e and he towers over her petite frame. For feminine touch, the male has a clenched fist on her shoulder and the other hand on a tree. His entire arm is holding her body in its place. This body language says that the male is in charge and takes an aggressive stance over her, while the girl just stands there limply and leaning on the tree. Its as if she would fall over if he weren’t there to hold her up. For function ranking, the male is clearly in the managerial position, as he seems to be overpowering her in every way. For licensed withdrawal, the girl featured seems as though she has left her body psychologically for the male counterpart to simply ravish. As in many rape cases, victims have stated that while they are being raped, their mind leaves their body as not to experience the horrible psychological or even physical pain occurring. This ad depicts a girl who does not seem present in the situation with a dazed look on her face and a motionless body. The family aspect doesn’t exactly correspond with this particular ad, as a family is not present. With nearly all of the “frame analysis” characteristics satisfied from this one ad, one must assume that although leaps and bounds of efforts have been made by society to free women from stereotypical gender roles, “advertisers are still relying upon their subordination as a tool in the attempt to sell a wide variety of products…” and with such subordination running rampant throughout today’s media, “this constant exposure to demeaning portrayals of women can lead to socially induced depression and lowered achievement aspirations…”(McLaughlin and Goulet p.67-68). Erving Goffman’s ideas of Dramaturgy, the proposal that social life is often like theatre, are often present in ads like this one. Ads can be very dramatic and non-realistic. Advertisers know this and play on to that mystique. Who wouldn’t want to live ...
