At News International there was a large hacking scandal whereby the police had got Levenson involved. The Leveson inquiry was public and was involved in the British press’s culture, practices, and ethics. The Leveson report was released in November 2012, which examined the culture and ethics of the press and presented proposals for a new body to replace the existing Press Complaints Commission.

The Leveson inquiry, led by judge Sir Brian Leveson, started in 2011. This was after it was found that journalists at Rupert Murdoch’s now unusable News of the World tabloid hacked the phone of a murdered school girl Milly Dowler.

My intention for my advertisement is to take a photo of a female holding the product and looking at the added photo of it.

My reactionary advert will consist of a female dressed in a black fury coat holding my the mascara. The girl along with the product is the dominant signifier. I decided that my model should be holding the product as well as a pair of sunglasses so she appears stylish and it’s as if the mascara transforms you into a young woman with good fashion sense and elegance. The title will be placed above her head at the top of the page and will be in a serif font to enhance the classy nature of the advert. The colour also supports this as I have chosen gold font to display a rich looking product. Although the copy is coloured black, the slogan is the same colour as the title to attract attention to it and so it is clear to the audience. My slogan is ‘confident, new, subtle’ which provides anchorage for the audience, especially if they are searching for any of these things in a mascara. An example of an iconic sign in my advert is the mascara as it is a sign that looks like it’s object. In this advert, the male gaze could be attracted due to her elegance and confident posture. The woman on the advert seems as though she lives a comfortable lifestyle and she is financially affluent lifestyle.

Laswell developed the Hypodermic model which is a linear communication theory which suggests that messages the media portrays are intended directly for a passive audience. In this case, the components of Laswell’s model would consist of the sender, being the brand- ‘Ted Baker’ and the name- ‘Indulge’, the message that the sender gets across, that you will feel ‘confident’ and it is a ‘new’ and ‘subtle’ look. The focus is then about the channel, the channel of this finished product is an advertisement in a magazine. However, it could be printed out as a poster. This magazine advert is for the intended audience (receiver) of women between the age of 20-28 who wear makeup and are of a middle class as the product isn’t the most expensive but is in the price range of £18-£20 which is moderate for a mascara. The denotation of the sunglasses in the model’s hand and her necklace also makes her appear middle class/high class as they sunglasses makes her appear classy and the necklace is a popular, expensive product that is only affordable to people who are well-off. This positions the audience to believe that the product looks expensive and if they purchase it they will feel more boujee. This then gives the affect (feedback) that people might believe that if they use this product they will become popular and clean looking. This could attract negative stereotypes in the sense that people who aren’t able to purchase this will feel insecure about themselves and how they can not afford to look as good as the model.

The radical advert will consist of a woman in a colourful 80’s style dress with a black wig in a hairstyle from that time period. The girl holding the product is the dominant signifier. I decided that my model should be holding the product as it seems more obvious that she uses it and promoting the product.

In 2020, an estimated 4.48 million people used Maybelline eye make-up.

Maybelline hired people who are not stereotypical aspirers with the aim of inclusivity across the word with regards to their makeup products. They hired their first male and gay influencer, Manny MUA, in 2017 which broke gender stereotypes in the sense that most people who wear and promote makeup are females.

Shayla has encouraged racial diversity by speaking openly about it on her youtube channel

QUANTITATIVE v QUALITATIVE

QUANTITATIVE number based approach

QUALITATIVE an individual interpretative approach considering why audiences consume or engage.

ADVERT AUDIENCE

In my advert for Bobbi Brown, I would expect the model to be a ‘technical middle class’ woman because the eye makeup that she is advertising is around £20, she looks around 26 years old and she looks like she works in an office as maybe a secretary.

My product is designed to be sold to ‘mainstreamers’.

Product 1:

Product 2:

My game is based on the Love Island T.V show. The target audience is teenagers who are above the age of 12, mainly up to around 25. This is due to some minor strong language, players require knowledge of the love island program and the fact that the characters are in small clothing, displaying areas of their bodies like their bottom and cleavage. The player tries to find love, while maintaining strong friendships with everyone in the villa so their peers don’t try to sabotage them. The player needs to try and pick the right boy who matches them and their interests. This is worked on over different episodes and the players can only complete one episode a night, this also prevents them spending a lot of time on their devices.

I created a dominant signifying image of a curvy, physically fit female who is in her early 20’s and she is represented as feminine.The aim of my game corresponds to Tori Moi’s analysis of the distinction between female, feminine, feminist categories of representation (1987). In my production there is a clear focus on femininity. This can be identified in the purple bikini I put my character in and her womanly curves. She is a physically fit female who is in her early 20’s which can be attractive to the male eye. My character is the stereotypical woman that has a body type that would be classed as reactionary as it is something you would expect the main character in a game like this to look like. It can also be identified through the posture that I created for my protagonist, as she is perfectly aligned and upright.

In some ways this is in contrast to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as my dominant signifier is not designed in the way that she appears sexualised or provocative – in the words of Mulvey, “It is said that analysing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it.” (“Visual and Other Pleasures”, 1989). However, my character will be vividly analysed by males, she will be sexualised because of her womanly features and confident posture. In some ways this inverts Laura Mulvey’s notion of the male gaze as my main character is there to be objectified and looked at. This could be in the way that she is being sexualised by men but also envied by women in the sense that some will feel jealous of her ‘perfect body’. The notion of the male gaze is quite distinct as it relates to the sexualisation of the dominant signifier, which is certainly the case for my character with regards to men. The quote “Women’s desire is subjected to her image as bearer of the bleeding wound” perfectly explains a woman’s view in the way that she feels she is only there for her male partner to look after him and so he can use her for her body.

I believe that in society, masculine males are a lot more respected and accepted than feminine females so I produced a game where instead of the man being the main focus or any visual vocus at all, it is the woman who’s more dominant and she is on the front cover. In this sense my product is a reactionary representation of femininity that challenges the stereotype of a male being the main focus. However, I don’t think that this is a positive representation of femininity, I personally believe that a female with a ‘perfect’ body represents a photoshopped body (if it was someone in real life). This kind of representation can be toxic to the public/game players as it is not healthy for females to aspire to such a high expectation.

While the plot line of my game also is a stereotypical representation of women, in the video game industry it contrasts the main idea. My character is not relying on a male character to control her or influence her, in fact she is able to make decisions for herself and doesn’t require rescuing. However, according to Anita Sarkeesian from Feminist Frequency women are often relient on men and ‘must be saved by a male character’. This gives the male character and/or game player the satisfaction of believing that the ‘damsel in distress’ needs a male to rescue her and her life lies in his hands.

As such, if I was to create this product again, I would avoid the stereotypical representation of a curvy, young model and try to create a character that was more radical in representation. I would maybe inhibit a range of signifiers that would connote a male character. I could do this by re-sculpting my character in terms of their body type, hair colour and length and their posture. As such, I would display a much more positive and inclusive message about not just masculinity but just people’s identity in general, one that used a positive countertype to present a radical and challenging representation this could help it’s audience to encourage more of an open and accepting society, with more positive and unique role models for young people to aspire to. The quote ”Young, white, straight male” when referring to ‘typical’ games characters and audiences, shows that there is a certain type for video game inventors. For a violent game this might be for a ”Young, white, straight male” whereas, the reactionary character and audience for my type of game is teenage, straight females who are interested in relationships and drama-filled gossip.