Rhetorical Analysis of Oh, Lola! by Marc Jacobs. being displayed as a sexual object, an object itself, pieces and parts, or weaker than a man.

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1 Taylor Carpenter Amanda Athon ENG February 2012 Rhetorical Analysis of Oh, Lola! by Marc Jacobs When studying advertisements, it is easy to notice that sex sells. It is becoming an increasing fad for women to be displayed in negative fashions through advertisements, such as being displayed as a sexual object, an object itself, pieces and parts, or weaker than a man. The study of Gender Studies is a growing topic throughout universities in America, being discussed in lectures ranging from communications to popular culture. The advertisement I am analyzing is the controversial Marc Jacobs Oh Lola! ad which has been laced in fashion magazines since early The advertisement (shown on page two) shows young Dakota Fanning looking extremely frail and weak, dressed in baby-doll clothing, with an object placed in her midsection. The Marc Jacobs ad for the perfume demeans the model and adds to the stereotype that women are used as objects to sell items. The advertisement is negative because it reinforces the gender dichotomy of females in popular culture. Gender dichotomy is a huge concept used in this advertisement because different aspects of the advertisement reinforce the principles found in gender studies. Gender dichotomy is used in studying advertisements to show trends of how men and women are depicted while representing a company, a product, or an industry. Some examples of gender dichotomy are that men are viewed as strong, women are weak; men are phallic, where women lack and want to compensate for it; men are viewed as brains, women are viewed as bodies; men are active,

2 Carpenter 2 women passive; men are contained (in emotions), women are leaky (emotional, not concrete in ideas); and lastly, men are the lookers and women are the exhibitionists. The advertisement has plenty of examples popular culture ideas such as gender dichotomy and the Lolita Effect. The Lolita Effect is used in the name of the perfume and also in the clothing she is wearing, which resembles baby doll clothing. Gender dichotomy is found first with the strategic placement of the perfume bottle over her midsection where she lacks. The second example is how weak she looks: frail, pale, and very passive. The portion of the body used was just her head to her thighs, representing only parts of her are important. Gender dichotomy studies state that her pose of leaning back invites male voyeurs to look at her. The

3 Carpenter 3 audience is not completely made of male viewers like gender dichotomy states, however, because this advertisement is featured in female-friendly literature. The audience for the advertisement is more of a middle-higher class clientele. The advertisement is featured in many popular higher-end fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. The largest age range for the viewer group is from 15 years of age to 27. The ad is selling the newest line of Marc Jacobs perfume, which starts around $88.00 USD for 3.4 oz. of the perfume. The female community seeing this advertisement realizes its high value and high class value based on the advertisement itself, the price, and the designer name Marc Jacobs, who is seen as a very high-end, highly respected designer and line. The purpose of the advertisement is to show how daring and provocative Marc Jacobs is with his line, and how he represents cutting edge fashion. The provocative natures of the ad show that wearers of the product do not care what other people think. They see models looking sexy and seductive, so they in turn also feel sexy and seductive. The face of the product is being sexy, which is shown by the ads. The ads then show consumers that they can be just as sexy by purchasing the product. The purpose of the ad is to be controversial and provocative. This is a creative way to be marketable because the name is being discussed amongst others, as well as being memorable. The advertisement is sexually provocative, which Jacobs knows sells, as he uses the same pose for most of the same poses (leaning back, phallic placement of perfume bottle) for his other lines such as Daisy and Bang. Although marketable, Jacobs ran into trouble when the UK banned the provocative Fanning ads in November 2011 due to the distaste and controversy (eonline.com). It is obvious that Jacobs wants to displease you and get a reaction, because that is the most

4 Carpenter 4 memorable way to market something. I may personally disagree with the way he demeans women in his advertisements, but the truth of the matter is that the more controversial an advertisement is, the more coverage it gets making the advertisement more popular than before. Controversy is memorable when it comes to marketing and selling goods. The style of this advertisement is very simple. There is not much added to the advertisement minus the designer name, what it is advertising, and the name of the perfume. The soft colors look vintage which are eye-catching as compared to other ads found in most magazines, which are normally very colorful and busy. The little use of words makes the image the most important aspect of the advertisement, and the image is much larger than the name of the product being sold. The reader is drawn to the image rather than the name of the product. When looking at the Oh, Lola! ad, the first thing your eyes go to is the proactively placed bottle of perfume which is the product. The name of the product is facing outwards for viewers to see. The viewer then examines the rest of the advertisement seeing the product being sold as well as the designer s name. The style of this advertisement is also extremely feminine, which describes the perfume extremely well. Floral themes, light colors, and high-end fashion dresses are what appeals to the audience. The feminine, high-end, fashion forward advertisements also fit extremely well into the magazines in which they are found in because of the class and expensive values the perfume exudes. My personal critique of the advertisement is that Jacobs demeans women- and in some instances men- to sell goods. It is extremely apparent that the models are used strictly for their

5 Carpenter 5 bodies. Women are normally small framed, thin, and extremely attractive. Males used are extremely muscular, look tough with tattoos, and are oiled up to add sex appeal to women viewers. I think the most interesting aspect about Jacobs advertisements as a whole would be the audience for the ads being mostly women. Women see the models with the perfume and want to be as elite and as stunning as they are. Women view the male models for the perfume lines and see a very attractive male posing naked with a cologne bottle over his abdomen. The Bang line is exclusively male, but featured in many female magazines alongside of the women perfume lines like Daisy or Oh, Lola! Women see this cologne and want their significant others to use this perfume which resembles sexiness, seduction, and confidence. I believe that Jacobs is a marketing genius for remaining so provocative with his advertisements. From the Oh, Lola! ads alone, it is very obvious that he wants to be remembered as daring which in turn shows that people that follow his line are daring, too. I commend Jacobs marketing technique being tried and true, but wish he used more of a humanitarian approach for his advertisements. After all, models are human beings, too. People are not just pieces and parts like many current advertisements depict. Popular advertisements should be discussed amongst people in popular culture; however, they should not be popular based on being discussed in a negative light. Images: Marc Jacobs provocative advertisements spark controversy and in turn gain popularity. (Found from Google Images)

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