It’s interesting how advertising has its way of selling more than just a product. Advertising also sells values, sexuality, and what is to be considered “normalcy.” Ads are able to send a powerful and persuasive message of who we should be. However, there is a great difference between how men and women are used in advertisements. Women are commonly used in advertisements focusing on their body, usually their butt or boobs, often displaying a body type that less than 5% of women actually have. However, it is basically the only body type we see in the media, which puts a great deal of pressure on women to try to achieve this nearly impossible body type, even if it requires them to go to dangerous extents. This issue is mostly to blame for why 1 out of 5 women in the US has an eating disorder. Women are constantly trying to achieve what they see in the media, which has become impossible in recent years due to photo retouching and whatnot. Additionally, the female body is often advertised as an object, which creates this idea that a person is a thing. This concept is to blame for increased violence against women. Viewing women as an “object” gives men the idea that a woman can be owned and controlled. This furthers the idea of patriarchy and that women should remain submissive. Jean Kilbourne mentioned that self esteem plummets for girls when they reach adolescence. The media is constantly sending them messages of how they should look and act, displaying women as passive (with their hands over their mouth or face, or bowing their head.) Men, on the other hand, don’t live in a world where their bodies are constantly being scrutinized. When advertised with a woman, men are usually symbolizing dominance and control over the woman who appears submissive. This tactic also encourages patriarchy as well as advertisements where an almost nude woman displays a product for a man. Advertising women in such a way sends men a message that women are just waiting to be taken advantage of. I find it interesting how the company Abercrombie and Fitch almost always advertises their clothes with a black and white picture of a young women wearing nothing but very lowrise jeans, with her arms crossed across her chest in a way to just cover her boobs. Clearly the main focus is not on the jeans because usually only a few inches of the jeans are actually showing, and the picture is in black and white. I find the difference in advertisements for women’s and men’s body wash amusing. An ad for a women’s body wash almost always shows a women in the shower (really enjoying her steamy shower) while she lathers up her body using a lufa in slow motion. You can expect a close up of her soapy, sexy lean leg, and another of the water running down her bare back. However, in a men’s body wash ad (like Axe) a man is shown taking the quickest shower possible to clean off the scent of where ever he was before (use your imagination) before meeting up with a girl who is immediately all over him because of his tantalizing smell. How bizarre would it be to have see an ad in slow motion of a man lathering up his inner thigh?
You raised a lot of good points in your perception of these ads using women and men. I agree with the fact that showing some of these images using women wearing barely anything is giving men the idea that they can take advantage of women and feel superior. I'm not saying that all men act or feel this way, but if these ads are continually being used and helping the consumer capitalism, then obviously there are many men out there that are taking advantage and enjoying these ads.
ReplyDeleteI too think its sad how so many ads are trying to sell that its good to be impossibly skinny, and that only 5% of the whole entire country is even that size. I also think your point about selling images of women in the barely there outfits makes it seem ok to men to take advantage of them, when in actuality thats not the case. I think companies need to start realizing how some of their campaigns are affecting many people in negative ways because of how they perceive such media to make it ok.
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I think your post is right on point. You couldn't be more true when you said women are showed for their butt/boobs and only 5% of the country or less even have that "desired body type". The media definitely is a main factor for girls having eating disorders and not feeling comfortable in their own skin and hopefully someone can change that because its awful to put people down like this.
ReplyDeleteI was looking over one of the fashion magazines my mom had lying around over winter break. It had a plus size line. I was thinking how you don’t see these type of women everyday, which made it a breath of fresh air to see. On the flip side, I’m going through my yahoo account and the add to the side shows these gorilla sized me who take these bulking up supplement (Force Factor). Seeing the images of these men make me wonder if there’s any retouching going on in those photos.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you talked about this issue how advertising is not only selling the product but also the values and what is normal. Constantly trying to change the perception of what should be considered as normal. Women today trying to achieve an ideal body which doesn't exist. It is only because they can see the image of an ideal woman in media.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisements are used to catch attention, and shock people. A picture of a naked woman is going to catch more attention and is more thought provoking than a woman in jeans and a turtle neck. Unfortunately advertisements do send out messages of normalcy though, they don't feature what IS normal that feature what they think normal should be... but the tiny, pale faced model is only a tiny portion of what really is normal, maybe 1% or less of the normal population. Who determines what is normal anyway?
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the comments, they're greatly appreciated!
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