Semiotics of Advertising for Wednesday

Please use the comments function to post links to advertisements (still or video) that we can discuss in class Wednesday as examples of the way ads appeal to gender. Look particularly for advertising of “beauty products” (perfumes, cologne, body washes, shampoos, soaps, deodorants, etc.)

Diane Barthel observes that because ads directed at women sometimes use male imagery (and vice versa) we might more accurately speak of “two modes” of advertising that “do not result from the differentiated nature of the sexes, but from the logic of the system. The relationship of Masculine and Feminine to real men and women is relatively arbitrary” (172). Feminine mode advertising emphasizes passivity, complacency, and beauty. Masculine mode advertising emphasizes power, precision, performance.