Depiction of Women of Upper Strata of the Society in the Print Advertisements of Luxury Brands - Coursework Example

For this purpose three print ads of Louis Vuitton are selected, the first one depicting French actress and celebrity, Catherine Deneuve, in a platform in front of an engine, while the second ad depicts a pair of celebrities with Sofia Coppola lying at the feet of Francis Ford Coppola. The third ad also has a celebrity couple, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi in a hotel set-up. These ads were selected because of the stereotypical depiction of women, especially by most luxury brands. While the first ad depicted the pretty Deneuve in a pair of impractical high heels and utterly fashionable designer clothes with beautifully crafted luggage on a railway platform, the second showed an equally gorgeous Coppola lying at the feet of Francis in a subservient manner.

The third depicted Graf in a very subtle manner being cosseted by Agassi through a protective hug. These ads evoked the feeling that these women were not depicting any modern environment but a Victorian set-up. Louis Vuitton being a luxury brand needs to create a sophisticated environment in the ads to append to the alluring atmosphere. However, such a repressive representation of women might not go well with their target audience. Therefore, this paper would focus on finding out whether these ads are Victorian in their outlook through an in-depth semiotic analysis of these selected ads.

Advertisements continue to depict women in a stereotypical manner. Most advertisements are still battling with issues such as portraying women as sex objects, unrealistic depictions of women, and sexism. One of the most prominent images of women in advertisements is that of a thin model with a totally improbable physical composition. Such models cause dissatisfaction among women regarding their own figures and many buy products to maintain their unhealthy thin figures. Further, ads also constantly depict women as sex objects.

The sexual aspect of women is being exploited by marketers to even sell products that do not have any sexual connotation. Such an interpretation of sexuality in ads has given rise to negative images of women in society as well as the unrealistic depiction of the 21st-century women.