Harvard Referencing & Triangulation

I chose to complete this study task using the resources that I had gathered for my essay as this will help me with the writing of the essay. 

1. A  paragraph that shows the ability to triangulate between texts.

' A number of authors have considered how advertising constructs our social ideas as well as our ideas of gender and the way that ads influence us in our day to day life. John Berger (1972) discusses the frequency of how we view advertising, describing it as being ‘surrounded by images of an alternative way of life’ and for a brief moment these images ‘stimulate our imagination either by way of memory or anticipation’. This demonstrates the scale of advertising and how it is prominent in each individual life without the population necessarily being aware of the influences.' Moreover, Gillian Dyer (1988) discusses the point that ‘the primary function of advertising is to introduce a wide range of consumer goods to the public’ and that over a number of years advertising has become ‘increasingly involved in the manipulation of social values and attitudes and less concerned with the communication of essential information about goods and services’. This comment clearly illustrates the growing influence that graphic design is having on our social ideas. This can be applied to a number of different advertising forms which goes back to Berger's comment of images that 'stimulate our imagination' which is evidently done to influence the audience. 
 
2. A paragraph that shows analysis. (This could be of a text, image or set of results from a questionnaire)

For the response for this section of the study task, I have chosen to analyse an image that I am going to be using in my essay. This will hopefully help with the writing of the essay as I will be able to apply some of this analysis to the content of the essay, where relevant.

The model in this image (Kendall Jenner) is presented in a minimalist way to draw the audiences attention to the product that is being advertised (underwear). The audience of this piece of advertising is primarily the female individual who will be wearing the product as well as the secondary individual who may be purchasing the product as a gift. Having the model only wearing he product that is being advertised is a technique that is used to draw the attention of the audience to the item. Furthermore, the black background against the white of the models body highlights the desirability of the female figure. The use of this highlighting technique makes the model appear pure with no imperfections, further attracting the audience to buy the product as this is the main aim of a piece of advertising, no matter how subtle the imagery is.



3. A paragraph that shows evaluation. (This could be of an author's work, theory, book, article, etc)

Bem's Gender Scheme Theory (1991), covers much ground in exploring the topic of how a child learns and develops gender. This theory demonstrates clearly her principal idea that children learn their gender through society and their behaviours are rewarded, reinforced and therefore taken on by the child. In doing so Brown can help us to understand the complexity of gender and how advertising has an influence on an individuals ideas and 'acts of' gender. There is a weakness in Bem's theory in that she fails to account for other factors that contribute to an individuals gender behaviours and therefore reduces the reliability of the theory. 


4. A paragraph that demonstrates your ability to paraphrase, summarise or produce a precise' of an author's article or book. 

Chapter 7, Gender and Advertising, How Gender Shapes Meaning, Sheehan, K. (2004) Controversies in contemporary advertising. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

This chapter references and goes into detail of a number of different areas relating to gender and advertising such as, Advertising's responsibilities to men and women as we'll as decorative and sexual stereotypes. This is a demonstration of various areas of advertising that use sex-role stereotyping. This is done by bringing the readers attention to a number of important areas through paraphrasing and imagery. For example 'Advertising images capitalise on this idea of liking, as attractive men and women are often used to transfer positive affect from the model to the product (Gulas & McKeage, 2000).