Key assessment 3
Compare and contrast the ways in which viewpoints and ideologies are encoded in Woman and Adbusters.
One of Adbusters main ideologies is that its an anti-advert non profit magazine. However Woman magazine is clearly made for profit and features many adverts. Adbusters is known for its culture jamming of brands such as Louibouton which portrays a very strong ideology. The close-up overhead shot type indicates the audience are looking down at the model. The mise en scene of the dry sand suggests we are positioned in Africa which has a stereotype of being very poverty stricken. The lexis of 'red soles are always in season' suggests that due to the poverty in Africa and poorly made shoes, it causes them to have bloody feet. This encodes a very anti capitalist viewpoint as Louibouton shoes are quite expensive and the producers of this are clearly trying to exaggerate the inequality in society. In Woman magazine there is an advert selling Max factor makeup. This advert has a very sexist ideology towards women. The multiple mid shots of a woman in an office is structured to look like a film role which could be a symbolic code for a romantic movie. This may anchor the audience to follow the messages of this advert. The women in this advert is smiling while putting makeup on while a man smiles and admires her. This presents an ideology that wearing makeup will not only pleasure you but attract men to. The mise en scene of the male figures suit suggests he is wealthy which is stereotypically what a woman desires. Its clear that this advert is reinforcing the hegemonic rule that woman need to wear makeup to be beautiful and to get a man.
Woman has a strong ideology of consumerism whereas Adbusters is strongly against it. Woman features an advert for Breeze soap. In this advert we see a stereotypically attractive woman naked with soap suds captured at a low angle mid shot positioning the audience to look up at her. Its clear the audience is positioned in the bathroom yet theres no bath which suggests that this model is suppose to be an idol that women need to follow. The lexis 'because your a woman' is a direct mode of address furthermore supporting the ideology that this model is the 'perfect' women. The lexis also suggests that if you don't buy the breeze soap that your not a women and cannot be fresh. The models pursed lips and how her hands are positioned is a proiretic code indicating she is blowing a kiss. The overall ideology for this advert is that if you are to buy breeze you'll become like the woman in the ad which will please your man by being 'all over feminine'. However, Adbusters features a double page spread which encodes a strong binary opposition. The ad for Zucchetti tap is shown through a high angle shot. This positions the audience to be looking down at the tap as if we were about to use it furthermore making us desire the tap. The lexis 'Him' has connotations of a perfume advert making the tap more desirable as its something we've seen advertised daily. However, on the other side is a picture of a woman in the bath and a quote below which talks about poverty in brazil and death due to un clean water. These two pages placed together create a binary opposition which protests against commodity fetishism. The woman is looking at her hands which might be a proiretic code of her praying which suggests people in brazil are desperate. The mise en scene of the yellowish water emphasises the situation this woman is in. The lexis in the quote 'poor people rise a 3;30 am' sounds like a narrative which forces the audience to envision the inequality people in Brazil experience. Lastly the pictures of the woman looks like its been burnt around the edges exaggerating the mess in society. Whereas the Zucchetti ad has a clean unchaotic structure.
The similarities between Woman and Adbusters is the mid hso on the front covers of the magazine however they support very different ideologies. Woman magazine has a pastel coloured setting which has connotaions of flowers which suggests women should be beautiful and calm in nature. Adbusters features a dirty man in war with a green colour palette. This portrays the ideology of what adbusters is fighting against such as capitalism and consumerism. Woman also presents the ideology of the housewife character who is smiling which is a direct mode of addres. This makes the audience believe this woman is a friend. Howver Adbusters has a man scrwaming which presents a negative ideology, indicating we should be scared.
In conclusion both magazine encode entierly different ideologys. Woman is clearly a magazine aimed at heterosexual woman to give in to consumerism to please their man. Adbusters is clearly against the owlrd and wants change.
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