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) [1].
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’[2].
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 ‘Dynamic Unconsciousness’ that drove
Freud’s nephew; Edward Bernay’s to experiment with how the public was
influenced by advertising. In return for Freud’s book on his theory, Bernay
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.
Bernay’s was originally employed to advertise working at war; it became
apparent that through the representation of Nazi Propaganda, Bernay 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 Barneys 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…’[3].
This confidence in Bernay’s theory implies a strategy that has been addressed
and put into action.
With Bernay’s epiphany of manipulation, he took these
skills and applied it to other political and social contexts. Little was it
known that Bernay’s strategies, based on his Uncles psychoanalysis theory would
influence the world of promotion for decades. In the 1920’s, Bernay’s 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’. 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’. 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. 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 (1994). 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.' [4]
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.' [5]
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’. [6]
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’ [7]
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” 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.’ 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".
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’. [8]
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.
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 sometime 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.’ [9]
In the words of Jean Kilbourne, this statement sums up the effects of women
advertising.
[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] http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/481391-propaganda
[4] [4]
Coward, R (1984) The Look IN: Female Desire: Women's Sexuality Today (Paladin:
London)
[5] [5]
Coward, R (1984) The Look IN: Female Desire: Women's Sexuality Today (Paladin:
London)
[6] http://english.mashkulture.net/American
apparel
[7] http://english.mashkulture.net/American
apparel
[8] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/
[9] http://www.john-wright.net/2009/08/18/response-to-jean-kilbourne-women-in-advertising/
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