A
comparison of how women are represented in fragrance advertisement from
the 1920s, 1960s and 2013
Bourjois Mais Oui (1920s, France)
My
first advertisement for ‘Boujois Mais Ouis’ creates a representation of a woman
who is glamorous, elegant and upper class.
By targeting the consumer it says at
the top ‘it’s you’ which shows aspiration and how it can drag the audience into
buying the perfume. The brand messages stem partly from the French name as
although Elizabeth Arden is an American brand, a French name connotes sexiness,
glamour and sophistication.
This advert is also very feminine by
putting the background at a pastel pink.
This advert is from the 1920s, I chose
this advert because it targets the consumer to share the fantasy of the woman
by buying this perfume.
The big hair, tiny waists and the
out-going dresses are very elegant which is saying that if you buy the perfume
you will be shown as a very elegant woman and of high class.
Dana Ambush (print, 1965)
This advert contrasts with the Bourjois advert because the women in the adverts
are represented in different ways. The word ‘ambush’ positions the woman as a
sexual predator who can trap a man into falling for her.
The word ‘ambush’ means to make a
surprise attack on someone or something from a concealed position and the
graphics clearly express an ambush. On a denotive level, the woman is
represented as hiding behind the statue in a concealed position.
On a connative level, by hiding behind
the statue she represents herself as a warrior in the art of war (that is, the
battle to seduce a man and win his heart) as she intends to trap men through
her beauty; one of her weapons is her fragrance which is her lure. This shows
that if you wear this fragrance you will embody the qualities of this woman and
gain self-confidence.
The statue the woman is hiding behind is
the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike. This ties in with the slogan ‘from the
goddess of fragrance’. The victory the woman has is the battle of the heart and
she won it by seduction, by wearing this perfume.
This advert was created in 1965, which
was during the feminist era when women considered themselves more on an equal
footing with men in all areas including dating and sexual equality. The woman
is represented as powerful and able to make men do what she wants. Goddesses in
mythology made men do as they wanted because they had powers and could control
them. This woman’s smile and eye contact shows her confidence with the consumer
and is an indication of her self-assurance.
This contrasts with the Bourjois advert
in which the woman is turned away from us and is almost in a dream world of her
own and not confronting the target buyers. Although we cannot see what she is
wearing, her hair is short and sleek unlike the Bourjois model who certainly
couldn’t undertake any action packed adventure in her extremely elaborate
bouffant evening hair style. Natalie Portman takes the self-confidence to a new
level because of the way she represents herself with her posture- being very
loose and free but also very strong, her hair is very loose but also tidy which
also shows self-assurance as she knows her hair will get wet from the water of
the fountain but she is confident she can still capture a man into falling for
her.
Miss Dior Advert (2013, France)
For my third and final advertisement,
I chose the moving image Natalie Portman Miss Dior: ‘La vie en rose’ advert
from 2013. This advert has very similar qualities to the other two and even
though it is recent, it still shows the elegant and assertive qualities that
each other advert embodies- it is still using all of these qualities.
This moving image advertisement stars
Natalie Portman to be the model which is using celebrity endorsement. Natalie
Portman is a well-known woman for her beauty and also her
The
first screenshot I chose from the Miss Dior ‘La Vie En Rose’ advert is when she
is by the fountain. I chose this because she is having fun and she is not
worried about getting her hair wet because she’s got the ‘Dior’ perfume to help
her.
She is also wearing a strapless black dress which shows how she can gain
elegance (even though it’s going to get wet) by wearing this perfume.
The second screenshot I chose was when
the beautiful Natalie Portman walks down the stairs in her elegant ball gown,
with her hair neatly done. This moment is almost like a Cinderella moment as
she is walking down the stairs in her ball gown with her man waiting for her at
the bottom of the stairs. However, she is holding her shoes which show that she
is laid back and ready to not walk slowly but skip down the stairs to get to
her prince charming. This shot looks like it’s almost through pink tinted
spectacles because her gown is a very light pink and the walls are washed with
pink and everything looks very light and appealing to the eye. This is
basically saying that if you get the Miss Dior perfume your life will be seen
through pink tinted spectacles.
In my final screenshot, it shows Natalie Portman in black and white
whereas the perfume bottle is shown in colour. This ties in with the name of
the advert ‘La Vie En Rose’ which means ‘life in pink’. This is saying that if
you buy this perfume your life will turn into a light pink, a relaxed colour
and not be dull in black and white.
The name of this particular advert is
called ‘la vie en rose’- this means ‘life in pink’ which ties in with this
moving image advert very well because everything seem to be a light pink; the
walls, her dress, flowers and the color of the actual perfume. It’s almost as
if they Natalie Portman is telling you to see things through pink tinted
spectacles. Pink is a very feminine color and as she is representing this color
she also lures the man in by her beauty and her scent.
