False Advertising??
Blog Week Seven
The depiction of a black woman in leopard print in the advertisement for Moschino is an excellent example of what we discussed in class this week. We talked about how there are fewer ads with black people but that most often they are exhibited in ways displaying blacks as animalistic. In other words, depicted as less than human in this photograph. For instance, she is dressed in leopard print in a very sexual pose and underneath are the words “cheap and chic.� She is also tied down at her ankles and wrists as if possibly her animalistic tendencies can be tamed by subduing her. It definitely states that black woman are subhuman and should be hunted and objectified.
The advertisement about the “The Chef� minimizes the role of women as compared to men. Even in the stance with him before her, she takes a less important role. He is dressed in a professional manner and like so many advertisements (and the unnatural expectations that developed from these advertisements) from this time period (probably the 60s) there are expectations of a woman having make up on, nails done even after she has been working in the house all day. The statement “I’m giving my wife a Kenwood Chef� seems to state that because he makes the money, he has the power to give her things, which she couldn’t otherwise have. She is equated to another appliance in the house but she can’t even perform as well as “The Chef� except to cook. I felt it also looked at woman in a way that they are so limited and narrow in their outlook that they could possibly be content being an object just simply to please a man and also be so delighted in an object – the appliance.