megan fox analysis

Working title: How woman are portrayed as sexual objects in the advertisement 'Megan Fox "The Tip" Armani 

Angle: What impact does this have on society as a whole? Is this a desensitisation towards sexuality or the objectification of woman?

Hypothesis-

Linked piece production: Advert showing how woman being show sexually and represented as a sexual icon. 

MIGRAIN-

 Media Language- long shot of megan fox capturing getting her whole body into the camera creating a female gaze. Close up as megan fox put on her jeans to reinforce that advert is for armani clothing. . Close up at her chest again creating a female gaze for males to look at and desire to watch. Constant close ups at the jeans to remind the audience the main reason for the advert. 

High angle shot to make Megan fox seem more superior compared to the male who’s looked down at from a high angle shot pushing the trolley. A close of shot of the male waiters hand shaking whilst picking up the spoon shows that the female character is more dominant within this shot , breaking the patriarchal stereotype as the man is seen doing the work whereas Megan fox is seen in a close up on the side of her face fixing her collars in a masculine way.

 Megan Fox is the first person to speak whilst a close up on the male characters face shows his nervousness  further highlighting Megan Fox’s dominance breaking dominant ideologies and post traditional values.

Institution-

 Hollywood, Megan fox known as very attractive woman and has starred in top movies such as Transformers.
Armani a very well known brand and exploiting women to reach out to audiences.

Genre- 

Megan Fox is the main icon in the advert. The style of the advert is posh with the colour scheme of black and white throughout the advert. The setting is seen to be a posh apartment showing class and also creating enigmas that many things can take place indoors and in a room between a male and female. 

Representations- 

In this advert woman are being represented negatively with megan fox opening the door half naked in just her bra and knickers. In addition can also be argued that shes challenging the gender stereotypes as woman are usually seen as not wearing clothes or removing their clothes but in this particular advert the woman is putting clothes on. On the other hand feminists would argue that woman are still always represented and  still seen as being sexually exploited and are seen as being nothing more than just providing the next generation. Furthermore showing matriarchal society as the woman is shown as being more dominant and powerful, as the male in the advert is shown as a waiter- the connotations added to a waiter are someone who takes orders and does as they are told. Males represented as 'perverts' as the male actor purposely drops the napkin to see where the 'sexy female' is and to look and admire. 
I believe the representation is fair as society reflects woman as sexual objects, and also it is now seen as the nature of advertisement and a promotion method that woman are almost always represented sexually so it's now seen as a norm. Megan Fox smiling as she notices the waiter looking and smiles showing that she enjoys the attention. Towards the end of the advert the waiter rejects the tips and replies 'thank you' implies that megan fox was putting on some sort of sexual show. Uses and Gratification of escapism and entertainment keeping the main target audience of males engaged in what is going on in the advert and forget about what is going on around them.

Megan Fox, role model and known for her looks and how beautiful she is, this then leads to aspirational audiences buying armani jeans because they aspire to be like and begin to think that if they wear armani jeans they would also look as good

Audience-

 Psychographics- aspirers
Demographics- B, C1, C2, D


Theories-

Blumler & katz- Uses and gratifications theory.... escapism and entertainment
feminism- woman are being exploited and seen as sexual objects.
marxism- capitalism- megan fox is part of the bourgeouisie and the waiter does as he is told, showing there is a hierachy and that is he is below Megan Fox
Laura Mulvey- female gaze
American dream- of people wanting to keep up with the latest fashion wear 
Barthes- enigma codes
Celebrity 
Equiliibrium
femme fatale
Aspirational audiences- want to be like the people in the texts
Todorov- Equilibirum 
Stereotypes (Perkins)-  1. Some stereotypes are positive ( “The French are good cooks.”)

2. They are not always minority groups or the less powerful

3. They can be held about one’s own group

4. They are not rigid or unchanging

5. They are not always false

Lacan – Psychoanalysis and ‘The Mirror’- Lacan’s theory of ‘the mirror’ is an idea around the idea of identity.  He considers the point at which a person develops a sense of self and conscious identity.  He considers the point at which a child recognises their own reflection and begin to consider how others peceive them, modifying their appearence to satisfy their perceptions of how others see them.  Mulvey extends this idea when she writes about ‘the silver screen’ which she suggest operates like a metaphorical mirror; reflecting back to the female viewer representations of female identity, but these representations are not genuine reflections of the viewer but rather male perceptions of idealised femininity.

Third wave feminism- was a movement that redefined and encouraged to be dominant and sexually assertive (self confident)

Research plan

Media texts: Megan Fox "The Tip" Armani

Academic Texts- 'the game' book

Critical Investigation First Draft

The male gaze? How women are portrayed as sexual objects in advertisements such as Armani’s ‘The Tip’

Woman were always seen as objects while men are seen as subjects (Mulvey) and passive characters that were always female in the past were "symbolically annihilated" as in they were under represented in the media.. This investigation will explain how women stereotypes are subverted or reinforced, and how this method of sexualisation has a impact on society and if it influences female consumers lifestyle.  

The September 2010 Armani commercial called 'The Tip' starring Megan Fox is a perfect example of over sexualisation in advertising. As producers use a variety of shots to enhance the sexualisation of Hollywood actress Megan Fox therefore 'Advertisers assume that the use of sexy models in promotional messages is what appeals to countless individuals due to how the model is portrayed (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).'[1]  Firstly this is done by the use of a long shot of Megan fox capturing her whole body into the camera creating a male gaze which allows males to fantasise over the female actress. “Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’ is important; as she contends that scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings) has been ‘organised’ by society’s patriarchal definition of looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female ‘passivity’. Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed either as a fetishized spectacle or as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.”[2]

 Although different types of shots are used to represent the female protagonist sexually, the different type of shots also have positive representations  for instance a high angle shot is used to make Megan fox seem more superior compared to the male who’s looked down at from a high angle shot pushing the trolley. As well as that a use of a close up of shot of the male waiters hand shaking whilst picking up the spoon shows that the female character is more dominant within this shot, breaking the patriarchal stereotype as the man is seen doing the work whereas Megan fox is seen in a close up on the side of her face fixing her collars in a masculine way. Megan Fox is the first person to speak whilst a close up on the male characters face shows his nervousness furthermore highlighting Megan Fox’s dominance breaking dominant ideologies and post traditional values this positive representation is also shown in ‘South African advert for She-bear lingerie in 1999, for example, featured an attractive young white woman wearing only her lingerie and a nun's habit and rosary. The slogan, 'Wear it for yourself', ties the brand identity to women who dress for themselves rather than for men’[3] showing that females positions have now started to change from a ‘recent past, women's cooking or domestic cleanliness or interior design skills were the focus of advertisers' attention’[4] to now a more equal to men representation

Furthermore the use of a close up on the protagonist Megan Fox put on her jeans reinforces to the audience that advert is for Armani.  In addition another close up at her chest again creating a female gaze for males to look at and desire, this related to Blumler and Katz uses and gratification theory as the media text provides escapism as well as entertainment as audiences forget stresses and strains of the outside world. Constant close ups are used at the product to remind the audience the main reason for the advert. This method of close up is used in ‘Many advertisements do depict women with either alluring behavior or exposing some or the  majority of their bodies, which contributes to the consumers ability to remember brand/product (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).’ [5]

Moreover in this commercial woman are being represented negatively with Megan fox opening the door half naked in just her bra and knickers. However can also be argued that this commercial is challenging the gender stereotypes as females are usually seen as not wearing clothes or removing their clothes but in this particular advert the female is putting clothes on. On the other hand radical feminists would argue that woman are still always represented and still seen as being sexually exploited and are seen as being nothing more than just providing the next generation, Kilbourne (2002) suggested that the dismemberment of women is a monstrous problem in advertising. Dismemberment ads focus on one part of the body e.g. a womans breasts. [6][4]

Furthermore showing matriarchal society as the woman is shown as being more dominant and powerful, as the male in the advert is shown as a waiter- the connotations added to a waiter are someone who takes orders and does as they are told. The males are represented as 'perverts' as the male actor purposely drops the napkin to see where the 'sexy female' is and to look and admire. This idea of sexualisation  is now seen as the nature of advertisement and a promotion method that woman are almost always represented sexually so it's now seen as a norm. Megan Fox smiling as she notices the waiter looking and smiles back shows that she enjoys the attention. Towards the end of the advert the waiter rejects the tips and replies 'thank you' implies that Megan Fox was putting on some sort of sexual show relating to the Uses and Gratification of escapism and entertainment keeping the main target audience of males engaged in what is going on in the advert and forget about what is going on around them.

Megan Fox is seen role model and known for her looks and how beautiful she is, this then leads to aspirational audiences buying Armani jeans because they aspire to be like her and begin to think that if they wear Armani they would also look as good.

Commercials such as this have had a huge impact of how children look at themselves in society. Lacans theory of ‘the mirror’ is an idea around the idea of identity.  He considers the point at which a person develops a sense of self and conscious identity.  He considers the point at which a child recognises their own reflection and begin to consider how others perceive them, modifying their appearance to satisfy their perceptions of how others see them.  Mulvey extends this idea when she writes about ‘the silver screen’ which she suggest operates like a metaphorical mirror; reflecting back to the female viewer representations of female identity, but these representations are not genuine reflections of the viewer but rather male perceptions of idealised femininity.

In addition another commercial where women are portrayed sexually is Keira Knightly Coco Chanel advert. The advert starts with a high angle shot looking down at the well-known female in the advert 'Keira Knightly' this shows dominance and power to the audience and showing the female as being powerless. Close up shot to the female fatale’s behind creating a male gaze for men to use their imagination and creating an enigma and a fantasy in their minds. Earlier on in the trailer typical stereotypes of a female are subverted as she is dressed revealing not much skin. Plus she stops at the red light with male protagonists turning up in motorbikes both sides of her showing that she is obedient, however she then drives off without paying any attention this shows her challenging typical stereotypes and showing that she is not interested. 

However later on in the advert typical stereotypes are reinforced the male owns the photo shoot and is in charge showing hegemony power and that the male in the advert is the dominant ideology. Close up to the females lips as she puts on lip gloss creating seduction to the male audience. The male closing the curtains and creating darkness as this is when most sexual activities take place. Taking photos while the females carries out sexual poses this reinforces that woman are shown to be sexual in advertisements and pictures to appeal to their target audience. Male is then looking down at the female fatale while she undresses herself showing that he's in control and in charge. She undresses herself while the male is still in clothes showing that she is weaker than the male.

However  towards the end she then escapes and then the male is standing with his shirt undone and  this time she is dressed and showing the female as being more powerful than the male however feminists would argue that there is still unequal power share between the male and female. The sound also used in the advert 'it’s a man's world' again reinforces that male are the more powerful person.

 The primary audience for this particular advert would be female as the product in the advertisement is a ladies perfume. The secondary audience is male as they may want their wives or girlfriends to be sexy and attractive like Keira Knightly. The psychographics would be aspirer's women which aspire to be like Keira knightly

However in contrast to the historical Levi’s advert (1995) I analysed there has not been a very great deal of the change in woman’s position in commercials 'You can stay blind to the beauty of the world, just be in the right place in the right time'. Long shot at the start of the advert is used to catch a whole image of the setting of the petrol station. Fearless driving and the female jumping out the car quick helps audiences to quickly identify the female protagonist as a criminal and the use of a low angle shot looking up at her signalises power to the female as she walks to the toilet after committing a crime. The women’s toilets being locked she then walks into the men’s toilet being an easy target for males for sexual events to be carried out. The male drops his stick and there’s a close up on the stick and his hand not being able to pick up the stick on his first attempt indicates that he's blind. Following onto quick shots of her undressing herself to change her identity and creates a female gaze. She then walks up to the blind man which is eye level with the woman’s vagina with her buttons undone creating an enigma of mystery of what will happen next, she is then looking down at the male almost showing that she’s in control and has power to do what she wants, however instead of any sexual activities taking place she does her buttons up challenging the typical stereotypes. Moving on to someone who makes a noise in the toilets, she then escapes having a quick look back at the man again creating a enigma of what would of happened if that person was not in the toilet. Throughout the advert the man with the stick is assumed to be blind however the man who comes out the toilet is actually the blind person therefore it’s as if she was almost performing for the male while he just sat there as a result ‘women are sexual objects that are around just to please men’[5]

The primary target audience for this advert is woman as the woman quickly changing outfits shows that there's a high selection of clothes available with Levi's, in addition allowing woman to look sexy and attractive. The secondary audience would be male's as it helps them decide where they can buy gifts for their wives and girlfriends, the advert links to Blumler and Katz uses and gratifications theory creating escapism for audiences while watching the advert forgetting stresses from the outside world. The setting being in a dirty toilet shows that it can by both middle and working class.

The reason for producers to include sexuality is because ‘more and more ads are made to look sexual because the new motto is “sex sells”(9). Furthermore ‘advertisers know that sexy woman appeal to men, so they use their image to get males to buy certain products’[6]

However although women are represented sexually, it is not only females that are represented sexually, along with females men are also represented sexually in advertising. As shown in the diet coke advert as the advert starts off with woman informing each other about their 11.30 break, this is breaks typical stereotypes as women are at work rather than at home playing the expressive role. A repetition of ‘a diet break’ makes it simple for audiences to know that the commercial is a diet coke advert. The females then gather up by the window look out at the construction workers. There is then a close up to the one of the females face and from the facial expression you can see that she is happy with what she is looking at, the male protagonist then removes his t-shirt showing sexualisation as audiences can look and admire the male’s muscular and manly body. The advert then follows up with an aerial shot looking down at the male this allows audiences to see the male from their point of view. One of the females then quotes’ see you tomorrow’ and the other follows up with a reply saying ’11.30’ this shows that watching the male target is like watching a show and that females get pleasure out of watching the male. Moreover the soundtrack used in the advert lyrics say ‘I just want to make love to you’ shows that he is seen as an sexual object for females to carry out sexual activities on.

In addition Marxist believe that we live in a capitalist society where the ruling class exploit the working class and use the working class in order to help them make profit. This is reflected across Megan Fox’s advert as she is helping promote a product of the bourgeoisie as ‘^" Pro-feminist cultural critics such as Robert Jensen and Sut Jhally accuse mass media and advertising of promoting the objectification of women to help promote goods and services"[7] as a result these products appeal to their audiences through sexualisation and ‘“as the hypodermic needle theory suggests that audiences are affected by what they see in the media”[8] and believe what they see in media texts. According to Megan Fox’s Armani advert audiences would believe that by wearing Armani they will be just as attractive as the Hollywood actress as a result audiences are ‘dumbed down’ to believe what they see. However feminists would argue that the exploitation of women in advertising has led to society think that women are sexual objects.  Feminists argue that because advertisers have historically been sexist white males who are members of the patriarchy and participants in the capitalist system, they have used advertising as yet another instrument to oppress women. [9]

 

The increase in sexualisation has led to a moral panic of young girls. As young girls are influenced by the media to have a ‘sexy body’ These adds overtly and covertly encourage a women to view her body as many individual pieces rather than a whole[10] furthermore if a women has less than satisfactory legs, then her potential for beauty is spoiled[11]. Furthermore clothing that are now sold in society are showing that ‘Young girls are “adultified” and adult women are “youthified”[12] as young girls have clothes such as jeggings which show off females body image making females concerned about their body from a young age. Furthermore due to adverts such as ‘The tip’ ‘young girls in fact compare their physical attractiveness to models feautured in advertising’[13]

  

Words- 2,647

Bibliography

Work Cited:

Newspaper and magazines and articles

Living in a Sexualised Society

Lady Lumps and Growing Up to Want Boobies: How the Sexualisation of Popular Culture Limits Girls’ Horizons

Applying Evolutionary Psychology in Understanding the Representation of Women in Advertisements

Jensen. R (1998), pg 213

Super sexualise me article

Internet

http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

Thompson, D. Hyperdermic needle theory. (2011) – http://prezi.com/7x999ogdbu68/hyperdermic-needle-theory

http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html

http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/WalkerEffectsofSexualizationinAdvertisements.pdf-

Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze- http://mediaalevel.edublogs.org/2010/07/02/the-male-gaze/

Work Consulted:

Newspaper and magazines and articles

Super sexualise me article

Pin-ups in public spaceSexist outdoor advertising as sexual harassment

advertising and body image article

Applying Evolutionary Psychology in Understanding the Representation of Women in Advertisements:

Lady Lumps and Growing Up to Want Boobies: How the Sexualisation of Popular Culture Limits Girls’ Horizons:

Living in a Sexualised Society

Sexual objectification of women (2010)

Internet

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/slut-dropping-and-pimps-and-hoes--the-sexual-politics-of-freshers-week-8203400.html-

http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/WalkerEffectsofSexualizationinAdvertisements.pdf-

http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/WalkerEffectsofSexualizationinAdvertisements.pdf-

https://sites.google.com/site/mediasportrayalonwomen/Home/the-perfect-woman--1950-vs--today/the-sexualization-of-women

http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html

Thompson, D. Hyperdermic needle theory. (2011) – http://prezi.com/7x999ogdbu68/hyperdermic-needle-theory

---

[1] http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/WalkerEffectsofSexualizationinAdvertisements.pdf-

[2] Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze- http://mediaalevel.edublogs.org/2010/07/02/the-male-gaze/

[3] Super sexualise me article

[4] http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

[5] http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html

[6] http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html

[7] Jensen. R (1998), pg 213

[8] Thompson, D. Hyperdermic needle theory. (2011) – http://prezi.com/7x999ogdbu68/hyperdermic-needle-theory

[9] Applying Evolutionary Psychology in Understanding the Representation of Women in Advertisements

[10] http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

[11] http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

[12] Lady Lumps and Growing Up to Want Boobies: How the Sexualisation of Popular Culture Limits Girls’ Horizons

[13] Living in a Sexualised Society

bibliography

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/slut-dropping-and-pimps-and-hoes--the-sexual-politics-of-freshers-week-8203400.html-

http://psych.hanover.edu/research/Thesis11/papers/WalkerEffectsofSexualizationinAdvertisements.pdf-

https://sites.google.com/site/mediasportrayalonwomen/Home/the-perfect-woman--1950-vs--today/the-sexualization-of-women

Super sexualise me article

http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/greening.html

http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html

Pin-ups in public spaceSexist outdoor advertising as sexual harassment

advertising and body image article

Applying Evolutionary Psychology in Understanding the Representation of Women in Advertisements:

Lady Lumps and Growing Up to Want Boobies: How the Sexualisation of Popular Culture Limits Girls’ Horizons:

The Effects of Sexualization in Advertisements

essay plan

The male gaze? How women are portrayed as sexual objects in advertisements such as Armani’s ‘The Tip’

Intro..

Para 1- Women sexualised in ad...megan fox?

Advertisers assume that the use of sexy models in promotional messages is what appeals to countless individuals due to how the model is portrayed (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).

This can cause identification with the model in a way that will elicit some sort of affirmative feelings within the consumer, which may increase the likelihood of purchasing a product or using a service

Many advertisements do depict women with either alluring behavior or exposing some or the  majority of their bodies, which contributes to the consumers ability to remember brand/product (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).

Goldman argued that advertisers' response was to develop ‘commodity feminism’i [;] adverts that attempt to articulate a rapprochement between traditional femininity and what are coded as

feminist goals: independence, career success, financial autonomy

Midriff advertising has four central themes: an emphasis upon the body, a shift from

objectification to sexual subjectification, a pronounced discourse of choice and

autonomy, and an emphasis upon empowerment.

Kilbourne (2002) suggested that the dismemberment of women is a monstrous problem in advertising. Dismemberment ads focus on one part of the body, e.g., a woman’s breasts.

 dismemberment ads employ female body parts for the purpose of selling a product.

Para- Talk about historical text and how representations are similar or different.. has the representations improved or got worse......levi's advert and coco chanel?

today's midriff advertising women are much less likely to be shown as passive sexual objects than as empowered, heterosexually desiring sexual subjects

recent past, women's cooking or domestic cleanliness or interior design skills were the focus of advertisers' attention

Instead of caring or nurturing or motherhood, it is now possession of a 'sexy body' that is presented as women's key source of identity.

South African advert for She-bear lingerie in 1999, for example, featured an attractive young white woman wearing only her lingerie and a nun's habit and rosary. The slogan, 'Wear it for yourself', ties the brand identity to women who dress for themselves rather than for men

women can use their bodies for profi t as a means to power;

more and more ads are made to look sexual because the new motto is “sex sells.”

Para 3- How men are represented in ads? diet coke re-releasing it


Of course, ads do not only show women. Men too are shown in many different ways. Most often they are shown in more dominant roles.

men are shown as being muscular and athletic, which in turn shows that they have more power

 “Women-and their body parts-sell everything from food to cars” 

 muscular male bodies is also causing men a lot of insecurity

4- moral panic... sexualisation of children

young women are presented not as passive sex objects, but as active, desiring sexual subjects, who seem to participate enthusiastically

objectification theory, which suggests that our culture socializes girls and women to internalize an observer’s perspective on their own bodies.

 the sexualized portrayal of women in the media has significantly negative outcomes. These negative outcomes are not only affecting adult women but also young girls. Females are buying cosmetics and beauty products at increasingly younger age

‘Sexualisation  

narrows girls 

“space for action”, 

their aspirations and 

achievements by 

re-defining femininity 

and beauty as of 

most importance’

‘Young girls are “adultified” and adult women are “youthified” ’

Young girls in particular are becoming increasingly influenced by the fashion, music and advertising industries 
that advertise that “they should look „hot‟ not later  but now” (Reist, 2008: 42)

Para 5- why are the theoretical explanations for over sexualisation in advertising? Marxism and feminism

 Also with these ads showing women as sexual objects, men then begin to believe  that the sexual image of women is what is important and what makes them "attractive"

With women treating their bodies as sexual objects it then leads women to believe that that is all that is important. 

voice-overs were generally done by men, indexing their greater authority.

feminist work has been the analysis of how ‘cropping’ is used in adverts. Many studies have highlighted the way in which women’s bodies are fragmented in adverts, visually dissected so that the viewer sees only the lips, or the eyes, or the breasts, or whatever (Dyer 1982;

Coward 1984).

 the emphasis media place on the thin ideal body image may be responsible for body size overestimations that women make, and indirectly cause increases in anorexia 

‘Particularly boys, who are exposed to sexualised media are likely to perceive women to be sex
objects’


Para 6- Conclusion