Gaze tactics

J&B Rare Whisky (2001), print ad, Impact BBDO Beirut

With this flood of ads on the streets and in the media, brands are trying their best to interpellate the modern flâneur . In order to accomplish this, advertisers focus on a special demographic, more like a niche category. 

Popular whisky brand J&B knew that focusing on a target audience is the key of getting the message out there. It is no secret that whisky is a more man oriented drink with it's strong and defined taste compared to other lighter beverages. The ad pictures a man in a romantic situation with a blonde woman holding a J&B bottle. The picture would probably mean absolutely nothing to a female audience. However, to a male viewer, the representation is what the majority of men aspire to be. The male viewer enters in this phase of gaze where he imagines himself in this situation. The woman's look and her eyes also gives us this impression of gazing, of looking towards us. It's like she's saying: what are you waiting for? J&B is is your key to joy.
Digging a little more deeper, the ad was released in December 2001, just around Christmas and New Year. This gaze situation unconsciously will push the male viewer to gift J&B whisky bottles to female friends wishing that this situation may happen, or to friends in order to reinforce his image as a successful and aspiring man. Psychologically, this product is associated with joy, thanks to this moment of gaze that it created.

In this world of hyper-sexualised international pop stars like Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Ke$ha to name few, attracting a maximum number of male viewers from the general public is the main purpose of using the male gaze. 

TV Clip of MTV's Hek Men Ghanneh

Media also plays a huge role in promoting male gaze. For example, the hit show "Heik Men Ghanneh" hosted by Maya Diab on MTV Lebanon is based on very popular format in the UK, Lyrics board. The show had this huge success mainly to the over sexualised persona of the anchor, focusing on her beauty rather than the content of the show. However, the original version of the show did not focus at all on these kinds of details showing that formats are adapted to conform with the expectations of the male viewer and the gaze around it. The camera angles, and the general spirit of the shows focuses on the presenter's physique rather than her skills.

Aonghus McAnally, original presenter of Lyrics Board

However, in this post-modern world roles are changing. Lebanese visual artist Rasha Kahil, has been exploring for years with gaze and public versus private. In her latest work that made headlined in major newspaper in Lebanon, she tackles this issue, refuting woman to be used for the sake of promoting a product or to sell an idea. (Click here for more images)

Rasha Kahil, In your home (2008)

This revolt over the current situation of gaze is happening all around the globe, and Rasha Kahil is reinforcing the statement, showing that Arab woman, historically showed as hyper-sexual individuals, do not agree of this misuse and interpretation of the body for other purposes. Showing a sexual side of our very popular lebanese divas is what sells right now. The male gaze is still one of the most influential tools in marketing right now, due mainly to the fact that men have purchasing power in this country. It is normal that agencies look to promote products and especially luxury items targeting this targeting audience. 

At the ends of the day, we are all spectator of a huge show that we create and limit ourselves. When will the middle eastern mainstream embrace Rasha Kahil's view on gaze? Is purchasing power directly related to gaze in ads?

Resources
Nathalie Rizk
Michel Haddad

Throwback

Just recently, Lebanese food and beverages company Ghandour, launched a revival campaign for one of their most iconic products in recent Lebanese history: Unica

The ad produced by Y&R and directed by André Chammas, relies heavily on nostalgia and aims to create a sense of "throwback" to the audience. The setting of the ad is very reminiscent of the golden era of our country, while keeping the storyboard simple and reliable until today. The short clip also targets a wide target-audience, since it includes different characters that each one of use could relate to, at a certain point in time. Whilst keeping the nostalgia flowing, the ad also created this sense of "always there" to this chocolate bar; sharing most of our times in happy in sad moments through out history. It also features heavy use of highly popular locations such as the Piccadilly Theatre that is the symbol of Beirut in the late 70s. The art direction also relies deeply on vintage wardrobe, cars and even old Unica packages, to create this sense of history and involvement. The slogan "Unica living your stories, even the smallest of them" shows how much Ghandour wants to deeply integrate this product into our collective memory, making almost a historical landmark.

This theme has been widely used by advertisers to to promote an idea or a product. In 2012, Bank Audi in the purpose of promoting it's new "Lebanese Only" credit card played on the audience's emotions and hope of going back to Lebanon's golden age. The ad also contains a heavy use of symbols such as the old Lira bill next to the a Lebanese ID in a wallet, to stress that the era and the underlying message behind the ad. In this case, the commercials is composed of archive clips or old Beirut, aiming to drown the audience in a kind of nostalgia of this city that was ravaged with war. It also features iconic locations such as the "Télephérique station" in Jounieh and the Carlton Hotel to name a few. 

Both ads have one big idea in common, which is to create a unique and wide identity for Lebanese people, that includes all parts of society. It's what groups all parts of this deeply fragmented Lebanon. Maybe in creating a new identity that regroups all of the audience, those products can win their place in the products Hall of Fame and can be remembered as situation changing items for the rest of our long history. However, Unica's campaign is far more accessible and believable since it markets a product that is easy to acquire. Moreover, the way the Bank Audi ad is executed (pasting archive clips together) makes us loose the spirit of the idea while the Ghandour ads, while re-creating the spirit of the era, is more representative of this period.