Representation Analysis


Unit One - Representation Analysis

Lynx Advert:

  • Male Gaze (Mulvey)

Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' and that the idea that women in the media are seen only as sex object to heterosexual men is supported well in this advert. The woman is a 'Generic Type' of woman when trying to please men, which is blonde, white and skinny. This reinforces the Male Gaze theory and supports it. The advert is proving that the idea of 'sex sells' is still relevant today and, even though it's objectifying, still works when it comes to selling products. The woman in the image seems to be going along with the fact that she's only there for the Male Gaze which further supports this idea in the sense that woman accept the male gaze as it so constantly reinforced in media.
In addition, caption that goes along with the image, further objectifies and demotes woman in the media. As it's clearly aimed at heterosexual men, it's basically saying that if man buy their product, the more woman will want to sleep with them. It's also drilling into the idea of stereotypes, where the most attractive woman are, again, blonde, white, and skinny, just like the generic types.
Due to the fact that we are so accustomed to seeing the media through the males eyes, due to male directors, producers, actors, and marketers, we can just about get the idea that the poster was designed by a male, for the male gaze. Some defended the poster by saying that it's not degrading as it's showing a woman who is confident and in control, however, that doesn't excuse the fact that they are playing on the idea that sex sells, and that woman are only objects and eye candy when it comes to marketing. 

  • Character Typing (Walter Lippman)
Walter Lippman theory states that there are three main shortcuts in the construction of characters to create meaning. These three shortcuts are Stereotypes, Archetypes and A generic type. Stereotypes are a very shallow way representation of a person or social group based on behaviours or appearance. Archetypes are a familiar character that had emerged from hundreds of years of story telling (Hero, Villain, Trickster). And a generic type is a character that is common in a genre. This advert supports both stereotypes and generic types. The stereotypes presented in this advert is that blonde girls attract men more. A French theory that was presented in 2012 states that men find woman with more attractive in night clubs and that blondes gain more attention. The study shown that 127 men approached blonde woman, compared to the 84 men who approached brunettes. Even though this theory came out a year after this advert, it still supports it. The advert is using this stereotype is gain the male gaze, and to easily draw attention to it as it's been a stereotype for years. It also used Generic types as the 'White (supposedly dumb) blonde character has been used on multiple occasions in film when trying to get the attention of men, examples of this are Legally Blonde, Clueless and Mean Girls. People know that this works within film so they use it in adverts so that it can get the same amount of attraction.



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