How Women Are Portrayed in Lynx and Cosmo Essay Example for Free

How Women Are Portrayed in Lynx and Cosmo EssayMen act and women appear. Men smack at women. Women watch themselves being depended at John Berger, Ways of seeing.For my research investigation I intend to explore to what extent specific media products procedure similar representations of women to appeal to their target audiences. The examples I fuddle chosen to focus on are the iconic, international womens fashion and lifestyle powder store planetary and Lynxs controversial beach campaign. I will therefore be exploring what similarities and differences they embed due to their oppositional target audiences and content. Throughout my research the main theory I will be linking to my texts is that of Laura Mulvey, her theory explores ideas of stirism and masculine discern within the media industry.Hearst the publisher of Cosmopolitan describes the magazines target audience as Fun, Fearless Females, the alliteration of the F sound con nones a sense of attitude and fierce be haviour. Alongside the brand proposition celebratesa passion for life and inspires tender women to be the best they can be consciously supporting women by portraying a sense of empowerment and ambition. In contrast, Unilever, owners of the Lynx brand raise their brand prospect is that all their products are designed to give our customers the edge in the mating game establishing itself as UKs leading male groom brand.Cosmopolitan are iconic for telling their audience about two main topics lifestyle and sex. Just by porting at the magazine covers, it is clear that these two topics look across. I researched the April 2012 cover of Cosmopolitan, it follows the generic conventions of a typical magazine format for a womens fashion and lifestyle magazine. In foothold of the colour scheme the pink fonts and neutral clothing convey a sense of femininity and perhaps the everyday domestic lifestyle of women, although the lifestyle vista of the magazine seems overpowered by the topic of sex. The cover features an attractive women in this case the iconic Megan Fox, posing some mildly alluring body language, showing a lot of skin, all whilst looking directly at the camera (audience) with a sexy, serious facial expression with the eyebrow promiscuously raised, and suggestive parted lips.Although the pretending is simply posing the latest fashion, the low cut, tightly fitting dress connotes an over sexualised view of the celebrity who is universally known as a sex symbol in the media world, taking her place in FHMs sexiest women each year and continuously playing the role of the sexy female in confused popular films. It is clear that Cosmopolitan use bold sexual connotations surrounding women, although argue that their intentions are in fact to empower women through their sexuality. Notice the models absolute body language , the hand on hip look used alongside taglines such as Naughty or nice? You decide, and sexual puns are even added in regarding none sexual sub jects such as career advice You on top, these are bold sexual connotations implying that woman should dominate to get what they want, mostly regarding the topic of sex. Perhaps fighting the controversial debate of sexism towards women in media by surprisingly embracing Laura Mulveys theory of male gaze.Cosmo put across the idea that if men find women attractive then it should accredit them by making them feel good about themselves, knowing that they look sexy and attractive. The magazine are conscious to do this in a sophisticated manor, opposed to other trashy and over sexualised magazines. Mediaknowall.com state that Womens magazines have moved on and offer visions of independence and confidence as well as beauty and domestic concerns, yet women are still encouraged to look good. Body image and size have become a growing issue in society in result of magazine content. The overutilisation of petite, photo shopped models throughout magazines has resulted in these images becoming th e dominant ideology. Over the years images printed in womens magazines have contributed to this universal feeling to look good and be a certain size.Lynx are known for their voyeuristic product diagnoseisement, this element of the company is what attracts their buyers, yet is also their downfall. Lynx have been publicly criticized for their overuse of objectifying women, using sexualized and provocative imagery and overall blunt sexism. The BBC news state that in 2011 six of Lynxs advertising campaigns were banned after survey numbers of complains were made they added that the 113 complaints said it was sexually suggestive and demeaning to women. I researched Lynxs recent TV advertisement and accompanying print advert titled The cleaner you are, the dirtier you get. Although I believe this is one of Lynxs milder sexualised adverts even the title itself contains a sexual pun, suggesting the promise of sex if you waste with the product.The girl on the print advertisement is no doub t an attractive young female, fitting the iconic blonde bombshell look. The girls tantalising facial expression creates the impression she is inviting the audience (male) into the shower with her. Although the girls expressions look confident, there is a contrast between this and her body language. For example the focusing she has to cup her bikini top to stop it from falling. This vulnerability of the woman standing half nude for a male audience completely visually portraiture her as a female, making her a passive object of male visual pleasure. A comment by Jean Killbourne (a popular media activist) backs up my direct by stating that womens bodies are often dismembered into legs, breasts or thighs, reinforcing the message that women are objects rather than whole human beings.Killbourne suggests that women have become dehumanised into erotic objects for male pleasure. One element of Lynxs campaigns which continues throughout is the idea of fake portrayal. In each advert the mal e role is played by your everyday, not overly-attractive man, contrasted with the female role being a desirable, young beauty. In an everyday world the changes of the male role attracting that type of woman are very slim. contempt this the main message that Lynx put across to their audience throughout their advertisements is that if men wear the product women will find them irresistible False portrayal. Of contour this element adds humour to the advertisements, although all at the expense of objectifying women in the process and promoting the gender role of the dominant male.BibliographyWebsiteswww.mediaknowall.comHearst, http.//www.hearst.co.uk/magazines/Cosmpolitan/5-about.htm Cosmopolitan, http//www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/exclusive/megan-fox-april-cover-cosmopolitan Exploring the media representations and responses