END OF YEAR ASSESSMENT - LANGUAGE: UNSEEN ADVERT

HOW FAR ARE THE VIEWPOINTS AND IDEOLOGIES COMMUNICATED BY THE MEDIA LANGUAGE USED IN ADVERTS? REFER TO SOURCE B TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

Advertising is very much a gateway between brands and consumers in order to express the ideologies and viewpoints of the brand to target a specific demographic. In this case, Armani has used codes and conventions typical to male-targeted fragrance advertising norms in order to attract and appeal to the male gaze of its heterosexual ABC1 male target audience. 

The feature image of the print advert indicates a focus on the male protagonist, protecting his woman from the world with her in his arms. The audience, being the same demographic as the model, can almost envision themselves being him in an idealistic world, wanting to be able to constantly have a beautiful woman in their arms and look classically handsome with no effort. This acts as a form of escapism for the consumer, they arguably have the potential to be him and so want to be a part of this advertised ideal world instead of their own, but they can’t, because the world they live in isn’t perfect and doesn’t revolve around them. The attraction of his lifestyle is furthered by his eyeline looking off into the distance (somewhat looking to the perfume in adoration), and his Bond-esque aesthetic created by his suit and women undressing for him, positioning him with the patriarchal power commonly romanticized in heterosexual men and enabling a male gaze towards the unidentifiable woman. This purposeful intertextuality creates an idealistic vision of what it is to ‘be a man’, and why the consumer needs the product in order to achieve that goal because society has established the viewpoint that this should be the priority goal for everyone willing to ‘be a man’. 

Furthermore, the monochrome colour palette inkeeping with the packaging deign of the bottle continues the secretive tones through the text, indicating the man’s power and dominance over the situation, giving a sexual undertone to the advertisement and expressing the ideology of being in control that lies within male social standards in society today. 

The hegemonic representation of women in this advert is furthered by the ironic misuse of the male gaze within the placement of the female model. Using the rule of thirds, the consumer will be drawn to the couple first, before reading the product name and ending on the bottle, establishing its significance in their story. The lack of identity portrayed through the female character establishes that this product is not for her and that this particular advert is targeted at male consumers, confirmed through the male model’s disregard of her, no matter how sexualized she is, in order to look at the fragrance in the distance, further establishing a . However, another reading of this could be that, as a heterosexual female consumer buying this for their significant other, if she buys this fragrance for him, he will start paying more attention to her, an insecurity deeply imbedded in the patriarchal society that we are living in, encouraging the ideology of pleasing men and furthering the ideology that the man in the feature image wants to be in control and dominant and she should be accepting of that. 

Advertising as a whole very much has an impact on the viewpoints and ideologies that lay the groundwork for social standards, often buying into misogynistic and other degrading stereotypes like we see here. This is due to the history of oppression within culture that has stemmed from the advertising that came before this, encouraging further oppression in a submissive form and conforming to the ideals that society has placed upon the consumer. 

NOTE: Wasn’t sure if theorists were applicable to this question or not, so this is purely analysis. 

Wow - a really great piece Kate! You keep a strong question focus and make some really intelligent points. I am being picky, but you perhaps don't really use enough technical terminology when exploring media language - try to be clear on exactly which bits create the viewpoint or ideology. Also, as interesting as your conclusion is, it slightly misses the question. Look to conclude on how overall ML communicates the viewpoints and ideologies of companies. really good though!