fragrance advertisement analysis (final copy).

Unlike other adverts who make women seem defenseless and powerless yet pretty and seductive, an advert almost 100 years old can prove that you can make a feminine figure who also seems powerful and authoritative. She can appear this powerful figure whilst also keeping little touches of femininity, like the red lipstick.

She's positioned highly, dominating the entire image with her presence. She has her hair tied back, looking as if she is in control of herself and not loose or careless; she appears a taut woman. The colour red is a strong, vibrant colour, and is often used to emphasis a symbol of importance and/or power, see the Red Army, the Red Cross, the Chinese flag, and the main colour pallet for 1984. It's a powerful colour, and here it's used to empower the subject of the image: the woman. She's not flimsy or objectified, she has power and dominance. She's not just dominant over the image, she's dominant over herself. She doesn't succumb to societal pressure to be 'pretty' or 'hot', she's her own woman. She is independent. She has power.

I elaborated upon the idea that she is a powerful woman, but she is not an entirely masculine figure, as she still keeps touches of femininity, like her lipstick. This shows that a woman can be powerful and headstrong, but she can also be a woman, as power isn't synonymous with masculinity either. This is breaking the historical societal code that 'Men are men and women are women', in which men are the laborers, the founders and the pioneers, and women were merely an object to them, like a trophy or an achievement. This shows that a woman can possess all of the aforementioned traits, yet still be beautiful and seductive and all the other traits of the average woman. Yes, it is possible to be both, yet most advertisement, film and video games think combining these two characteristics is impossible.

The use of contrasting colours in important. There's contrast in the colours in the crown behind her head (black and white), but there's also the duality in the colours on her face. It could symbolise the contradiction in her character; she possesses traditional female qualities (the red lipstick and the plucked eyebrows) whilst being the aforementioned powerful figure. The colours and shades are sharp and precise, which could mirror the characters mannerisms.