Advertising and Gender

Gender and sex both have two different meaning, gender meaning socially constructed and sex is biological. Patriarchy is a part of dominant ideology that describes male rule- men are in charge of society and that's 'natural' and 'just'. The adverts that I will be comparing are Hugo Boss fragrance for men featuring Theo James and Beyoncé Heat.

In the Hugo Boss ad there's a man and a woman in a mid close up shot,  the shot is quite eyelevel.The  man is wearing a black suit jacket, white shirts with a black tie whilst the females costume is not focused due to the shot chosen, we can only see the thin strap she is wearing. There's also a shot of the fragrance, the backdrop is a neutral brown colour which suggests warmth. The company also uses high key and low key lighting implying that there are two sides to this male character. Below the advert reads 'The Scent' conveying the idea that I felt your a male and your not wearing Hugo Boss then your not really a man because the fragrance is aimed at men. By having the female in the advert it's trying to sell consumers the idea that with this fragmented comes female attention and manly hood, because you'll feel like a man smell like a man, you'd be a boss, in charge,  wearing a suit and people will respect you. The advert is reinforcing the ideology that only men are breadwinners and bosses, the woman is only there to look pretty (the woman is an object) and make the man look better, shes being objectified. The Hugo Boss advert is upholding patriarchy and trying to persuade consumers into thinking it is okay. I believe the image to be airbrushed and perfected.

In the Heat advert Beyoncé costume is fully shown, she's wearing a short red rap dress which has quite a low cut at the bust. In both adverts the woman are condemned to showing skin and use their body for the male gaze. The shot used for the advert is a long shot with a close up of the fragrance and the low right corner. The backdrop is this advert is unfocused, it's a mix between black and red. I believe the title of the produce anchored the rest of the advert, its a product for women but for men also because they're saying that if you buy the product it will make you hot, you'll attract the opposite sex because they'll think your hot too, the advert is selling sex as well as a fragrance. Beyoncé is being objectified and limited to only being able to sell a product by showing clevage and skin. 

From this I've learnt that in a lot of fragrance advert sex, lust and fantasy is sold to consumers.Gemder stereotypes are still very much prevalent in advertising.