Series of Meltin Pot ads, exploring men's fantasies.

In all the ads the male is the dominant sex except the final ad where he is under the woman's control.. yet he is still in control as it is 'his' fantasy.

Meltin Pot ads

Meltin Pot, jean clothing company have made ads that create the idea of male dreams. Lots of the ads use females within the dreams as the weaker sex, damsel in distress. Showing the men looking onto them, as the stronger sex, the hero but also the source of the fantasy.

The Gaze and Women used in Advertising

'Meltin Pot' -Jeans advert
Interesting use of the gaze of the people within the ad and how the man in the chair is hidden from view yet can be seen in his reflection. I would like to look further into this piece and evaluate it properly.

KPIA- Child Abuse Ad Campaign
Similar use of looking onto a scene, we are spectators, makes us want to help and stop what is about to happen. Interesting to see how the meaning can be changed so quickly when put in a different context to one above.

Abusive relationships- Home Office Ad
I thought this was a really interesting and different way to campaign about abuse, instead of showing the woman who has been abused showing the man, but his gaze turned away from the camera implies that he is embarassed and guilty. If we were guilty of this we would easily but ourself in his shoes.

Ads for Jewellery and Perfume
Two similar ads using beautiful actresses, stars of the screen. The use of the reflected image through the use of mirror is very important here... suggesting vanity, women watching themself being watched.

Bluefly.com ad
The use of focus within this image is very important, we look directly at the woman and ignore the other people. If this image was in focus i still think our eyes would be drawn to the naked woman.

Task 3: Essay Ideas

I have looked back over my lecture and seminar notes and i feel that the the subject i enjoyed the most was 'The Gaze'. I found this the most interesting and engaging it is something i would like to explore further. I would like to look at the use of women in advertising and ad campaigns, to see how they are used to sell, promote products aswell as promoting campaigns and the similarities and differences in the techniques used to do this. I want to explore how the gaze is used in modern advertising and also show how strong the male gaze still is. Looking at the subject matter i think popular culture would also link nicely with this.


I have a few books out on loan over the christmas break and some reserved for when i get back, these are:


-Sexuality the Female Gaze and the Arts. Dotterer, Ronald (ed.)  &  Bowers, Susan (ed.)  (1992)


-Wunderkamma: the female gaze objectified. Schwab, Linda & Gaffney, Sheila, 1994.


-The Female Gaze- Women as viewers of popular culture. Gamman, Lorraine & Marsham, Margaret, 1994.


-Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture. Joanne Hallows


-Advertising: new techniques for visual seduction.  Stoklossa, Uwe  &  Rempen, Thomas (ed.)  (2010)

Task 5: Hyperality

'The Gaze' -key words

Different forms of 'the gaze'
• the spectator’s gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person (or animal, or object) in the text;
• the intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one depicted person at another (or at an animal or an object) within the world of the text (typically depicted in filmic and televisual media by a subjective ‘point-of-view shot’);
• the direct [or extra-diegetic] address to the viewer: the gaze of a person (or quasi-human being) depicted in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the viewer, with associated gestures and postures (in some genres, direct address is studiously avoided);
• the look of the camera - the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people (or animals or objects) depicted; less metaphorically, the gaze of the film-maker or photographer.
• the gaze of a bystander - outside the world of the text, the gaze of another individual in the viewer’s social world catching the latter in the act of viewing - this can be highly charged, e.g. where the text is erotic (Willemen 1992);
• the averted gaze - a depicted person’s noticeable avoidance of the gaze of another, or of the camera lens or artist (and thus of the viewer) - this may involve looking up, looking down or looking away (Dyer 1982);
• the gaze of an audience within the text - certain kinds of popular televisual texts (such as game shows) often include shots of an audience watching those performing in the 'text within a text';
• the editorial gaze - 'the whole institutional process by which some portion of the photographer's gaze is chosen for use and emphasis' (Lutz & Collins 1994, 368).

Task 2 continued ...women wanting to be beautiful

When looking at popular music videos for the popular culture task 2 i came across this video by Pink and it linked so well with the seminar on 'the gaze' taunting girls that strived to be beautiful like the women we see in magazines. Pink tries to be a good role model for young girls and has taken this issue on within her song, although the song is quite light-hearted it is there to target these young girls effected by the gaze in society and teach them that they should not strive for beauty, that they should make the most of their personality and intelligence and it will make them a stronger individual.