How useful is this idea in understanding how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

In this essay I will be constructing an argument based on the principles of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, which will evaluate the foundations of gender and identity and how they are represented throughout media. To do this I will analyse the gender representations in a print advert for Score, from the 1960s, and a video advert for Maybelline, made in 2017.

Judith Butler, in 1988, theorises that ‘rituals and performative actions constantly reinforce our identities’ which implies that it is your behaviour that fabricate your gender and identity, most significantly your repeated behaviour. In saying that, she highlights that no one is just born with an identity but as people grow up and as people are exposed to new knowledge and experiences and hardships; that is when one’s identity is formed. This approach is extremely subjective as just because a certain practice may be typically performed by a girl, such as painting your nails, does not mean that it cannot be performed by a male or any other gender. Therefore, because we the ones that control our performative actions, we have the ability to control and re-shape our identities, linking to David Gauntlett’s theory of fluid identity, which tells us that in reality gender is a social construction and is completely subjective. She states the issues with maintaining an identity which ‘falls outside of heterosexual norm in our society’ as it tends to be ‘a subversive act that takes a great deal of effort to maintain’. This is likely due to institutions, such as the advertising industry, who have constructed an ‘ideal’ identity whereby  women have to be submissive and sexy whereas men had to be dominant and emotionless therefore under representing non-heterosexual identities and causing people to believe certain identities are more valid than others – which of course, is not the case. Her theory may have been the catalyst for the third wave of feminism at the beginning of the 1990s as it was solely focused on pluralism towards  race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism, rather than just the role of women in society.

Score’s hair cream advert was made in 1967 and is a reactionary representation of men and women, highlighting the objective views people had of gender identity during this time. This is stereotypical of the advertising industry as these representations were very much reflect the dominating ideology at the time due to the fact it is portraying the white male as the dominant figure, which contrasts the females who are portrayed as submissive. Therefore, these gender representations support Butlers idea of gender performativity as according to society at the time, it is the male’s active dominance which makes him a man, and the females’ active submission which makes them women. The advert highly sexualises women by using conventionally attractive women and exposing their bodies by dressing them in little to no clothing, which seems ironic considering the product is to be used by men, reflecting upon Laura Mulvey’s notion of the Male Gaze as they are characters whose “appearance [is] coded for [a] strong visual and erotic impact” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). This illustrates the role of women in society at the time, as they are only there to look attractive in order to feed the voyeuristic tendencies of the patriarchy and therefore are not serving any practical purpose other than to make the product sell – they are being used for their bodies. In saying that, it is very clear that the advert was produced before any real progress was made with regards to the role of women in society as although it was made after the first and second wave of feminism, it was not until the third wave of feminism in the 1990s that people began focusing on the representation of women and how they are treated throughout media, which was a lot more broad compared to previous waves, and therefore Score’s degrading representations of women would not have been affected by this movement.

Maybelline’s big shot mascara campaign was made in 2017 and portrays a radical representation of men and women as it ‘marks Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign’ (Glamour Magazine, 2017). This can be seen as revolutionary, or as Manny states ‘breaking boundaries,’ as is it contrasts the dominant ideology that men typically don’t wear makeup and especially because there is a lack of representation of men in the cosmetics industry. This reflects upon David Gauntlett’s theory of fluidity of identity as Maybelline are advertising the product is being advertised to both men and women. Manny, despite being male, appears to have more feminine mannerisms, such as the way he dresses and speaks, which is typical of someone in the LGBTQ+ community, like himself, and corresponds with Toril Moi’s distinctions  between being female, feminine and a feminist as he illustrates that it is possible to be feminine without being a female. Therefore his repeated performance of feminine acts is the foundation of his identity and what signifies to others how he identifies, supporting Butler’s theory that ‘identity is instituted through a stylised repetition of acts’. The advert perfectly illustrates a shift of certain social conventions in the sense that it highlights the growing acceptance of gender identities that aren’t just male or female. Despite the possession of such identities tends to be, in the words of Butler, ‘a subversive act that takes a great deal of effort to maintain’, the advert highlights how as a society we have grown to be more acceptive of them and the performative acts that come with them. This may have derived from the third wave of feminism at the beginning of the 1990s as it was solely focused on pluralism towards  race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender and nationality when discussing feminism, rather than just the role of women in society.

To conclude, both the Score hair cream advert and the Maybelline big shot advert support Judith Butler’s theory that  gender is ‘an identity instituted through a stylised repetition of acts’ and help us understand the representation of gender . In terms of Score, each characters identity is made very clear due to the traditional  conventions portrayed, for example the women portray a submissive persona which was a stereotypical female performative act at the time. In terms of Maybelline, the protagonists repetition of feminine performative acts, is what illustrates to others how he identifies as they are typical of homosexual conventions.