Fragrance Essay

A Comparison Of How Men Are Represented In Fragrance Advertisements From The 1920s, 1990s and 2012

I have chosen to compare three advertisements that span nine decades: William’s Aqua Velva (print 1920s), Contradiction (print 1990s) and Lynx Attract (moving image 2012). It seems to me that what has most changed about the representation of men is that in later years they are less frequently depicted as suave, self-controlled and formal and more likely to be depicted as relaxed, casual and irresistibly sexy.

William’s Aqua Velva (print,1920s)

My first advert is for William’s Aqua Velva from the 1920s. It depicts a picture of two men and two women playing cards together. The men are in tuxedos and seem suave and sophisticated. Their tuxedoes show that they are cultured and well-of; their cuff links, bow ties and pocket handkerchiefs all point to their immaculate grooming and upper class dress code. This helps promote the Aqua Velva as the cream will apparently make you have money, power and intelligence. They have obviously used William’s Aqua Velva as they do not appear to have any hair on their faces. They are both looking at the women, each man at a different one which gives a sense of love. They are represented as clean cut, important and happy men who are enjoying an evening with their girlfriends or wives.

The card game is a symbolic code for these men’s intelligence, wealth and social status as cards usually connote higher intelligence and sophistication. The group are playing cards, a sophisticated after-dinner activity, which implies they are cultured and have money and power. The men are an idealised representation of a 1920s upper class man.

The women look like they are chatting to each other as opposed to the men who are staring intently at them. There is a cigarette dish on the table, with a cigarette in it, this is because the advert was made and printed before people knew of the dangers of cigarettes and it was very cool to smoke. This shows that these men are being represented as an ideal man of the era, with a woman by his side, a smart tuxedo, sophisticated, and a smooth fine face. It implies that he has become that man because he uses William’s Aqua Velva to shave his face.

The slogan ‘your strong suit – a face that fits’ is a pun on the fact that the group is playing a card game, and that the men with clean cut faces will get the women because of how well they have groomed their faces using William’s shaving cream. This is catchy and will stick your head for a while afterwards. It helps sell the idea that you will be more intelligent if you use this shaving cream because of the fact it is a joke which needs a certain intelligence to understand it.  This means the slogan will help promote and sell the fragrance. The bottle takes up a quarter of the page which is very good use of product placement and, again helps to sell the shaving cream. In modern advertisements there would never be such a large body of text because the image alone delivers the message and value of the product.

In my view William’s Aqua Velva is very different from my other two adverts as these men are sophisticated and classy and the man in my second advert is very care free and loose.  The men are wearing tuxedoes with bow ties in my first advert however the man in the second advert is in a suit and smart shoes, however he does not have a tie and his top button is undone. These are very different attitudes to the way the men dress in the different periods.

Contradiction

My second advert is Contradiction by Calvin Klein from the 1990s. It has half the page filled with a man sitting down with one leg up and laughing. The other half is filled with the bottle and the name, Contradiction. The man is in a suit however he is not wearing a tie and his top buttons are undone. This makes the man seem more casual and less formal. The poster is in black and white which is strange yet it makes the man’s features stand out a lot. The man seems confident and happy, almost in a care free mood without any thing troubling him. The fact his mouth is slightly open in a smile as opposed to closed indicates he may have an air of romance about him. He is an idealised ‘perfect man’ of the 1990s as he looks like a successful business man who can also be light-hearted and fun. He is not making eye contact with the camera, and therefore the viewer of the poster.

The name Contradiction goes well with the fact the poster is in black and white as these colours contradict each other and help things to stand out. It also symbolises the man, who contradicts the smart, uptight businessman of the era, who are always formal and never become too loose.

The men in this advert are very different to my 1920s advert as in the first one the men where smart men in tuxedoes, whereas in my 1990s advert the man seem more loose and carefree. The first men are the ‘perfect men’ of the 1920s, which is sophisticated, suave and clean cut. However the man in the second advert is still the ‘perfect man’ just in a different time. This is because views have changed of men, and they are now allowed to be less serious and uptight and more relaxed, with fewer worries. They can let loose and have a bit more fun. The men in the first advert are also with women, as women were not viewed as important as men and more as an object, however it may be politically incorrect to let the poster view women in the same way in the 1990s. There is also no evidence the man uses the fragrance in the second advert, whereas in the first advert the men have clean cut faces, showing that they use the shaving cream.

Lynx Attract

The message of this exciting, fast-paced and advertisement for Lynx Attract is clear: anybody can ‘get a girl’ if they wear Lynx.

It features a variety of men and women aged 20+  who cause chaos around the city when they are attracted to each other. The men and women all wear seductive outfits that appeal to the opposite sex:

The men are very masculine but quite ordinary ‘boy next-door’; they all wear ordinary clothes, such as suits or jeans. The men vary from clean-cut and smart hair to scruffy and dirty. The men in Aqua Velva where very smart and sophisticated, being a gentleman and respectful. This is nothing like how men are represented in my 2012 advert. They are almost the exact opposite, with some looking incredibly shabby and others looking very disrespectfully with no disregard to how they are acting in public, this is emphasized by the chaos around them. The women all pout suggestively, fascinating the men whose eyes constantly gaze at the opposite sex. The men and women seem almost hypnotised by each other, ignoring the chaos around them despite the thrilling danger that they narrowly miss.

The men in this advert are represented in a very sexual manner as all have a look of seduction on their faces, especially when they make eye contact with one of the opposite sex. This advert is particularly centred on looking good around the opposite sex and making them want you. This is also what the product supposedly does for you if you were to buy it.

The men in this advertisement for Lynx Attract are represented in a very different way to the men in William’s Aqua Velva or even the man in Contradiction, who was seem much more relaxed and self-confident  than the almost emotionless men in this advert. By ‘emotionless’, I mean that they seem hypnotized in their frenzied drive to secure a mate. The camerawork achieves this through the close ups and tracking shots of the men. The music gives a very light-hearted feel, however if you listen to the lyrics, it’s about attraction. The editing gives a swift movement through the city.

The men in Attract are also very different from the man in Contradiction as the man in Contradiction is very laid back and doesn’t seem to be taking anything very seriously, however in Attract the men are extremely focused on the women and are not laid back at all.

In conclusion men in fragrance advertisements in the 1920s were supposedly the ideal man, suave, tidy and clean cut. Men in 1990s adverts were also the ideal man, but of that era, laid back but can also be business like. This is not the same in 2012 where men can be portrayed as someone who is obsessed with the opposite sex.