Advertising is a tool
in the capitalist, American society. Consumerism is essential to the nature of
America. To get more people buying things is essential to a booming economy,
for advertising companies they want young males to become active buyers and women
to buy in larger amounts. Interestingly enough the adverting images that exist
are overt expressions of the objectification of the body, the
oversimplification of an individual’s role and the portrayal of a small number
of individuals that actually exist in the world. Many of the advertising cross
lines of appropriate for public television and venture into ludicrous
especially when referring to the product being sold. What is most
disturbing is the images that are being sold to a population encourage certain
gender roles and stereotypes about race that are limiting and repressive to
the development of wide array of people that exist beyond advirtisements.
In Jean
Kilbourne’s article “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising” she states that women
are known as housewives or sex objects within the world of advertising. More
often than not, there is not a true reflection of women’s bodies and the
complexities of women that exist in real life. Kilbourne goes on to
articulate women are “conditioned to view her face as a mask and her body as an
object, as things separate from and more important then her real self,
constantly in need of alteration, improvement and disguise.” (page 122) A
real woman is not good enough. It is implied through ads that if she does not
look or act like the women in ads her value to society is null.
 |
| An ideal body is determined by mass media and advertisement disregards the different types of bodies that exist. |
The
dismemberment of the female body and its innate imperfection is disturbing.
Women see advertisings everywhere, before their YouTube videos begin, on the
sides of their screen when they are visiting a website, while waiting for the
bus. And these images are internalized and deemed as normal. Women are not
encouraged to be the best of whomever they are, they are encouraged to be
pieces of body, without a brain. As oversexualized pieces of body, women's
parts are used to sell products, even when performance by the women does not
suggest what the product is. These ads also reinforce the suggested ideas that
a woman's body is easily accessible and does not belong to her.
 |
| Women are used for their part in many ads for sexual reasons. This ad suggests that this cologne is going to allow a man to gain access to a woman sexually. |
Anthony
Cortese in “Constructed Bodies,Deconstructing Ads: Sexism in Adverstsing”
discusses the idea of white male privilege and its relevance to the violence
that is being prevalent in ads and movies. Cortese determines that the presence
of white males in movies as the violent man came to be when “white males faced
increasing economic instability and dislocation due to widespread recession,
economic restructuring, and downsizing in the corporate world.” (page 71)
Powerful, muscular white men in film were used as a way to reinforce their
power. The idea of male white privilege permeates through films as well as ads.
What Cortese does not
touch on is the idea of generalizing the idea of white privilege. Take for
instance certain ads would be deemed unacceptable and controversial if the race
was different. White privilege is normalized as while stereotypes of other
races continue to be perpetuated. Interestingly enough, black culture is
appropriated and incorporated into ads in tandem of being ridiculed within the
realms of an ad. In a sense, some ads promote the idea that when black people
do something it is not worthy of any attention, unlike when white people do the
same thing.
 |
| This baby carrier is not widespread but it perpetuates the sterotype of black females are incapable of sustaining a stable romantic relationships and prone to being single mothers. |
There are many issues with mass media
yet there are some ads that break through the barriers of limitations normalized
by noncreative advertisements. For instance, ads can be used to demonstrate
human life and its intimacies. If there were a series of ads that demonstrated
how honest and giving people are, how strong women are on a regular basis, and how
people should not be determined by race or gender, it can create dissatisfaction
with the ads that exist now. Creating ads that go beyond the physical features
of a being enhances the complexities of a person and a more accurate picture of
people. Having an emotional bond can build a lasting connection to a product.
The use of sex as a tool to sell can
disappear. We do not see women in real life gyrating themselves against cars in
real life so why should we see it in ads. Showing normal looking women being
sexy and true to sell a product is neither farfetched nor difficult. Every
woman needs to know that they are beautiful, not because of their beauty but
who they actually. Displaying a true woman’s self would be a great trade for
sex in ads.
Complicating the images of males is also
crucial. There is no one type of man, so we need to see that. Taking away
stereotypes when portraying men are essential to displaying masculinity, it
creates a new ideal male. As a result, the violence against women in ads would
decrease. A man does not need to be muscular to be powerful. He can generous
and sensitive and still maintain his sense of masculinity.
Another route to creating conversation
about ads that currently exist is humor. We have to make fun of the ads that
exist now to change them.
It is difficult to have these images
that exist in ads to influence future generations, but it is a reflection of
western culture allowing such idea to permeate through society. Allowing them
to become a norm within a society destroys the creative, diverse, and
influential nature of people. There has to be a change in the images we see to
be a change in the thought process, or rather vice versa.
Bibliography
Cortese, Anthony. “Constructed Bodies,
Deconstructing Ads Sexism in Advertising.” : Images of Women and Minorities
in Advertising. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. 45-76.
Print.
Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty and
the Beast of Advertising."Center for Media Literacy. Center for Media
Literacy
Moet, S. (2014, February). Case
Study. https://sophmoet.wordpress.com/tag/tom-ford/
Savali,
K. (2014, June). ‘Racist’ Baby K’Tan
Sling Package Sparks Outrage on Social Media. Retrieved from http://newsone.com/3025281/racist-baby-ktan-sling-package-sparks-outrage-on-social-media/
Schrobsdroff,
S. (2012, April). Sexist, Silly, Sublime:
Era Ads. Retrieved from http://style.time.com/2012/04/25/sexist-silly-sublime-era-ads/slide/this-is-no-shape-for-a-girl/
Sieczkowski,
C. (2014, April). Bondi Hipsters Recreate
Miranda Kerr With Thought-Provoking Results. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/06/bondi-hipsters-miranda-kerr-gq_n_5100543.html
Thai
Life Channel. (2014, April). Unsung Hero.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWA2GbcnJU
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