Written Task 2

Amirah Abualeez

Mr. Michael

Language and Literature HL

6 December 2014

How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?

            Every advertisement bases every single detail based on the target audience, yet some advertisements can be multivocal and can give a different message to each individual reader. American Apparel released an ad showing a pair of female legs being held carelessly by a man. The only words that were placed were the company’s logo in between the female’s legs. At first, because of the clear objectification of the woman, the target audience may be blatantly assumed to be men. In reality, though, this advert targets both men and women in very different ways because it gives the men a very dominant and many vibe but it also makes women feel as if their sole purpose is to please that man.

            The clear and unconcealed target audience of this ad are men. The advertisement shows a man holding a woman by her feet as if they were toys. By showing only one body part, it completely disregards the woman and focuses on the man in the ad. The man is the dominant figure while the woman is the submissive figure. The ad uses affect transfer because the men looking at this ad can get a very dominant and manly vibe from the models and can transfer that vibe onto the company and associate it with wearing their clothing. By having the woman being held as if she was a toy, it shows the men looking at this advert that the main purpose for women is to please men and that men can buy sex and women by buying clothing from American Apparel. It gives men three things they want: women, sex, and manliness. These are things that many men strive for and the company has successfully been able to associate those three things with their company in this one advertisement.

            While this advertisement seems to objectify, sexualize, and objectify women, women can interpret this ad in one of two ways: either it offends them, or it encourages them. Firstly, the logo of the company being placed in between the woman’s legs further makes the woman look like a sex object. Because no other part of her body is shown, the woman is objectified and made out to look worthless. Many women will look at this ad and be offended because all women are made out to be objectified as a result of this advert. On the other hand, this ad can directly target women because it plays on many of their insecurities to sell. Just as it shows the men that women are here to please them, it shows women the ways to please men. Women will relate wearing American Apparel clothing with getting men’s attention, something that many women strive for. They will relate beauty and happiness with getting a man, which they will ultimately relate with the company. This ad takes many women who feel negatively about themselves and tries to portray this idea of being held by a man in a positive light. While American Apparel is turning away many customers as a result of this advertisement, it is also attracting and entire new audience.
            This advertisement shows multivocality because it gives a dominant vibe to men but also plays on many women’s insecurities. Although completely unacceptable and appalling, this advert has a lot of potential for success. It captures attention and gets people to talk, and that is ultimately the purpose of this advert and many other American Apparel ads. American Apparel has not had a decline in their sales as a result of their overly risqué marketing techniques.  They have strategically designed this ad in a way that reaches a variety of audiences and can be interpreted by each reader in a different way.