For this section of our collaborative blog I will be discussing High Fashion and Perfume advertisements found in magazines from a psychoanalytical view point.
I will be focusing on such psychoanalytical theories, as The Gaze, The Mirror stage, and The Ego and how they can be related with in this media form.
We are subjected to high end Fashion and perfume advertisements everyday, be it subconsciously or whether we are aware of it, and through many difference medias, either way it has a great impact on todays society.
Fashion and perfume can be an expression of ones identity, the clothes themselves that we cover up in for public display. In advertising not only the products themselves, are being sold to us, but the perfect image it portrays, giving an attractive and desirable but to most, an unachievable goal. At first glance, there is little difference between these fashion logos, but what sets a high end fashion advertisement apart, giving it its identity, is the artistic qualities used when creating the images. There are many different techniques advertisers use when it comes to this, and a lot depends on the way the image is viewed, it has to be affective, and there is no other way of doing so with out considering these following theories.
The Mirror Stage is a psychoanalytical theory discussed by Jacques Lacan, This critical reinterpretation of Freud's work, proposes that when an infant passes through the mirror stage, they begin to recognise themselves as an object that can be viewed by others, and gain an understanding of themselves and their body in relation to other objects around them.
This development stage was first stated by Lacan (1936) as cited by BENVENUTO.B and KENNEDY.R (1986), and was said to occur between the ages of six to eighteen months of an infants life. In July 1949 this initial idea had evolved, suggesting that this theory was not just apparent between the ages of six to eighteen months but much further on in life, subconsciously effecting the subjects adult life. This links to the Ideal I and the ego. As soon as the subject recognises themselves in the mirror, they see their reflection as a separate ideal version of themselves. Freud has said that as soon as this mirror stage begins and from then on, the reflection in the mirror will have triggered a response resulting in the subject constantly striving for this perfect version of him/herself, the ideal I. The thought that your present self will not get you to where you want to be as it is, is what drives us.
There are in general two types of 'looks' with in an advertisement, the "Demand" and the "Offer". This refers to where the subject in the advert is looking, whether it be directly at the camera or not. Those that look at the camera and therefore directly at the viewer, are demanding the product to be purchased, where as when the subjects look in the advert is not into the camera, the product is being offered to the viewer, suggesting they buy it.
The act of looking is not a neutral action and people experience different emotions and effects as a result, when it comes to women's advertisements, they are aimed at the female audience but also male, although the way they are viewed by both, is very different. From a mans perspective, these adverts are an extension of the male gaze at women on the street. Men judge and make advances, and as a result women walk hurriedly past, unable to return such a critical view and often feeling embarrassed. Adverts in comparison to this, give men the opportunity to look all they want, and these women return the look. "Those fantasy women stare off the walls with a look of urgent availability"
In todays society desirability is seen as an important aspect of a sexual relationship, women have become more obsessed with appearances and the notion that this is how men will form their opinions of them, based on the visual impact and thinking these ideas of self image and the promise that achieving this ideal image leads to security. Perhaps this is the link to a woman's fascination of high end fashion advertisements.
The story of Narcissus, a boy who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, has also previously been a term used to explain this female adoration of images, as slightly limited a view as this may be now, there are aspects of this that we can still relate to, for example it is often said that instead of looking upon these adverts as desirable and in a critical manner, and although they do the same critical analysis of themselves and their own bodies, they can also relate to the women in them and can draw similarities between them, almost as if the advert is a reflection.
Similarly, Judith Williamson suggests (1978) as cited by HOLMES. M (n.d), that the audience is the 'creator of meaning', assuming the advert is connecting with us.
These advertisements I have chosen to look closely at, demonstrate Lacan's idea of Narcism, but also explore the idea that women still find criticisms with in them, and how the artistic qualities used to sell and attract us to these products, also cause women to over analyse and desire a sometimes un achievable image. There are many ways that advertisements achieve this, through artistic qualities like composition, colour and other techniques.
For example, looking at the Givenchy advert, the composition and angle is structured and put together well. Being stood in the middle of the stairway, represents a powerful image.
The Gaze and power within advertising are closely linked. The person who is doing the looking, generally is said to have the power over the viewed subject.
Although the woman in this advert is looking at the viewer, (creating power as said above), the viewer, in particular the male viewer will hold some form of power. This is created due to the idea that the viewer cannot be seen whilst admiring this image.
In "Practices of Looking" by STURKEN.M and CARTWRIGHT.L it discusses this idea of power and refers to the theories of Michel Foucault and his well known description of the Panopticon, in his 1975 work "Discipline and Punish".
In this study, it talks of how this well thought out prison structure was the reason for implementing this powerful inspective gaze.
This carefully designed structure, included a tower block that looked and could hear over all prisoners and prison cells, and in return, prisoners could not see or hear from the tower, whether the guard was there or not.
This not knowing of the guards presence or absence made it impossible for the prisoners not to imagine being watched, even when the tower was infect empty.
This form of observation seemed to work in controlling the behaviour of the guards, they started to act as if being watched at all times, under a relentless gaze.
This idea of power and looking with out being watched also links to film and cinema. The conditions in which we watch a film are dark and the viewer will experience the feeling of it being just them and the screen.
Her facial expression, partly covered by her hair and eye mask, suggests not giving everything away to the audience, this also links to the dramatic use of light and the name of the product itself meaning angel or demon. This gives the overall image a sense of secrecy.
This image of perfection is desirable to the reader, perhaps because subconsciously it provokes "an anxiety, rather than a pleasurable identification" THOMAS.J (2001) p.37
This emotion the reader then has with the image, does not portray one of narcissism but instead of criticism, resulting in the reader feeling they need this product to achieve this sometimes un obtainable perfection.
In comparison to this, Channel No.5 took a different approach, attempting to relate to the audience. Catherine Deneuve, in this 1975 advert and the bottle of perfume in the right hand corner have no direct link other than juxtaposition. Looking back at Williamson's argument, she states that the audience will make an assumption of the link between them. "The face and the bottle are not inherently connected: there is no link between Catherine Deneuve's in herself and Chanel No.5: but the link is in terms of what Catherine Deneuve's face means to us, for this is what Chanel No.5 is trying to mean to us, too." (1978) as cited by HOMES.M (n.d)
The reader makes the connection between the women in these advertisement, elegant, successful and beautiful, and the product.
Women are in pursuit of this Ideal I and these images acting like a mirror, are all the persuasion needed to buy. This results in women feeling they must have the product, that their life style resembles that of the women in the advert and they should really already own this product.
All techniques and theories used to sell advertisements are very effective. Women and men are both subject to them whether being due to a feeling of criticism, and the reassurance she will achieve this desirability as a result of buying the product, or whether the reader can relate to them and feels she already owns this lifestyle and therefore should buy the product she deserves.
Bibliography
HOLMES.M (n.d), Creating Meaning in Images: A Discussion of Judith Williamson's 'Decoding Advertisements' [WWW] Available from:http://www8.georgetown.edu/centers/cndls/applications/postertool/index.cfm?fuseaction=poster.display&posterID=1769. Accessed [15.04.2012]
THOMAS.J (2001), The Look. In:THOMAS.J (ed.) Readers in Cultural Criticism, Reading Images. Palgrave.
BENVENUTO.B and KENNEDY.R (1986), The Mirror Stage. In: The Works Of Jacques Lacan. An Introduction.
STURKEN.M and CARTWRIGHT.L STURNEN.M, CARTWRIGHT.L (2000), Modernity: Spectatorship, power, and knowledge. In: Practices Of Looking, An Introduction to Visual Cultures.Oxford. pp105-108
SELLS.P and GONZALEZ.S (n.d), The Language of Advertising: Demand and Offer. [WWW] Available from http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_12/demand_offer.htm.Accessed [21.04.2012]
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