representation of women in advertisements

A comparison of how Women are represented in fragrance advertisements from 1970’s, 2008 and 2011

I have chosen to compare three different advertisements (two print and one moving image) depicting the representation of women through different decades of perfume advertising. The three advertisement I have chosen in clue, Charlie (1970 print), Love-struck (2008 print) and Paco Rabanne one million (2011 moving image).

Charlie, print, 1970

The first advertisement I chose was Charlie, released in 1973. The advert represents a young women dressed in smart, masculine clothes that would look suitable for a women or man. She walks with a large stride which is noticeably different to how women usually stood and posed in photographs of them. Usually in perfume advertisements, the women would show themselves as attractive and glamorous, however, this advertisement contradicts this. I think it was refreshing, especially at this time to see women being represented in a new way, it showed that you didn’t have to be dressed in beautiful clothing and posed in a sexual, luring manner to be a women.

You can see men in the background of the image, dressed in similar clothing to the girl, this is to show that men and women are equal. She is also clearly in the middle of the street, perhaps on her way to work not at home cleaning the house or cooking dinner waiting for her husband to return home.

My first Media lesson:
In our first Media Studies lesson, we created our own blog and usefully got to grips and terms with how to use it. We also explored action and adventure films. We watched Mission Impossible- a movie packed with exciting action and many various film techniques. We learnt about the film techniques e.g, camera angles, Vfx, sound, what makes it typical, gadgets, lighting etc. This made us quickly familiar with all the different aspects you can include to make a film good. I really enjoyed doing this because I learnt a lot, it was very interesting and I found it very helpful as it started/set me up for similar tasks in the future.

Lucozade Post

Lucozade was a drink created by Thomas Beecham in Britain in 1927. The slogan of lucozade was "Lucozade aids Recovery". The initial intentions of the drink was to be given to children that were ill, it was to provide the children with the energy they needed in order to get better. After watching an advert about it, it is made obvious that children loved lucozade and were very excited that they got to drink it, it almost made feeling unwell a treat.
The first advert about lucozade (in 1928) was trying to say that Lucozade aids recovery and children that were ill and didn't want to eat should drink this to promote recovery. In my opinion, the advert is aimed at two types of people, mothers and children. I think it's aimed at mothers due to the fact that when a mother's child is ill, they can become worried or feel bad that their child is missing out on possible fun. The advert displays the child's friends coming to him as well as that once the child drank the drink he was happier- which is what a mother wants for their child. It is also aimed at children because the advert presents the drink in a way that makes it seem like it tastes good, (when the child is drinking it, he is smiling).

A new advert was then published in 1985. It is a video of a sports man (well known at the time), Daley Thompson running very quickly. Daley Thompson was famous for his running. By choosing a man like this to represent a drink, it automatically makes the drink seem like its for active people, or for people who want to be fast and strong like Daley Thompson. It was a re-branding of the drink and now targeted different people like young, sporty people.

A more recent advert was published in 2014. The advert displays a young man telling another person what lucozade is. He says its things like it's crowd surfing, snorkelling and wood chopping. These are all things that require movement and energy. Throughout the advert it mentions energy and glucose saying that the drink has lots of energy in it to allow you to do all the things he listed. The last line is, "awesome kind of energy".

Advert showing that lucozade is energy

The advertising of Lucozade has gone from it aiding recovery and making children get better, to what sporty, healthy people should drink, to it being an all round great source of energy.