TV Ad Analysis:

POSITIVE REPRESENTATION:


This is an advertisement for the 'Nivea Clam and Care' collection, a woman is seen to finish shaving her underarms by putting down the razor on the side of the sink and picking up the product whilst spraying it on her own underarms at the start of the advert, as the main narrative revolves around the Nivea Calm and Care collection targeted at the female audience,the narrator advises that the skin is damaged during shaving. She there for introduces Nivea Calm and Care deoderent as soothing the skin and helping it recover from all the damage caused by shaving. She declears that not only it enhances your love life if you use this product but also that 77% of women feel sexier when their underarms look good. By using the fact that they have interviewed 2,550 women and 77% of those that it would also recommend it to others within the advert itself, it makes it seem more valuable and a realistic result.

This product is marketed at its target audience (female audiences) under the 'strapline'
'Feel Closer' in a new brand for the company as it aims to emphasise and promotes a positive impact Nivea products have on female relationships by helping them to "feel good in their own skin" and make their skin feel smooth and huggable. This gives out a positive representation of the female and also the product at the same time.

The women is shown to applie the product on her self which connotes that she is the dominant sex who self objectifies herself in a positive way but also attracts the men in the advert and also the male audience. The kiss given by the male in the advert also indicated that he is shown her the love by kissing her much smoother and softer skin, as this reflects back to the purpose of the product.

The advert uses non diegetic sound of a guitar and a low tone of music to signify a more settled and comfortable mood as this is also shown through the females face, when she is shown to be play fighting and smiling away as this connotes happiness and 'Feeling Good'. The use of the female voiceover suggests that the product is effective, as it makes the skin wonderfully smooth and soft which makes women feel confident and attractive after using the product.

The images connotes 'Feeling Closer' and 'Feeling Good'

NEGATIVE REPRESENTATION:

This advertisement has two connotations or meanings in which women are represented, as this shows women a positive and negative way. John Lewis are well known for their advert and they successfully manage to conveys different meanings through the use of their adverts and there brand name’ John Lewis’. As we approach the 21st century, we must be aware of the significant contributions the media make to our society and influence the way we live, as the sexual or negative objectification of females are increasing in adverts and posters.

The ‘’Ideal’’ house wife is stereotypically represented through this advert as it implies that women ‘love’ cooking and cleaning, as the audience expect to see those quality’s in every women and this advert has clearly represented the typical time-line of a women by showing the child in the cot at the start to the women getting married and later on in life at the end. This signifies that men are still more dominant and women because in today’s society women are still seen as the house provider, as they are represented as less competent than men, which gives an unjustified negative portrayal of women.

The women in the advert are shown to be taking care of her children, husband and house which conveys the stereotypical values of women even in today’s modern society where men and women should be treated equally. However women are been sexually objectified in the media all the time and this effect how and what society thinks.

The target audience for this advert would be the male and female audience I think because it shows all the family values which allowed awareness to men about the women’s life and also appeal to the female audience as its family orientated. This portrayal is also reinforced in the music used in this advert: music by (Billy Joel - She's Always a Woman to Me). Some of the lyrics used compliment the women but some also give them a negative portrayal and the connotations of this advert is very much around the women running after her child and being a loving mother.

Traditional values that are associated with family life

Media 100 (Panellists)

1)Jane Martinson-is the editor of Media Guardian

2)Chris Powell-is chairman of Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

3)Janine Gibson-executive editor of guardian.co.uk and editor-in-chief of Media Guardian.

4)Andrew Neil-is the publisher of the Barclay brothers' Press Holdings Group and the owners Spectator Business and Apollo magazines.

5)Siobhan Kenny- director of communications at publisher Harper Collins (UK).

6)Trevor Phillips-is the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the independent statutory body created to eliminate discrimination and reduce equality.

7)Tessa Jowell- is the minister for the Olympics and London as she has a great deal of responsibility for the delivery of the government's programme for the 2012 games.

8)Peter Barron-is editor of News night.

9)Peter Bennett-Jones- is the founder and chairman of Tiger Aspect Group (TAG) and talent agency (PBJ) Management.

10)Brent Hoberman- he I established the my-deco website and the executive chairman of online interiors website.

MEDIA: 100

1. What is the Guardian 100 and who the panellists are?

Media 100 is a list of the top 100 people working in the Media Industry; stating the top 100 powerful people currently in today’s media industry as this includes:

• Television
• Radio
• Digital media
• Press & publishing
• Media business
• Advertising Marketing & PR.

As they are focusing on the political, ecumenical and social issue alongside cultural influence the media has on our society.

2. How many women are in the top 100?

With in the Media 100 there are ONLY 16 Female members (16%), as the rest of the list are dominated by the men.

3. What companies do these women work for and in what roles?

The roles of the women are shown below:

Advertising
Cheif executive
Chairman, Director
Controller- publishing-Controller of film and drama
Editor- publishing
Head of E4, commissioning editor responsible for Big Brother
Corporate marketing director and head of marketing

4. What percentage of the 100 is women?

There are ONLY 16% of women out of the 100.

5. How would you assess the balance of power in this list and why do you think it is this way?

This clearly suggest that man are the dominant ones within the media top 100, however there no clear indication on why women are not recognised within the media industry or have more dominant roles, equal to the man, as the list shows ONLY 16 out of 100 members are female and this implies that women are still subordinated in the society, by dominant males as this give them limited recognitions in the media industry and in our society for their political, economical and cultural input. This can also suggest that women are misrepresented accoutring to the hegemony theory. We as the audience can also blame the society, as we still stereotypically expect the female role to be less challenging and to be considered second class to men.

Contemporary

Angelina Jolie in 'Mr and Mrs Smith' (2005)

Even in today’s society we are still able to identify successful and powerful femme fatale characters. Angelina Jolie is a great example as she is a contemporary femme fatale characters who successfully plays the very seductive yet dangerous character in ‘Mr And Mrs Smith’ or in recent films such as ‘Salt’ (2010).

In Mr and Mrs Smith She plays an undercover assassin that uses her feminine charms to kill her target in order to get her way, as she is portrayed as a sexual devil or a angles whore. In the scene above she is seducing her husband in her body tight leather outfit, which is a fantasy or a dream for every men to see a women wear it and it’s fetishized, she uses this as her tool to get what she wants as the male audience are all hooked onto characters and not realizing what her hidden purposes are.

The character of Ms Smith is represented as an undercover spy and this shows that she is challenging the stereotypes of the typical female role and she is now taken a role of a very male dominated job as stereotypical the female characters are associated with cooking and cleaning not being a undercover spy's, however her manipulative, seductive ways gets her what she wants at the end as she is able to defeat her enemoies.

Megan Fox is another example of a contemporary femme fatale as she is sexually objectified in films such as ‘Jennifers Body’.

The link to the trailer of 'Jennifers Body' is shown below:

Pre-historic

Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’ (1946)

Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’ is represented as a stereotypical femme fatale as she is shown to be very dominant and controlling; this is seen through her confidence and body language. She also comes across as very seductive towards the man as she dances her way around the stage, ensuring that all the men in the room have their eyes hooked onto her every movement.

She can also be classified as an object of attention and sexual desire; when she is shown to be rolling her gloves down slowly as her male audience shout ‘more’ ‘more’ ‘more’. She teases her male audiences by asking them to help her with her zip on her dress, as the men run and fall to her feet. The mise-en-scene including her sense of style connotes that she owns the stage as she achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure.

Marilyn Monroe in 'Niagara' (1953)

The star was an iconic symbol and one of the most famous femme fatales in history as she was named as the greatest blonde of all time as she was also famous for her blonde locks. Marilyn Monroe’s charms and sexually objectified body appealed to a great deal of men and women who inspired to be like her, she was represented as a manipulative, dangerously seductive and unfaithful wife. In the film noir ‘Niagara’ she created controversy as she abandoned the traditional womanhood and stopped playing the role of a devoted and a faithful wife in the 1950s.

The character of Rose Loomis is portrayed as a stereotypical Femme Fatale. In the plot, Rose Loomis uses her charms and her sexually objectified body to have an affair with another man as she plans to have her current husband murdered by her secret lover but in an ultimate twist, her lover is that one that ends up murdered then thrown into the Niagara Falls. The scene is introduced to the audience when Rose Loomis (Marilyn Monroe) walks out of her house in a very tight pink dress, in an attempt to make her husband jealous with a song containing sexual connotations and meanings, which results in controlling the eyes of the other men around her who are mesmerised and sexually aroused by her skin tight dress showing of her amazing figure and tiny frame. The man sitting with his wife campers Ms Loomis dress to his wife as this shows he’s blown away by her and suggest his wife should do the same. Although her dress is skin tight, the scarf on her and over her shoulder connotes a sense of elegance,class and Sophistication . Her sweet and flawless voice promotes her amazing singing voice as she was most popular for her soft voice.

Even though she is represented as an angle with her sweet voice and cute steps, her golden hooped earring’s is stereotypically linked with seductive and whore-like qualities (the Angle vs Whore), as so does her stereotypical femme fatale features such as blonde hair, sexy movement and a mysterious look her to face when her husband breaks the record as this indicates that she knows what she is doing by controlling her husband emotionality and playing with his mind to get what she wants.

Femme Fatale:

A Femme Fatale is woman who are considered to be dangerously seductive.The rising fame of the femme fatale took place during the second World War and in film noir's of the 1940s.The femme fatale represents the most direct attack on traditional womanhood and the nuclear family as the femme fatale refuses to play the typical role of the devoted wife and loving mother.She finds marriage to be dull,loveless and sexless,as she uses all of her cunning and sexual attractiveness to gain her independence and this gives the rising power of seduction played by the femme fatal. The Convention of film noir is used to signify the femme fatales mysterious character in a film. Three examples of the femme fatale are shown below from the 1940s:


Rita Hayworth

Linda Darnell

Ava Gardner