After watching a commercial for actor Alan Cumming's fragrance, I instantly thought of the American Apparel advertisements
that were shown during class. The first ad featured a woman in a provocative position. She is seen laying down with her legs spread while wearing only a leotard. The
other ad displayed a man in
the same position that the woman was posed in with his legs open. The male version of the ad
expresses a comedic nature to it because men are rarely objectified by the
media in this way. This essentially makes the man version a parody.
The commercial for "Cumming: The Fragrance" expresses this similar concept in that Cumming is presenting himself in the
same way that women are often shown throughout many media platforms. The
objectification of women is extremely prevalent in ads for products such as
perfume. In this commercial, Cumming objectifies his own body. The ad is overtly sexualized containing multiple close up shots of Cumming's body as he speaks in a whispered tone of voice. One shot in particular shows him taking off his pants much like countless ads that have this same action performed by a woman. This can be seen as a way of challenging gender norms that are expressed by the media.
Cumming stated on his blog that
he believed that the commercial would be “great to shake things up a bit and
challenge people’s perceptions of celebrity endorsement.” In addition, he also said that all
of the print ads were created specifically based off of old advertisements. The imagery for his fragrance was taken from a 2000 Yves Saint Laurent Opium ad that featured a woman named Sophie Dahl. See below:
Some ideas to think about:
I do not condone the objectification of any person whether they are a man or a woman. However, do you think that there will ever be a time when the objectification of a man will not be seen as a joke?
How is Cumming bending gender norms?
Do you think that the technique used for the commercial and print ad was a marketing tool to draw in even more consumers?
Kaitlyn Harrington
Although this commercial challenges gender norms, I can't help but think that it also reinforces stereotypes about sexuality and its relationship to femininity/masculinity.
ReplyDeleteCumming definitely bends gender norms in this commercial. As you point out, Kaitlyn, the close-up shots of Cumming's body and the tone of voice that he uses mimic the ways in which women are often portrayed in ads. His positions and movements on the bed and the way he strokes himself while talking also strike me as particularly feminine.
It’s a shame, I think, that I caught myself speculating-- making assumptions, rather-- about Cumming’s sexuality while watching this commercial. Perhaps I was just interested in Cumming’s apparent “queerness,” being queer myself. Or did Cumming’s behavior invoke a schema about sexuality? The author of our reading for tomorrow argues that the media help to create and reinforce schemas and stereotypes about social groups. Viewing this ad with that idea in mind really gave me pause. It made me realize that although I am queer myself and have suffered from stereotypes about my sexuality and gender for quite some time, I do possess a mental schema about sexuality that includes assumptions about people’s behaviors and appearances. I think that this ad really played into that schema.
It’s clear from the excerpt that you took from Cumming’s blog that part of his goal for the commercial was to challenge gender norms. But, in a way, the ad is an example of the media reinforcing and creating schemas and stereotypes about sexuality (lesbians are masculine, abrasive; gay men are feminine, promiscuous; etc.)
If Cumming were straight, this commercial be viewed differently. I don't think that an actor like Joseph Gordon Levitt would be able to appear in an ad campaign like this without enduring tons of rumors about his sexuality. At the same time, using a heterosexual, heteronormative actor might be a powerful tool to challenge gender norms and show that notions of femininity/masculinity can be fluid, and do not necessarily have to be linked to sexuality. (“Femme invisibility,” anyone?)
Given the fact that Cumming belongs to another heavily-stereotyped group--gay men--is this commercial truly powerful in its ability to challenge gender norms? The adoption of so-called “feminine” traits by a person from a group that is typically stereotyped as feminine may demonstrate that people other than women can embody such qualities, but it also helps to reinforce a widespread stereotype about the behavior of gay men.
Because Cumming’s whole message in this ad is to “be yourself,” I want to make it clear that I’m not challenging Cumming’s expression of his identity or his sexuality. I’m challenging the notion that this commercial is actually able to bend and break gender norms.
- amanda fox-rouch