Question 10

This advertisement takes on the concepts behind Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema,” McKay and Johnson’s “Pornographic Eroticism” and Garnham’s “Political Economy and Cultural Studies.”
The advertisement portrays many sexualized woman appearing to be lonely having difficulty doing various tasks on their own. It then takes to the perspective that they are in need of a man, particularly one wearing Axe. The commercial uses the concept of the male gaze when viewing these women and they are highly sexualized to the point of seeming to be mere sexual objects, drawing on both Mulvey and McKay and Johnson. They are dressed in bathing suits and are shown to be incapable of doing anything besides sit and function as a sexual object. Simple tasks such as swinging on a swing or canoeing are shown to be things they need a man’s help with. The woman are falling into stereotypical gender roles of sexual objectification and not being independent but instead needing a man by their side.

This commercial can be looked at from both the political economy and the cultural studies point of view. In the political economy perspective, the commercial is attempting to make the Axe appear to give men the masculinity to attract and help these women. It is about selling the product to the demographic, regardless of stereotypes on gender roles. However, from the cultural studies point of view the commercial reaffirms stereotypes and gives the implication that these are the way gender roles should be.