Your answer needs to be at least two paragraphs and written in essay style.
You can refer to other beauty products that you have found individually, whether this be print, moving image or emedia. You can refer to other key concepts but make sure that you are still answering the question.
QUESTION:
In what ways is the ideology behind the media products in your case study communicated?
In your answer you should:
● Provide a brief outline of your case study
● Provide a brief outline of your case study
● Support your answer with reference to examples from three media platforms
●Consider whether ideology behind the products is dominant within the beauty industry as a whole.*The Fotoshop viral video was posted on the previous blog entry and the other adverts can easily be found on Youtube. You should have notes on everything we have looked at so far.
In the internet showing of the product photoshop by Adobe,the idea of the advert was clear. The ideology for Photoshop was the let women be able to edit themselves to make them look more beautiful and make them look exactly te way they want to. The message the advery gave does mock many other beauty averts such as Dove as they have a completely different idea about what beautiful is. A reason for this maybe is because the audience it is aimed at is slightly younger than the dove audience but still, the message is very different. The way the ideology is portrayed is by the institutions used such as mocking other beauty adverts again such as dove as Photoshop is showing beautiful means editing yourself the way you want to look. The audience for this is mainly younger women who want to make themselves look different to make themselves feel better as a person, to maybe give them that confidence they want and need. Th main vibe from this advert is doing anything such as editing every part of your body to mae youreself look beautiful and perfect to suit you.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand in the magazine 'style', the ideology is portrayed very differently. Instead of having to edit yourself to make yourself look beautiful the idea of the message in this is that you are beautiful the way you are without editing yourself. It is showing you can be beautiful whatever age, shape or size you are. The way this is portayed is by using 4 different aged and shaped women and proving they can all be beautiful in their own way. The use of 4 very different women celebrities, Kate Middleton, Madonna, Tulisa and Adele just shows the audience that you dont eed to edit your shape and size to be beautiful. The fact all 4 women have very different persoanlities is shown by the represenation of the colours they are wearing, the different colours connote to the audience the wide range of celebrities showing off their beauty in different ways. The message in thisadvert is more innocent and warming to women. The use of the colour purple on the page gives off a sense of luxury, richness and indulgense which gives the audience a sense of welcome and good meaning and this links into the innocent idea of not having to edit yourself to perfection to become beautiful.
Our case study gives us an insight into a variety of beauty lifestyle products. By looking at these products we saw how beauty is portrayed, and were then able to discover the ideology behind them. We looked at a magazine and unpicked the messages that are communicated though the use of a typical beauty page. We looked at a viral video mocking “Photoshop.” We also looked at a makeup advert. The different aspects of these platforms portray and suggest a variety of messages, some subtle and some obvious. They are used to communicate with the audience and they have an effect on how information is perceived by them.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, we looked at and analyzed a magazine. Four celebrities are used to help the reader relate to the industry. They are all popular and represent different types of women. They are all very different in age and style which allows the reader to relate more comfortably as there is more choice of which celebrity reflects them personally. Below the picture of each celebrity is a product which can be used to create a similar look to them. The headline- “The Kohl War” is used to suggest a friendly rivalry between which product is seen as superior. The ideologies behind this are that if you wear the products that they wear you will be successful and beautiful like they are. By writing about their personalities, this gives the reader another excuse to relate to them and want to buy the products even more.
Secondly, we looked at a viral video called “Fotoshop” The video portrays a satirical view of beauty. It is a video which mocks the real “Photoshop” and therefore suggests that it is unrealistic and is not a true representation of how people are in real life. There is an American narrative which is typical of a beauty advert. Quotes such as “It will leave your face virtually unrecognizable,” reinforces the idea that beauty is not represented in its truthful form. The drastic change of an old woman to a new woman, mocks the fact that virtually anything can be changed if you use it. “Simply erase” gives us an insight into the ways that Photoshop is used. It suggests that flaws can be fixed as easily as a mistake can be erased from paper. Throughout the video, various women are holding a package which looks like a product. This represents the Photoshop software. However, its casual approach to how Photoshop is used also reflects just how casual applying everyday makeup is, in a real life situation. This could be seen as a metaphorical way of interpreting the package as a single makeup product which formula allows the impossible to come true.
Lastly, we looked at a makeup advert. This advertised mascara from the brand “Rimmel.” The mascara is called “Scandal Eyes” which automatically creates a play on words and will be effective for the selling of the product as it is a catchy name to remember. The semantic field of the advert is criminals and rebellion. These two themes are used to create a mysterious vibe which draws in the audience as it makes them aware of the mystery aspects and wanting to know more. The use of the words “guilty” and “arresting lashes” are used to again reinforce the semantic field of rebellion. The ideologies behind this are that the consumer will feel confident if they wear it. This is also reinforced by the model breaking through the crime scene tape confidently at the end, and the mascara being put in a transparent bag suggesting that it is evidence for a crime. This message here is that it is precious and essential. In relation to the product this connotes that it is an essential makeup item. I think that to an extent, the ideology behind the products is dominant within the beauty industry as a whole because the messages, although subtle, the view is shared by most people.
In our case study we have explored the way beauty is portrayed in 3 different media platforms. We looked at a Photoshop viral advert, Rimmel London t.v advert and beauty addition of a magazine. We commented on ideology's and connotations of beauty in each. In our first case study of the Photoshop viral advert it portrayed the ideology that being manufactured is the only way to be beautiful. This is shown when the advert goes on to the subject of size and shrinks the waist of the girl in the image to a stick thin size, followed by the quote "you should look like this". Its the ideology that being thin is required to be beautiful which contradicts campaigns like Doves where curves are preferred. It also exposes face imagery from the airbrush app, "my skin feels like plastic" being quoted by the barbie look alike girl connoting fakery is flawless. On the second platform i studied a magazine called Eureka the beauty edition. This magazine had a different take on beauty that the first case study, it focuses on the natural aspect of beauty. This is first shown on the front cover of the magazine. You see a extreme close up of a closed eye, not a full bodied image of a scantally clothed woman, this connotes simple things can be deemed as more beautiful than the stereotypical provocative image. The eye has subtle natural brown shades and hardly any evidence of make-up, therefore pulling away from manufactured beauty and leaning towards natural beauty connoted by the brown shades in the eye. The eye is closed showing that beauty is deeper than the eye can see and is not always what you can see. The ideology portrayed from the front cover shows that natural beauty is the real beauty and also shows that beauty isn't always facial. From other ads ive seen advertising beauty products there isn't a dominant ideology of beauty but the ideology of natural beautify is slowly becoming more popular shown by campaigns done by company's like Dove.
ReplyDeleteIdeology is shown in a number of ways and methods throughout good housekeeping such as images to represent what the magazine is trying to convey to its audience
ReplyDeleteThe majority of the images are of natural looking models whith curves and wrinkles. This idea combats the usual representations of women in other magazines and ads such as maybelene where a very thin, highly phototshopped image is used to tell the reader how they should look. Good housekeeping features some maybelene ads however for the beuty section it shares the ideologies of the dove institute. Natural looking women that are comfortable in their own skin that the products advertised will only enhance. These metheds make the reader feel confidents in what they are reading and a warmth to the magazine
Other media platforms such as the emedia viral video 'Fotoshop by Adobe' dont combat the typical ads but mock them instead to portray their ideologies. The satire viral exagerates the features of typical beauty ads and tweaks them for comic effect however still uses thier conventions. This method promotes an irony that even though the institute behind the viral is exagerating the conventions and showing how fake the messages are, actual beuty ads are incredibly similar to the viral. this irony implies the change in the way beuty ads are structured and conveyed to the audience
The ideologies represented in both Good Housekeeping and the viral ad is to change the way women are presented by the media from a fake unrealistic lifestyles into a more real reflection. However TV ads such as 'Rimmel London' mascara still use the same conventions of highly made up models promoting a glamour filled lifestyle. these ads convey the message that good looks and confidence is only achieved through buying this product which isnt dismimilar to any beauty ad even dove but the diffenrence is that dove has the ideologie of bringing womens own confidence out rather than hiding behind mascara. intead of admiring a fake image women should be confident in themselves. this is the ideologie feature in Good Housekeeping and Dove And the Viral ad.
Our case study is on lifestyle and how beauty is represented through the media. It describes how there is no such thing as ‘perfect beauty’, it is fake. Women shown by the media have either been photoshopped or wear a heavy amount of makeup. Looking at the viral advert, Rimmel London advert and the ‘Look’ magazine it is clear that today the idea of beauty has become distorted and is unrealistic for all or most women.
ReplyDeleteThe Look magazine uses models and celebrities such as Nicola Roberts to represent fake beauty. Bright lighting and Photoshop have been used on her to make her skin lighter and to get rid of any imperfections on her body, such as spots. The ideology behind the magazine is perfect beauty and that anyone can look perfect if they buy the beauty products that are being advertised in the magazine. The Photoshop viral video also shows that fake beauty is advertised by the media. As the narrator uses a sarcastic tone of voice while the video shows women before and after they have been photoshopped. This video makes fun of other beauty adverts such as Maybelline by using its catchphrase but distorting it. The ideology behind this is showing women that the beauty represented by other adverts is fake and the products they sell will not give the audience what they see on the advert.
Overall the ideology behind the media products in my case study is that anyone can look beautiful like a celebrity or a model if they buy the products being advertised through magazines, adverts or the internet. It is communicated through role models for women such as celebrities like Nicola Roberts because women aspire to be like them. The ideology behind these products therefore is dominant within the beauty industry as a whole because most of it uses the same techniques through magazines, which I have described, to sell their products and unrealistic beauty. Although some parts of the beauty industry such as Dove, advertise ‘real beauty’ which is women without heavy makeup and no Photoshop. But they are still advertising their products to women, suggesting that real beauty is not possible without Dove’s products.
My case study has been about beauty and how it is shown in the media. We've learnt that the media portrays beauty as being amazingly perfect. According to the media you have to be skinny, have clear skin, lots of makeup, revealing clothes and lots of editing on photoshop. They show this in many magazines and beauty adverts. However we've also learnt that some products are trying to change the medias definition of fake beauty and promote natural beauty, companies such as Dove.
ReplyDeleteIdeology is shown in many ways throughout my media product, which is the beauty and fashion magazine 'Look' The overall idea behind the magazine is that if you want to look as good as the models shown in the magazine you should buy the products from the magazine. This is a convention used by most beauty magazines and adverts. Thry show a perfect woman with perfect skin which has been edited on photoshop and then tell you that you can look half as good as them if you purchase their products.
Another example when the Media are promoting make up and beauty products for women are with the adverts on tv/internet. Such as Maybelline adverts. They always use the same convention. Which is a beautiful glamerous model who've been edited. They then say they have used the product which they;re holding and tell you to buy it to look as good as her.
Another method used by the Media to promote beauty is on the front cover of their magazine or website. They usually have a older women on a front cover to encourage the older audience and try to make them fell more younger.
The 'Fotoshop' viral also shows how the media's definition of beauty is fake and not natural. In the video we see models following the typical conventions of beauty adverts and then mock them by using 'fotoshop' to make themselves look even better. They show the public how nobody looks as perfect as these models and that it's all down to photoshop.
The ideology behind all the beauty products, magazines, adverts and websites are very dominant within the beauty industry, however there are still some beauty products who are trying to change the definition of beauty. Companies such as Dove and No.7. Although the adverts still follow the convention they have a different message which is you dont have to be a certain wight, skin colour or have a perfect face to be beautiful as everyone is beautiful in their own way. They do this by targeting a wide audience range.
The image of beauty portrayed in today’s society, is becoming more and more distorted. In everyday life we are exposed to magazines and television adverts that portray a “perfected” idea of how women should look. We are shown models who have been edited in so many different ways and are convinced that we all must have thin bodies and over exaggerated eye lashes to be classes as beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHowever, not all products have this view upon beauty and neither do they force this image upon us. For example, viral advert “Fotoshop” by Adobe makes us realise that no one has the “ideal” look you find on magazine covers, without some kind of editing software to “help” you. This is where the video adopts a satirical look on other beauty industries and begins to mock the real Photoshop. It portrays models in a completely different way. They are instead shown as stupid and “plastic”, compared to the positive way they are portrayed on television or magazine adverts.
Some magazines have also decided to encourage natural beauty. For example, “Woman”, a lifestyle magazine aimed at women around the ages of 30 – 60, only has two pages on beauty, and in that article, keep up the image of self-beauty. They do include make up products, however only ones that encourage you to make the most of your beauty and not to fake it (such as fake tan or eyelashes). The article has also only included one photo of a woman, who is clearly not photoshopped and only with a little bit of make up, showing she can be sophisticated and beautiful at the same time. The magazine also includes two adverts, both promoting Dove, which is widely known for their look on natural beauty.
Our study is on lifestyle, so I have analysed the "good house keeping" magazine, a viral video "fotoshop", which mocks conventional beauty adverts, and finally the dove campaign to promote natural beauty.
ReplyDeleteGood House keeping's ideology is to try and improve your lifestyle with tips on beauty,, day to day tasks, diets and clothes!`this appeals to the target audience because they are middle aged and looking for ways to spice up their lives from the usual routine.
The fotoshop viral advert is meant to shock the reader, in a comedic way, to see what their lives consist of. It highlights what they do to chose products and what ridicules reasoning they have. This will spread around because it is amusing and women relate to it.
The ideology of Dove is to keep to a natural lifestyle and not to poison ourselves with chemicals, sadly for them, they sell chemicals. Although they are being very clever by promoting natural beauty because it helps the companies image of being green.
Good housekeeping uses easy to read styles and layouts to present information needed by the readers. This would appeal to the target audience because Mums don't have a lot of time to read these sorts of magazines for hours in a day, they would read it in short sharp bursts.
The viral advert has used the same style as a beauty advert so the reader automatically relate with it. Then it fills the style with over the top language to mock beauty adverts. This will shock the reader to what they are using and hopefully change their ways.
Dove use pure colours in their adverts like blue and white because it highlights innocence which will appeal to the Target audiences.
Overall I believe that as some companies get worse ideologies about how people should live, it is good to know that there are some companies are battling against it.