Advertising: Gauntlett - Gender, identity and advertising

Gender, identity and advertising: blog task

1) What examples does Gauntlett provide of the "decline of tradition"? How can we link our advertising CSPs (Score hair cream and Maybelline 'That Boss Life') to this idea?

• "The traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low-status worker has been kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful 'girl power' icons."
• "masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on men's emotions, need for advice, and the problems of masculinity"
• these ideals can be link to the CSP's as the ideals of a low-status worker and submissive, fragile etc.. is reinforced in the score hair product as the women presented are seen as worshipping the older male figure and are seen as slave like objects that wait on the men hand and foot. however in the "That Boss Life" , as guantlett said, this view of weak women "has been kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful 'girl power' icons." as seen through the female actress MakeupbyShayla who gives off a very powerful, strong and sprity character and is presented in a very empowering manner.
• in terms of masculinity, the advert for score cream heavily conforms to the traditional "absolute toughness" ideal of male representation as the male figure is presented as the only breadwinner in the advert looking to protect, pleasure and provide the women in the image, where as in the maybeline advert these ideals of stereotypical man is strongly subverted through MannyMUA who shows emotions , though they are heavily exaggerated to emphasise the fact he is gay man, and is expressing himself through makeup which , wasn't seen as 'normal' in the 60's.

2) How does Gauntlett suggest the media influences the way we construct our own identities?

• Gauntlett suggests the idea of role models and that by thinking about our own identity,attitudes, behaviour and lifestyle we often look for the life of media figures in order to imitate, but not copy, and "live a better life". Also the rise of social media apps have increased the rate at which media consumers choose to resort to Instagram, twitter to see how they can improve their own lifestyles and how their"role models" are living. 

3)How do the two CSPs reflect the generational differences that Gauntlett discusses? Is it a good thing that the media seems to promote modern liberal values?

• both CSP's are significantly different to each other, most obviously through the time/ decades they were made in which both have very different representations of each gender.
• The score hair cream advert has very stereotypical male representations: with the male being the strong , older, masculine breadwinner whereas the women are presented in a very lustful, sexual and are worshipping the man as if he were a god
• in contrast, the TBL advert heavily subverts these stereotypes as the male (manny Gutierrez) is a  gay male makeup artist who , in the advert, has very exaggerated feminine traits from his facial expressions to his costume. For the female representation through shayla we dont see any inequality and she is perceived as strong and independent women who is good friends witch manny . 
• both representations are highly different and this is due to the spread of modern liberal values that have spread even far as adverts, this is a positive thing as we can see different groups be represented that weren't really considered mainstream in the past couple years and audiences can relate more to these representations that arent impossible to reach in the digital age  

4) Why might Manny and Shayla be a good example of the role models that Gauntlett discusses - and also demonstrate how those role models have changed in recent years?

• manny and shayla are both good examples of role models as they YouTube influencers who have expressed who they are via a social platform which most of the younger generation are able to access and can get inspired to express themselves like Manny and Shayla.
• the idea of role models have definitely changed over the years as many role models used to be mainly actors and actresses but due to the growth of new social platforms there are more influencers on platform such as YouTube , Instagram etc... 

5) Why does the Score hair cream advert provide such a good example of traditional masculinity? 

• the SHC provides a good example of traditional masculinity, as it uses a male figure as the main protagonist in the advert with the females worshiping him around the sides of  the image  which was traditional in "old" advertising where there was a significant difference in the sense of importance between men and women- women were seen as lesser than men, and were expected to worship and look after the men. The score hair cream effectively presents this.

6) Gauntlett consistently argues that masculinity is not in crisis. Can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be used as evidence of this?

• the masculinity presented in this ad is a new form of masculinity that is being expressed and therefore masculinity isn't in crisis as it just being presented in a different way 

7) Does advertising still reinforce the "conventionally rugged, super-independent, extra-strong macho man" that Gauntlett discusses? Offer examples for both sides of the argument from the wider advertising industry.

• some adverts do still uses this stiff representation of men for example the score hair cream advert and  some old lynx adverts, however this are very dated and now more adverts arent using this look on men anymore. The maybelline ad reflects this completely as its the complete opposite from the traditional binary description of what is male and what is female as we have a gay man who doesnt fit traditional male standards but in facts subverts them.

8) Gauntlett discusses the idea of 'girl power' and offers examples from music and film. Does advertising provide evidence to support the idea of 'girl power' or is the industry still reinforcing traditional representations of men and women?

• In my opinion , i do believe the idea of'girl power ' is being represented through shayla as she is presented on the same social caliber as manny as she has a very open, confident and independent presence in the advert. 
• Also the fact that its a beauty advert , the makeup that is used to make people feel beautiful and confident reinforces her character and how she is resented as well as successfully promoting the product 

9) Do you agree with Gauntlett's argument under 'Popular feminism, women and men' where he suggests that younger generations are not threatened by traditional gender roles and are comfortable with social changes? Does advertising (and our CSPs in particular) provide examples either reinforcing or challenging this idea that younger generations are more comfortable with changing gender roles?

• the generational difference of these adverts support the idea of popular feminism as the SHC reinforces traditional gender roles where as the maybelline one completely goes against them as there are no social differences from the main makeup artists themselves to the bell boy. the bell boy really magnifies this as towards the end of the advert we see him pickup a mascara and it suggests that he isnt afraid to try it which supports gauntletts theory that  younger generations are not threatened by traditional gender roles.

10) How do the two advertising CSPs show the changing 'diversity of sexualities' that Gauntlett suggests?

• the score hair cream- mainly heterosexual and conforms to traditional gender and sexuality stereotypes.
• the maybelline advert- has a comfortably 'out of the closet' gay makeup artist protagonist manny Gutierrez acting in the advert aswell as a bell boy whose sexuality is ambiguous  

11) What examples from advertising does Gauntlett provide for the changing nature of gender in society (from the section on Judith Butler's Gender trouble)?

• diversity of sexualities 
• the score hair cream doesnt conform to this instead it has strong 'straight' presentations
• the TBL advert conforms to the diversity of sexualities through manny Gutierrez and the sexual ambiguity of the bell boy 

12) How can the Maybelline 'That Boss Life' advert be applied to Judith Butler's work on 'gender trouble'? ("The binary division of 'male' and 'female' identities should be shattered, Butler suggested, and replaced with multiple forms of identity...")

• the advert supports the idea of shattering binary divisions as a male is wearing and promoting makeup which is something new to television advertisements but not in the 'real' world as for decades many men have been wearing makeup it just wasn't seen as a normal thing and if u were a male and you did wear makeup it was only acceptable if you were a celebrity etc.. but now there are many more people who are able to push these ideals out of the way and now everyone can be seen wearing makeup and wont get judged for it .

13) How can our two advertising CSPs be used to argue that power has shifted from media institutions to audiences? (Clue: how did Manny and Shayler from the Maybelline advert first become famous?)

• manny an shayla are originally you tubers who are audiences themselves and now that there platform of YouTube has grown and made into an occupation we can see the regular people like manny and shayla have the power to promote, sell and act etc.. 

14) Why is advertising such a good example of the 'contradictory elements' that Gauntlett discusses with regards to the mass media? In other words, how does advertising continue to both reinforce and challenge gender stereotypes?

• adverts still often conform to gender stereotypes but that mostly due to the fact that they have a small amount of time to convey their product and message to an audience so its easier to conform to stereotypes to convey messages quickly without any confusion, however many adverts are trying to change and subvert these stereotypes, and example would be the Gillette advert that shows men changes the old ideals and male standards and making them fit in more with a 21st century lifestyle  

15) Finally, Gauntlett makes a clear case that things change and modern identities are increasingly fluid. How do our advertising CSPs demonstrate the changing attitudes towards gender and sexuality in society?

• the score hair cream conforms to traditional gender and sexual ideals of a strong heterosexual man who has multiple women to pick and choose from at which the women are completely in love with him. 
• The maybelline one, however, reflects how gender and sexuality attitudes have changed as women are treated more equally and there is a more open representation for the LGBT community now