Magazine Advertisement Analysis Paper

Although, in society today ads are being produced with different characteristics of feminism; for example, having more "plus" sized models in ads instead of the typical tall, skinny models. The mass media is still predominantly a gender discriminated aspect in today's society. The media presents aspects of masculinity and femininity in ads produced for general ideas of how people in our society should look like and wear to be appealing.

I chose to analyze a magazine ad that displayed both a male and female model. I ended up finding an ad that I felt was very gender biased, the producers of this ad had to be mimicking how they believed gender equality should be. The ad I chose to analyze was an ad by Gucci where both models were wearing some of the name brand clothing. As the male model is

standing, wearing only pants, shoes and some accessories on his wrist. For the female model, she is on her hands and knees, also wearing Gucci brand dress and heels(site image).
Many societies have been noted of being patriarchy, meaning that as a society the men as a whole control the women as a whole with authority being invested in the men.

The United States originated as a patriarchal society as women had to fight years to earn any kind of rights(site book). As the time has went on, this system has systematically disappeared from the United States as many laws and regulations have been passed to ensure the equality of all people gender wise. Even though these rules and sanctions are in place for equality, society seems to still have glimpses of gender discrimination and gender inequality. In the ad chosen, a sense of dominance is prevalent as the male model is pictured much larger than the female. Also, the male is standing over top of the female as she is on her hands and knees, showing dominance towards the male. More aspects of masculinity shown in this ad are shown with the male having his shirt off. With the shirt off it shows the muscle tone on his arms, his six pack abdominal, and his clean shaven chest. Thus depicting a figure that is pleasurable to the eyes that creates images of how males should look to be “desirable” or

“good-looking”.
As for the women, femininity has been shown by the media throughout time very harshly. Females tend to be placed in spots that show less power compared to males, dressed more sexually to show off bodies that are thin and and how all females should look according to the media. In this ad the female model was placed on her hands and knees just below the man, with a hand on his shoe; showing an aspect of begging for something or even showing a sign of weakness toward the female. The weakness towards the female is shown with the scene of this ad, being in the desert I believe that the female actor is showing a sign of weakness from being exhausted or even dehydrated more than the male causing a pose on the ground, begging for help. Onto the appearance of the female actor, she is dressed in a dress that is rather short, causing her to hold it down. Another thing with the dress is the amount of cleavage that is shown. Today many ads are shown with less clothing than before, the sense of females being skinny, tall and also having parts of the body showing is essential in most ads.
The picture that the media creates for both genders are tactics used to sell the items they have and even define genders how the media thinks it should be. The media sends a message to people that in order to be”desirable” or “good-looking” they have to look like the models in the ads. Also, the media today has a huge influence on gender equality; as they create scenes of male dominance and other discriminating aspects towards women.