Women in Advertising

Versace Bright Crystal & Calvin Klein Underwear

Introduction

Good morning Mr Stewart and class. We are exposed to advertisements every day, at every minute, maybe even every second for advertisements are everywhere. On the side of the bus that picks you up to go to school, during commercial breaks while watching Home and Away, even on the front cover of your favourite magazine. These ads advertise many things ranging from products, services, events or even a message the advertiser is trying to get across to the reader. Many techniques have been used in advertising to grab an individual’s attention and persuade them to buy their product. I will be showing you two ads which I have analysed thoroughly where we will be uncovering the different techniques used in advertising. But today we will see how women are misrepresented in the advertising world today.

Advertisement 1 – Versace Bright Crystal

The first ad is a perfume called Bright Crystal by Versace. Right away you can tell this ad is targeted towards woman of course from teenage years up to 40 maybe. On this ad, a female is lying on what seems to be a chair with the Versace perfume. The advertisement not only tries to capture the beauty of the model, but the perfume too by creating an illuminating light coming from the perfume emphasising this “bright crystal”. Funny too because that’s actually the name of the perfume anyways. Hahaha (no one is laughing -.-)

Advertisement 2 – Calvin Klein Underwear

This second ad is of underwear by Calvin Klein. Right away you see a woman posing in sexy see-through lingerie. As you can see, this ad is aimed towards women in their youth years up to maybe 40 years? This ad grabs the attention of the reader with a close up of the model showing off not only the model but the underwear she is wearing.

Techniques

Sex appeal is very common and inviting these days. Lesbi-honest everyone, ain’t they sexy asf? Wait, guys look at this closely… what do you think of the models? Sex appeal can be shown in the way models are dressed, the position their body is in and in their facial expression. This is used to make the female audience feel like this is the way they are meant to look like after trying that perfume or putting on that piece of underwear. This group of audience would be targeted to this appeal because they will think this would grab the attention of the opposite sex.

However, there is a down side to using this technique. It can be seen as sexist, or degrading to women. Some could read this ad as women having to sell their bodies to feel sexy or to sell a certain product. This reading would only come from people depending on the simplistic view of society or the possible narrow understanding of men. However, it is true that the reality is that this Versace perfume or Calvin Klein underwear will in fact NOT make you sexy.

Celebrity endorsement is an effective technique used in advertising. As you can tell, both ads use famous celebrities to advertise their products, grabbing attention to the audience to buy their products. Who better than to use Beyonce, a famous icon in the popstar world, or Kendall Jenner, famous model and one of the Kardashian Jenner’s from the most watched reality tv show Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Not only do these ads attract people that are thinking of buying it, but also the fans of these celebrities that follow them.

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