Gender Coding

Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller make a very interesting point in their essay Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study. They discuss the business that comes out of advertising products to males and females. By examining Clinique's toiletry products for men and women, Kirkham and Weller suggest that certain qualities belong to "female" products and certain qualities belong to "male" products. This method of advertising to attract both gendered consumers is possible due to the company's (Clinique's) internal and external efforts of presenting its products. Color, photography, information (text - "factual reporting"), phrasing (lanugauge), feelings ("affective responses"), identification, illustration, and the use of person (third person) construct these "genders" and therefore, aim to attract its targeted consumer (depending on ,product). Kirkham and Weller believe that these ads also create stereotypes of each gender.

Female ads are portrayed with bright happy colors that promote femininity, natural beauty, innocence, purity, and happiness. Very little text is used to tell the audience it is for females. Because the ad is structured with female qualities, the product is therefore linked to being "female". The CLINIQUE text is also suggested by Kirkham and Weller to be skinner and taller in letter and size. Ironically this portrays society's ideal in women's appearance (skinny and tall). All these elements come together to attract its viewers. Female ads for CLINIQUE also evoke " as series of affective responses including freshness and pleasure" by adding clean fresh elements/objects with the product such as water and grass. It also supports the illustration of "self-beautification" as a process for women that is complex and timely.

CLINIQUE ads for men are entirely different and approached in a whole new way. In these ads targeting men, the colors are "manly", having mostly blacks, blues, and greys in the ad instead of bright happy vibrant colors. In many cases, the male ads are in black in white photography grasping the simplicity of the product but also the classic importance of it as well. It is a professional or "business-like" way of approaching the product that attract men. The text is also describes the male product in greater detail thus separating it from female products. Kirkham and Weller state: "in terms of content, the written text draws on representations of traditional masculinities to help distance the products from the domain of female toiletries" (270). The amount of information in male ads is to serve the purpose of informing the male viewer that these male products are professional and sensible and will not "effeminate" men - it is factual. The products are also always announced as "For Men" etc. and do not take up as many pages in the magazine whereas CLINIQUE's female products never say "For Women" (because they don't have; society understands the difference) but their ads take up more pages in the magazine.

I find it very interesting that companies such as CLINIQUE operate on design methods to attract its consumers and satisfy both genders. Although this is no surprise really, it is very professional how every little detail is considered. These pictures show an example of a male ad from CLINIQUE and a female ad and the differences come out.