Task 3: Historical Text Analysis and Research

Diet cola, is a product that the coca cola company produce, which has less caffeine and less sugar in it. Through the adverts that have been created to promote the product, it is obvious that the target audience is women.
These adverts show that its not only women that are sexualised objects as a result of advertising, but also men in some cases.


This advert is one where the roles are reversed. The women are the ones who are sexually objectifying the man, unlike other adverts such as the lynx campaigns. This is to show that its not just women that are sexualised by advertising its also men that get sexualised too.

Here in this scene, three young attractive women go into the elevator, and open their cans of diet coke. They press the alarm button which stops the elevator, which then prompts the service man to come down and help them, which is what they want. As he comes down, we are shown the ladies, all looking up with these looks of happiness and hope. The three women work in an office, which is a positive representation and a modern one. The use of 3 different women, with three different senses of style, and colours is to try and get as many different women to identify (Blumer and Katz) with the ladies, and possibly buy the product. Also the women are attractive, professional and also seem independent, all things which women will aspire to, and part of the lifestyle is the diet cola, which they will buy hoping to be part of this. 

The camera zooms into one of the female actors face, as she is looking up towards the celing of the elavator. She is slowly biting her lip as she is looking up. Which is a look of anticipation and also a look usually used when viewing someone in a sexual way. The women is sexually attractive according to western culture, and other women will aspire to be like her. Men might be sexually attracted to her, and she might attract the male gaze.

One of the other women are drinking the drink, and looking up also in the same direction. The women has flawless skin, and green eyes. This is something that other women might aspire to have.  The look up is also one of anticipation.

As the man comes down through the roof of the elevator, the audience are initially shown the mans body. We are given a view which we are led to believe is the women's view. As he descends into the camera shot, we are given a medium shot of his midriff. The male protagonists top rises up exposing his stomach, which shows his abs. This is supposed to be appealing to the female audience, as they get the visual pleasures associated with a young physically fit young man.

The male protagonist's face is finally exposed, and the audience are given a view of his face. The camera is still in the view of the female actors, and the audience still have their point of view. The male protagonist doesn't speak, and is just a passive object that is there for visual pleasure purposes. Just a sexualised object.

Diet Coke - Coke Break Advert 

This advert takes place inside an office which has only female employees. As it turns to 11:30 the women, inform each other of the time, and then they all stop what they are doing, no matter how important to flock to the window and look outside. The women are all white, but vary in hair colour, hair style and clothing. This enables the audience every opportunity to seek indetification with the actors in the scene. 

As the women rush around the office telling each other what time it is, so that they can all watch the construction workers. None of the women refuse to or question what, they are united in their sexualisation of the men. 

The camera angle is a straight on one, not a high angle shot, so it shows that the women are equals and not being looked down on by men. 

Most of the women are attractive and are dressed in what I think is supposed to be fashionable attire for the time period. Something that women in the audience will aspire towards. They might also aspire towards the professional roles that these women might have within a business. 

The professional role that the women have is reinforced, by the suits and blazers that the women are wearing. Also as the advert continues women with different hair colours and style are revealed. More and more women are recruited to come to the window, showing the unity and friendship that these women have. Things that women in the audience might aspire to have. 

As the women start to reach the window, they have an expectant expression on their face as they wait for the men to arrive. They also look happy and satisfied as they wait. 

The lack of disagreement from the women, and how they all flock to the window shows that sexually objectifying men is acceptable and its also something that should be embraced. 

 Finally the men come into the scene, jumping down from their construction veichles. They are obvisouly below the women, because the women are in the building, and the men are on the bottom floor. The camera angle is used intentionally however as it makes the women feel as they are in power, and the men are smaller and less valuable then themselves  This is something that women at the time would of been seeking as at the time, and even now women are seen as equals to men. They are also reversing the roles, where men are the ones with the voyerisitc view of women and sexualising them, but this time the roles are reversed. 

The women are excited and extremely happy to see the men arriving on time. They are all smiling, looking around at each other. This shows some unity and acceptance in the sexualisation of the men. The sexualisation of the men as a result of the womens gaze is shown as healthy as the women are all happy, and healthy.

The male protagonist in the advert is shown taking off his shirt in a high angle shot, which is probably the view that the women have. However, this type of shot makes the subject smaller, and seem inferior whilst at the same time making the viewer the higher power in the scene. This will be a popular type of shot amongst the females whilst they are sexualising this male because it is reversing the role in society that was popular then; that men are dominant in almost every field and women are second class.

Task 2: Bibliography

Maddy COY and Miranda A.H. HORVATH. 2010. ‘Lads’ Mags’, Young Men’s Attitudes towards Women and Acceptance of Myths about Sexual Aggression. London. SAGE. p1-4

Gill, R. 2007. Postfeminist media culture: elements of a sensibility. London. SAGE. p8-17


Gill, R. (2008) ‘Empowerment/Sexism: Figuring Female Sexual Agency in Contemporary
Advertising’, Feminism & Psychology 18. Sage: p36-46

Gill, R. (2007). Supersexualize Me! Advertising and ‘the midriffs’. London. p5-6

McLoughilin, D. (2010). Strtegic Market Management: Global Perspectives.

Task 1: Textual Analysis

Broadcast during the NFL super bowl
5th of Febuary 2012
Mainly a family audience
Estimated 111.3 million estimated US viewership. Estimated 166.8 million total.
Cost of 30Second commercial: $3.5 million (USD)
Teleflora - Flower delivery service

 The viewer is given a voyeuristic view of Adriana Lima putting on her tights in the first second of the advert, in a extreme long shot. The voyeristic view that the audience are given of her makes her an object to the audience members.  This is a pretty private part of dressing up, and in this situation a very seductive one too. This mi In this clip she has her foot pointed and her leg up and stretched out. In this scene and the whole advertisment she is being sexualised  Adriana is not aware that she is being watched. This is a visual pleasure for the audience, mainly the male audience as the male gaze (Laura Mulvey) is attracted . Adriana is an engima code that will attract and hold the males attention, and pose questions to the male, that they hope will be reviled throughout the advert, because of how attractive she is. Women are also pulled into the advert by the same engima code as men, this is because they will aspire (psycographics) to be like Adriana who is deemed by society as beautiful and desirable. Men will want their women to look like this also, so both men and women think that either buying or receiving the flowers will give them what they want. There is non-digetic background music playing which can be described as seductive, or trying to set a sexual mood. The lighting in the scene is mainly on Adriana, clearly making her the subject of the scene. By focusing only on her it makes her the object of the advert and sexualising her because of what shes doing. The furniture in the background: the bed, the stool, the storage unit, the lamp, and the curtains are all white. The connotations of the white is potentially: purity and cleanness, virginity and also a white wedding dress.    The music has the sound of a womans groan part way through the music which further adds to the sexualising of the advert.  Adirana's hair is half covering her face, the connotations of this are good and bad, but more realistically naughty and nice.

From the first scene there is a smooth transition but a sharp cut to the scene where Adriana is adjusting something that cant be seen on screen, which seems to be her finishing putting on her tights, and the audience cannot see it because its too revealing. This further reiterates the voyeristic nature. The audience is shown part of her upper body, not much but some of her shoulder and face, in somewhat of an over the shoulder shot, whilst at the same time being a close up. Again the audience is given a voyerisitic view of Adriana making her a sexual object. The audience cannot see anything else apart from her because of the close up.

Another cut from the previous scene into one of Adriana finishing putting on her tights, which is again another private part of a woman getting dressed. She is putting on a type of lingerie, which is pretty revealing. Lingerie is usually used by women when they are going to engage in sexual activity, to excite their male partner. The extreme close up on this causes the audience to focus on the lingerie and the top of her thigh that is visible as she runs her hand down the clip of the lingerie  For parts of the male audience this will excite them as they will aspire for their women to go to the same effort that Adriana is going through in hope that their women can be as beautiful like her. The slow pulling of her hand up the thigh is seductive as it is like, teasing the audience with how high up her thigh her hand is, almost inviting the audience's voyeuristic view. This scene is showing her sexual avalablity to an extent, as she is preparing for the night time which seems it is likely that shes going to have sex. There is no ring visible on her hand, she might have one on but it doesnt seem she does at the given camera angle, this is promoting sex before marriage which is a common thing in western culture.

Another quick cut to change the scene, another quick cut into a close up of her face. This is an over the shoulder shot, where Adriana is looking back towards the camera with a slight smirk. One connotation of this is that she knew she was being watched and that she enjoys it. Half of her face is covered by her hair. A connotation of this is that she has a naughty side and that she has a nice side to her. This thought is supported by her cheeky smile which continues into her walk away which is just teasing the audience with her beauty. The cheeky smile and the walk away is almost an invitation to follow her and join her, wherever she is going. Throughout the beginning of the advert, the audience is given a voyeristic view of Adriana, this shot is more of a POV shot because she makes direct eye contact with the camera, which changes the type of view the audience have.

Between the scenes the audience see Adriana through some sort of filter that produces 3 of the same, each laying in front of each other. The same cut is used as all the other scenes. The audience are shown Adriana zipping up her dress. This is somewhat a voyeristic view again but could also be a POV type shot that the audience are getting. Adriana is pulling up the back of her dress, in a long shot. The audience can see her back, and also her side/front in the mirror. Once again the majority of the furniture is white, holding the same connotations as already stated. She might not be sexualised as much as she is in other scenes, but she is once again being objectified. However she still is sexualised by the pulling up of the dress.

In this scene Adriana is slightly bent over her table, slightly looking over her shoulder whilst being reflected in her mirror. She has a smirk look over her shoulder, almost acknowledging the audiences voyeuristic view. The smile shows that shes inviting the voyeristic view, and the sexual objectification of herself and almost enjoying it too. The enjoyment that seems to be on her face ties in with the idea that shes teasing the audience. However, when she is walking away she is staring at the flowers that are on her table. One possible connotation of this is that, she is doing all of this preperation because she reccieved the flowers.

Adriana is applying her makeup in the mirror. Again it is a voyeristic view of her, through the mirror. She is applying red lipstick. The colour red has the connotations of danger, anger or to stop, but in this situation the colour red is going to have the connotations of love, passion and romance. The attention of the male audience is attracted by the amazingly beautiful women, who is applying her lipstick, whereas the female audience is attracted by jealousy  envy and desire to be like this women and have men lusting after them.  The lipstick can be seen as a falick symbol, which ties into the sexual nature of the advert. Just after this scene Adriana has a monloge where she is directly addressing the camera, and more specifically the male audience. She says "Valentines day is not hard, give and you shall receive.". This has the sexual connotations of: giving a present to their female partner and then they will receive sex; give oral sex and you will receive the same.

The advert finishes with this screen. The normal thing to say on valentines day is happy valentines day, they use a pun of "happy valentines night". This again has sexual connotations because of the message attached to the rest of the advert. The "give and you shall receive" message along with this still image of the flowers, has the connotation that if you buy these flowers then you will have sex. The product that is being sold isn't shown throughout the advert, its first appearance is just 3seconds before the end of the advert.

Lynx Rise Advert 

The advert is promoting lynx's shower gel, which the audience is lead to believe will keep them alert and on-top of their game. The advert uses several different situations to show how someone can be more alert and better as a result.

In the first scene, the male protagonist arrives in the kitchen, to see a women who is bending over looking for something in the cupboard. He approaches her and slaps her bum. The male protagonist immediately sexualises her, by viewing her as a sex object. He assumes that she is sexually available. The women's face isn't shown, which further adds to the theory that she is being objectified. This scene takes place in the kitchen, so that the audience can put themselves in the protagonists postion, and want to avoid this mistake.

During the same scene, a young women comes into the room, saying "Oh, I see you've met my mum". He has mistaken the mother for the daughter, because he couldn't see the face. The product is attractive to the audience because they want to avoid this awkward situation. The female protagonist of the advert, is wearing a white bra and a pink shirt which is left wide open. The connotation of the white is innocence, cleanness and purity. The bra shows a lot of her cleavage  which gives the audience a voyersitic view of it. The male gaze is attracted, and she is objectified once again. One possible connotation of her showing off so much skin is that she is sexually available and also up for it. The lighting is all on the female protagonist, making her undoubtedly the centre of attention in the scene. This is an example of midriff advertising. Also a stereotype into the dumb blonde who has no clue of whats going on.

The male protagonist is invited by the female protagonist to come over and told to bring some toys. This is a sexual invitation from her, but he doesn't pick up on it. Here she is up for having sex and also adventorous, blurring the lines between porn and reality, which some men might want and they think that this product will help them acheive this. The audience wont want to make the same mistake, and they will want to buy the product so that they are alert. Initially the camera gives a clear view of the women's legs and bum, and a blurred view of the male protagonist, and then it swaps. By showing the women's legs and bum clearly first, it shows that she is the most important thing in the scene. It also objectifies her, once again the audience aren't shown the women's face first, they are shown her legs and bum, in lingerie. The angle and amount of zoom on the camera, ends up positioning the male protagonist perfectly between her legs. A connotation of this is that, whats below the hips, and inbetween the legs is all the guy cares about. The audience is given a voyristic view of her. Which provides visual pleasures for the male audience.

The next scene, takes place in what we are led to believe as the morning after. Once again the male protagonist is wearing just her underwear, and clearly the subject of this particular scene. She is represented as satisfied, through the smile on her face, and her open body language. This is something that some men will find appealing as they seek women's approval through their sexual performance. There is a lot of cleavage on display again, providing visual pleasures as she is pretty as well as the male gaze. Once again she is represented as being sexually available  through her costume or lack of.

In this scene, the female protagonist is supposed to of had her hair done, and she asks the male protagonist what has changed. He replies with a comment about her boobs, which are clearly advertised in the scene yet again. The same connotations run throughout the advert, and are present in this scene again. The camera angle is this scene, is a high angle shot. This makes the subject seem smaller and below us. Therefore we are seen as the more powerful subject, and them the little, submissive character.

Kingsmill Fruit and Fibre Advert

The advert takes place in a household, that is supposed to depict everyday life in Britain. The advert is aiming to sell and promote the bread.

There is dialogue between two characters which we are led to believe are brother and sister, both in their school uniform. The sister being in high school and the brother in primary. The brother is relaying all the messages his dad told him to tell his sister. At the end of the trailer, the brother makes a comment about the length of her skirt. In a defiant response, she does the opposite and hikes up the skirt even more. Showing off more skin. This attracts the male gaze, and can be seen as a school girl fantasy coming real.  As a result she is being sexually objectified. This is a problem, because in this trailer the character is aged 16 or less.
It is a long shot, as we can see all of her. A long shot has been used so that we can see her and fully objectify her.
The girl is being sexually objectified, in order to try and sell the product. Bread is an innocent product, not one that is associated with sex, has now been sexualised by this advert in order to sell it. This poses a question of what is safe from being sexualised?