Within this essay I intend to discuss the representation of women in contemporary advertising and focus on the ideologies of the male gaze according to Laura Mulvey. Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist commonly known for her controversial essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” written in 1973. This piece was published in the influential British Film Screen. (Hein,2008) His written opinions managed to shift the perception of the conventional structure of film theories known as psychoanalytic, which Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan wrote about. Lacan was first supposed to develop the theory and was originally identified as the “gaze”. Its use was to define the anxious state that derives from the awareness of being seen. He argues that a person loses their sense of “autonomy” when they realize they are being objectified. Many film theorists used psychoanalytic ideas in their theoretical accounts of film, however Mulvey's influence was to establish the connection between film theory, the beliefs of psychoanalysis, and feminism. (Grosz,2013) To simplify the meaning of gaze it would be better to define it as the way an audience sees people presented to them, however as far as feminists are concerned it can be seen in three ways; how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. Laura Mulvey believes that in films the audience should "see" the characters from the point of view of a heterosexual male, however Mulvey's main idea is a belief in which the superiority of the male sex is centralized; known as phallocentrism. The male gaze can easily be applied or seen in contemporary advertising. The 21st century has opened new doors to make the way we access things much more...... middle of paper ......aze': Jacques Lacan. Available: http://keca2media.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-gaze-jacques-lacan.html. Last accessed 5 January 2014. Grosz, E (2013). Jacques Lacana: a feminist introduction. New York: Routledge. 224 pages.Hein, C (2008). Laura Mulvey, Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. London: GRIN Verlag. p3-4.Laura mulvey. (1975). visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Available: https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1021/Laura%2520Mulvey%252C%2520Visual%2520Pleasure.pdf. Last accessed 5 January 2014.UNILEVER. (2014). The Dove® campaign for true beauty. Available: http://www.dove.us/social-mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx. Last accessed 14 January 2014.zlorhenley. (2011). The male gaze. Available: http://www.slideshare.net/zlorhenley/laura-mulvey. Last accessed 10 January 2014.O'Mahony, E (2011). 21 steps to confidence. London: PDMI Publishing. p83-p84.