analysing Ads.. (THREE) sexual fantasy

Ahem.. today we are going to look at this perfume for men. Tom Ford is famous for his bold moves in using sexually explicit images in his advertisements.

let’s take a look at this men’ fragrance Ad from Tom Ford for Men. (there is actually another Ad from this campaign.. however, that Ad is too explicit.. way over the limitations i set for my blog, therefore i decided not to post it here.. if you wanna see that other Ad, you may Google the images for "Tom Ford For Men perfume")

Clearly, female image is used and exploited to promote this product. The woman in this Ad is objectified and be gazed at, as a sexual toy, which pleases men for sexual pleasure.

This female model is portrayed as in an excited state, with the bottle of perfume placed “strategically” between her breasts. (remind you all of something?)

This Ad is suggesting sexual imagination- sexual fantasy. Moreover, if the bottle is signifying male’s sexual organ, this Ad is conveying a clear sexual message “use this brand and you will get an experience as this one- conquering women beneath you.” This woman in the Ad is not taken as a respected individual, but as a “sexual object”. So what are women to men?

Take a look at alcohol printed Ads; again, women are constantly seen as objects in fulfilling men’s sexual desires and fall victim to conquests that any man can have if he just consumes a certain drink.

Advertisers are trying to make media audiences believing that they are going to experience the fantasy as portrayed. From analyzing semiotics in alcoholic Ads, we can see that advertisers often use sexual symbol implicitly to convey sexual messages. capturing female model using sexually suggestive facial expressions and their body to advertise, leading false impressions of getting drunk equals to conquering women.

but then... media audiences don't really care about all that right.. haha coz people gets excited when we see sexually explicit images. haha

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 ^^