SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN

Center for Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia

Foundation in Natural and Built Environments

Social Psychology [PSY30203]

Assignment 1: Second Individual Journal

NAME : PHILIA CHUA YI SIAN

STUDENT ID : 0318936

TUTOR : Ms. NORUL HIDAYAH

This advertisement advertises a new launch of women’s clothing for a famous Australian

fashion brand called Kookai in the year 2004. In this particular advertisement, an “average Joe” can

be seen in a slightly revealing women’s clothing, carrying a sad-faced infant in his arms with a

dissatisfied look on his face, with the main question typed clearly beside them: “WHAT WOULD

THE WORLD BE WITHOUT WOMEN?”

Clearly, an underlying sense of stereotyping between men and women can be felt through this

simple yet powerful advertisement. As the man in the advertisement is holding an infant in his arms,

his distracted look shows that he is uncomfortable with what he is doing, and the awkward position

in which he is holding the infant suggests that task is not what he would normally do. Most

importantly, no love is felt between the man and the infant. As women are normally associated with

the task of looking after babies and nurturing future generations, the stereotypical question arouses

when women are not there to do so. Man, however, are usually associated with working and earning

a living for the family, tasks related to raising the next generation are normally seen with man caring

for children and not infants. Therefore, the question in this advertisement stereotypically suggests

that men are not equipped to be motherly towards new-born babies.

Other than that, Kookai being a fashion line, another subconscious message depicted through

this advertisement could be: “What would the world LOOK like without women?” The man in the

advertisement dressed in women’s clothing portrays an uncomfortable image to the audience.

Stereotypically speaking, women in advertisements usually sends out a sexy message, with revealing

clothing that celebrates the attractive figure of the women body. Clearly, this is not the case in this

advertisement, therefore, the voicing out of this question.

To conclude, although I feel that Kookai meant these advertisements to empower women and

show that women play just as an important role as men, they stereotypically defined women in their

two most common roles in the media, motherhood and being “sexy”.