Image Analysis – Gender
For this assignment I have chosen the following three advertisements to focus on the theme of gender. I am
going to discuss the issue of in today’s advertising world. Femininity is a set of action, characteristic, behavior and
attitude which are normally associated to female. Femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically
created factors. This makes it distinct from the simple definition of the biological female sex, as women, men, and
transgender people can all exhibit feminine traits. (Femininity, 2012)
The most obvious characteristic of femininity are attractive, caring, beautiful, sexy, sweet, cute, compassion,
elegant, innocent, gentle, sensitive and delicate. These are the characteristic that are often idealized by the media,
which are very different to real life. Feminine sexuality has become one of the mainstreams today in advertising,
whereas it is included in commercials, billboards and ads on a magazine like cosmopolitan. (Xie, 2012) Women
nowadays have been harshly pressurized by these ideas of being skinny and beautiful which are causing a lot of
health and social issues. For instance eating disorder and low self esteem.
Image one – “Dolce and Gabbana, Rose the one”
(Rose the one)
Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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Target Audience
This advertisement is aim at young women who wants to be as attractive as the model, Scarlett
Johansson. As perfume is one of the products which have the highest sale among female, advertisers
and marketers will want to make the product as attractive as it can to win the highest sells from their
competitors. From the effects of the media, today’s young women might think that being beautiful
means being successful. (Xie, 2012), so advertisers usually use models who are eyes catching to force
people to buy the product and to satisfy their desire.
Technical Codes
In this advertisement the technical codes are very important to makes it attractive to the audience.
This advertisement uses the lighting, camera angle, colouring and the Mise En Scène to catch the eyes
of the audience.
Firstly, from the image we can see that the lighting it uses are quite calm, the natural light shining at
the background gives a sense of home and comforting, which the audience are capable to look at it
for a long as the lights are very soft. The lighting makes the photograph very dreamy which matches
the theme of the advertisement – being as beautiful as the model.
Secondly, the photographer uses a close up shot to focus our eyes on the model with little
background, as the model is the main body of the picture. The image is shot at eye level which makes
the model amiable.
Lastly, the colour uses in the image are mainly light pink , white and salmon, these colours give a
sense of gentleness, purity, innocence and also seductive. These colours are usually associated with
femininity.
Symbolic Codes
In this advertisement, the symbolic codes that have been used are clothing, position of the model
posing, facial expressions and the setting of the background.
As we can see in the image, the model’s facial expression portrays a very playful personality. Even
though her eyes is not looking at the camera, her facial expression tells us that she is enjoying herself
and looks like she is flirting with someone; looking to someone from a lower angle. The way that she
is posing emphasis the idea of femininity, she is lying on a bed and has her arm very close to her
chest and has her legs close together, these action gives a sense of sexiness and are also very
feminine. The colour of the background is very soft this gives a sense of purity and sexy, at the same
time in a revealing manner, the loose strap of her shirt exposing her cleavage. This advertisement
presents a sexy image.
Ideological functioning of the images
The ideological functioning of this image is to portray a sexy image of female but at the same time it shows the
side of female being innocence and pure.
Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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20.11.2012
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Application of the terminology of semiotics
In this image the signifier will be the model herself, she signifies the perfume. It gives the message, if you use
this perfume you can be as confident as she is and that she represents the perfume”Rose the one”. In terms of
connotation the model herself is the perfume; it is playful, sexy and elegant.
Image Two – “Joop S/S 2007” (featuring Gisele Bundchen)
Target Audience
(Adrian, 2007)
In this case the target audience of this advertisement are women who are at the age of 25 to 40. From this
image, we can see that the model is acting as an independent business woman. We know that from the way
she dress and the way she poses. We can also tell that she is very confident about herself.
Technical Codes
This advertisement uses a lot of natural lights by positioning the model beside the window, the model is stands
out from the bright background which make the audience to focus on her more. The colours used in this
advertisement are quite deep, for example grey, brown, navy, black and white which contrast to the light blue
and white background. The font used for the logo is bold and clear allowing audience to easily recognise the
brand. The images are mainly shot from a long shot which shows her entire body.
Symbolic Codes
From the image we know that the model is confident from the way she stands and has one of her hand resting
on her hip, this is very different to image one as this model is not trying to act cute and innocence in fact she
looks knowledgeable and independent. The clothes that she wears are also very different to image one, in this
she wears clothes that covers her whole body unlike Scarlett Johansson having her cleavage showering to
Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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the audience. From her facial expression we know that she is confidence as she is almost looking
down on us.
Ideological functioning of the images
The ideological functioning of this image is to portray an independent lady image of female, it
reinforce the message of women should not be just acting cute all the time; women can be
independent and smart too!
Application of the terminology of semiotics
In this image the signifier is the model and she signifies the brand “JOOP!” and the clothes are
associated to independent women. In terms of denotation, there are only little objects besides the
model. The connotation will be the model again; she is sexy, smart, independent and confidence.
Image Three – “CAMPARI-Red Passion”
(CAMPARO-Red Passion, 2010)
Target Audience
In this case, the target audience of this advertisement would be both male and female. As it is an
advertisement for alcohol it will be aiming at both men and women. This image has a very strong
sense of sexuality as there are two male standing in front and back of the woman and looks like they
are trying to takes her clothes off her.
Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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20.11.2012
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Technical Codes
The lighting uses here are artificial which it is spotlight on the woman, this focus the audience’s view on her.
The colours used in this image is very dark, it mainly uses black to make the woman in the middle stands out
and also the red bottle of the alcohol. In this advertisement, the camera angle is at a medium shot which is
containing a figure from waist up and we can see that the bottle is partly cut off from the photograph.
Symbolic Codes
From the movement of the models we can see that the female is pretty much in control, she has her hands on
both of the male model’s faces to slow down their action. The dress that the female model is wearing is
showing her cleavage and one of the male model is even half naked this give a sense of sexiness to the
advertisement and also the image of the product. The female model is glamorous and confident, as
she is looking straight at the camera, this will interact with the audience and attracting people to
look at the advertisement.
Ideological functioning of the images
The ideological functioning of the image is to portray a sexy and glamorous image of female and the fact that
she is so attractive the men are anxious to have a relationship with her. The female model is sexy, beautiful
and attractive and the male models are passionate and addicted to her.
Application of the terminology of semiotics
In this case the signifier of this advertisement is the female model herself and the red bottle of alcohol, they
signify the alcohol drink “CAMPARI - Red Passion” as the male model are passionate about her. This emphasis
the fact that the advertisers want the costumers to be passionate about the drink as well.
In this case the denotation of this advertisement will be the two male models, the female model and the
alcohol drink; Campari - red passion. The connotation of the bottle of alcohol drink will be the colour of the
bottle meaning passion. The male models signify the consumers who are addicted to this drink.
Bibliography
Adrian. (2007, September 01). S/S 2007 Ads: Valentino/TSE featuring Iselin Steiro, Joop featuring Gisele. Retrieved
November 20, 2012, from Fashion ver Batim: http://www.fashionverbatim.com/20070109/ss-2007-ads-valentinotsefeaturing/
CAMPARO-Red Passion. (2010, April 12). Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Sexy Advertisement Blog:
http://cooladvertisement.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/102/
Femininity. (2012, November 18). Retrieved November 19, 2012, from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femininity
Rose the one. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2012, from Dolce and Gabbana.
Xie, S. (2012, September 09). Blog 2 Femininity. Retrieved Noverber 19, 2012, from My View on Pop Culture:
http://sandraxieeng101.blogspot.ie/2012/09/blog-2-femininity.html
Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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Chui Yee Wu (Chloe)
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20.11.2012
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