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Paper Prepared for the 9TH BUDAPEST VISUAL LEARNING CONFERENCE – HOW IMAGES BEHAVE, to Be Held Online on Nov Preliminary paper prepared for the 9TH BUDAPEST VISUAL LEARNING CONFERENCE – HOW IMAGES BEHAVE, to be held online on Nov. 26, 15:00–18:00 CET, organized by the Department of Technical Education, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, by Corvinus University of Budapest, and by the Committee for Communication and Media Theory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. SEE THE VIDEO Zita Komár Corvinus University of Budapest “I’m bi**h, I’m a lover, I’m child, I’m a mother, I’m a sinner, I’m a saint...” – Visual Representation of Ancient Goddesses and Modern Muses in Advertising in The Context of (Anti)Feminism Most of us are well aware of the goddesses from ancient Greek and Roman mythology, but there is little attention on their presence and symbolic significance today. According to mythology most of the ancient goddesses resided in the realms of the heavens above, but all of them portrayed the femininity and female archetypes of mortal women – introducing the whole life cycle of a woman. Goddesses had special powers and could control specific aspects of life, moreover deities represented feminine values and gender roles as well. Today, these female archetypes appear in mod- ern forms in various areas of social life, from which this presentation focuses on advertising. The aim of this paper is then to collect and identify the key visual images and elements of advertisments intro- ducing eight of woman archetypes found in ancient mythology: Hebe/Flora; Hestia/Vesta; Hera/Juno; Leto/Latona; Aphrodite/Venus; Demeter/Ceres; Artemis/Diana; Athena/Minerva. Each of the archetypes have been carefully selected according to the description of goddesses and associated values in order to un- 2 cover how these hidden figures form and shape our thinking of feminine values today. The table below summarizes the main fea- tures of the goddesses, their modern archetypes and the connected product types, key visuals and associated values. According to this collection of ideas ancient goddesses repre- sented a multi-faceted femininity surrounded by mythology and mag- ic. At the same time each individual goddess also personified differ- ent aspects of life: feminine roles, characteristics and stages of life – e.g. Demeter/Ceres was the divine embodiment of agriculture and harvest, Hera/Juno epitomized the sacred values of marriage, Aphro- dite/Venus represented the eternal woman. These goddesses not only justified their status as members of the Olympian family, but their divine presence can also be found in todays advertising images shap- ing the mindsets of 21st century people. This presentation aimes to give voice to these ladies by select- ing the images and archetypes of advertisements: as a result, it turned out that inspite of the many and various images of goddesses shown in modern advertising, the persona of the intelligent, wise and power- ful leader (Athena-archetype) is almost absolutely missing. This con- clusion can be seen as a paradox since Athena was one of the most worshiped and beloved goddesses of ancient times whom women and men turned to when asking for advice or support. While there is a proliferation of “Aphrodite-type” of images in ads (favouring the message that associates woman with love/sex fea- tures), and moreover, thanks to the femvertising trend Demeter-relat- ed portrayals of the strong woman have become extremely popular in the last decade, there is no evidence to suggest that advertisments in- tentionally portray intelligent and creative women as the archetype of femininity and the feminine leader. Greek Goddess Roman Goddess Main characteristics Modern archetype Product category/ type Key visuals beauty products and cosmetics everlasting youth and beauty, freshness, teenager/ young woman”, „innocent (natural); parfume, dressing and bright, clear or vivid colours, water and nature‐ Hebe Flora goddess of flowers and spring, child”, „representation of the new natural make‐up; specific products for like background, transparent materials in rejuvenation generation” the newest generations (e.g. IT, clothing, airy and soft look mobile products) purity represented in a humanly (non‐ goddess of the hearth; virgin goddess of Hestia Vesta „the untouchable woman” beauty and basic skincare products transcendent) way (e.g pure body/skin); family; symbol of purity virginity is not commonly represented in ads „married wife and mother”, „heart of the moving, lively images, the family is present, goddess of marriage and birth, community”, „pillar of the family”, FMCG products (e.g. food, detergents, the caracter is in the center of the pictures Hera Juno protector of the family, trusted mother keeping an eye of everything, cleaning products, pet food, etc) and actively helps/supports others and/or she and wife problemsolving, allways on the move is the narrator of the story food and all types of prudcts for the story represents the struggling and babies and children (e.g. baby powder, happiness of a mom’s life and her selfless goddess of motherhood and modesty, medicine, baby food nutriment, baby attitude, tender or soft pictures show the Leto Latona „supermom”, „the modern (single) mom” respected mother sampoo, toys, school products etc.); bond between the baby and the mom or uses skincare products for the mother (e.g. old fashioned grey images, rarely shows he body lotion, bodymilk etc.) mom alone vast majority of ads for women and men (!), all types of products can be representation of femininity (from a goddess of love, (erotic) beauty, desire, advertised and sold with one or more masculine point of view); images of the „the (sexy) woman”, „mistress” (sex Aphrodite Venus passion, fertility, lust, prosperity, beautiful feminine figure(s), The female body (physical or metaphorical symbol/object of desire) feminity, charm, allure original and innate archetype of representation), the body can be in the center advertisments! or at the background as well various types of products ranging from the woman with earthly powers supporting beauty/skincare to sports and FMCG goddess of harvest and grain, protector self and/or others (service to mankind); „independent, strong, mature, products, representing the strenght of Demeter Ceres of maidenhood, womanhood and women walking their own way in the story, autonomous, self‐confident woman” women (either in masculine and motherhood sometimes ads don't use words, just images, feminine meaning), Femvertising strong eye contact and character messages in ads master of her profession (carreerist sport products; beauty and body huntress/hunting goddess, chastity, strong, wild or rebel caracter, feminine‐ woman, equal competitor); modern products (natural or extravagant), Artemis Diana sovereignty, impassibility, supremacy, masculine dimensions (androgynous caracter), unmarried woman; free and playful, business/profession connected inaccessibility accepts challanges and wants to excel expereince‐seeker, self‐driven services (e.g. office settings) almost missing! (no advertisments have been found representing this wisdom, reasoning, and intelligence, feminine leader (intelligence, wisdom, caracter/ archetype, but some have Athena Minerva knowledge,, strategic warfare & self‐ leadership skills, artistic and creative none delivered the message); She would be defense, artistic powers powers) the counterpart of Afrodite in advertising .
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