Media Research

Are women exploited in fashion advertisements? With specific reference to 'Time' by Dolce and Gabbana, a paper advert by Dolce and Gabbana and 'Lemonade' by Beyoncé.

I have chosen to base my research on gender representation, mainly focusing on how women have been mediated in the advertisement industry. Throughout my choices of primary texts, I have noticed a sexual and violent appeal that is continuously being portrayed for the pleasure of men. In order to proceed, it's important to know what representation actually means.

Representation refers to (1) 'the way in which the media constructs aspects of 'real life' including people, places, events, culture, ethnicity and issues". I have found that aspects of my texts are very true, in the sense that women are treated submissively, but in a hyperbolic manner.

Media texts are constructed for an audience, and many people believe that most texts, that are mainly aimed at heterosexual men, have a sexual appeal that degrades women.

(2) Laura Mulvey, a feminist film critic, provided a theory called "The Male Gaze'. Mulvey produced the theory in 1975 and said that the visual arts is seen from a heterosexual man's point of view. The theory consists of three things; the person behind the camera, the characters within the representation and the spectators. Mulvey believes that representations are created by heterosexual men for pleasure that will only please themselves. The inaccurate ideology can be attributed to patriarchy, which promotes the theory that men are more dominant in comparison to women. The hypersexualisation of women in the primary texts, that I have chosen, is becoming normalised and is evolving to be the 'ideological' representation that men and women want to follow.

(1) WJEC, Exploring Media

(2) Laura Mulvey, The Male Gaze (1975), July 25th, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze

Dolce and Gabbana are notoriously guilty at providing sexualised adverts that are deliberately constructed to degrade women and make men look more dominant/powerful. Immediately, we notice that both these advertisements have strong connotations of rape and sexual abuse. For example, the woman has been placed at the very bottom of the advertisement, which represents her worth, and she is trying to escape and restrain the man from sexually assaulting her. The ratio of men to women is very disconcerting and basing the glass on the floor, it looks as if she has been drugged. The men tower over her to represent a patriarchal society and how feminism is is still not as strong as people had hoped.

Women in Dolce and Gabbana adverts are mainly shown to be defenceless and exploited which diminishes their representation in society. All men look predatorily at the woman as if she is their prey, which supports the idea that men are the dominant sex. Both these advertisements are promoting rape culture and how women should be more submissive towards men.

(5) According to a youtube video, these two advertisements "provoked an international backlash which led to it's modification." The image on the left was the advertisement that caused international outrage, and the advertisement on the right is the modified one. However, there is still a sense of drug abuse because of the glass on the floor.

(6) Many people were 'pissed' in response to Dolce and Gabbana's adverts because of the violent exploitation towards women. It seems that Dolce and Gabbana aren't known for their clothing, but for their traditional, ridicule views on many subjects such as IVF (explaining that it is synthetic) and the company's ad that depicts what people see as gang rape, including myself. (7) Even though the ad was released in 2007, it made a reappearance in 2015 because of Kelly Cutrone posted "I GUESS SIMULATING GANG BANGS ARE FINE - BUT IVF AND SAME SEX MARRIAGE ARE NOT - LIFE ACCORDING TO @dolcegabbana" on social media. The ad was banned in various countries such as Italy, who said that it "offended the dignity of the woman". It's reassuring to see that people have reacted in a negative way to the Dolce and Gabbana advertisements, for this allows to see that feminism is becoming more respected ,and equal rights between both genders is becoming more acknowledged.

(8) Not only have Dolce and Gabbana portrayed women in a negative way on paper, they've also included included a moving image advertisement for their watches. In nearly all of Dolce and Gabbana's ad's, their is no diversity in ethnicities and sexuality; all couples are white and heterosexual. In the 'Time' advert, the woman is shown to be a prize and is pulled around for the attention of men. We notice various camera shots such as a mid shot of him pulling her waist towards his, and closeups of the men's faces (very demanding and predatory). The men are a lot more in control of the situation in comparison to the woman, which supports the ideology that men are more dominant than women. It would be good to see counter types instead of stereotypes as this would challenge peoples views and representations in society. It is very disturbing to see that the men immediately start to take their clothes off at the same time as it shows that men are more sexually intrigued compared to women. Throughout this whole advert, it looks as if the woman is giving the men more pleasure just by kissing them compared to the pleasure the woman is receiving.

I noticed a build up in pace of music as the sexual activity increased and the men started to 'take control' of the woman. This whole advertisement is very similar to the paper advertisements in that they both look promiscuous and have a connotation of rape. Both women are not in control of their own bodies because of the drug abuse in the first advert, and because of the pulling in the second.

Both men promote that hyper masculine look because of the muscle, the defined jawline and that strong masculine fashion that both advertisements seem to include. Not only does the male gaze convey a 'ideal' woman, but Mulvey has also included a stereotypical, ideological representation for males. A strong, masculine man has to be dominant, good looking, defined, muscly, tall, white and heterosexual. In almost every fashion advertisement, all men are shown to have a woman by their side, or if it were a female lead, she would have a heterosexual man by her side. The fashion industry is not diverse in the sense that a lot of fashion designers choose not to include different sexualities and ethnicities in their adverts because this world has always been seen as a 'white dominated society'.

*** add images here of tom ford make up***

(9) Luckily, Tom Ford has created an advertisement showing men wearing lipstick. This allows society to break the stereotype on masculinity and allows attributions that are categorised to different genders be neutralised. This allows men to accept that metrosexuality is a positive and that men don't have to live up to societies expectations. However, In the advert, women are still shown to be sexualised and submissive. Even though there are men wearing make-up, there are two men surrounding the women and acting like they want to kiss her. The woman is also wearing a bright pink lipstick which is normally generalised to be a woman's colour. Not only this, but both men seem to focus on the women more than the actual brand itself.

(10) However, there are some positive representations of women in the media. The advert for 'Lemonade' by Beyoncé includes a style that I want my final piece to be like. The different fashion outfits that Beyoncé wears show empowerment, confidence, femininity and cultural acceptance. Beyoncé is a feminist and someone that has recently had a lot of commotion in the media because of her support towards the black community. She has mainly focused on black lives and black representations in the media. However, she has included fashion from the 1800's and matters that need to be addressed that the media choose not to include. Her representations are empowering and shed a positive light on women, especially black women, in the 21st century. This goes against the male gaze and challenges patriarchal views and dominance towards women. The other aspect of this advertisement that is positive is that this was made for women, mainly. Beyoncé tries to reach out to women that are oppressed because of their skin colour, or even because of their gender, and embrace that you are a woman; she tells women to be proud that they are female, which is a stronger message in comparison to a sexualised representation.

(11) Bell Hooks, who is an author that is known for feminism and social activism, developed a theory about women's liberation in society. She explained that women from poorer backgrounds, particularly those who are non-white, would find it a lot harder to gain social equality with men "since they are continually reminded in their everyday lives that all women do not share a common social status." Hooks also wanted men to stand up for women's rights if women were ever going to be accepted and socially equal in society. Hooks also talked about "problematic racial representations" in the media and how non-white people weren't shown in the media as much as a white person, and if they were then it wasn't a positive/ fair representation.

In Beyoncé's advert, she includes a lot of anger to show how she feels about black lives and how they are being treated in society. She portrays an angry and frustrated vibe because of her facial expressions and the sound effects she chooses to include. Every woman in this advert is black is represented to have significance in the 21st century. Every woman, including herself, is shown to be confident in their own skin and is embracing their own culture by braiding their hair and reminiscing on their past.

We see fire which has connotations of anger and destruction. This fire that spreads rapidly behind her shows her power and the destruction she can cause to a patriarchal society. Beyoncé is the epitome of women's rights and cultural acceptance in the media.

Overall, women are shown to still be sexualised and objectified in fashion advertisements, even if men are shown to be metrosexual. Women are shown to be sexualised and exploited in a violent manner, which can create an unrealistic ideology in society. However, we can see that strong, influential people ,who have a strong audience, are making a change and are standing up for women's rights and social equality between the sex's.

We can also see that the public are starting to recognise that women are being exploited in the media and that it needs to stop, through celebrities tweeting and celebrities creating a diverse piece of art.

(3) Dolce and Gabbana, July 25th, https://blogs.ubc.ca/karstenleitner/2016/02/25/dolce-gabbanas-horrific-advertisement/

(4) Dolce and Gabbana, July 25th, https://johnsalmonsworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/dolce-and-gabbana-they-love-a-bit-of-gang-rape/

(5) Eroticisation of violence in Dolce and Gabbana adverts (Dec 11th 2012), July 25th, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_XuUX4zpM

(6) Nextshark (March 18th, 2015), July 25th, http://nextshark.com/people-are-pissed-at-dolce-gabbana-again-for-these-ads-depicting-gang-rape/

(7) Kelly Cutrone's Twitter (march 2015), July 2016, https://twitter.com/kellycutrone/status/577237277895618561?lang=en-gb

(8) Dolce and Gabbana 'Time' (Jan 1st, 2011) 25th July 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqqi7b0d7io

(9) Tom Ford (28th Nov 2014) 25th July, http://cafemakeup.com/2014/11/28/tom-ford-lips-boys-now-live/ http://www.theperfectman.me/tom-ford-lipstick-is-all-about-boys/

(10) Beyoncé 'Lemonade' advert (April 17th 2016), July 25th 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB5zLq1zcdo

(11) Bell Hooks, Feminism and Black Feminism (1984), July 25th 2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks#Feminist_Theory