in order to sell, but it includes men as well. In the following essay the role of sex and gender in advertising will be analyzed. Two different advertisements, one directed primarily to men and the other one to women, will be examined in order to be able to reach a proper conclusion about the role of gender in advertising.
Advertising is defined as all the methods used to persuade an audience to react in an expected way, to either believe an idea or buy a product. It might be possible to argue that nowadays sex has become an essential part of advertising due to the fact that it is indeed appealing. According to Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, human needs can be categorized in levels, which need to be fulfilled in certain order, with sex in the first level. Thus, sex is used often in advertising as a way to convince people based on their primary psychological instincts, as a connection is created between the ad itself and the audience. Sex in advertising has become more important through the history as it has become a selling point. For instance, we might appreciate that the argument presented by some advertisings is entirely based on sex, either directly or indirectly. Most advertisements present archetypical figures in order to be able to convince their respective audiences into believing an idea or buying a product.
Most of the times, advertisements directed to straight male audiences, convey the fact that these men should be presented as if they were "unaware of their appearance". For instance, in this Nautica advertisement it might be possible to appreciate a man, possibly sailing in a boat, as there is a large body of water in the background. This man is staring to the left side, away from the camera, which makes him seem as he is busy enough in his line of thoughts to perceive the look of someone else. This might the archetypical male role, as Susan Bordo says in her essay: "the classic formula for representing men is always to show them in action, immersed on whatever they are doing, seemingly unaware of anyone who might be looking at them,"(211) based on the fact that it is commonly believed that fashion is not a "manly practice". The body of water in the background, and its use of horizontal lines create a sensation of peacefulness and tranquility within the audience, giving them the impression that this man is immersed in his own thoughts, not caring about the fact that he is being "observed". This man knows for sure he is being observed: he just does not care at all. This makes him look confident, as he is not looking for the approval of no one.
The fact that he is not looking for attention gives him at the same time a sense of superiority. He is in his own business, whether the audience want to look at him or not is not his problem. Also this effect is accentuated with the fact that he is wearing a watch, which might be considered a symbol of social status and even power. It might be possible to appreciate that he is posing in what is often called a medium shot, as his gaze is not facing the camera but his torso is. This makes him seem as if he was completely in charge of the situation, stressing his masculinity. This might be considered by some as dangerous in advertising, because this sense of power invites the audience to follow his gaze, wonder what he is looking, what is so important that deserves his attention. This makes them either look directly to the brand's logo or away from the frame: either the audience gives its full attention or it does not give any at all.
The colors present in this advertisement are important as well. The choice of these dark solid colors, red and blue, gives certain sense of masculinity to the model in the sense that they are determinant colors. At the same time they manage to emphasize the brand's name, as it creates certain contrast due to the fact that the letters are white colored. This advertisement is not selling a specific product; it is selling the brand like a whole, the mental image they want to create in the audience. The brand is intended to be seen as casual yet powerful, fashionable.
On the other hand, women are portrayed in a completely different way in most of the advertisements nowadays. Instead of looking away, as it happened in the Nautica advertisement, they are often presented looking straight into the camera, eager of holding the attention of the audience. This might be appreciated in this Dior advertisement, in which it might be possible to appreciate a seductive Natalie Portman, turning around while covering her nude torso with her arms. She is standing in an erotic pose, and this definitely invites her audience to look at her. Her pose reveals her feminine side, as Bordo might say, in the sense that she presents herself as submissive, inviting the audience to look at her. She offers herself "nonaggressively [sic] to the gaze of another [showing an] undeniable seductive consciousness of her erotic allure" (191). In this sense the audience, is attracted by her gaze, being the first element observed by them in the sense that it is in the focal point of the image. At the same time, this advertsisenmt shows Natalie Portman as an archetypical female model: this ad pretends women, either straight or lesbian to use the perfume in order to be as sensual as her.
The inscription in this advertising is written in French, which combined with the typography used and the colors (black and light pink) gives this impression of elegance to the audience. This creates the idea that the perfume being sold in this advertisement is synonym of elegance, of certain social status.
It might be possible to appreciate that the background is composed by a light pink color, which gives a sense of feminism to the audience, while at the same time helps setting the focal point right in the model, in her gaze. Also, she is wearing a black hair bow, which contrasts in a sense with the white background. The hair bow is basically the only clothing she seems to be wearing, which gives the impression that she is sexy and elegant at the same time. With this advertisement the audience might infer that by using that perfume, they would look beautiful, sexy and classy at the same time, just as Natalie Portman demonstrates in the image.
Gender has played an important role in most of the advertisements nowadays. It is possible to appreciate this in the constant use of archetypical models as an element used to make the audience react in a determined way towards different stimuli presented in advertising. Whether the advertisements are directed to men or women, most of the times similar elements are used in order to appeal to their respective audiences. The gaze and the posture of the model, for example, most of the times convey a major part of the idea presented. The audience is invited to believe certain idea or even buy a product as a way to imitate the behavior of the model presented. At the same time, the way this is done varies according to the intended audience. For instance, advertisements directed to male audiences usually convey a sense of power and confidence trough the images presented. On the other hand advertisements directed to female audiences usually convey a sense of sensuality and subordination. Gender is used in different ways in advertisements depending on the intended audience as they have different contexts and therefore they react differently towards different sets and arrangements of images. It might be appreciated that advertisement has used this element as its major selling point in most of the propaganda now a days. Sex has been used in these media as the primary argument needed to convince the audience. An image is worth thousand words, and this is definitely the case, sex sells.
Harry Levine
Works cited
Bordo, Susan. Beauty (Re) Discovers the Male Body. Comp. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002. 189-233. Print.
Maslow, Abraham H., and Deborah C. Stephens. The Maslow Business Reader. New York: Wiley, 2000. Print.
