Liquid Reinforcements A Look at Cosmopolitan Perfume Advertisements

 

       

		Fragrance advertisements play a particularly important role in the discourse of the sensual female-male marital relationship. In this semiotic analysis, I will be focusing on a fraction of the fragrance advertisements present in Cosmopolitan (which are representative of the greater whole) -- that of Nude Bijan (Nov 27), Intimately Beckham (March 79), Hugo XX and XY (Nov 61), and Calvin Klein Eternity (Nov 79). Upon immediate observation of these advertisements, a female-male couple is identified through the salience of their size and centrality within the advertisements. Each couple is seen embracing the other in a close-up shot, suggesting "an intimate relationship" (Jewitt et. al. 146). In both the Nude Bijan and Intimately Beckham ads, the audience is also demanded to pay attention to the couple by way of their direct eye contact at the viewer. Jewitt and Oyama state that this use of eye contact from the couple "establish[es] an (imaginary) relation" (Jewitt et. al. 145) with the viewer. They draw the audience in to see and understand the sensual chemistry that is occurring - a chemistry which others can have with the use of their fragrance. After all, within the Intimately Beckham advertisement, the reader is told the fragrance is "seductive... for him and her" (March 79).
		After many viewings of the advertisements, I additionally began to see signs of heteronormativity and marriage that were not immediately apparent. By saying that, I do not in any way mean to lessen the power of discourse within the magazine, but rather to show how subtleties even reinforce ingrained ideas within society without ones conscious awareness. Rebekah Willett's research on children and sexuality found that performance of femininity by young girls was made "sense of [by] the surrounding discourses which are positioning them in particular ways" (Willett 453). Heterosexuality is certainly one of these dominating discourses. I believe the ads' preferred, or dominant readings are based on the referent systems of love and naturalness. These systems "pre-exist advertising... and structure not only adverts but many other cultural and social forms" (Rose 95). Naturalness is displayed in the coupling of the Hugo XY and XX fragrances. By sheer presences of biological chromosomes as the labels for the coupled female and male fragrances, heteronormativity is identified as the natural sexuality. Viewers also see this coupling and can easily carry the image to correlate the same meaning for the other perfumes - all heterosexually coupled. If similar perfumes were spatially present in the same form but with the labels XX and XX, or XY and XY I dare say a punctum would occur for the readers of Cosmopolitan. The magazine is structured in such a way that the mention of same-sex couples in an image or even text would "prick, bruise, [or] disturb a particular viewer out of their natural viewing habits" (Rose 88). After all, same-sex couples, even in the greater society are still marginalized. Same-sex unions are not highly celebrated within societal discourse, but rather just heterosexual marriages. The idea of marriage as we have been seeing throughout Cosmopolitan is never left to fluke understandings - its importance is always reminded and reinforced to the viewer.

Throughout three of the advertisements, marriage is symbolized in some form or fashion. Beginning with Calvin Klein's Eternity, the textual salience of the fragrance's name "Eternity" serves as an anchorage to the image of the embracing couple centrally located within the ad. Not only does the word "eternity" bring together ideas of marriage for the couple, it also works in relation with the infamous promise that is made during the marriage ceremony - "until death do us part". Marriage is still understood by many to be a life of eternity with their partner - or at least that is the goal! And if any doubt is left to the reader whether "Eternity" is related to marriage, they can look to the woman's ring finger where she wears a wedding band. This sensual moment between woman and man is not just a fling. With the anchorage of the "Eternity" we see the relationship to be an eternal timeless love with a spouse, like the partnered "timeless fragrance for men and women" (Nov 79). Further supporting the discourse of marital female-male relationships within fragrance advertisements, we see the mortise of the Nude fragrance bottles in the Bijan ad. Both fragrance bottles are iconic of a diamond ring, "having a likeness to it" (Rose 83). With the circular opening in the center of the bottles (where a ring finger would go), as well as a heightened diamond-esque plug at the top, the two bottles take on this iconic role with the accompanying intertextuality of the male-female image. To create a marriage, Cosmoploitan's tips and strategies tell the reader they just need a man and the marriage symbol of the diamond ring - both presented in the Bijan ad! Lastly, we see the socially famous married couple, The Beckham's, advertising their own line of fragrance. Because they are a globally recognized husband and wife pair, their advertisement holds a claim of truth to what it says about its fragrances - "seductive" (March 79), as well as a truth to the power of fragrances as a whole. With this discourse at work, what Cosmopolitan reader would not think to want a relationship like theirs, or a husband like David Beckham?!? The right fragrance then is not only key to winning the diamond ring, but also key to keeping it.

[HETEROPOLITAN]  [At 30 or Bust]