Gazing Through the Glitter: A Feminist Critique of Glo’s ‘Feliz Navidad Nigeria!’ Advert

 Laura Mulvey's feminist film theory, and her idea of the male gaze specifically, have been foundational to our thinking about how visual media reproduces gender roles. Her theory opposes the way that cinema and visual culture represent women as passive objects of heterosexual male pleasure. To modern advertising especially in non Western contexts like Nigeria Mulvey's insight reveals the enormous extent of these paradigms. This essay examines the Glo "Feliz Navidad Nigeria! " under Mulvey's critical gaze. despite of its setting in a merry, communal environment, the advert contribution perpetuates patriarchal gender norms by employing camera direction, character positioning, and aesthetic decision-making. Employing Mulvey's terminology such as scopophilia, the three looks, and the spectacle vs. narrative control divide, this essay demonstrates how the advert conforms to patriarchal visual conventions.".

 Lurking at the heart of Mulvey's theory is the male gaze a theory that explains how women are visually staged in the media for heterosexual men's pleasure. In Glo ad, this is exhibited from the very beginning. The initiation scene shows a celebratory atmosphere with lights, music, and dancing. However, the camera has a tendency to pan on women in a particular way: close-ups of their curves, faces, and movement. These are also more concerned with physical beauty than with character development or function in the narrative. While both genders are represented, the females are more often represented in passive situations dancing, smiling, or observing, while males control activities like bringing others in or leading dances. The repeated use of close-ups on women's bodies, especially in the dancing segments, supports Mulvey's contention that mainstream media represents women as objects to be looked at. While setting is universal, visual narrative remains paramount in female appearance and male action, working closely within the context of the male gaze.

Another important aspect of Mulvey's perspective is the employment of scopophilia, or pleasure from looking namely, voyeuristic ally. The Glo commercial accomplishes this by the manner in which women are represented as spectacle. For example, a repeated shot highlights a woman slowly turning in a brightly lit corner of the bash, her dress fluttering as the camera follows from her waist up to her face. No words are exchanged or products handled just eye candy. Such a sequence is not pushing the story along or high-lighting a Glo product but simply her beauty and movement. The choice to use slow-motion and glamour lighting on female bodies invites the viewer to gaze for its own sake. It is the representative of the voyeuristic gaze that Mulvey criticizes one that objectifies women into sights for the audience. Of interest is that the same is not given to the male characters. They are not given glamour close-ups nor erotic camera motions. Their function is narrative and functional, while the women are ornamental and pleasure-oriented roles, cementing scopophilia as central to the logic of the visual.

Mulvey's theory also emphasizes the convergence of three gazes: the viewer's gaze, the characters' gaze in the media, and the audience's gaze. All three converge towards male pleasure; women are twice objectified initially by the individuals around them, and then by the viewer. This placement  is also witnessed in the Glo advert, where men are seen gazing at female dancers and smiling at them in appreciation, or guiding them in activities. The camera also copies this behavior, panning so as to highlight the women's beauty or joyfulness. Though, the viewer is also positioned to see women in this manner. While the advert attempts to present a communal, celebratory Nigerian Christmas, the gazing model is that of Mulvey's patriarchal model: men look, women are looked at, and the viewer is interpolated into the subject position of a male observer. It is a pervasive but subtle construction. There are few, if any, moments in which women initiate a glance, control the scene, or become the object of interest based on reasons beyond physical appearance.

A second aspect of Mulvey's thesis is the dichotomy between women as spectacle and women as narrative agents. Spectacle describes actors who exist to be viewed, but not necessarily to do something of narrative interest. These women are shown in the Glo commercial. They are centers of celebration in the scenery, often in the center of the frame or within the slower-motion sections, yet they are not central to the action. The men, by contrast, are shown as hosts, initiators of group activity, or guides. They clap to start dancing, toast to start eating, or use the Glo phone service emphasizing the brand name as much as possible. The women, however, smile, sway, or embellish, inserting themselves as aesthetic inserts and not bringing anything to the story. Mulvey asserts that this spectacle function diminishes the presence of women in a tale to show rather than fleshed-out characters. This is so with the Glo commercial. Albeit its purpose to commemorate Nigerian festivity and unity, it resorts to gendered stereotypical imagery whereby women add beauty to the scene without adding anything to the structure.

In contrast, these findings disclose that the Glo "Feliz Navidad Nigeria!" advertisement belying its color and culturalization replicates the dynamics Mulvey outlines in traditional Western film. The organization of women, the work of the camera, the direction of character gazes, and the allocated roles for each sex all reflect a visual economy but made with male gratification and female passivity in mind. Even in a celebratory Nigerian environment, visual culture codes remain vulnerable to international histories of gender representation.This demonstrates that patriarchal media networks are not confined to Western media but also exist in localized content, often under the guise of culture, celebration, or normalcy.

 In conclusion, Laura Mulvey's critical theory is an effective framework for examining how gender becomes constructed and reaffirmed by visual narratives. The Glo "Feliz Navidad Nigeria!" advert, whilst festive and lively, is unfaithful to subtle but insistent practices of the male gaze. Women are framed in ways that announce their appearance, rather than their agency, while men enjoy active and narrative driven assignments. Scopophilia and the management of the three gazes work together to create a spectator experience that is most interested in male pleasure, albeit a pleasure that occurs on an unconscious level. The women in the commercial are constructed spectacle seen but not heard, admired yet not in control. By understanding Mulvey's theory, one is able to comprehend that even commercials that are meant to be hopeful and conjoining are likely to perpetuate gendered power dynamics. As consumers and critics, understanding this dynamic is key to pushing for more equitable and empowering portrayals in media.