Analysis Of Eva Mendes.

How does Calvin Klein represent females here in the above advert? Are they objectified or sexually empowered?


In this Calvin Klein advert Eva Mendes is shown to be a dominant and slightly aggressive woman due to her pose. She is standing in the stereotypical powerful stance, her hands on her hips and legs apart (steady footing). This gives her the impression of being aggressive because her pose indicates that she has attitude, and isn't the sort of person who would back down easily if confronted. The photo is also shot at a low angle making her look more powerful as she is 'looking down' on you, giving the impression that she is better than you. This is also supported by her facial expression, her eyes are closed so she doesn't make eye contact, which also makes her seem superior because it's like she doesn't deem you important enough to look at. Plus her teeth are slightly bared, sending out aggressive signals.

However the photo does also exudes a sexual element, mainly to help sell the product. She's wearing high heels to make her legs look slimmer, and also to give her more height, adding to the dominating feel of the photo. The use of this also objectifies Eva because makes her something to which men want to look at and wish to 'possess'. It helps to sell the underwear as it makes men think that their partner could look like the model, and therefore they have a little piece of 'what they want' so to speak. Another point that shows that Calvin Klein objectifies females is the fact that there is no ring on the models hand. It makes her seem 'available', showing that she doesn't belong to anybody, which portrays that females who do wear a ring, and essentially, are married, 'belong' to someone and are unavailable to other people, the same way people view objects. If an object belongs to you, no one else can have it.

The use of suspenders in the photo both sexually empowers and objectifies females. On one hand it can make the photo more attractive to potential buyers, mainly male buyers, because it shows the more sexy side of the photo, as suspenders are associated with sexiness. But there could also be the point that women are only there to look good for men, something for the man to 'control' as it were. Finally the fact that the model has been oiled to make her look wet, and with the damp hair it suggests she's just come out of the shower, makes her seem sexually empowered because it gives the impression that she's going out for the night to a party, date, meal ect. This makes females seem sexually empowered because it makes people think that they need to dress up in 'sexy' outfits when they go out, especially if they are available, to make them more appealing to the opposite sex. However it also poses the question that do females have to dress up when they go out? Taken from this angle it could show that Calvin Klein is objectifying females, single females mainly, as it could suggest that men expect women to dress up for them if they go out because it's what they want to see, still involving the controlling element.

To conclude I think that Calvin Klein represents females as sexually empowered because the whole photo is sexually suggestive and appealing to people. I believe this because most of the attention is drawn towards the models groin, the 'masculine' bra, which is simple and plain, doesn't draw the eye, whereas the use of the hands on the hips and the head turned away tries to pinpoint people's focus to the models groin. Having her hands on her hips draws the attention to her hips and with her fingers pointing to the underwear makes people focus on that particular area.