representation analysis

 Representation in the media is how media, such as television, movie films, and books show certain types of people or cultures, such as LGBTQ+ people, people of color, women, different body shapes and sizes, people of non-Christian religions, and differently-abled people. 

The first ad I watched was an ad commercial of Axe Body Spray. The commercial started off with a woman in a bikini running in slow-motion. She was, in society's eyes, the perfect woman for the ad... young, beautiful, had a 'bikini body.' Although this may be the stereotypical ideal woman for the commercial,  I do see the reasoning behind hiring her for the job.  Since the target audience for Axe brand are straight white males,  having this kind of attractive woman running towards the camera and wearing a revealing bikini is a great way to grab the men's attention. The shot of just this one woman running expanded to a a series of shots of many other young, healthy-looking women completing the same action as the initial woman. Suddenly, the whole commercial depicted about hundreds of women running towards this skinny white man wearing nothing but his underwear and happily spraying the Axe Body Spray all over him. 

While I do see the point for this ad, I hate the way that it represents women. In my opinion, it shows women as sex-crazed animals, so definitely bot to my liking :(!     

Straight white male happily spraying the Axe Body Spray onto himself, seemingly aware of the mob of bikini-wearing women swarming towards him because of the aroma coming from the spray. 

One the flip side of things, I did also watch an ad commercial of H&M. This commercial was definitely a lot more different from the last one, and that is because of its much wider range of diversity. In this ad, we see many different kinds of ages, races, body sizes, genders, professions, personalities, and religions wearing different types of clothing from the clothing brand. H&M was very clever in doing this because this is a way to tell their target audience, which are younger people (mostly women), that anyone is welcome at their stores, regardless of who you are or what you believe in. 

I for sure loved this advertisement much more than the one for Axe. Here, there are no women being objectified. And there is much more diversity being displayed. I see this as a film with a positive message of love for all human kind all over the world. Unlike the previous commercial, it is bold, feminine, and welcoming. 

Women of color modeling the clothing for H&M.