Vince’s Blog

For my research project, I have chosen to do it on clothing advertisements.  Over the years advertisements have really changed for designer clothing.  From actually commercializing the clothing to now just advertising the male and female body, ads have come a long way.  I would like to do my essay on this because I like designer clothing and I find it interesting to see how advertisements have changed over the years when looking at designers ranging from Levis to Abercrombie & Fitch, and how their ways of advertising vary to different groups of people.  I plan to do my research online and at the same time get sources from the library.  I intend to use the sites for certain clothing designers, like perhaps Ralph Laren, Calvin kKlein, and A&F.  This is an interesting assignment and I would really like to look back at ads and how they’ve changed.

1) In Susan Bordo’s essa, she really emphasizes sexuality and pleasure in adds today. She is a slow writer, in the sense that this is a long essay but she really puts a lot of detail into her writing. In this essay, Bordo starts by talking about how she almost knocked over her coffee after seeing an add of a sexy male model. She puts a lot of detail into it and talks about how it sexually arouses her and her friends that she showed the picture to. I could use this strategy because it is very useful in emphasizing the topic and how it affects people in society. It is a lot of detail and really gets the reader going.

2) In Bordo’s essay, she divides it into sectons, discussing different adds. In one section she discusses homosexuality, in another she discusses race and culture, and there are plenty others. It starts with “Men on display,” then “Thanks Calvin,” “Rocks and Leaners,” “Honey, What Do I Want to Wear,” “Male Decorativeness in Cultural Persepctive,” and last “My World…and Welcome to It.” Bordo talks about homosexuality and really emphasizes on this topic and how it involves modeling. She talks about all different types of adds and the style of selling through these adds. They are placed in order, with homosexuality then race and culture, and so on. They each give different arguments and different sides to the add business using models.

3) In Bordo’s essay she discusses many topics including race, ethnicity, color, stereotyping, etc. In her essay on page 171, she talks about how a young Latin American student was walking down the hall early in the morning when no one else was there. An administrator walks by and asks if he was the new janitor! This is very insulting. This is an example of a stereotype that is known today. People all have a certain view from their own eyes of a certain person and their “subject position.” That is what she is talking about. Like the saying goes never judge a book by its cover.

4)

For my project on adds that have changed since the past, some ideas I have are makeup commercials like Maybeline, or clothing lines like Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein. I was also thinking maybe Pepsi or Coca-Cola, but I am not positive yet.

1) In the two pictures for Kotex from adflip.com, each has a different approch in advertising their product.  In the one comic for Kotex, one reads about different situations where a young lady is with a man.  It talks about how to act in a situation, and then in the end of each Kotex is mentioned and it says how this is the best choice for that time of month especially in a situation like the ones shown dealing with men.  Kotex is advertised as a product that will help you in a situation and is like a “poise-preserver.” 

The second picture shows a beautiful lady.  At the bottom of the picture, there are a few words talking about a young ladies beauty and then right at the end they mention Kotex which is saything bascially that wearing this product during that time of month keeps you beautiful.  And it even has “feminine deodorant!”

Each of these advertisements are selling to the world not only Kotex for ladies during that time of month, but also an improvement to a ladies well being, like “poise-preserver” and “feminie deodorant!”  It is no longer just a product to protect but is sold to make women look better and feel better and even in situations helps with men!

2)  http://www.adflip.com/addetails.php?adID=13060

In this advertisement for Subaru, it shows that when you buy this vehicle you are not only buying a nice car but an adventure as well!  “Rugged. Dependable. Weather-Resistant.”  This car will get through any adventures, especially the Outback since this is what is being shown in the background.  The approach for selling a Subaru and many other cars as well is the sense of adventure; that when you buy this vehicle you can do anything with it, from climbing the highest mountains to driving across the dryest deserts.  This car is not just a car anymore but a fun and adventurous time as well.

http://www.adflip.com/addetails.php?adID=99&showLargeJpg=yes

When I first came upon this picture, I was scrolling down and all i saw was the car.  The first thing I thought that was being advertised was the movie “Back to the Future,” since that was the car from the movie.  But when I scrolled down to the bottom I realized it was nothing even close to the movie, but instead it was actually selling Scotch!  This picture, in my opinion barely even advertises their product.  It talks about how “One in every 100 new businesses succeed” and at the bottom it finally shows the product and is basically saying let us buy this drink and make a toast to those who succeed and “take the odds.”  I believe they are advertising that this drink is for those who succeed. 

1) In Susan Douglas’s essay, she write about how women are portrayed as beautiful ladies that are meant to look very “womanly” and sexy.  She says how they are meant to be beautiful and wear makeup and look pretty.  But she does not talk about equality of women and men, and how women are not just expected to be beautiful and look good but can also work just as men do and do not have to be perfect and beautiful as media portrays them to be.  These are the underlying assumptions in Douglas’s essay.  It explains how women are portayed as all makeup and beautiful, not as plus size or as hard working women that can do just as men do.

2) All throughout this essay, Douglass talks about narcissism and how women are portrayed in the world of men.  The essay discusses narcissism as liberation and about all the debate over cosmetic companies and commercializing of their products as showing women as having to be beautiful.  All over the media there are commercials for makeup, perfume, and all these products that portray women to look more beautiful.  It is the media and cosmetic companies that are responsible for what people think of women and how they are shown.  Women’s bodies are shown on television as slim and beautiful, with plenty of makeup and perfume and smooth skin and very sexy.  Even today this is still how women are portrayed.  But this is not good.  Women as well can do work just as men do.