Research Investigation - question on representation

How are women represented differently in order to sell products, paying particular attention to Fairy Liquid and Roberto Cavalli campaigns?

 

 

 “Women have always been very beauty conscious and insecure about their appearances and advertisers have exploited this by bombarding them with ways in which to ‘improve themselves’”(8), whether that be domesticated or completely sexualised. Insecurities develop opportunities to sell products.

 

            In this investigation, I will be analysing and investigating female representation in Fairy Liquid and Roberto Cavalli advertisement campaigns. To show the stereotypes in female representations, I will discuss how companies attach branding and ideology to sell products. Ideologies and representations are carefully constructed to appeal to female audiences. I will use primary analysis and secondary research to assist my investigation including theories. In my investigation I will apply Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory, discussing how women are objectified to help sell products to an audience. I will also investigate the uses and gratifications model to question why the campaigns help persuade women consume these products. I will also question if stereotypical gender roles are also present, representing females in contrasting roles from the motherly, family, domesticated role to the hyper sexualised.

           

            Firstly, I will explore how women are represented, or misrepresented in fragrance adverts to create a hyper reality. I will be focusing on female objectification in a Roberto Cavalli advertisement, and if it succeeds in not just selling products to males, but to females. I will then go on to explore a Fairy Liquid ad campaign, and compare and contrast the existing representations of females. 

 

            When viewing advertisements, it is easy to believe that “women are shown almost exclusively as housewives or sex objects”(4). In the first 10 seconds of Roberto Cavalli advert; this is clearly present on screen, as model Elisa Sednaoui is being drastically sexualised by the camera. The first shot is a long shot of her spread out on a bed, lying on her front with a small section of sheet covering her behind. The camera then shoots a mid shot of her sitting up in bed, pushing her chest out with the sun hitting her golden looking skin. Sednaoui then leaves the bed as the camera shoots a close up of her feet stepping onto the floor; it then cuts to a close up of tiger’s paws walking across the floor. Next, the camera shoots the model standing in front of a mirror, wearing nothing but a silk sheet, putting on a necklace, which is the first viewing of the brand logo of Cavalli in the advertisement. Suddenly, it cuts to Sednaoui standing alone in the room, however now the silk sheet is only covering the bottom half of her body, her top half has nothing on it and her back is completely exposed, this is also objectifying her, as her face cannot be seen. “She is tall and thin with very long legs, perfect teeth and hair and does not have a blemish in sight” (3). The advert represents her as powerful and animalistic, a common trait in the Cavalli advertisement campaign. This causes the viewer to want to buy into this product, thinking it will make them feel empowered via beauty and therefore confidence. “Females are not represented in the Media for doing something; they are represented for how they look” (6), which is proven in this specific advertisement.

 

 

 

There are several men present in the frame as the woman is walking through the party. Although she looks like she has a sense of power and authority, the males admire her and she is clearly the centre of attention. The reason she has any power is superficial, it gives out the message that if females appeal to men, they will gain power. “Sexual women are used in advertisements to imply that the product will increase the users appeal to men” (5).  Later in the narrative, Sednaoui chooses the man sat down in a throne like chair, depicting him to look like royalty, however the reality of the advert is that this woman entered the scene wanting to be seen and admired by this specific man. This depicts that "Women are projections of males narcissistic fantasies" (10) explaining why there is now a common ‘male gaze’, especially in fragrance advertisements, objectifying women. A contemporary trend is hyper sexualised representations are being used in advertisements targeting females and creating much insecurity. "Female’s are praised for their appearance or physical beauty" (11) rather than their intellect. This stresses the importance of mistype of products.

From a very young age, girls are exposed to a great deal of television and advertising. This is causing many to grow up with the ideology that what they see is 'normal'. "Media influences on peoples conceptions of reality can potentially 'absorb or override differences in perspectives and behaviour that stem from other social, cultural and demographic influences'"(8) These false conceptions of reality are changing women's opinions of what they should look like, making them insecure from childhood and wanting to change themselves. “Many people suffer from inner conflicts as a result of failure to achieve the body of a top athlete or fashion model.” (9) They buy into products, such as designer fragrances, to almost give them the feeling of bettering themselves and becoming one of these ‘perfect’ women. “Women are constantly exhorted to emulate an ideal, to feel ashamed and guilty if they fail, and to feel that their desirability and lovability are contingent upon physical perfection”(3). This is made clear in the Cavalli advertisement as the woman being represented in this particular advert, is already attractive and then being hyper sexualised and edited via post production to look 'perfect’. The media make problems that do not exist to help them sell products, again, present in the Cavalli advertisement as model Elisa Sednaoui is being represented as an idea of perfect due to the fact she is wearing this particular fragrance, making women buy into the ideology that females are judged superficially. This has helped advertising massively as products are now being sold through advertising that have a false sense of ideology and perfection attached to them.

 

            Another advertisement that stereotypically and falsely represents women is the Fairy Liquid advert, “I Hardly Ever Buy Fairy Liquid”. Though this advert does represent female’s stereotypically, it portrays them in a completely different way to how they are represented in the previous Cavalli advert I looked at. This advert shows the opposite side of women’s stereotypical representations, the domesticated woman.

               

 The advert consists of several repeated sequences; each performed in different decades, showing the length of time fairy liquid has been used in households. The sequence starts with a woman, styled to represent different periods in time, stating, “I hardly ever buy fairy liquid”, portraying the product as long lasting. She is standing in the kitchen by the sink, or in more recent decades, next to the dishwasher. A child then appears in the scene, showing the woman as being a carer, housekeeper and parent, very stereotypical traits of women. The majority of sot types throughout the montage of decades are al so establishing shots, making the setting clear, as it shows the women in the advert and the audience that the kitchen is where these women ‘belong’. The child that appears in every sequence is also female, which almost makes them look like they are aspiring to be this way by following their mother. “Gender roles persist throughout childhood, with parents choosing and rewarding certain stereotypical activities for their children, from playing with dolls for girls to sports activities for boys.”(12) Advertising companies putting a female child in this advert instead of a male is forming the expectations and ambitions girls have of how they will be when they grown up from an early age. Frequently putting girls in these circumstances in the media will subconsciously cultivate young girls to grow up with conditioned ambitions of being a housewife and a mother. 

 

  Another factor that interested me about this specific Fairy Liquid advertisement is the fact that although shot through several decades, each time the woman is in exactly the same role of the domestic housewife. This, I feel, is an unrealistic representation of female evolution, as it shows women’s ‘place’ as being in the kitchen. There is no representation of the successful woman with a career, which would represent a more contemporary and postmodern society. A false representation and ideology is present that this is where women should be, and have been throughout time. Even though, in society today this is not the case, with just “2.04 million women ‘looking after family or home’, a fall of almost 1 million since records began 20 years ago”,(13) advertising is still sticking to to this stereotype to try and help them sell products, no matter how unrealistic it really is. Although stereotypical, this advert shows clear gender roles of the female. It portrays them as nothing but the mother and housewife. Domestic. “75% of all adverts using females were for products used in the bathroom or kitchen and 56% of women in adverts were shown as domestic housewives”,(3) which, compared to the dramatic fall in stay at home mothers previously stated, is a completely false representation of domestic women. Advertising showing women as powerful women with strong careers is rare as many advertising companies are run by men and want themselves to stay the more dominant, powerful sex. "Men and women often have difficulty relating in the workplace because men instinctually want to exert physical dominance over women."(14)

 

“Women’s representation in popular culture facilitates the stereotype of the simple-minded, emotional, and domesticated female”(7)

 

            This is a representation that the reason for these structured and controlled representations of females in advertising are shown, as they are desirable to both men and women. As advertising companies strongly believe men see the sexualised or domesticated woman as attractive and therefore will respond to these portrayals of women, it cultivates women to feel the same as they believe they will achieve happiness through love and romance if they conform to these ideologies. It is a concept that is thrown onto females from a young age through television that you have to be skinny and attractive to find happiness and once you find that happiness, your role belongs at home, cooking, cleaning and looking after your children. Although this is an extremely unrealistic representation of what women should be, many females still conform to this role as they feel it is the easiest and most successful way of finding happiness, because although the figures for stay at home mothers have drastically dropped since records began, the numbers are still quite high, with “2.04 million women ‘looking after family or home’”(13).

            Throughout this investigation I have selected research and analysed opinions and theories of representation of women, whether people see these representations as negative or not. I have looked at both the similarities and differences between the two dominant representations of females in not only advertising, but the media as a whole. It is clear from my findings that woman are predominantly represented as sex objects and domestic housewives. I have also discovered that not only do these representations appeal and sell to men, but also to women, as they are the primary audience of the two texts I have focused my study on.

 

Word Count: 1563 (excluding references)