OUGD501 - Task 2 - The Gaze Seminar

Sexuality is often seen in the following way by our inner "self" arguably by the persuasion of the media. The female is seen as passive and submissive, the male however is the dominant and active. 

Task

I have decided to analyse Lynx adverts due to the general theme of male to female dominance ratios which are present in each print and moving image adverts. Below are many examples of the adverts which are present in everyday life,  along with one which I am choosing to study further. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15849142

To begin, here is an article proving how the public eye can be effected so much by the adverts concerning "Sexvertising" and the use of the gaze and interaction between two different sexes on Television and print that governing bodies step in to prevent them being shown to a wider audience. 

The gaze features heavily in this series of "Angels" adverts whereby the woman is shown predominantly as a docile, weak and vulnerable character which will "fall"both metaphorically and literally for any man wearing Lynx. 

There is a discussion (all be it satirical) before and after this advert was shown, discussing the merit of the advert from the female and male point of view towards the product after. This advert uses a distraction technique in order to sell a product through visual stimulation which is successful in gaining and holding the attention of the viewer until the product is announced. The visuals have very little to do with the product in terms of how it is being discussed as rules of a sport rather than how the deodorant can improve body odour when playing the game of rugby. 

Showing how the woman will love you enough to protect the man, they will worship the man with Lynx on and be prepared to do anything for him.  

http://indoorbillboards.cc/print-ads-lynx-sorry-harry

BBH have created a culturally apropriate advert which link directly to what is present in the media relating to Prince Harry being photographed with women in a hotel room. Rosalind Hammond says "...Voyeurism is a way of taking sexual pleasure by looking at rather than being close to a particular object of desire." a quote which can be linked to the ideology of this advert and what it wants male subjects to feel a part of. The images in the media were voyeuristic, this advert can use the imagination of the subject to sell the product through images which it is not even using. The females with the photographs with Harry include women that can be admired from a distance through the camera lens, the subject is led to believe that wearing Lynx could result in similar situation for them. The female gaze within the photographs is never broken, therefore the subject already has a visual image of watching the women from afar, the body copy in the advert simply evokes those images. 

Agency: BBH, art director: Adam Thompson, copywriter: Dan Glover-James, photographer: Julian Wolkenstein

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/december/ding-dong-merrily-etc

Study Task 2 - Image analysis

Using quotations from 'The Look' by Rosalind Hammond critically analyse an image from the media.

Calvin Klein Advert, Vogue Magazine, Editor: Alexandra Shulman.

Calvin Klein is selling both a product and the brand as a whole through the voyeuristic first person view aswell as the meeting of the gaze. As the subject of the magazine is predominantly female, therefore we must assume that the self image is being addressed by Calvin Klein. Hammonds views on self image suggest that the female opinion of the self can be sexually driven, "Women's Experience of sexuality rarely strays far from ideologies and feelings of self image." (p1). The first image that the subject is presented with when turning the pages of Vogue, places the female subject in a power battle with another female, the model is sexually suggestive which connotes promiscuity and empowerment. The self image is triggered into wanting to be as sexual, feel as attractive and connotes a dream of being the model that can instantly evoke emotion with impact. 

The second image within the spread shows a full length body shot of the model within the same environment, however the female is less sexually obvious. "Thus the profusion of images of women which characterises contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women, a fan of voyeurism. Voyeurism is a way of taking sexual pleasure by looking at rather than being close to a particular object of desire." The female subject of this image can be reassured in the distance of the viewer to the model and ideology of the advert. There are obvious element of voyeurism is both images, the advert begins with a faceless shot, the fmale subject can be comfortable at a distance, whilst the self image is free to imagine the subjects face on the models body. The second image has the voyeurism broken with the female gaze. 

Hammond is quoted as saying "Men defend their scrutiny of women in terms of the aesthetic appeal of women..." (p39) which is true of this image however the female gaze here includes an aesthetic appeal of women, by women. There is perhaps an element of female appreciation for the aesthetic beauty of the female which suggests a basic self understanding of feminism, "Entertainment as we know it crucially predicated on a masculine investigation of women...The camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the streets..." (p1). Because the subject of this advert is predominantly female, the gaze can empower the female by striking a self image of being able to compete with the model when wearing the fragrance. There is a suggestion of underlying symbolism of female power over another female through the gaze in the image which can sell to many different female audiences. 
Calvin Klein can sell to the self conscious that want to aspire to be as sexually attractive as the model but it can also sell to those that are self assured by the connotations in the gaze being struck by the model in the second image. Within any Vogue publication there is a"...saturation of society with images of women...which...has nothing to do with men's natural appreciation of objective beauty, their aesthetic appreciation, and everything to do with an obsessive recording and use of women's images in ways which make men conformable." It is easy to assume that when a male looks at the image of a sexually suggestive woman within a remote environment he pictures being alone with the woman within the advert, this would make the male comfortable as there is no competition from other males. However it is easy to forget that the remote environment can also allow the self image of the female to run free and compete with the model that wears Calvin Klein, but she can only do so by wearing the fragrance.