Media essay

Advert 1

My first advertisement is by a brand called “Joop homme”. This advert shows a partner where the woman is hugging the guy and it looks like she is trying to seduce him. This advert can be a perfect example of patriarchy (which is a part of the dominant ideology that describes male rule) and the stereotypes of men and women.

The camera shot that is used for this advert is a medium/ mid length shot and this could be done to show the masculinity of the main character and his body features to attract women. The mid length shot can show the audience his body shape but also his facial expressions and the background which can give the audience an overview of where they are and what they are doing. The denotation of this advert is: pink, product, man, women and a slogan. The connotation of the repetitive pink in this poster could be because the product itself is made in pink however, this can also connote that their main target audience is women and that this is a female product. The use of lighting on this advert is interesting and the reason is because they have used high key lighting for this product. I have expected them to use low key lighting to make it mysterious and more sexual in a way to follow the concept of this product and for the models. However the high key lighting on the models (which makes it almost look like a spotlight) and the low key lighting on the background really makes a contrast therefore, the models and the product stand out a lot to the audience and less attention on the background.

Gender is portrayed in a very traditional way, the guy is a lot closer to the camera and he looks directly at the camera. Whereas, the woman is at the back of him and the audience can only see her face and her hands on the guy. He is standing upright facing the camera directly which is very stereotypical of men as they are the “stronger” ones and the “powerful” ones in the media. At the top of the advert it says “real men wear pink”, this means if a guy wears this product then he will be seen as a “real” men. However, if he does not get this product then he will not be seen as a “real” men which is a sense of consequence used in this advert.

Now objectification, I personally think that the women is being objectified here and this is because she is holding the product and she is hugging him but she is almost covering or wrapping him up as if she is a clothing or as if she is the product herself (there is a drop on him from the product she is holding and this can be to show that she is covering him just like how the product is covering him). Therefore going back to the slogan of “real men wear pink”, this could also connote that real men have women like that wrapping them around or that when real men wear this product, they will also be able to attract a women like that kind.

This advert seems to be a little bit airbrushed but not too much to look to fake.

There is a use of binary opposite in this advert which follows the Levi Strauss’s theory. They have used a man and a women to promote this advert in a sexual and more of an attractive way.

This advert definitely reinforces the stereotype and the patriarchy which follows the “dominant” ideology.

Advert 2

My second advert is “Gucci Guilty” advert and again there is a women and a man hugging each other. However, this time the women is at the front and the man is wrapping her and kisses her.

This time the camera shot is close up and this could be used to show more of the love and the expression that is going on in the advert. Also the models in this advert seems to not be wearing anything and shows a lot of skin. Therefore there are not a variety of colour but just the skin colour and the women’s eyes and her makeup. The reason why they may have chosen close up could be to cover the advert with the skin colour so the model’s eyes and her makeup but also to make the product stand out from the rest. Her blue eyes and her red lips can really draw the audience as this can be seen appealing to men, but also they are the only colours that stands out from the rest of the colours which can make the audience remember this advert more than any other adverts.

For this advert I think there main target could be women is their 20s who are interested in fashion and brands and their second target audience could be men because they can buy it as a gift for someone.

This advert looks like it has been airbrushed on the skin to make it look smoother and clean for it to be a bit more appealing.

In conclusion the first advert and the second advert has a different dominant ideology as the first advert follows the dominant ideology but the second one doesn’t. Therefore the gender stereotype was still prevalent in the first advert but on the second advert it challenged the gender stereotype. Personally like the second advert more, as the roles have been switched and brings the feministic side to audience who are females.