Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence.
Althusser, Louis
Who can beats a Jet2 holiday?
The answer is:nothing, and I’m sure everyone knows this answer. On TikTok, there’s a random “finish the lyrics” interview on the streets of London(https://www.tiktok.com/@camdenmarket/video/7537281274294127894?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc). When the blogger sang “darling hold my hand”, only a small number of people responded with “oh won’t you hold my hand”, the rest all said “nothing beats a Jet2 holiday”. This was not because the blogger had a product placement with the airline, but because Jet2’s advertisement has brainwashed many people and sparked a craze on multiple social media platforms.
Starting from the end of 2024, many TikTok users imitated the dubbing of this advertisement. Some even used the ad as background music to create videos featuring their own “worst travel fails”. The strong absurd contrast between the tone of the advertisement itself and the real-life frustrating scenarios quickly made it a hit for secondary creations. There’s even a show on YouTube that invited the original singer and the voice actor to recreate the advertisement on the same stage(https://youtu.be/Yn8nMeBtekw).Looking back at the advertisement itself, its familiar soundtrack, catchy dubbing, and 30-second duration make it fully adaptable to today’s internet ecosystem, allowing it to spread widely on short-video platforms. It is a typical example of the “happiness output+repeated brand brainwashing” style. This is the power of advertising: while conveying core messages, it can make users voluntarily join in as communicators. Users enjoy the process and think they are just making memes, rather than promoting Jet2 for free.
What will I see if I want to buy a lipstick?
A woman with exquisite makeup, wearing red lipstick, presses the lipstick tube to her lips. If the spokesperson is highly famous, we are fortunate to see both her and the lipstick,if not, we can only see her mouth, chin, neck, chest, and the lipstick itself. These two scenarios largely sum up most lipstick advertisements on the market.I believe this feature applies not only to lipstick or beauty ads but also to most advertisements featuring female cast members-it is a very typical example of the “feminine touch“. Simply put, in advertising, feminine touch refers to a method that uses visual elements, narrative styles, and emotional appeals associated with femininity in traditional culture to shape brand images, convey product value, and attract target audiences (especially women).
A perfume advertisement filled with soft light, fresh flowers, and elegant poses conveys more than just “this perfume smells good”,it emphasizes that “women who use this perfume are elegant, mysterious, and alluring,” tying the product to a specific standard of femininity.Early advertisements extensively overused the feminine touch, confining women to narrow roles such as virtuous wife and good mother,sex symbol, or consumer-first individual. Many ads also juxtaposed products with parts of women’s bodies, undermining their subjectivity, from a perspective rooted in the implicit male gaze.Women were presented as objects to be watched and admired. This invisible power may eventually be internalized by female audiences. Women begin to scrutinize themselves and others through this external, male perspective, unconsciously holding themselves to the standards set by advertisements. At this point, the operation of power completes its transformation from external coercion to self-regulation, becoming truly invisible.
From selling product to selling reality
A marriage without diamonds is equivalent to one without love.A mother who doesn’t use children’s exclusive wet wipes is equivalent to not loving her child.A young person who doesn’t hang a Labubu on their bag is equivalent to being unfashionable. Advertising can direct the public’s behavioral carnival and also construct an invisible cage of gender. However, the ultimate form of this power lies in that it no longer merely satisfies itself with influencing what we buy, but quietly becomes the architect of our conscious world, defining how we see ourselves, others, and what constitutes a worthwhile life-making constructed concepts seem like natural facts.Advertising is truly a master in this regard.Recognizing that advertising is an ideological operating system is the first step to reclaiming the autonomy of consciousness. I don’t think we need to reject all advertisements, but we do need to activate critical thinking. Simply accepting all the content presented will only allow our thinking to be shaped again. What we might need to do is shift from exploring “what I see” to questioning “why I am shown this scene.”
I realized how common this is, even now, when I saw your post. Even before the media, people, especially women, were put into boxes. But modern media has made these stereotypes spread even faster because of how quickly short clips and viral trends spread information. A lot of people think these representations are logical or natural, but they are actually made-up ideas.
For instance, a woman with red lips and a dress that shows off her body is a common symbol of femininity or beauty. Women don’t naturally look like this; the media keeps showing us this image until we start to think that’s what a “real woman” should look like. Your points made me think a lot about how the media affects our thoughts and why we often believe what we see without questioning it.
I completely agree with you. Even now, when I think of ads for beauty products like lipstick, shampoo and perfume, or ads for cars and watches, typical stereotyped images immediately pop into my mind. This is because all the ads I saw as a child portrayed women in exactly this way.
Now, more and more people are realizing that this is unpleasant, pathological and man-made. We are also trying to tear off the mask to expose this invisible power, making people aware that their minds have been largely constructed. Undoubtedly, this will not be an easy process.
Very interesting blog!! You explored the idea that people can accidentally become part of an advert by becoming communicators very well, I think the TikTok example is really great. Also the male gaze that is inherently rooted in an ENORMOUS chunk of the marketing and advertisement world is a veeery strong topic for even more in depth research!1
Thank you for reading！I often come across posts with a typical male gaze on TikTok. What makes me even sadder is that not many people find these posts uncomfortable, and the comment sections are even more unbearable. In public spaces, the right to speak is thus easily taken away by certain groups.