This ad is for a new Burberry women’s fragrance, called “Blush”. This ad does not specifically state that it is a women’s fragrance but the published photo does denote the gender the advertisement is aimed at. The tones and colors are all soft and pink, even the model’s hair seems a bit pink. The perfume bottle in the picture is pink and has a bow on it, playing along with traditional gender roles i.e women are soft, delicate, pink, frilly, etc. This image plays upon the pink vs. blue gender rules that Susan B. Kaiser mentions in her book: “The pink-versus-blue system is so entrenched in the popular psyche that it is routinely accepted natural well into the twenty-first century”*. The ad relies upon this feeling we have about pink being a feminine color and uses it to direct their target audience to the advertisment. Moving from the object (perfume bottle) to the model, we can see the traditional gender roles for women being brought even further into focus. The woman has very soft make up, nothing dark or bold that commands attention from the viewer, just a shimmery sensual glow with pink lightly glossed lips to seem young, fresh, delicate, and overall very inviting. Her clothing is close to non existent, she is nude and has a blush colored trench coat strategically draped over her body to keep her modesty intact. This is a common concept for the modern media’s interpretation of the female form, using sex and sexuality to sell. We can tell this is an ad aimed at when because of how this is used, rather than using the woman’s body to sell sex, or a fantasy of a possible sexual encounter (a play which is common in ads aimed at men) the model is using sexuality to sell the product, playing up her beauty in reference to the perfume to suggest that the perfume gave her this beauty and delicate glow.
*Kaiser, “Fashion and Cultural Studies”, 122.
