Analysing the Media
CA
Image Analysis Assignment
X00113211 Michael Mcsherry
In this essay I shall be doing a comprehensive semiotic analysis about gender and how it is
seen inside three different advertisements I have found online.
My first Image I encountered was a lynx advertisement I found on this website
(http://stephaneff.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/representations-of-gender/) is of a woman
showing off her body and cooking in the kitchen with the headline “CAN SHE MAKE YOU
LOSE CONTROL?” and the lynx can underneath. The Target Market for this advert is
clearly men and young teenagers but it is using old fashioned stereotypes such as a woman
cooking in the kitchen while wearing barely anything at all. The mode of address influences
the male audience from seeing “CAN SHE MAKE YOU LOSE CONTROL?” next to this
attractive woman who is easy on the eyes and thinking that this product has the ability to help
them if they were in this situation and that they would have “FULL CONTROL”. Some
Technical Codes can be seen here in this advertisement the first being the close up shot of
this woman used to grab the male audience’s attention, next would be the Mise en Scene
which would be the showing of the woman’s body, the way she leans and looks towards the
camera almost as if she’s looking right at you, this is used the draw in the viewers attention.
A Visual Symbolic Code can be seen next in the frequent use of purple on her clothing and
on the lynx can and background, the clothing itself is a symbolic code it being underwear on
a woman that pleases the eye. Another symbolic code is the body language she uses its
inviting to men and played out real womanly to make it seem natural in a well played out
stereotype in a males mind as she presents herself more like an object than a normal woman.
The setting for this advertisement is a woman in the kitchen who just finished cooking a
turkey, a most unrealistic scenario to play out in anyone’s mind but it is seen as more of a
fantasy of man and that’s the view that lynx is using, if the viewer ended up in this situation
could they handle it or “CAN SHE MAKE YOU LOSE CONTROL?”, and that having Lynx
Dry FULL CONTROL would help them in this situation so that they would be fine wearing
Lynx for any familiar realistic situation. Ideological function of this advertisement is for the
viewer to feel like he wants to belong in a world where something like this is possible. They
put the viewer in a position where the idea is that this is a chance they finally get to have but
would they be able to take full control of this situation. The advert creates a scenario in which
the viewer becomes a man in a stereotypical situation with a woman in the kitchen who is
half naked and makes them feel as if this is their life.
My second Image I encountered was an old spice advertisement I found on the website
(http://www.cinemablend.com/television/I-m-On-A-Horse-How-They-Made-The-Old-SpiceAd-23021.html ) is of a man on a horse holding a can of old spice with the headline “SMELL
LIKE A MAN, MAN. Old Spice“with a beach in the background. The target audience in this
advert is men and women. Women for the fact that in these adverts it uses attractive men and
tells women there men could be like him if they used Old Spice and men because this advert
tells them they can smell like a man if they use this product encouraging them to buy it. The
mode of address for this gender Old Spice advertisement is the slogan ”SMELL LIKE A
MAN, MAN” attractive manly male is suppose to be saying, it influences men to get there
buy this product so that they can be manly and be like him. The first Technical Codes that
can be seen here is the close up shot of the manly man on the horse used to grab the female
audience’s attention and get them interested. Secondly you can see Mise en Scene, the man
on the horse, the manly way that he is presenting himself and facing to grab a woman’s eyes
and lure her in. The Symbolic Codes that can be seen here are firstly the objects that are
being used to grab the attention of the opposite sex and men themselves such as the attractive
manly man which would be pleasant on a woman’s eyes yet make the man want to be more
like him, next would be the horse which is being used as a symbol to make the man more
manly and lastly the can of Old Spice itself being held by the man and it is being seen as an
object of manliness and how men themselves could become this way. The next Symbolic
Code would be the body language of the man; he presents himself like a trophy, a way that
symbolises what a woman’s man could be like. The setting that is being used here is a sort of
romantic looking background something to be pleasant on the woman’s eye rather than a
mans, what woman wouldn’t like an attractive man on a horse at the beach. Ideological
function of this advertisement is for women and men. It’s for women because it makes them
feel that their man is not this man they are looking at and this is the type of man they should
have and can have thanks to this product. For men it creates a position in which it makes
them feel like this is not them and they need to be this man and smell like him because he is
wearing Old Spice and it smells manly and that is what they should want.
-
My third and final advertisement that I found online was from this website
(http://dariawerbowy.blogspot.ie/2007_04_01_archive.html ) is of a innocent,
pure looking woman on the beach with Lancome O d'Azur Fragrance floating
beside her. The target audience in this advert is aimed women with an expensive
taste for fragrance. The attractive woman can be seen next to the Lancome
fragrance maybe to tell the audience that this is the sort of thing that only
attractive women buy to try perceive them into buying this. The mode of address
for this advert “La nouvelle eau” French for “The new water” is a play on its
background and beach style it influences females to think that this fragrance is
nice and pure. The technical code that can be seen here would be the wide shot
showing this whole woman’s body and the ocean in the background influencing
the viewer to feel closer to this and more familiar. The first symbolic code I
noticed in this advertisement was the colours blue and white, her white clothing
and the products text being white is a sign of something that is cleansed, pure and
innocent, whilst her sparkly blue eyes and the shimmering ocean give off a sense
of water which is also seen as pure and refreshing. The next symbolic code that
can be seen here is her body language, we can see from the way she presents
herself that she wants to be seen as an example of pureness whilst still looking
beautiful and womanly which certain women would strife to be. The symbolic
code of the setting that is being used here is a fresh and pure natural looking beach
that blends into the sky so that the women can feel like the product would be
refreshing to them and that they can feel this pure and refreshing atmosphere.
Ideological function of this advertisement is that women need to see themselves
like this woman who is pure and shimmers like the ocean and that this fragrance
will help make them feel new, pure and refreshed just like her.
http://stephaneff.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/representations-of-gender/
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/I-m-On-A-Horse-How-They-Made-The-Old-Spice-Ad23021.html
http://dariawerbowy.blogspot.ie/2007_04_01_archive.html