For my second blog post I chose a print advertisement for Express’ new fragrance, Love Express. In the advertisement there is a women right in the middle of it wearing a bright pink dress that is short and skin tight. Her hair is platinum blonde and it is blowing in the wind so it looks like it has a lot of volume. The way her body is positioned looks like she is trying to show off her curves. She looks like a girl that most girls think that guys want in a girlfriend or lover. Around her there are three shirtless men that are very attractive and also well tanned. They all are looking at her with this feeling of lust and their focus is completely on her where as she is looking at the camera. One of the men is kneeling down in front of the women giving her an even more dominant presence in the photo. The men are also wearing black pants and no shirts so they are more or less neutrally colored, and along with this they are all dark haired. These men are exactly what each woman lusts after, with the strong face and perfect body they are men that people wish others would lust over. The background of the picture is a dark red and this really makes the women in the picture pop. In the bottom right hand corner there is the bottle of fragrance, which doesn’t take away from the picture at all. It actually took my some time to even notice that this advertisement was for a fragrance as opposed to just Express since your eyes are so drawn to the four people in the picture. The way that the men are looking at the women and her general presence in the picture is giving off this idea that if you wear this fragrance you will have three men (or more) practically falling all over you. Along with that Express is portraying that by wearing this fragrance you will be able to find love, and not only love but really good looking men will fall in love with you. Express is playing on the idea of societies wants for material things and they are saying that this fragrance will bring you these boys that in this advertisement look like they are just objects as opposed to people that you could actually love.
Nice analysis, Allie! I like how you begin to think about the potential for both the men and women here being objectified. You might also note that pink and red are colors that our society traditionally associates with love (think Valentine's Day, etc.)
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