Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance.
How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?
This idea is particularly useful in understanding gender representation in both Score and Maybelline advert campaigns, this is because gender and identity are something that can be changed- as David Gauntlett identified, the fluidity of identity gives ideas that you can choose to identify as the binary ‘stereotype’ male or female, or you can identify as more fluid- Non-Binary, Transgender, Gender-fluid etc. Essentially, gender is not the fixed set of rules it once used to be, which Judith Butler suggests. She also presents ideas that identity is just a social construct you are meant to abide to so you can be essentially categorised. Now, in more modern days, people are starting to realise that the world does not have to be so binary, and you are allowed to be more fluid, and that there is not a set of ground rules that separates males to females and identifies what you can and cannot do as a specific gender and you cannot cross that line.
In the Score advertising campaign, straight away you can see a patriarchal dominance over the 5 women draped around the focal point- a man. The word ‘masculine’ is used in the description in the phrase ‘Score’s famous masculine scent.’ This indicates the fact that if you use the product, not only will you not look good and appeal to women, but you will also appear masculine AND smell masculine. The man is also being held up on a pedestal by the women while holding a gun, indicating that he is ‘above all’ Straight away you can see a sense of toxic masculinity that many males were a part of in the 1970s, linking back to fluidity of identity, you can see the time difference and how people in the 20th century agreed that you were either male or female no in-between, and you had to act like one due to a stylized repetition of acts that society agreed made you a specific gender.
In the Maybelline advertising campaign, they advocate gender, sexuality, race, and social class. Two of the main representations are reversed gender stereotypes and sexuality, which completely contrasts the Score advertisement. They were the first beauty advertisement that cast a male, which was a huge step in the right direction to some sort of equality. Having a male, who is openly gay, in a beauty advert, allows other males and people who might not identify as female, the stereotype for beauty products, to feel comfortable purchasing the products. This differs to the Score advertisement as it attempts to eliminate the toxic masculinity that comes with beauty and cosmetic products, whereas the Score advert promotes their product to be for males and males only.
Similar to the Maybelline advert, Harry Styles, a singer and an actor, has recently launched his own beauty/cosmetic line. Harry Styles himself, says “Me seeing a colour on a flower or a wallpaper or something and thinking ‘Oh, I wanna put that on my nails’”. Which is a clear representation of breaking the social construct of gender and toxic masculinity, as Harry, a male, enjoys painting his nails. With him releasing this beauty line, it can be seen that he is trying to break the barrier even more than it has been broken, and with a large following, he is more likely to achieve this.
Another major thing in the Score advertisement is that the man held up on the pedestal is seen to be wearing a watch. While this may not be an important thing in modern day adverts, the fact that none of the 5 Caucasian women are wearing a watch, almost hinting at the fact that women are so subordinate to men that they do not deserve education or even an accessory that helps you with day-to-day life. Known theorist, Virginia Woolf created a character for a book as famous novelist, William Shakespeare’s sister, and used it as a metaphor for if William were born a female, the world would have missed a huge part of history. This highlights the fact that we have most likely missed other major or crucial parts of history as women were not allowed to be educated or read and write, the had immense potential but could not use it as they were females and did not have the same opportunities as males. This is known as the First Wave Feminism, where the suffragettes, Suffragists, and the International Alliance of Women (IAW), and many other women around the world started to realise that they should have the same opportunities and chances at success as men- they did not like the fact that they were extremely subordinate to males. Secondly, the watch can connote to high social class, and only people of that social class can purchase the item being advertised- essentially, if you buy the Liquid Hair Cream, you are going to be well respected, and even if you are a male, if you do not wear or buy it, you will be slightly more subordinate to men who do wear it.
On the other hand, in the Maybelline advert, there is a lot of Second Wave and Third Wave feminism seen with the reversed gender stereotypes, inclusive sexuality, race and social class. With having both a male and a female putting on the mascara, this gives off ideas that women are less subordinate to men as they once were as they are sharing the same beauty cosmetic product. There was a massive trend in 2017 on Twitter called the #MeToo movement where women from all around the world shared similar experiences with sexual assault and other major incidents that have been controlled by a man. As Simone De Beauvoir comments, ‘If you’re around long enough, you will see that every victory turns into a defeat.’ Which indicates that even when the Suffragettes etc managed to get women to be able to vote, we are still controlled and do not have total power over ourselves. In the Third Wave Feminism, Naomi Wolf explains that there is a lot more fluidity in sexuality and ways women are allowed to express themselves, which is a substantial difference to the Second Wave Feminism. It is also more multi-dimensional, which brings me back to Judith Butler saying that gender was never there from the start, it is believed to be who you are but in reality, it’s constructed based on things you like and act.
As Jean Kilbourne makes clear, women are overly objectified in many adverts, but mostly print ones. The Score advert is a prime example of this as the five women in it are wearing little clothing that shows off their body for men to enjoy looking at, which reinforces Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze and how men look at women in an extremely oversexualising way. Alternatively, the Maybelline video advert contains no sexualising of women at all and includes males also getting ‘Bossed Up’ to equalise the gender stereotypes.
To conclude, I believe that both Score and Maybelline adverts are juxtaposed by using women’s sexuality and gender. While Maybelline’s advertisement advocates gender, sexuality, race and social class, Score’s advert is all about men being the superior gender and only being able to buy the product if you’re of the correct social class. Theorists such as, Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler, David Gauntlett and many others previously mentioned all have great ideas of identity, how you express yourself and feminism that helps analyse the two adverts further.
