COP2//Final Essay

Focussing on specific examples, describe the way advertising has been influenced by Psychoanalysis and ‘The Gaze’?

The Gaze display women as objects, ‘Objectification is the accomplished fact: an internalized, nearly invariable response by the male to a form that is, in his estimation and experience, sufficiently what he needs to provoke arousal.’ (Dworkin 1979: 113). Influenced by advertising, magazines and film, this vulnerable imagery of women allows men to perceive females in an inequality way. It is often an area of the female body that is being focussed on that gives men the satisfaction of their sexuality. But what is it that caused this male power? Areas are looked into ‘that is explored using the psychoanalytical writings of Sigmund Freud.’ (Coward, R, 1984).

In the late 1890’s Sigmund Freud introduced the theory of Psychoanalysis in Vienna after much human observation and research, which was originally rejected by the society. At the time it was unknown that Freud’s theory would contribute to the Western Worlds consumer culture. Freud faced criticism of his discovery for many years. Within the theory itself, there is even more expanding ideas on the development of the cognition in the human mind. He treated hysteria patients using psychoanalysis by guiding them to discover and accept repressed thoughts and events. The ‘Dynamic Unconsciousness’ is an element of the psychoanalysis structure, which suggests that by repressing thoughts and feelings, the conscious self would become protected. This part of the mind could also uncover hidden phobias, desires and complexes. The unconsciousness was suggested to be chaotic, without order or language. Freud has a psychodynamic approach to explain personality, which is spilt into three sections; the ID determines the instinct, the Ego is organized and realistic and the Superego can stop the instincts that the ID might have. This structural model is about the behaviour of the psyche rather than supporting the science of the brain.

It was the ‘­ Unconsciousness’ that drove Freud’s nephew; Edward Bernays to experiment with how the public was influenced by advertising. In return for Freud’s book on his theory, Bernays gave him a box of cigars.  Known as the ‘Godfather of PR’, Bernay applied the knowledge of the unconscious desire to campaigns, gaining the power to revolutionise advertising by manipulation. Bernays was originally employed to advertise working at war; it became apparent that through the representation of Nazi Propaganda, Bernays could control a crowd of people and how they respond to advertisement. Selling a product is the epitome of advertising. Without it, objects would be undesired and more or less unknown that they even exist. As time has gone on advertising has be captured in all different kinds of media. Freud and his psychoanalysis theories influenced Bernays to manipulate the power of advertising within the masses. His first conquer was the use of Propaganda in 1928. ‘The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country…’ (Bernays, E: 2004). This confidence in Bernays theory implies a strategy that has been addressed and put into action. With Bernays epiphany of manipulation, he took these skills and applied it to other political and social contexts. Little was it known that Bernays strategies, based on his Uncles psychoanalysis theory would influence the world of promotion for decades. In the 1920’s, Bernays began working for a tobacco company, based in America. Seen by society, smoking was a habit mainly adopted by the male gender. The act suggested power, authority and control. To break this taboo, ‘Bernays hypothesized that by understanding the group mind, it would be possible to manipulate people's behaviour without their even realizing it. To test this hypothesis, Bernays launched one of his most famous public relations campaigns: convincing women to smoke’ (Bernays, E: 2004). Encouraging women to smoke would represent the power that they had and therefore challenging the male power and how they were perceived. A lucky strike advert recited ‘Reach for a lucky instead of a sweet’. This loaded phrase suggests a more feminine take on cigarette promotion. Another advert uses the tagline ‘To keep a slender figure, no one can deny….’. This link to body image promotes what they think is an attainable figure with this cigarette in their lives, which is in fact the opposite of what this product would do to a human being. However, relatable and inspiring images are enough to trick the minds of young women. The women on the Lucky Strike adverts portrayed a sense of sophistication, style and power, which of course is what the onlookers strived to be. The symbolic meaning of a single product created the illusion of this glamorous lifestyle. The way Bernay increased the sales of a product that can in fact cause illness and death through manipulation of the cognitive process on an individual, is a skill that led to advertising evolving.

In contrast to this, a lot of advertising in the twentieth century was aimed at men portraying women in a controversial way. The Gaze looked at women in an objective sense, allowing society to peruse this way of thinking. Manipulation of words and images in campaigns uncovered a clear target audience; for example, a 1950’s ‘Vue’ magazine cover saw the picture of a young woman, proposing the tagline ‘My hobby is men’. (See fig 1). This delicate gaze is appealing to the male gender. Edward Bernay persuaded women to smoke in a new trend of adverts however, some cigarette companies responded to this power battle by reminding men they still embodied control. Tipalet tobacco used the phrase ‘blow on her face and she will follow you everywhere’, undercutting a background image of a man breathing cigarette smoke into glamorous women’s face. (See fig 2). Not only is this advert insulting to women, it is also suggesting that if men smoke then they will gain the power of an unattainable female. Referred to as an object, this advert implies an irrational message that women will act as told by a man. This way of perceiving women actually goes back to the fifteenth century when painting the female body was a hobby. Han's Memling 'vanity' (1485) represents social and cultural power. All artists at this point were men until about the late twentieth century. This image would have been painted for men and therefore created a fantasy. The painting sees a naked women gazing at herself in her reflection of a mirror, she is aware she is being gazed at and revels in it. The woman is also aware she is a sexual object. Men for men create the femininity of this woman. Viewing a nude painting of women is a way men can gaze with no feeling of guilt and retaining class. This concept is something that has followed through to advertising today. Even television programmes reveal this idea of women through personalities like Katie Price. It comes across that women are easily controlled and have it in their aim to appeal to the male audience by revealing themselves in a sexual way.

The power of the gaze, suggests that the women can take can control of a male. Here the role is reversed. It reflects an assertive femininity. If successful women are advertised in a provocative way, it is a way of females confronting the theory of women being objectified by men. A semi naked women looking at a male saying she 'can't cook' therefore proposes disappointment. Either being a domestic wife or a sexual object, here are two different male fantasies being displayed. The Wonder bra advert also saw this theory put into action with they ‘Hello boys’ campaign. (Wonderbra: 1994: see fig 3). One of the most iconic adverts led the male into a distraction of female advertising. Instead of women being objectified by men, they are allowing themselves to be objectified by each other. This manipulation allows females to gain control, domination and power. 'Women is flesh, often feel embarrassed, irritated or downright angered by men's persistent gaze...those women on billboards, though; they look back.' (Coward, R: 1984). This observation implies that women in the street often don't appreciate the gaze of the male; it can make them feel objectified and uncomfortable. Therefore this kind of behaviour is made less sociably acceptable. However women in the images of billboards and adverts can be noticed, as their purpose is to appeal to men. They offer engaging looks back, which fulfil the male fantasy. This idea looms that initially it is the appearance of a male and female that draws an attraction. The society has become overly concerned with appearance rather than someone views and personality traits. However even though women may feel as though they have gained power 'Advertising in this society builds precisely on the creation of an anxiety to the effect that, unless we measure up, we will not be loved.' (Coward, R:1984). Women spend too much time and effort trying to meet societies expectations. However men and their fantasies created these expectations. So even though females may have attempted to take the Gaze into their own hands, in fact it is males that manipulated the theory in the first place. Therefore women have created pressure on themselves. Another view of the theory is suggesting that nowadays the women's behaviour is now controlled by their own decisions and there mind based on the images that media expose them to. The way women have been perceived in the media for decades has produced two kind of outcomes, or it could be said, two types of women. Some women see unattainable images of other women that make them feel inadequate and not attractive and others see it as unrealistic for the average women but in a positive way.

These days it isn’t just companies that have sexual connotation that display this in there advertising. Some shops and businesses simply adopt a more provocative identity to increase sales and attract more customers. However there are multiple views on the weather this is a positive thing is inappropriate on some levels. For example ‘American Apparel’s marketing strategy has brought the brand mainstream attention ever since they implemented it years ago’. (English.mashkulture.net: American Apparel). American apparel, an American clothing brand that promotes their products in a racy, fetish like manner. Its controversial advertising has set them apart from their high street competitors. Using female models that are quirky yet display sexiness in a ‘bad girl’ ideal, influences not only what people wear but also what kind of girl they want to become. Using taglines such as ‘Cotton. You can feel how good it looks’  (English.mashkulture.net: American Apparel) with an image of a half naked girl looking rebellious suggests that with the products, young girls can aspire to look good, effortlessly. Over the years, American Apparel has caused uproar forcing some adverts to even be banned. ‘The ASA said that it was “offensive and irresponsible” (UK, P: 2013) American Apparel Adverts Banned to use some of the images as they sexualised a model that looked under-16 and that these could be viewed by minors. Elsewhere, some other ads for hosiery website were deemed “unnecessarily sexual and inappropriate”, “sexually suggestive and gratuitous” and “submissive and sexually suggestive.’ UK, P. (2013). American Apparel Adverts Banned Allowing young girls to be promoted this way, allows males to objectify them in an inappropriate manner. However, some people think that American Apparels way of advertising is revolutionary and should be encouraged. Are the adverts only seen as sexual because of people’s assumption of the brand or is they’re more to it than that? If anything this Manipulated strategy has created a lot of press around the brand and enhanced their presence. ‘The attention the new campaign is attracting online is exactly what American Apparel wants. The brand has worked hard at creating an image for itself that is "soaked in youth and sex". UK, P. (2013). American Apparel Adverts Banned Provocative advertising is their artillery. Their site even has a special section labelled "provocative ads’. This analysis implies that has objectifying women become a trend, and if so, are women accepting it and taking advantage of the power of advertising? Similarly to this hipster, rebellious advertising, vice magazine portrays this sort of imagery conveying women. 'Vice' magazine has been redefining style and pushing back the frontiers of taste for 15 years with images of nudity, death, drugs, war and more. Its creators say they're in the ‘great tradition of satire – telling their readers what the mainstream media won't dare to’. (The Independent: media). This implies that beauty has a new look and it may be more attainable than the latest supermodels figure and skin. Vice magazine communicates a beauty to teenage girls that is grungy and almost sinful. The outrageous stories twinned with an image that can only be described as controversial, displays somehow an inspiring lifestyle. Brands like this show how just like everything else, advertising works on a trend basis. Depending on who the latest role model is and the style that that they exude, determines the inspiration. For example, Kate Moss did a campaign for ‘Obsession’ a fragrance from Calvin Klein for men where she was photographed naked with her arms covering you breasts. In this image she looks particularly skinny rather than a healthy, glowing women. Her hair is slicked back forming a more masculine look. This boyish style that Kate Moss is portraying in the advert is somehow influential to females even though it is essentially aimed at men. Instantly this advert has the power to encourage women to adopt a look that they wouldn’t necessary class as attractive but because a celebrity is displaying this certain identity, it becomes more appealing. Additionally, because the product being sold is actually for men, female onlookers assume that this is the kind of woman that a male desires. Obviously this way of thinking is false but the power of advertising has manipulated the observers so that their products will not only sell more successfully but give them control on people may buy into the future.

‘Catherine Deneuve’s face and the Chanel bottle are not linked by any narrative, simply by Juxtaposition.’ (Williamson, J: 2004). This observation referring to a 1975 Chanel poster suggests that there isn’t actually a meaning to why Catherine Deneuve is the face of this campaign.  The only meaning relevant is to what it means to the audience. ‘What Catherine Deneuve’s face means to us in the world of magazines and films, Chanel No.5 seeks to mean and comes to mean in the world of consumer goods.’ (Williamson, J: 2004). This explanation expresses the idea that it is in fact the image being presented as whole that makes a product sell rather than two meaningless images standing alone. The image of Catherine Deneuve ‘Signifies glamour and beauty’ (Williamson, J: 2004) therefore so does the perfume, increasing the chances of appealing to women in the public. Even though the image is simple and not provocative, is still embodies a sense of femininity, sophistication and desirability. It is posters like this that has moulded brands such as Chanel and the design approaches made distinguished what tone of voice they would communicate for years to come.   

                        

Other brands including these, display how women, after decades, are still used and photographed in provocative ways. However, manipulation and the gaze influenced this approach to advertising. Even though it is sometimes more obvious than others, the cognition of a human being has been greatly considered when brands and companies are evaluating their target audience. Predicting how an advert can be received, whether it is for men or women, is a skill that can allow a business to make the most money. Even if a product isn’t a necessity essential or aesthetically pleasing, the power of advertising has become so strong that practically anything can be sold with the right strategy. Many aspects make up a successful advert, but it has been apparent that women have played a crucial part in this. Some females may take offence to this observation; others may think it shows power and domination. Either way, this technique will continue to evolve and create controversy on the way. ‘The first thing that advertisers do is surround us with the image of ideal female beauty, so we all learn how important it is for a woman to be beautiful, and exactly what it takes.’ (www.john-wright: response to jean Kilbourne women in advertising). In the words of Jean Kilbourne, this statement sums up the effects of women advertising.

Bibliography

1.     Dworkin, A (1979) Pornography, Men Possessing Women (The Woman's Press Ltd, Great Britain)

2.     Coward, R (1984) The Look IN: Female Desire: Women's Sexuality Today (Paladin: London)

3.     Bernays, E (2004). Propaganda. New York : Ig Publishing . 36.

4.     Vue Magazine (Fig 1) 

5.     Tipalet Tobacco (Fig 2)  

6.     Wonderbra: 1994 (Fig 3) 

7.     English.mashkulture.net (n.d.) Untitled. [online] Available at: http://english.mashkulture.net/American apparel [Accessed: 14 May 2013].

8.     UK, P. (2013) American Apparel Adverts Banned. [online] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/10/american-apparel-adverts-banned-sexual-objectifying-images-half-naked-models_n_3050235.html [Accessed: 10 January 2013].

9.     Williamson , J. (2013) Decoding Advertisments. London : 2002, p.25.

10.  The Independent (2013) The Independent | Media News | Latest Media, Advertising and Marketing News. [online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ [Accessed: 10 January 2013].

11.  John-wright.net (n.d.) Untitled. [online] Available at: http://www.john-wright.net/2009/08/18/response-to-jean-kilbourne-women-in-advertising/ [Accessed: 13 January 2013].