No One Clear Message

The thing about media is that, although there is almost always an underlying message involved, it's open to interpretation. Many people will view, read, and hear things differently. Everyone's different and so we all perceive different things differently.  Due to that difference, we react to different things differently. In media outlets, such as ads, there are often subliminal messages incorporated into the ad. Take the following Victoria Secrets Ad for example. (Yes, I seem to spend a lot of time look up Victoria Secrets related ads. I'm a guy, sue me). 

The first thing people see, well the first thing I saw, was the red bra. After that, I noticed the largest text, the logo "Victoria's Secret", then the smaller texts: "Dress your boyfriend's floor" and "http://www.victoriassecret.com/ ".  The last thing I saw, well the last thing that I focused on, was the hand of the woman that's holding up the bra. So clearly it's an ad for lingerie by Victoria's Secrets. That's the first thing that most people, including I, pick up on. Then let's take the statement, "dress your boyfriend's floor". If you look at the hand holding the bra, you'll notice that it looks like the woman's about to drop the bra, so that was a neat move in my opinion giving a visual to the literal comment. That statement has many subliminal meanings/messages incorporated into it. Take a moment to think about what meanings could be hidden in that statement before going on to read how I interpreted the message. 

So, one thing that the ad is implying is that the main reason for bras is to 'dress your boyfriend's floor' in it. The lingerie is not for the woman, but rather for the man which goes to show the sexism that's prevalent in our society. The woman should strive to please her man. The main purpose of a bra is support for the woman. I mean, women also wear bras for aesthetic reasons. Usually, people don't go out of their way to wear comfortable clothes or clothes that make them look bad. We'll take that extra 10 minutes or pay that extra $10 so that we look good. Just so many woman who don't have breasts that give them reason to worry about back problems wear bras so that they look good. Due to the bra, their boobs won't sag, their nips aren't showing through their top, and their breasts are supported so that they look good/attractive. But, the main reason that woman wear them is for support. I asked a few of my friends (female of course, it'd be a little weird if my male friends wore bras) about their feelings on the matter and got some answers that were similar to the conclusions I made. However, I got a few response that were different. One of my friends told me that she like bras and other lingerie items because they make her feel sexy. She likes knowing that under her regular, everyday clothes, she's dressed extremely sexy and provocatively. Another friend of mine responded in a way that went right along with the Victoria's Secrets ad that's above. She said that she wears bras and other lingerie items from Victoria's Secret because her boyfriend likes them. She was telling me that, generally, she's more of a cotton girl, but her boyfriend likes to see her in lace and so she buys and wears lingerie. 

Also, the bra that's used in the ad is red. The color red is often associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination, passion, desire, sex, and love. According to Color Wheel Pro, various shades of red reflect and are associated with different things. Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love. Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It also denotes feminine qualities and passiveness. Dark red on the other hand is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, leadership, courage, longing, malice, hate, dark intent both sexual and non sexual, and many others. What I found to be extremely interesting was the use of various shades of red in the ad. According to Color Wheel Pro, red's also a color that prompts a quick response. Often times its used as an accent color to stimulate people to make a quick decision. In ads, red is often used to evoke erotic feelings (red lips, red nails, red bras, red-light districts, 'Lady in Red', etc). 

Another message that incorporated into the ad is that about what society sees to be an 'appropriate' relationship. It's something that might not hit you right off the bat, but it's there. Note the use of the word 'boyfriend' and the feminine hand by Victoria's Secrets, which is a company that sells items for woman. So, the ad is telling its audience that a couple should be comprised of a man and a woman, a woman and her 'boyfriend'. Along with lingerie for women, the ad's promoting couples to be heterosexual. 

What may have initially been seen as a generic ad for lingerie for woman turns out to be an image, a media outlet that has many meanings embedded in it. I stumbled across the image while I was looking for the 1999 Victoria's Secret Super Bowl commercial which is embedded in my last post. At first, I dismissed it. However, just when I was about to scroll past it, I stopped and look again and saw that it was a perfect example as to how there are many messages in a piece. 

I was amused to see a company for women use the phrase "dress your boyfriend's floor". Why? Well, mainly because women are fickle creatures that don't know what they want (that was a joke). I found it amusing because we're in the 21st century, a century in which women are "equal" to women. I still remember my time in 8th grade American history class at Olmsted. My class and I learned about how women struggled to show men, the world, and society that they can do just as men did just as well as they could, if not better. That they might be the weaker sex, generally speaking, but that doesn't mean that they were less than the men. The fought for equality. We live in a time period in which there are single mothers throughout the US who are doing a damn good job of raising their children alone, a period in which there are many ambitious women who are pursing high profile careers. Despite all that, a company that sells lingerie for WOMEN is making a sexist comment like the one above. How does something like that even happen? Capitalism. Capitalism makes it possible for there to be a plethora of contradictory messages in that one ad says one thing and another ad says another (this is true not just for ads but for most media outlets). The use of these contradictory messages is a part of what's confusing and problematic about modern life and what makes it difficult to be critical viewers of the media. It's as though the media does not want full comprehension of how it works and so it intentionally contradicts itself. Well played media, well played.