analysing Ads.. (TWO)

capturing look... inviting gaze.

Advertising involves complicated visual culture in viewing female image. From the viewing behaviour, male is the dominant viewer (subject) and female is the object being viewed. It has become a trend in advertising to exploit female sexual appearance.

One will never fail to realise that female models in printed advertisements are usually related to suggesting notions of “wild”, “sexy”, “mysterious”, “elegant”, or else “pure” or “innocent”. When they are portrayed as “innocent and pure”, they emit a feeling of gentle femininity, which fulfils the stereotyping idea of women. They hold the looks that invite gazing from both female and male audiences. To the media audiences, the female models are reinforcing the patriarchal idea of femininity, sexuality and sensuality. In other words, female audience are also looking at women depicted in media through the lens of patriarchy social culture.

As the examples shown above, most of the time, female in advertisements has this same look of sexual ecstasy. This is because sexual desire has been commodified in printed advertisements. They are sending the message that by using the product, female beauty will be enhanced, with added elements of “wild”, “sexy”, “mysterious”, and so on.

Therefore, an object of desire is born, along with the consumption on the advertised product. The female models in the Ads are all wearing costly glamourous clothes and posing in front of the camera with the look that scream “Look at me, I feel fabulous, I am fabulous”. which, reinforces partriachal views of femininity.

there will be more of this type of posts to come ^^