This is an ad for L’oreal and their Skin Genesis Cleansers.
Sex Role Perspective
The ad shows a woman washing her face with the cleansers.
The point of the cleanser is that it is:
- So powerful, it can make your skin look younger
- So gentle, it works around the eyes
The woman is smirking with her eyes looking into the distance and her hands delicately touching her cheeks.
The ad definitely reinforces stereotypical feminine appearance, as the ad shows flawless skin with not a pore in sight. The woman has no trace of imperfections, dark circles, wrinkles, texture redness, or any other quality of a normal woman’s skin. Society says that women must have perfect looking skin with no trace of age or discoloration in order to look beautiful. The advertisement edited the woman to have such an unattainable look, that women would want to buy their product in hopes to gain that “level” of beauty.
Other qualities of the ad are unrealistic if you really look at it. The water that was edited into the photo is somehow delicately placed on only her hands. It seems strange that her hands are wet in such an “elegant” way, but her face perfectly dry. If she was washing her face, she would want water on her face, not just her hands.
The fact that even the water in the photo is placed with such delicacy reinforces the stereotype of delicate touch as being feminine.
Also, her eyes are looking away from the audience (withdrawal), which invites viewers to look at how perfect her skin is.
Gaze Theory
This ad is not sexual in its nature, but could be considered as focusing on the male gaze, as most men want a woman to look like the woman in the advertisement – essentially plastic with no flaws. The ad continues the trend in women’s product advertising that women are to look pretty for men, instead of taking care of their skin and being comfortable in who they are.
Shared by: Megan Jasen
Image Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/855472891705232090/