Now look at this picture, a Jean Patou perfume ad. Reading down, you probably focus first on the woman's eyes, her gaze and the distant, dreamy look on her face.

Then you noticed the perfume being sprayed--the hand doing it. You may even notice that it pretty closely matches the hand in the lower left hand corner. That would be more obvious if the picture was full-size, as it originally appeared.

You noticed that the hand is a woman's? Sure. Hers. Nope. Look more closely. Something doesn't fit. The ad says it's a 'purse perfume spray', so who's purse is it? Whose hand is it?

Try to hold an object that size that far away from you own face while keeping your hand (and arm) at that angle as you spray. You can't. So, whose hand is it--and if every photo is a fraction of a second from a movie, then what story is this 'movie' telling. What relationships is this story about?

The name of the product is JOY. But the woman's face doesn't show joy. So whose joy is it emphasizing? The other hand? Who is this ad aimed probably at ?


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