bell hooks in context - problematising advertising campaigns
bell hooks and feminism as a political ideological perspective
“To me feminism is not simply a struggle to end male chauvinism or a movement to ensure that women will have equal rights with men; it is a commitment to eradicating the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on various levels--sex, race, and class, to name a few--and a commitment to reorganizing U.S. society so that the self-development of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion, and material desires.” - bell hooks, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
- The Diesel advert represents a range of models, who are strikingly hegemonically attractive and uniformly thin. Female models in this advert are often sexualised through the MES of revealing clothing, and an explicit slow zoom on a female model’s buttocks at the end of the advert. The combination of these elements constructs an ideology that in order to be hegemonically attractive, women ‘should’ look a certain way.
- However, the Diesel advert represents a range of different ethnic groups, with the MES of completely diverse clothing, and the glitchy, energetic, fast paced editing, which constructs an ideology that the brand is both exciting and diverse. However, a message is also constructed that these models are privileged, young, and middle class.
- The fact that everyone in the advert shares a very similar body type reinforces a dominant cultural stereotype regarding attractiveness, and may emphasise false expectations, especially in heterosexual men. Additionally the brand is expensive, and can only be purchased by a small and privileged group in society, which directly challenges the notion that Diesel is an inclusive brand. By featuring only hegemonically attractive models, the advert further reinforces patriarchal hegemony, and also reinforces and cultivates the concept of ‘pretty privilege’ where hegemonically attractive people are more likely to be seen as interesting or successful
- The advert predominantly represents a variety of young, hegemonically attractive and apparently wealthy people situated in a wealthy American city, possibly New York. Genders, race, are represented in a diverse manner. This exciting and diverse representation is anchored through the edgy editing style that sees the models glitch and stutter on top of one another, which emphasises the casual, urban, inner city ideology of the brand. This demonstrates the ideology that Diesel can be worn by anyone, and is an inclusive brand.
- However, a problematic reading could be that Diesel is an expensive and exclusive brand that potentially excludes the very people it is attempting to representing . Additionally, the mannerisms of the models are posed, rigid and forced, and they resemble catwalk models, which emphasises their hegemonic attractiveness, with a particular, extremely thin body type being represented. This lack of representation of plus sized models reinforces the dominant ideology that only one group of people can be attractive.
