Representation in the Media

 Representation:

What is representation? Well representation is the way media creators choose to portray reality, or aspects of reality. How creators portray different races/ethnicities, communities, genders, sexualities, cultures, events, etc. is what we're talking about here. Lets discuss some ads from popular brands and analyze representation in them.

 

Axe commercial: 

https://criticalmediaproject.org/axe-body-spray-commercial/

Axe is a body spray that's promoted to straight men from ages 14-30. In the ad we are presented with large amounts of women in bikinis running and/or swimming their way, quite aggressively might I add, to a straight, white male spraying himself with the Axe body spray. Practically all the women we see are white, we can only spot about one or two women of color, and considering the large amount of women in the add, this is obviously an issue of underrepresentation. As mentioned before, all the women are wearing revealing bikinis. The sexualization of women in this ad is meant to attract male viewers of the Axe target audience. Axe wants these men to buy their products so they display a horde of half-naked women feigning over a man wearing body spray. At the end of the ad, the voice of  a female narrator says the phrase, "Spray More, Get More". Meaning the more of their product you spray, the more women you get. Now Axe is not only sexualizing women, but also objectifying them. This is horrible because the men that use their products will do the same thing, sexualize and objectify women. 

H&M commercial:

https://criticalmediaproject.org/hm-close-the-loop-ad/

H&M a clothing store and brand is a perfect example of what we want to see in terms of representation. In this ad we see people of all races, ethnicities, shapes, sizes, religions, ages, disabilities, and sexualities. This is great because they are bringing positivity to these people and communities and giving them a face. The target audience for H&M is everyone because this ad appeals to everyone. They also spread a great message to recycle. The widespread representation of people not only makes the minorities happy but it encourages to do something good.