Here are two Calvin Klein Fragrance commercials. The first one is for men and the second one is for women. Try to find the difference between these two commercial when they are approaching to different gender. Pay attentions to the details, such as the background, the music, actor's dressing, etc. How did those details reflect the different gender representation?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zPEK5a0xKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_B6yshAUk4
I'm glad they clarified at the end of the commercial that the product was perfume and cologne or I would have no idea. The fragrance for men is using sex to sell their product not unlike many other fragrance commercials. Alexander Skarsgard does an excellent job representing the "ideal" life that you could have if you had the fragrance. He has nice clothes and a cool car to take him to a house on a hill where a model like women is waiting for him. We've seen this stereotypical representation of a single man in car commercials. The woman's fragrance is a little different in that it uses a technique that would appeal more to women than sex. I assume when the woman was smelling flowers, she was smelling the fragrance and was completely enthralled by it showing that the fragrance smells good. Also, it the whole time, a pink back ground was used to represent the femininity of the product.
ReplyDeleteI agree if they did not clarify at the end who the product was for I wouldn’t know who they were trying to sell the product to. It comes off that they are using sex to sell their product. Also that it is trying to say that if you use this fragrance you could get a beautiful woman like that, a nice car, and a nice house. So basically they are saying if you use this product you will have a complete life. They picked a gorgeous woman to attract the male perspective because she is what they call every man’s dream girl so to say. On the other hand the women’s fragrance was not using sex to sell there product to women. They were trying to say that this product smells so good that you will be lost in the fragrance if you purchase it and they showed that is was only for women by using all the flowers and they colors they choose to use.
DeleteI agree that the aim of the commercial was unclear. By not disclosing the product until the end the viewer is left guessing what is trying to be sold and may be left a bit confused. I found that this defeated the purpose of the advertisement. I also agree that sex was a main factor in the commercial. Sex was used to sell the cologne in the male version of the commercial. The beautiful woman was used to draw in the male audience. The second commercial was less sex based than the first. Although, I do believe that the music in the second commercial gave off a sexual vibe. I agree though that the basic message of the commercial was that the perfume smells so good that you will lose yourself in its scent.
DeleteWhen I was watching the commercial for Calvin Kline cologne, I have to admit I felt a little scared. This scene was clearly set up for you to drawn in. Between the rain and the way he was looking as if he was going to do something wrong. It definitely gave you the impression that something bad was going to happen. The woman looking out the window made you think that she wanted to leave. When he arrived and was walking toward her and they were on the edge of the cliff it made you think he going to push her over the side. I was very surprised to see that this was a commercial for cologne. The director was making sure you were going to watch the whole commercial by how the scene was set up.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second commercial for Calvin Kline’s women’s cologne, it was totally night and day from the other one. She was being very seductive with the flower has she peeked through the flowers it made you wonder what does this cologne smell like to make her feel that way. It was a lot shorter of a commercial compared to the first one for the men’s cologne.
I definitely agree with you that the way the two commercials were set up made it a lot easier to distinguish which was for men and which was for women. In the men’s commercial, I too thought the music was suspenseful and had no idea how it was going to end. It was a very dark commercial which implies that masculinity is a dark and mysterious thing. In contrast, the women’s commercial took place in a light cloud-like heaven and I agree that the flower was very seductive and representative of femininity. I think the pink hue of the commercial definitely defines femininity along with the flower and scenery.
DeleteI would have to agree with both of you on the ideas of how both of the perfumes were being targeted for each gender. As for the length and suspense of the cologne commercial, I thought the producer used this as a technique to specifically capture a guy’s attention. For me, when a cologne commercial shows a guy shirtless in nature with a cute girl I change the channel. But this took a different route to keep the viewer entertained. The contrast in the two commercials brings up the idea that we perceive women to base their perfume choice on the smell/ brand name, while men choose theirs off of the female’s response to the type of cologne you are wearing.
DeleteFor the first commercial, which was obviously geared towards men, I had no idea what product trying to be sold was until the very end of the commercial. I picked out that the commercial was aimed at men because of the dark and mysterious nature of it. The rainy and black background is an important detail of the advertisement because it gives a very masculine vibe. The commercial had very ominous music and was a little creepy in a way. The commercial was very sexually charged, the director is obviously using sex to sell the cologne. By having a beautiful actress, fancy cars, and a smoothly dressed male actor, the commercial is trying to attract a male audience by saying that buying the cologne will give a man that kind of life. The second commercial was the complete opposite of the first. This commercial was light and airy and obviously was meant to attract a female audience. The pink background and sort of trippy, sexual music was used attract women; this in turn gave off an air of femininity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam that the first commercial was geared towards men since it gave a more mysterious vibe. I also had no idea what this commercial was supposed to be selling until the end of it. I felt that the first commercial was kind of creepy and reminded me of a scary movie because of the music and how dark it was. Plus, the man in the commercial had a creepy look on his face the entire time he was on his way to the girl's home. However, the second commercial was more sensual since it just showed a girl seductively on the ground with flowers surrounding her. Without both of the commercials telling me what they were selling at the end, I would have had no idea what either one was about.
DeleteAs others have stated, the viewers are oblivious of the what the commercial is selling until the very end. The commercial geared toward men was 2 minute film, while the commercial geared toward women was a normal 30 second one. The male one had ominous background music, which added to the mysterious nature of the commercial. I agree with Sam in that the music of the female one gave off a sexual vibe. The male one seemed to advertise to men that if they use CK cologne, that they'll appear good looking, have a fancy car, and attract good looking women. The female one didn't seem to use the "sexual element" as much, but it was definitely still existent and utilized to make the cologne appealing to women.
ReplyDeleteAll of you did great jobs in interpreting the nature of different gender with these two commercials. I do agree with all of you that CK commercials always have this veiling style. Sometimes, the audiences are really hard to see where they will end. However, I think those mysterious and fierce scenes do attract a specific kind of audiences; the director is using the audiences’ curiosities to sell their products.
ReplyDeletewithout even knowing what the products were that were being sold initially it is clear that there are striking differences between the two products. In the commercial for the womens fragrence, one can automatically see that there are ties between femininity and nature/peace. she is smelling flowers and completly overtaken by the simplicity and essence of the moment that she's in. at the end, the name of the product is no suprise once it is given. In the commercial sporting the male it is a much more dramatic, almost hostile, tone and enviornment. This makes the spirit of the "man on a mission" feel even more prevelent as he comes closer and closer to what he is looking for. There is obviouly sex being used to sell this product but in my opinion, when this commercial is trying to persuade males, they are trying to offer more of a personality and status with the car, luxurious, house and seemingly very sucsessful status.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam that there is obviously sex being used to sell this product. In the beginning, I had no idea what this commercial is selling. Only a half naked woman smells flower, moves like she is beautiful. By showing this woman, the commercial is trying to offer more of a personality and status with the car, luxurious huse and seemingly very sucessful status.
DeleteThe only word came to my mind after watching the Calvin Klein men fragrance commercial is ‘cool’. What else can I say about it but cool. All the components showed in the commercial is meant to represent cool such as the deep hue (or color), the cliff, the car, ant the brooding gaze. Then he finally gets on the house standing on the cliff and there is a woman waiting for him. Everything just looks so cool. Here are the stereotypes that men should be cool, men like cool stuff and men want to be cool. As a commercial which is designed to sell fragrance to men, the guy in the commercial does look cool and I guess thus the fragrance will look cool at the same time to the audience? By the contrast, Calvin Klein women fragrance commercial looks so warm to me. The commercial makes me feel comfortable (not sure how women will reflect on it). The warm color, the sexy lady, and the surreal scene make the perfume looks so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThis video is kind of awkward. In the beggining, I had no clue what this commercial is about. I was just attracted by the woman who moves like she is beautiful. But at the end, they said they are selling the fragance. If they did not say that, I would not have recognized that this commercial is selling fragnance. This video is using the beautiful woman to impulse the male to buy the fragnance, so they make the males think that they can get a beatiful girls and nice cars if they use this fragnance. I suggest that this commercial use more of represenatation of what they are trying to sell.
ReplyDelete