For the images of advertising within mass media, I have chosen the Lynx Ad Campaigns, I think that all the ads have some representation of the Gaze within them all, but I have found this specific item which I think represent this the best.
"In society, looking has become a crucial aspect of sexual relations, not because of any natural impulse, but because it is one of the ways in which domination and subordination are expressed"
Taken from Coward's article "The Look" the above quote describes how males have been forced into looking at females in a certain way because of how they are portrayed and shown within the media. The underlining behaviour and thoughts towards women from men have all arose from the media, but what we must remember is that this has now become norm for males.
"The relations involved in looking enmesh with coercive beliefs about the sexual behaviour for men and women"
When i first look at the advert, straight away you can see that the women has been glamourised, she is in the advert in very little clothing, which is seen as sexual clothing and that which is relates to sex. The women is very attract and is used to draw to the attention of the male gender, as this is how they see and think women should look. Females are seen as a sexual object and within the media this is defiantly prominent and something that always happens. This is backed up from the quote which talks about there being sexual roles for both female and males and what each other believe.
The position that women has been placed in within the advert, makes it more sexual, the first part of her body you see is her long legs and bum, this draws you in to her and makes you look at her, which she looks back at you with a very submissive face. Again this is appealing to the male gender and giving them something to look at, along with the aspect of being able to fantasise about the women, it refers back to the idea of a 'Peeping Tom' and the fact that the males can distance themselves from the image and women but still can think about her in the fantasy they create. The quote from 'The look' ties into this idea,
"Clearly this comfort is connected with feeling secure or powerful. And women are bound to this power precisely because visual impressions have been elevated to the position of holding the key to our psychic well-being, our social success and index to whether or not we will be loved"
The quote is saying that women must fulfil the role that males see them as, they must look good and be there as a sexual object because that is their job. In order for the women to have the attention from the male, they must fulfil these roles.
Within the advert you can see that the women is placed within a kitchen environment and is cooking as she is pulling a chicken from the oven, this again refers back to the idea that males think of women in a particular way and think that they should do certain jobs. Men think that women should be ones that clean and cook within the household, thus this advert is appealing to that sense of the males mind and making this ideal situation that they can imagine themselves in.
The words ' Can she make you lose control' are used in the advert which i think are relating to that fact that males see themselves as the dominating gender. Even the fact that they control how a women should behave around them. This sentence is used because the submissive women in the advert is very different to what the male is used to, the women is what the males would fantasise about, yet she is there in front of them doing everything they think a women should do, so in a sense they have lost control of that. It also has sexual connotations, which links in with the feel of the advert. The quote below from Coward, R, "The Look" describes this idea of the women living up to the expectation of the male.
"Some people - those concerned with maintaining the status quo - say that men's scrutiny of women is just part of the natural order "
Even though this advert is for men, which you can clearly see by the aesthetics and images used within it; it is still appealing to women, but on a different level.
As i have described earlier, the woman that is used within the advert is very glamourised, she is seen to have no flaws and have a perfect body. The way that she is dressed also sexualises the female gender and when looked at, other females will think this is the appropriate way to dress and seduce males.
"Advertising in this society builds up precisely on the creation of an anxiety to the effect that, unless we measure up, we will not be loved."
In the advert above it shows that the women is doing all the housework and dressing for the male in this particular way to be loved by him and to have is attention, which is portraying that women need to be like this in order to be loved by the male.
"Advertisements set in motion work and the desire for products; narcissistic damage is required to hold us in this axis of work and consumption"
Advertising and the media in general, plays a big part of the society today, children and young adults are brought up around the media, through TV, magazines and the internet and because of this they often look up to celebrities and people in the press to base their own lifestyle and dress sense on. With women being advertised with the 'perfect body' it makes females in society think that they need to be like this themselves and to live up to this perfect lifestyle in order to get anywhere in life.
Advertising is all about living up to the ideal situation and how it would be in your fantasy, but really the media are doing this because they want to make you think that you need them which in turn makes you buy the products and produce a profit for them.
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