Score
Male gaze – Clothing etc
Man above women both literally and figuratively
Gun – connotes violence – dominance and control – stock character – Propp – hero/princess – masculinity
This masculine representation alludes to men’s need to be desired – links to self esteem from uses and gratifications – Katz, Gurevich and Haas
The score advert was produced the same year as the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the representation conveyed here could be a product of the anxieties and grey areas created from the beginning of a transition towards a postmodern world.
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CSP REVISION
Tomb Raider & Metroid
TOMB RAIDER:
Language:
- Lara Croft is the dominant signifier on the front cover
- Paradigm of signifiers relating to action, adventure and violence
- Iconic signs such as a gun, rope, gloves and a backpack create connotations of a more masculine woman which counteracts the stereotype of women and femininity. – the gun also implies the basic stock types of ‘Good guy vs Bad guy’
- Use of the colour gold could be a symbolic sign linking towards treasure and wealth whilst also implying theft
- The coding engraved into the stone on the back cover could be representing a different language – typically a non-English speaking country This also creates the sense of ‘the other’ without specifically othering a specific country
- The age rating is a denotation as it warns customers the game may be inappropriate for ages younger
Language links to Roland Barthes, C.S. Pierce and Ferdinand de Saussure
Representation:
The dominant signifier is a reactionary representation of women as the lack of clothing worn represents the over-sexualisation of women and women in all media platforms. Her features are also exaggerated and accentuated through the use of tightly fitted clothing which creates unrealistic standards and ideologies of women for both genders to look up to. This can increase anxieties around body image and be damaging for young girls growing up. This also teaches girls and women to base their worth off the validation they receive from their body appearance, as both genders will learn that is socially acceptable to objectify women and to compare women to others. Furthermore, this will create and even bigger gender divide as it creates a lack of understanding for other connections other than physical. Camera positioning also contributes to the way in which women are perceived, women within video games are often seen with their features in shot at all angles whilst men are not. The characteristics also vary as women are seen to ‘saunter’ with some sassy walk and men are seen to walk ‘normally’ which shows that even within a video game woman are ‘seductive’. (Feminist frequency videos) However, Tomb Raider also provides a contrasting representation of women as the dominant signifier is female rather than male. Which countertypes to the usual ‘damsel-in-distress’ stereotype of women in video games- or even sometimes they are the ‘trophy’.
Representation links to Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze) and John Berger (Ways of Seeing) + (Feminist critical thinking)
Genre:
Tomb raider’s genre consists of action and adventure. Steve Neale talks about the repetition and differences within genre and weather they follow the typical conventions. Whilst Tomb Raider does follow the typical genre conventions featuring themes of violence however it does challenge the stereotypical male lead by utilising a main character as female, which serves to maintain interest in an evolving genre. The game utilises a third-person perspective which allows the audience to look around the character without her moving.
Narrative:
Perhaps the most poignant action code is the fatal battle between Lara and Larson. In this quick time event, the player takes limited control of the character and follows the on-screen prompts to shoot Larson. Each button press seems more intimate than the last. It’s clear from the softer music and Lara’s facial expressions that she regrets having to kill the henchman.
While these hermeneutic and proairetic codes provide the internal chronology of the narrative, the representation of the hero and villain is the most obvious example of Barthes’ definition of a symbolic code. Of course, Natla is dressed in a black suit – the colour code connoting her evil intent – and Lara is in her blue top. This simple binary opposition is also established by their different hair colour and accents.
When the player takes control of the avatar we are already in the disequilibrium stage. The player must overcome obstacles, puzzle and fight beasts in order to repair the disequilibrium and create a new equilibrium linking to Todorov’s narratology theory.
Audience:
Albert Bandura’s investigations demonstrated a link between young people watching violence on television and then expressing deviant behaviour in real life. The psychologist called this process symbolic modelling “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” is an action-adventure game which rewards violence because the players use their weapons to overcome the obstacles and save the planet. That final conflict with Larson is quite direct and emotional because it is performed as a quick time event where you make a clear and conscious decision to kill the character.
We can also link this to George Gerbner and his cultivation theory and mean world index as Tomb Raider exposes players to a series of violence. Where children may be at risk of perceiving the world as more violent then reality.
Industry:
[The original “Tomb Raider” was the first game developed by Core Design. The independent company was acquired by Eidos Interactive 1996 who helped finance their projects. After further mergers and acquisitions, Eidos Interactive is now a British subsidiary of Square Enix – a Japanese entertainment conglomerate.
This level of consolidation is typical of the concentration of media ownership identified by David Hesmondhalgh who was eager to highlight how the cultural industries were dominated by a very small number of firms. Although this gives the conglomerates incredible power, some critics would also argue this business model enables the creation of increasingly complex and financially risky games. For example, Core Design needed substantial funding to complete “Tomb Raider” or the game would never have left the design board.
It is also worth noting Eidos and Sony worked together to make “Tomb Raider” exclusive to the new PlayStation console rather than developing the game for the Nintendo or Sega platforms. This marketing strategy, which Hesmondhalgh called artificial scarcity, certainly helped the PlayStation brand to dominate the industry.
The computer game industry is one of the largest sectors in the entertainment business. It might be bigger than Holywood, but there are still lots of financial and legal pressures. “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” is a good illustration of the three formatting techniques used by companies to improve their chances of success.
First, it uses the iconography of action-adventure which will appeal to audiences who are already familiar with the genre. Third-person shooters are also incredibly popular with players. Lara Croft has developed into a cultural icon with her own fanbase, so the game can rely on her star power. Finally, franchises are easier to promote because the intellectual property is firmly established and there will an audience eager for the next instalment.
Square Enix reported the game sold 1.3 million copies worldwide, falling short of the return from the previous Tomb Raider games. It’s a risky business.]
^ NOT MINE!
METROID:
Language:
- Title of the game suggests themes of space and/or science fiction – Pun for ‘meteoroid’
- The iconic sign of a gun, like Tomb Raider, also implies violence
- The dominant signifier is a girl (Samus Aran); however, this isn’t obvious as on the main cover she is disguised in an over-sized space suit.
- Indexical signifiers such as mathematics related coding, numbers and diagrams and shapes, create a myth that displays links to action, suspense and a quest.
- The symbolic sign of the white-like highlight that contours the dominant signifier, could symbolise innocence or power and goodness. – connotating to the fact that she is the ‘Good guy’
Language links to Roland Barthes, C.S. Pierce and Ferdinand de Saussure
Representation:
This character counteracts the stereotypical representation, demonstrating a radical presentation of women and video games. The character’s appearance is not revealed until the last part of the game which helps to enhance a sense of freedom from the player as they can imagine/perceive the character to fit themselves. It is also implied the relationship between fictional characters and our factual lives are to do with the influence of media from a young age. Alike Tomb Raider, the dominant signifier is female which is a radical representation of women as it shows women in a more masculine dominated area. It helps to break the stereotype of women being the weaker gender or at least less capable in comparison to men. However, at the end of the game, Samus Aran is revealed wearing a blue body suit, in which, her body is majorly exaggerated and enhanced. Presenting an idealistic and non-realistic body type. This refreshing presentation is snatched away and the game, like so many others, fall into the archaic ways of appealing to the Male Gaze as a sales strategy.
Representation links to Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze) and John Berger (Ways of Seeing) + (Feminist critical thinking)
Genre:
Metroid is a hybrid genre due to its feature of action and adventure, horror and sci-fi. Steve Neale says there’s an ‘interplay of codes’ which refers to all the features connoting to a genre which help to convey attitudes and beliefs on an ideological world. An example in Metroid is ‘If you weren’t afraid of the dark before, you will be.’ which was a tagline used in marketing the game. It is reassuring for the audience to be able to recognise these codes within the game, such as violence, fictional worlds, powers, and parallel universes are all genre conventions of sci-fi and action. However the differences within this game also helps to entice/engage audiences.
Narrative:
The main character, Samus Aran, serves as the stock character of the hero as she goes on a rescue mission to find her missing troops. Here we can see Todorov’s narratology theory containing the structure of equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, resolution and new equilibrium. The threat posed by the bad guys is the disequilibrium, she then flies across three planets to collect a light and return it to it’s rightful place which serves as the repair that will create peace and a new equilibrium. The game also shows Levi Strauss’ binary oppositions between the characters. As in order to have Samus Aran as the hero that foreshadows there must be a villan which interweaves with Propp’s stock characters.
Audience:
Scanning through the game, most people would assume the target audience is mainly male because of the stereotypical representations of male and female games and the symbolic link between colours such as blue and pink that are associated with gender. An advert that was used to market the game also only featured two young boys playing the game, this also connotes that the primary target audience is male. Nintendo also called their controller the ‘Game Boy’ which would also suggest a gender bias. However, an industry historical review reported that more females were becoming “video game fans” and that 27 per cent of NES players in 1988 were female. The video game is regulated by PEGI and rated a 12 due to the features of violence.
Although we are exploring a virtual world full of ridiculous signifiers, audiences are still learning values and behaviours from a game which celebrates violence. In the development of his cultivation theory, George Gerbner included cartoon depictions of violence in his research because they resonated with the audience. He says the more someone is exposed to something the more they start to recognise it and believe the world is a far more dangerous place then it really is which links to his second theory of mean world index. Aether is a fictional planet. There was no catastrophic meteor. But the violence in the game feels real to a player immersed in that experience especially as it is played through first person which still creates the same tension and adrenaline as someone living in that experience. Here we can see the links to hyperreality and simulation that connotes to Baudrillard’s theory. Albert Bandura also drew attention to television as a socialising agent. Through a process of symbolic modelling, we copy the behaviour we see on the screen, especially if there is positive reinforcement. “Metroid Prime 2: Echoes” rewards players for their skill, gaining power ups and bonus content to defeat the bosses.
Industry:
As a Nintendo game Metroid is the product of one of a handful of conglomerates which dominate
the video games industry, a context which means that the study of the industry raises issues
which are central to contemporary media studies:
• The structure of Nintendo as a company and its control of production, distribution and
circulation
• The use of digital platforms to expand the output and reach of the games demonstrates how
institutions have responded to the impact of new technology.
• Regulation of games through PEGI
• Cultural industries including Hesmondhalgh
Social and Cultural contexts:
Metroid is a Japanese, sci-fi, action adventure video game developed by Nintendo. It is one of
Nintendo’s most successful franchises with 11 games available across all of the company’s
platforms. Metroid is a culturally significant game in the gaming universe due to its mix of style
and tone which combines Super Mario Bros style platforming with darker content, but also due to
the representation of the central character, Samus Aran. Aran is a bounty hunter whose gender
identity has been the subject of controversy and debate, leading some commentators to identify the character as transgender reflecting contemporary social and cultural contexts.
Article: Why Diversity Matters – Links as to why media should include more diversity in their representations. These quotes are referring to the gaming industry.
- ‘ The industry traditionally projects an image that is young, white, straight and male’
- ‘Most games feature white protagonists’
- ‘A scene in Pakistan displays shop signs written in Arabic, even though Pakistani people speak English and Urdu, not Arabic’
Score and Maybelline essay
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?
In this essay i am going to discuss how Judith Butler’s idea of identity being something that is performed is very useful to understanding gender in the Maybelline and Score adverts.
I would suggest that gender as performance by Butler shown in the quote ‘nobody is a gender from the start.’ and that our gender identity and sexuality is ever-changing depending on the context of the situation. She expresses how gender is fluid, changeable, plural, and “a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space” implying that we are able to change our gender/ identityand shouldn’t be regarded as just one identity.
Futhermore in the past women were seen as a object of a man, which is suggested by Laura Mulvey and so their identity was fixed as being there to proivde for the man and the family and not able to do anything else.
These theoretical approaches around gender, feminism and representation can be linked to both CSP 3 (Score) and CSP 4 (Maybelline).
Firstly, in the Score advert there are a number of theories relating to how the characters in it are portrayed. It is created by considering the social and historical context of what was happening at the time. For example during the 1970’s there was emerging acceptance of homosexuality and a slight lead towards change of gender roles. In this CSP it is evident that the company doesn’t support these new ideas and that you are born a gender and sexuality (heterosexual) and this doesn’t change throughout your life time. Judith Butler suggests that the “lack of alternative representations in media helps reinforce heteronormativity” which could be an explanation as to why the society was unwilling to change and the Score advert (CSP 3) further enforces heteronormativity.
However, in the Maybelline advert (CSP 4) there is a significant change in the way that gender and sexuality is portrayed. It features 3 character Manny Mau, Shayla and a bell boy. Manny is could be seen as a countertype to your stereotypical makeup artist for a few reasons. Firstly, he is a male, in the 1960’s if a male would have wanted to be in involved in ‘feminine’ activities it would have been frowned upon and the audience positioning of such advert would have been non-existent. Secondly he is a homosexual which back in the day, this trait wouldn’t have been featured for the public.
Butler’s work is very useful in allowing us to understand CSP 4 because it is clear that Manny doesn’t portray a masculine look, rather more of a feminine kind with a gentle posture. Butler says that men don’t have to perform to the masculine standards and can perform however they like and that their gender can somewhat be shifted according to a situation eg. getting ready for a party and wanting to get glammed up, proving that gender is performed.
Another idea i would like to raise is about the different waves of feminism which can be seen in both CSP’s. There are 4 different waves of feminism. The first wave of feminism occurred in the early 20th century with movements such as the suffragettes and the international council of women. Virgina Woolf was part of first wave feminism said that women don’t have equal opportunities and were encouraged not to pursue their ambitions but instead stay home and do housework. This encourgaed a second wave years later.
The score advert (CSP 3) was created in the times of the 2nd wave of feminism which was about was about civil rights, equal rights for women (equal pay, decriminalisation of abortion, exposes mechanisms of patriarchy). Although this advert doesn’t appear to support this ideas it does however give us an insight into how corrupt situations were in the 60’s due to the way women are shown. Jean Kilbourne suggested that the way in which females are seen in adverts almost encourages idea of abuse, institutional behaviour stems from sexualised female adverts. Leading it to be seen as acceptable because it is the constructed reality that media influences who we become.
Next came the third wave feminism in the early 21st centuary when the Maybelline advert was created. The third wave feminism included things like intersectionality, raunch culture and queer theory. I believe that intersectionality plays an important part in the representation of a modern day world. Shayla (the woman in the Maybelline advert) is what would be described as a positive stereotype because she doesn’t fit the ‘ideal’ beauty standards but still goes out there being confident. Additionally she is a black woman which can be seen as double burden ‘in a postcolonial context, women carry the double burden of being colonized by imperial powers and subordinated by colonial and native men’. But Maybelline wanted to show how they are breaking free from stereotypes and having a less selective representation, appealing to all kind of people across the world leading it to be a very successful business.
In conclusion, I believe that in both CSP’s gender and sexuality is presented very clearly, showing the beliefs surrounding these areas in a very coherent way linking in with Judith Butler’s theories nicely about how gender is something that is performed through actions as seen by the way they dress, the positioning of the characters and interrelationships portrayed in the adverts.
media essay
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?
In the essay, my aim is to present how feminism and gender performance such as Butler and the representation of such topics in the two SCP’s, score, and Maybeline, which were presented to me. during my essay I will argue that over time, the media have changed their perspective on gender and feminism and how now there is an even larger number of people who are supporting the ‘new media’ and how Judith butlers work can be applied to such advertisements.
Judith Butler talks about how in society, how gender roles play a part in day-to-day life. Butler suggests that specific qualities and other features do not define what gender you are and that gender is a choice. Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space. Butler implies things like lipstick lesbian, butch and femme and girly girl and how these traits determine the gender of the people based on attributes behavior and that being born male or female will indefinitely be the way a person acts or chooses to associate to.
In SCP 3, score, we are presented with an ad promoting male hair groom. In the advert, the male is being carried be the females and although he is outnumbered, he is still the higher authority in the ad. In the 1960’s females where still very much below men in the social hierarchy. as such it can be examined productively by considering its historical, social, and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality, and the historical context of advertising techniques the audience of this ad is going to be middle-aged men who wish to look good and get the attention from the woman that the male in the add has. The second wave of feminism relates to this as it started to question things that are wrong with the way the ad is presented. ‘sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, sexism refers to the systematic ways in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female Indeed, feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes: the facilitation of birth control and divorce, the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality, the abolition of hanging and theatre censorship, and the Obscene Publications Act (1959) ‘All this should not be seen as a straightforward displacement of dominant conservative attitudes ‘-Johnathon Dollimore, this shows how people were wanting a change and not wanting to continue the idea that woman must listen to men and must cater to the male genders every need. This however was starting to be abolished due to the innovative ideas being accepted worldwide by many people and how they were trying to modernize the way woman where treated and used in the media to sell product to males.
In SCP 4, it is an advert promoting a mascara. In the ad we see that there are both a male and a female. “Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign. Manny’s encouraging everyone, no matter their gender, to “lash like a boss.” this shows how the cosmetic industry are trying to change gender stereotypes and not adhere to the usual toxic masculinity and the idea that men cannot use make up, this is seen when they come back to the hotel room and the bellboy is now using the make up this shows that people are now more accepting of the idea that men can use makeup. Also, the fact that they have a woman of color in the ad shows how time has changed and emphasizes the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion and how now all these factors should not affect the was a woman is treated. This is spoken about in the third wave of feminism and how Naomi Wolf, challenged and re-contextualized some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality when discussing feminism and they are more accepting of newer ideas and of the idea of fluidity when it comes to gender. Things such as “promotes the dangerous sentiment that men are supposed to adhere to hyper masculine culture.” and “he encourages people to think of makeup as genderless. he thinks boys deserve just as much cosmetic recognition as their female counterparts.” shows how people are trying to advertise the idea that gender isn’t fixed and so certain things shouldn’t be applied to one gender.
To conclude, butlers theory and feminism can both be identified in the two SCP’s I was presented with. It is seen in the use of a female person of color and a male being used in a cosmetic ad to move forward with the idea that gender and not letting your gender define who you are.
Essay – Gender
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 how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?
In this essay, I am going to analyse and evaluate how gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline adverts we have studied. I will argue that the way that gender is represented in the Score advert is alarming and conforms to the outdated gender stereotypes of the 60s. Contrastingly, I am going to argue that the advert Maybelline produced in 2018 (That Boss Life) has a progressive view on gender because it seems to adhere to David Gauntlett’s concept that gender is fluid.
Judith Butler believes in society, gender roles play a part in the day to day life. Butler suggests that specific qualities and features don’t define what gender you are and that gender is a choice. Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space. Butler suggests things like lipstick lesbian (“Lipstick lesbian” is slang for a lesbian who exhibits a greater amount of feminine gender attributes, such as wearing makeup, dresses or skirts), butch and femme (Butch and femme – French language, meaning woman) are terms used in the lesbian subculture to ascribe or acknowledge a masculine (butch) or feminine (femme).) and girly-girl (Girly girl is a term for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, such as wearing pink, using make-up, using perfume, dressing in skirts, dresses and blouses, and talking about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of a girl) and how these traits determine the gender of the people based on attributes behaviour and that being born male or female will indefinitely be the way a person acts or chooses to associate to. Judith was part of third wave of feminism, where she worked towards stopping women from being objectified and being called names such as “slut” for showing off skin. Her work helped to normalise Raunch culture, where women play into their stereotypical gender role in a way which empors themselves. By choosing to show skin, and be sexy, women are taking power of their own sexuality. This culture is a massive part of the third wave of feminism as it is seen as empowering and proggressive. The idea at the heart of raunch culture is that by taking power of their own sexual appearance, men no longer have a say in how women ‘should’ look.
Looking specifically at Score, its opinions on gender identity are clearly in line with Gauntlett’s notion that gender is constructed. The advert came out during second-wave feminism, where feminist critical thinking became much more prominent and pronounced. Despite this, the advert is fairly traditional in its views towards gender. This is evident through the mise-en-scene of the advert. By choosing to select 5 young, skinny, attractive female models the advert is suggesting that women must be young and beautiful to be desirable. Jean Kilbourne stated that “You almost never see a photograph of a woman considered beautiful that hasn’t been Photoshopped”, and this statement applies to this advert. Additionally, the one man in the advert is being carried by the women as if he’s some kind of God. He is above them and sitting comfortably, suggesting his power and superiority. By showing the man being carried by the women, it creates a mental concept of masculine power and control. Interestingly, the man is shown wearing a watch (which suggests he is reliable, responsible, and sophisticated), whilst the women in the advert aren’t wearing watches. The man is also a lot older than the women, which links to the idea that gender is constructed because older men are often seen as desirable by modern media. There is no doubt that the representation of men and women in the advert conforms to the constructed identity of gender in the 60s. The girls are objectified, wearing sexualised clothing that appeals to the male gaze (a term coined by Laura Mulvey to describe when women in media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man. These women are usually represented as passive objects of male desire). The women skirts are short, and their matching shirts are tied across their chests, revealing as much skin as was allowed in a 1960s advert. Their tanned bodies, black eyeliner and luscious hair also conform to the constructed identity of women in the 60s. Similarly, the man is dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, carrying a gun, a symbol of power, violence, and masculinity. Guns are also phallic symbols (any object that resembles or might be taken as a representation of the penis), which may be one of the reasons that the man is carrying it in the advert. The indexical sign of the ad – the tagline “get what you’ve always wanted” is especially problematic because it objectifies women, suggesting that they are objects which can be bought and sold. This relates to the ad’s opinion on gender because women were frequently objectified and treated as sex objects. Therefore, by presenting women in this way, the ad is adhering to the constructed identity of women in the 60s. Furthermore, the indexical sign, animal skin, is evidence of his success as a hunter, and it suggests to the audience that they too will have success if they wear Score. Also, the man’s short-sleeved shirt reveals his muscular arms. Muscular arms are a symbol of strength, dominance, and power. The binary representation of masculinity and femininity is obvious. Liesbet van Zoonen argued femininity is traditionally represented as passive and subservient, whilst masculinity is traditionally represented as dominant and powerful – the women and men in this advert certainly reflect that identity.
Contrastingly, Maybelline’s advert, That Boss Life, takes a more open-minded approach to gender. This is most evident through the choice of model, Manny Mua, who is an openly gay beauty blogger. Manny adopts a more gender-neutral look, wearing full make-up, and wearing feminine clothing. This links to the idea that humans are becoming less and less binary. It’s no longer expected for humans to fit into a constructed gender identity. Harry Styles stated that he wants to ‘dispel the myth of a binary existence.’ This is an example of how the once tall barriers of toxic masculinity, homophobia, and gender constructs are being broken down. Styles says “I’ll often see a colour on a flower or a specific wallpaper and think ‘Oh, I wanna put that on my nails’”. The Maybelline advert attactches to a similar viewpoint to Styles, believing that gender is fluid and unfixed. Maybelline uses a number of signifiers to show this. The most obvious signifier is the colour gold. It’s a gender-neutral colour, and it symbolises luxury. The advert also uses clothing to break down gender stereotypes. Both the man and woman in the advert are wearing similar clothing, and this clothing changes from casual to luxurious mid way through the ad. The dialogue in the advert also adheres to a more gender fluid identity. Manny speaks in a stereotypically feminine tone and says ‘camp’ things such as “giiiiirl, this room is everything”.
In conclusion, I believe that the two CSP’s we studied are juxtaposed in their representations of gender, with Score taking a stereotypical approach to gender, and Maybelline taking a more non-binary approach. This can be seen through the power dynamics at play between men and women. In CSP 3 (Score) the man in the advert is presented as strong, dominant, and on a higher social class to women. Whereas, in CSP 4 (Maybelline) women and men are as equals, with stereotypical gender constructs being disregaded in favour for a more non-binary approach.
Score and Maybelline Essay
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.
Essay score vs maybelline
Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance, Butler suggest that gender is not fixed however it is reinforced consistently through none verbal communication, Judith creates the idea that there aren’t specific aspects or qualities that make you gender specific, but that gender is only a title . You can choose and change your gender, and that whatever you do will not change who you are and who you identify yourself as. Judith Butler writes to identify and break gender stereotypes such as football being a male sport and/or makeup being feminine. As seen in this quote “our gender identities are not fixed objects; they are constituted as a result of our behaviours” and again “Our bodies or sex do not define our gendered identities”. Most people believe that gender is simply divided into male and female, but Butler claims that this is not the case, and that this can lead to misrepresentation. For example, in the score commercial, women are sexualized and objectified, whereas in the Maybelline “boss up” commercial, there are a variety of identities. Butler is a gender theorist who claims that gender is a performance in which everyone is portraying their own gender and that it is a fluid of identity, a term created by David Gauntlett for his own. The usage of identification is not gender-based, and I’ll talk about how gender and identity are represented in the Score and Maybelline commercials.
In contrast to Butler, Laura Mulvey identifies the sexualisation of femininity and female characters compared to male characters that we identify with due to the lack of sexualisation and the addition of development and characteristics shown to deepen their character in a lot of games and movies, Mulvey stated that female characters are forced to identity as passive objects to be looked at and desired compared to men’s representation which is more focused on how “manly” and strong their characters are. She also believes that because the majority of movie directors, game developers, big artists, and key people in the media are men, we view media through their eyes, resulting in the male gaze. An example would be panning the camera on a sexualized female scene in a film, or exaggerations of female body parts in a media game to show more depth to the character. This isn’t to say that male characters can’t be sexualized; it’s simply that female sexualization is more prevalent. If someone substituted a boy for a popular oversexualized female stance, it would still be viewed through the male gaze. The assumption that a sexualized style of seeing strengthens men and sexualized women is supported by the masculine gaze.
As a historical artifact from 1967, the Score hair cream advertisement can be productively examined by considering its historical, social, and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality, and the historical context of advertising techniques. 1967 can be considered as a period of gradual change in western societies, with legislation concerning and changing attitudes toward the roles of women and men in society, something that the advertisement appears to address. The first wave of feminism can be summarized by a quote: “Sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the early 1960s in the American civil rights movement.” Simply put, sexism is the systematic conditioning of men and women to perceive each other negatively, based on the idea that the male is always superior to the female. The Score advert can be similarly linked to this idea because we can see a total of five female figures holding up the male figure giving us the assumption that the male is superior to the females.
Furthermore, Gauntlett’s concept of identity fluidity, the ability to change how you present yourself in any way you want is known as fluidity of identity. If you don’t want to look a specific way, identity fluidity gives you the power to modify your appearance and how you see yourself as a person. Not only that, but fluidity of identity also entails the ability to shift your behavior to something that is preferred or that may be classified as normal. The ability to change who you are as a person, from how you look to how you act, is known as fluid of identity. Gender, for example, is fluid; you may choose who you want to be. Butler’s theory is supported by this, as he states, “Biological anatomies do not determine our gender.”She concludes that masculinity and femininity are not naturally occurring states, but rather are maintained by humans via daily behaviors, implying that a person is neither born male nor female, but their gender is defined by their daily actions. Gauntlett made a comment about how men and women are shown differently in the media. Throughout the twentieth century, for example, images of aggressive women taking control of their life were progressively replacing those of submissive housewives, as exemplified by the Spice Girls’ “girl power.” Men’s energetic and confident representations were giving way to a more contemplative and emotionally sensitive interpretation of masculinity. Despite the fact that old binary representations continue to appear on magazine front covers, there is now a “great diversity of identities.” As a result of our willingness to adapt to new cultural standards, we do not always have a permanent identity.
This theory is not implied in the score advertisement, but it can be seen in the Maybelline “boss up” advertisement. This is because in the Maybelline “boss up” advertisement, we can assume that the representation of the female gender has evolved over time, and we can make this assumption because the gender roles are suggested to be more equal. Within the advertisement, there is a homosexual male celebrity (Manny Mua) with what appears to be feminine traits, as well as a female character who is represented as feeling like a “boss” after using the product, which is found near the end of the advertisement. This can be used to refute the assumption of set gender roles, as well as the historical notion that men are superior to women.
Maybelline’s commercial is thought to represent the third and fourth waves of feminism. Naomi Wolf coined third wave feminism in response to the age gap between the 1960s and 1970s feminist movements, criticizing and re-contextualizing some of the resulting notions of femininity. When debating feminism, it saw women’s lives as intersecting and exhibited a plurality toward race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality. It can be described as a “rebellion of younger women” against what they saw as elder feminists’ prescriptive, aggressive, and “sex negative” stance. The Maybelline ad exemplifies this concept since the female depiction in the ad is neither sexualized or objectified in any manner, implying that she defies the stereotype of what it means to be a ‘female,’ as suggested by the first wave of feminism.
In conclusion, I believe Butler’s definition of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” helps people understand how gender is represented more clearly in the Maybelline ad than in the score ad, due to the score ad opposing the idea that gender is not determined by biological genders.
CSP 3 + 4 Essay
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?
Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. This can link to the advertisement of Maybelline and Score. Identity is the the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. Identity comes in four forms such as fluidity, constructed, negotiated and collective identity. Fluidity of identity is the idea that people can change themselves through their appearance, their actions and the world. Constructed identity is the development of a complex process in which humans and people develop a clear sight of themselves and have a specific view on themselves. Negotiated identity is the process that people agree and perceive you as, and identify ‘who is who’ is their relationships. Lastly, collective identity is the sense of belonging to a group, having the same interests as the peers around you, however it does not mean you and another person are the same. They share the same ideas. These forms of identity were first proposed by David Gauntlet, which can link to Judith’s idea of identity performance. The reason for this is the element that connects both fluidity of identity to gender performance, thus via the concept that a persons identity / gender can be altered by the way a person pursue themselves.
Firstly, the quote “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”, demonstrates that the idea of men’s identification is due to their masculine repetitive actions such as sitting with their legs spread out or as it is called ‘man spreading’, where as, women cross their legs in a feminine, submissive manner. As well as, our physical appearance also contributes to our identity and our repetitive acts by the way each of us ‘do things’, women shave and men typically don’t, women dress with pink, purples and nude colour clothing where as men’s clothing is typically whites, blacks, blues, reds and greens. This is because we have constructed and built colours, products and objects to be aimed and specified for genders. Butler gives the sense that we live in a fabricated world, where everything is constructed and one thing is one thing, men are men, women are women.
Furthermore, the Maybelline advertisement have always presented their adverts through glamorous women and sexualised facial expressions since 1999, however this multimillion dollar global eyeliner company released a video advert on 30th May 2017, called ‘That Boss Life Pt 1’. The company decided to go out of the norm and have a male influencer, known as Manny Gutierrez Jr, who is part of the LGBTQQIAAP community, as well as the female influencer known as Shayla Mitchell as their presenters, both in which wore the eyeliner, in a way to make a statement, that men too can wear makeup if they want to, its a choice each of us have. As well, the video presents the idea that to show your true self, you don’t require hundreds of pounds to ‘perform’ your identity. Additionally, convincing the audience that they must perform to figure out who they are. This supports Judith Butlers work on gender performance because Maybelline have started to realise that the traditions of constructed identity is starting to fade. Maybelline knows that makeup is starting to shift from just a females use, to a neutral choice. Ideas globally are starting to see that there is no abnormal choice if a male decides to wear makeup. For example, Johnny Depp is a straight man, however he wears eyeliner, clearly stating there should be no constructed idea on clothes, cosmetic products and peoples actions to determine their gender.
In addition, we see the idea represented in the score printed advert “Score liquid hair groom” made in 1967, displays a recently shaven man who is being praised by five different women, who have been sexualised to be a submissive of the dominant signifier. The advert is manipulated to be desired as men wouldn’t be able to resist the sexualised appearance of the females in this advert, giving a sense of what the males can potentially ‘get’, these persuasive techniques of temptation of women gives men the curiosity of buying the product. The audiences opinion of this advert has changed due to the change in society and the way society views ideas. In 1967, when this advert was made, it was deemed normal for women to show skin and be the less dominant gender, and black men and women to not be in advertisement, however over the last few years, the change in society, diversity and the popular ideas have changed the way products are advertised. This is due to the recognition and understanding of sexism, racism and homophobia. The representational idea of different social groups in this photograph, is the idea that men are the dominant gender and women follow masculinity. As well, the idea of this product advertisement is to encourage men to purchase the product for the opportunity to have a swarm of women admiring them. Moreover, this male liquid hair groom links in to the idea of Judith’s Butlers quote “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” because the product is advertised and displayed for men’s use, typically expressing that women do not use shaving cream. However, women also use men’s products and proves that it is not solely a males action.
Overall, Maybelline and Score are both linked to Judith Butlers description of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”, by the way these companies advertise their products, targeting at specific audiences such as men or women.
Essay
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?
My aim for this essay is to present all the knowledge about wave feminism and the gender as performance such as Butler and the representation of the two other CSPs Score and Maybelline. I will argue that looking at the construction of being male and female is all about civil rights and should be talked more about femininity.
I would suggest that gender as Performance by Butler is “Our gendered identities are not naturally given but constructed through repetition and ritual.” where individuals change their identities over and over again through the act of others. Judith Butler discusses the ideas of gender representation such as gender is fluid, changeable, and plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space. I would also suggest that feminist critical thinking emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion and fluid and multiple subject positions and identities, therefore it suggests that in the mid 90’s they have low recognisable characteristics.
I would like to explain how theoretical approaches around gender, feminism and representation can be linked to the CSP’s.
First and foremost Mulvey gives us the idea that the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts which refers back to the 3rd wave feminists. Mulvey says “It is said that analysing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it.” for instance the female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, with the male. Kilbourne also assumes the connection between the advertisements of women in public health issues which include violence , eating disorders and addiction. Woolf looks into the third wave feminism about the response of challenges and input about some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period.
To begin with the theoretical ideas of Score, it considers its historical, social and cultural contexts, as it relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. The Score advert was produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality and as such, the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. Butler believes that there can be no gender identity as it can produce a series of effects as well as Woolf’s point on femininity.
Maybelline afterwards touches on the issue of gender representation, ethnicity and lifestyle. The ad, like its 1960s counterpart, uses an aspirational image showing two friends who do not conform to masculine and feminine ideals but are nonetheless powerful: happy in their own skin, confident in their bodies and their sexuality.
The historical knowledge about societal changes in 1967 as it relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques. In 1967 it is believed to be a time of slow transformation in western cultures with legislation about changing women’s attitudes, along as men in society. This was a way to see the advert to be negotiated.
In the late 1960’s and between the early 1970’s, feminist critical thought became much more prominent where a greater acceptance of birth control and divorce, abortion and homosexuality was pronounced during the counter cultural movements.
I would like to announce the idea of the 2nd wave feminism to be approached by resulting in the term of second wave feminism which was directed by organisations.
Jonathon Dollimore gave the idea of ‘all this should not be seen as a straightforward displacement of dominant conservative attitudes‘, where in the early part of the 20th Century, the international alliance of women worked to get women the right to vote.
The Score advert was produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality and as such, the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. The reference to colonialist values can also be linked to social and cultural contexts of the ending of Empire. I believe they use a mixture of indexical symbols as it relates to a jungle as they are dressed in safari clothing and there is a platform where the material is a leopard which could suggest they are in a forest as they also have the bushes or trees behind them as there background.
After the recent demise of gay icon George Michael, several gay men had paid tribute to the singer recalling how he was a huge inspiration when they were growing up and helped make their coming out easier, furthermore Judith Butler suggests that that’s why people behave different so they fit into society. I also believe that in the Maybelline advert the whole campaign suggesting is youthful and empowering such as the slogans like ‘let’s get bossed out’. The advert emphasises a lot on the product itself. When watching the advert they try to approach by using the colour gold which illustrates how they are trying to make the product sound like it will shine your world and make you look very satisfactory towards others.
Referring back to Maybelline, society in nowadays makes the attempt to understand what it means to be oppressed as a woman. This is where the experiences of white middle-class or to ignore the completely experiences the other women occurred. The development and articulation of intersectionality began to take place because of this cause.
My counter argument is about Maybelline as I believe that their product doesn’t give the impression to attract the audience to buy the product. This is because noticing them in a new York apartment with some mascara in a golden luggage doesn’t engage the audience enough to know if it is a good product or not. In other words putting on mascara doesn’t change your whole appearance, therefore there should be no need for the colour gold to be shown throughout the advert.
The score post is more contradictory as its audience is aimed at the male gander suggesting that it is quite decriminalisation of homosexuality and as such, the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signalling more anxiety than might first appear. The idea that you will get what you have always wished for suggests that the 3 women at the back suggest that the man are getting their attention from them and the 2 women at the front suggest that they could be showing off on their looks and how lucky the man is which could also explain that the advert is sexualising them.
In terms of applying queer theory to feminist critical thought, Judith Butler, among others expressed doubt over the reductionist, essentialist, approach towards the binary oppositions presented in terms of the male and female gender.
Exploring the notion of intersectionality, it gives us the response that feminism is not universal, singular or homogeneous as it is a reductionist and essentialist way of seeing the world itself. Bell Hook shows us the way of exploring the ideas of the world by highlighting the concepts such as ‘female’, ‘feminist’, ‘feminine’, which approaches sexuality, class, age, education, religion and ability.
In conclusion, I was able to identify and explain the connections and representation about Score and Maybelline and its link towards Judith Butler and how feminism is shown.
ESSAY
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?
To start this essay I want to quote Judith Butler who wrote: “Gender does not exist inside the body” – this implies that the biology of someone’s gender does not determine the way they see themselves and the way they want others to. Indeed, Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. It is saying that there really is no gender and that its all actions that where constantly repeated and created a normal for that gender to do in the old days these repetitive acts made it normal for the woman to not work and just clean and cook and for the male to make the money and work
In the past men were regarded greater at creating literally pieces and writings then woman were. Virginia Woolf stating that simply if women were not stereotyped and given equal opportunities to men originally, then more literacy pieces would have been made. These opportunities being not regarded as worse or beneath men and given the correct education and same rights as men.
In contrast, more recently, “Me Too” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke.[4] Harvard University published a case study on Burke, called “Leading with Empathy: Tarana Burke and the Making of the Me Too Movement”.[5]
Similar to other social justice and empowerment movements based upon breaking silence, the purpose of “Me Too”, as initially voiced by Burke as well as those who later adopted the tactic, is to empower sexually assaulted individuals through empathy and solidarity through strength in numbers, especially young and vulnerable women, by visibly demonstrating how many have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace
If we consider David Gauntlett and the theory of Fluid of identity is having the choice to change the way you come across however you like. If you don’t want to look a certain way fluid of identity creates the meaning of being able to change that and change how you perceive yourself as a person. Not only that Fluid of identity also means having the fluidity to change the way you act to something favoured or to something which can be categorised as normal. Fluid of Identity is the freedom to change who you are as a person from how you look to how you act if you prefer to-do that.
We can see in Maybelline’s large scale adverts since 1999, they’ve used curvy, oversexualised and glamourous woman to advertise their products. Resulting from this, Maybelline goes against Judith Butlers work and conjoins the stereotypes of genders to their products to increase sales and interest, they have done this by making it seem like woman are the only people to use makeup, however this isn’t true men have been starting to use makeup and expressing themselves through it, for example bands like Fall out boy, and celebrities like Johnny Depp have used and continue to use eyeliner when turning up to social events and shows. However as Judith Butler comments “gender is not a identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” and Maybelline is ignoring the idea of men using their products and wasn’t advertising them towards other genders until 2017 after they realised other genders had started to wear and buy makeup more regularly and it becoming more normal. Most importantly after they hired Manny Gutierrez to advertise their products for all genders it displayed that Maybelline was able to change their adverts and give the idea to their customers that they can display who they are and who they want to be through Maybelline’s products.
In addition, we see the idea represented in the score printed advert “Score liquid hair groom” made in 1967, displays a recently shaven man who is being praised by five different women, who have been sexualised to be a submissive of the dominant signifier. The advert is manipulated to be desired as men wouldn’t be able to resist the sexualised appearance of the females in this advert, giving a sense of what the males can potentially ‘get’, these persuasive techniques of temptation of women gives men the curiosity of buying the product. The audiences opinion of this advert has changed due to the change in society and the way society views ideas. In 1967, when this advert was made, it was deemed normal for women to show skin and be the less dominant gender, and black men and women to not be in advertisement, however over the last few years, the change in society, diversity and the popular ideas have changed the way products are advertised. This is due to the recognition and understanding of sexism, racism and homophobia. The representational idea of different social groups in this photograph, is the idea that men are the dominant gender and women follow masculinity. As well, the idea of this product advertisement is to encourage men to purchase the product for the opportunity to have a swarm of women admiring them. Moreover, this male liquid hair groom links in to the idea of Judith’s Butlers quote “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts” because the product is advertised and displayed for men’s use, typically expressing that women do not use shaving cream. However, women also use men’s products and proves that it is not solely a males action.
Overall, Maybelline and Score are both linked to Judith Butlers description of gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”, by the way these companies advertise their products, targeting at specific audiences such as men or women.