Shower gel for women

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Language & Gender introductory Task - Shower gel advert for women:

1. What types of reader knowledge does this text assume?
- The text assumes that every women has a man in their life, if it be a boyfriend or husband and that that's how men act.
2. This text was found on the side of the shower gel bottle. How might this have influenced the kinds of linguistic decisions the text producer made?
- I feel as though the text producer purposely made the text very long and colloquial to relate to their audience, it was put on the side because people normally "inspect" the products they're about to purchase.
3. How does this text represent males and females?
- Females are represented as easily irritated housewives who have to clear up after everyone else, whereas men are seen as unorganised and dirty. The last sentence "we only want you for your body" suggests that women are only interested in a man who has a "great" (in our society) body, meaning that men are more powerful than women and that have more control over them. 
4. How is the text structured?
 - The constant repetition is quite irritating which could be used to mirror the irritation women have towards men. The repetition of the colloquial adjective "blooming" had connotations of flowers, plants in bloom and nature. Women are normally perceived as being close to nature because of the term "mother nature", and most representations of women always include flowers. Flowers and nature have the connotations of natural and innocent, which is what people in society feel women  are like. Flowers are also objects as such, so this alternatively could show that women are object to men. 

5. Look for other examples of health, beauty and grooming products that are specifically aimed at either men or women. What kinds of language and persuasive strategies do they use? How do they represent gender? Are there any patterns that you can see in your data? And any interesting exceptions?
HUGO BOSS - Scent for him
- Men are represented as very masculine and classy, that any women would find him attractive 
- Phrases like "man of today" show the control/dominance men have and how they should be seen as strong. It could also show that men are above everyone else if they wear this perfume because they're the "man of today"
- The title itself "BOSS" represents wen as being powerful, strong and intimidating.
- The adverts use lot of personal pronouns to emphasise how it's a mans world and that men are more powerful than women

GARNIER - For women 
- Women are represented as "perfect" and angelic with flawless skin, teeth and hair. 
- The representation is almost unrealistic, as women are air-brushed to the extreme to create this sense or perfection. 
- The colours used are very pastel and colourful to show that women are "fruity". Alternatively the light colours could show how women are stereo-typically seen as "transparent" and that you can mentally see through them because women show a lot of their emotions, but obviously this is just a stereotype. 

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