Advertising Deconstruction

       

We can See the female body being used to
sell perfume in this Tom Ford Ad.

  In todays world we cannot separate gender and sexuality from advertising images. The female, or more in particular her body is always used as a sexual object. The male, or his body, is used is always shown in context to athleticism. The gender binaries that exist between the two sexes create the differences in the way that advertisers use each to sell their products. “Although social science refers to gender as a “factor” or a “dimension” of an analysis, it is also applied to embodied persons as a “mark” of a biological. Linguistic, and/or cultural difference (Butler, 12).”

         “Gender is not to culture, as sex is to nature, (Butler, 10).” Predominantly advertisers seek out what is considered the ideal female when advertising pretty much anything. The ideal female in terms of advertising is of fair complexion, long hair, extremely skinny, and tall in height. As long as the female fits these criteria, she can be used to sell any and everything. For example lets take the Paris Hilton Superbowl commercial, in which we see Paris in nothing but a bikini washing a car, doing seductive moves, and in the end we see a burger in her hand and realize, the use of the commercial was to promote the sale of Carl’s Jr. burgers. The commercial as a whole shows more of Paris in sensual moves then the burger, if you missed the burger, you might have mistook the commercial to be about the car or simply Paris Hilton. The power hierarchies that primarily exist in advertising are the skinny female and the athletic build male.  We examined the way in which the female is used in advertisements, which is sexually and provocative. The male on the other hand, even when shown in the same light as the female, is depicted as selling their body stature and not sex. So when you see a male in an advertisement half naked the emphasis is on achieving his built not the fact that he is close to naked. “Gender is a complexity whose totality is permanently deferred, never fully what it is at any given juncture in time (Butler, 22).”

The male is shown in his boxers
with emphasis on his athleticism,
the female on the other hand is
used as a sexual object. 

         Through advertising, advertisers not only promote their products, but also point out what are considered flaws in others. “Advertisers are aware of their role and do not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering solutions (Kilbourne, 129).”  In simpler terms advertisers pick on the things that they know one might not like about them and in turn tell them if you buy our use whatever product they are selling, you will feel better about yourself.  “Advertising is one of the most potent messengers in a culture that can be toxic for girls’ self esteem (Kilbourne, 131).” Advertisers in the long run only criticize people, females in particular that they are not good enough if they have any types of flaws. They create the illusion that to fit in one must be perfect; when in reality no one is perfect. “In a variety of ways, the mass media helped make us the cultural schizophrenics we are today, women who rebel against yet submit to prevailing images about what a desirable, worth while woman should be, (Douglas, 8).”    

         Popular culture is found, learned, and critiqued, according to these images that are shown to the masses. When I say found I mean popular culture is based off of these ideas that advertisers plaster around and eventually end up in our heads and become what we consider the norm. For instance we are so accustomed to seeing the skinny female body close to naked that we sometimes forget it’s a reflection of us females as a whole. It may not be us up in the advertisement but it’s a reflection of us still.  When I say learned, I am referring to the continuous use of using these images as a way to gain cause in the end, sex sells. For example these advertisements teach girls that to succeed or fit in you have to look a certain way and females will in hand try and do everything to achieve what they see.  When I say critiqued, I am referring to the reference that we use these images as markers to define what we need to fix in order to achieve what is considered perfection. One might see a post of s girl with a flat stomach and critique her and say I want a stomach like that person. In the end majority of the times the models don’t even look like the pictures.

The image above points out the numerous changes
that were don't to enhance an advertisement.
Proving not even the model looks like herself.

         An alternative to the current mainstream images would be advertising the real raw deal. In other words use people of different skin complexions, different sizes, different sexual orientations, etc., advertising the products. This would be different because it would give variety in means of advertising, and would cater to more than one specific person or persons. There is not just one particular consumer, so why should we see one particular advertiser.  One means of achieving this would be to have companies take surveys of the people that use their products, and create advertisements for the different people that use them. Another thing that advertisers could do is not picking on what they consider peoples flaws but instead promote change. Instead of using words like fix, they can say variation.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have your original look that advertisers deem flawed and their look that is deemed flawless. But instead of considering it a fixing of a problem, we can refer to it as a variation of looks. Overall modern day advertising will not change unless we the consumers push for change and variety in what is showcased.

Works Cited:

1) Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge,    1990. Print.

2)Douglas, Susan J. Where the Girls Are: Growing up Female with the Mass Media. New York: Times, 1994. Print.

3) Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising." Media & Values 1989: 121-25. Web.

The Oppositional Gaze: On Advertising

The main goal of advertisements is to sell you whatever product or service the company is promoting. This goal is ruthless; it is blind to political correctness and in fact works to make you feel your absolute worst. As stated by Cortese, a successful advertisement increases your anxiety level and makes you think something is wrong with you as you are. The ad will then introduce a solution to you, which is (completely coincidentally of course,) their product or service (Cortese, 63). In the process of trying to dictate the attitudes, values and emotions of the audience, advertisements often marginalize, sexualize, and/or neglect groups that do not account for the intended audience. And the intended audience is always a young, white male, for he is the ideal spectator (Berger).

Gucci Ad
(Can you tell what they're selling? Are they selling us sex, or perfume?)

Advertisements sell us much more than their products.  They are also selling us ideas, perceived norms, values, and promises of a better life than we already have.  Ads have plenty to say about gender roles too.  “They are really projecting gender display –the ways in which we think women and men behave- not in the ways they actually do behave. Such portrayals or images are not reflective of social reality. In advertising, for example, women are primarily depicted as sexual objects or sexual agents,” (Cortese, 52). We see these depictions so often, we are desensitized to them, we overlook what is actually being implied, we passively accept that rail-thin models can sell us clothes and perfume and eating disorders, because they are the ideal. Kilbourne says “women are shown almost excluseively as housewives or sex objects,” and if you look at any print ad, billboard, or commercial, you will find that she isn’t wrong (Kilbourne, 122).

Because seemingly beautiful, happy women sell the product, it has become normalized to

Febreeze advertisement

sell the values that go alone with the images of these women. This is a dangerous territory for the consumer and viewer of these images, because advertisers have mastered our psyches. We can associate Febreeze and Pin Sol as lemon-fresh cleaners that our mothers will absolutely love. We think of Clean& Clear, Neutrogena, and Cover Girl when we think of beautiful, white, pore-less women with flawless skin and perfect symmetry. Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, and any other world-renowned designer you can think of sell you top of the line clothing, with a side of sex appeal (or is it vice versa?). We have, as a society, let these images define us, create our identities, our preferences, our values. And these images tell us that women are housewives or sex objects, nothing more.

1950s ad for beer,
depicting the stereotypical
brainless housewife

“The oppressive and draconian images of the ideal or perfect woman is hammered nearly continuously into countless little girls, adolescents, and women by the unrealistic representations in advertising,” (Cortese, 56). Women are not supposed to have more facets to them than you can see. “Women are allowed a mind or a body, but not both,” (Wolf, 59). We see this in advertisements, and that carries into our pop culture. Women that are sexualized are never seen in a different way, and the same is true of the housewife, the nerd, the lesbian, or any other label that can be placed on a woman. Of course advertisements have a hand in our popular culture because they finance much our popular culture. There are very few, if any, media outlets that can exist without the wallets of advertisers (Netflix and PBS, are a couple as we discussed in class).

And if you are a woman and a minority and/or a lesbian, life is even more difficult or you to be considered a consumer in the advertisement realm. Because lesbians are part of the “counter culture,” mainstream ads are not meant for their viewership. “Because lesbians have been taught to read the heterosexual possibilities of representations, the ‘straight’ reading is never entirely erased or replaced” (Clark, 146). Since advertisements dictate popular culture, and advertisements don’t depict homosexuality, it’s not far off to say that ads help in the “othering” of those who don’t fit the ideal image. The same could also be said of minority images- women of color and Asian women have essentially no place in ads or mainstream media.

Rosie the Riveter
(famous WW2 poster
encouraging women
to join the workforce)

It is difficult to say whether or not advertising will change its course to solve some of the issues of exclusion and constructed gender roles. While ad campaigns have strived to change the narrative for women towards empowerment recently, (often called “empowertising”) this still does not change the fact that the intended audience is narrower than the actual audience. A more improved version of these campaigns would include women that stray from the conventional notion of beauty (because even that is constructed by advertising, right?) and include a more diversified cast of women- men who identify as women, lesbian women, and women of all ethnicities, shapes and sizes. If these advertising campaigns cannot come forward, the best thing we can do is to keep exposing the facades created by the status quo of ads, the fakeness of it all and the destruction that advertising leaves in its wake.

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. Print.

Clark, Danae, Henry Abelove, Michele Aina. Barale, and David M. Halperin. Commodity Lesbianism. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.

Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul. "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads: Sexism in Advertising." Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. 45-76. Print.

Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising." Media & Values 1989: 121-25. Web.

Wolf, Naomi. "Culture." The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: W. Morrow, 1991. 58-85. Print.

Advertisement and What it Does to Our Body Image

     How many times have we heard that “sex sells,” that people pay more attention when ads and marketing strategies are based on sexual content? The problem is that when advertisers put partially naked girls on their ads because they think this is what guys really want to see when choosing Burger King over McDonald's, it shapes the way males look at females in general and how females take themselves and their body image in particular. If girls are being taught by the media that hot bodies ‘sell,’ their self worth becomes dependent on that notion of physical appearance which little do they know, isn't even real since all celebrities, magazines, and photographers ultimately use photoshop. And lots of it. 

     Both men and women struggle with body image issues to reflect certain insecurities; according to Jean Kilbourne, “desperate to conform to an ideal and impossible standard” a woman is “conditioned to view her face as a mask and her body as an object”, as the beauty products and cosmetics industry “make her feel dissatisfies with and ashamed of herself, whether she tries to achieve ‘the look’ or not” (p. 122). As for men, Cortese explains how body image in constructed to embody a strong physic to validate their masculine identity and “give the illusion on invincibility in hopes of being less vulnerable to random acts of violence” (p.59). In fact, this body image construct starts at a very young age, especially in our modern media era, where social media and other outlets are so accessible for young children and teenagers. 

     Today, when celebrities of pop culture are so intact with their body image and what they project to their fans, they are more reluctant to be a source of imitation to those young adults. With Instagram, Twitter and Facebook these celebrities are opt to reveal every little piece of their lives, and once fans follow that, they want to feel a part of it, to imitate their looks and actions and almost become them. As advertisers discover this imitation game fans have with their superstars celebrities, they make these celebs their symbol. If Ellen DeGeneres and Pink use Cover Girl makeup, and it seems so ‘natural’ the girls at home all think how easy it will be to become a part of that look on TV if they will only buy that foundation, or this lipstick. Now, as a way to deflect from the viewer’s mind that this is a commercial for makeup, they got these celebs to talk about what empowered women they are. But women are smart. Do you think you can trick us? I don’t think so. 

Lady Gaga - No Makeup, No Wig
(cambio.com)

Ms. Magazine
(Prompo.com)

     Perhaps a reasonable and alternative way of advertisement could be to just tell the truth! Bring a girl who is not a model or a celebrity and have her saying what makeup does for her. Perhaps like me, she only uses mascara, or like my mom, she only uses lipstick because her lips' pigments had turned weak with age so it makes her feel like her body is as youthful as it has been. And this is not a bad thing, because it satisfies a personal preference my mom has, not because she would like to look like someone in a commercial, but because she is getting older and accept her body limitations and would like makeup to make her look as young as she feels. A good advertisement should represent different demographics, at all age groups, race and ethnicity, and not choose celebrities who were initially got to where they are partially because of their looks. If this doesn’t speak to me as a regular girl, who doesn't want to be famous, that is where the media starting to ruin my body image because I want to know what’s wrong with me and why don’t I look like a Victoria Secrets’ angel. It was striking to read the Gloria Steinem's article about "Sex, Lies and Advertising" which lays out the behind the scenes of Ms. magazine advertisement strategies and struggles. How sad it is that big companies are all interested in money and their brand, so when the interview with the girls from the Soviet Union made the front cover, Revlon refused to be associated with the magazine because the Soviet girls didn't wear makeup and pulled out their ads (p. 117). God forbid the readers will be exposed to an intimate view of Soviet women's lives at that time, and at the same time will be exposed to a Revlon ad for their new waterproof mascara while these brave, inspiring girls don't even wear any makeup! I wonder what Revlon would have done if they discovered these girls are wearing Estee Lauder instead.. Speaking of which, another fascinating fact to learn was that a man, the president of one of the largest cosmetics companies, Estee Lauder, was responsible and ultimately determined the fate of Ms. magazine at one point, when he refused to advertise in the magazine because it wasn't featuring articles about beauty products and the like. Because the magazine's readers were a little bit more sophisticated than that. Because "these are not Estee Lauder women" (p. 118). Can we blame him? If advertisement is the only way to keep magazines alive, and the advertisers demand these kind of articles, so women opt to still buy the magazine. Of course men will think this is what we are interested in. It's a vicious circle that results in a sad outcome; beauty articles keep women's magazines from closing. No wonder girls are being affected by them so much. And no wonder that other girls neglect buying them anymore. 

HBO Gloria Steinem documentary "In Her Own Words"

     To understand that this is a problem in our country, that should be recognized and advocated by our government, people should become more aware of the impact it has on our minds and bodies. The Brave Girl Alliance #BraveGirlWant #TruthInAds - "the Truth in Advertising Act of 2014 (HR4341) calls on the Federal Trade Commission to develop a legislative framework for any advertising materially altering the human body (i.e. shape, size, proportion, color, etc.). The bill directs the FTC, as the nation's consumer protection agency, to develop recommendations and remedies for these photoshopped ads that are false and deceptive or that lead to a series of emotional, psychological, and physical health issues, and economic consequences". 

SIGN THE BILL, LOVE YOURSELF, AND KEEP THAT BEAUTIFUL BODY YOU OWN.

Brave Girl Want Campaign

Works Cited:

1. Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul. "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads: Sexism in Advertising." Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. 45-76. Print.

2. Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising." Media & Values 1989: 121-25. Web.

3. Steinem, Gloria. "Sex, Lies and Advertising." Ms. Magazine July-Aug. 1990: 18-28. Ms. Magazine. Web.

Understanding Patriarchy: Group Presentation Summary

by: Debra Bree, Jacob Deely, Nicole Pommerehncke, and Abigail Torres

• Immediate reaction to the breaking of gender norms in children?

• Patriarchy affects women AND men. “Patriarchy is the single most life threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation” - bell hooks
• Internalized patriarchy enforces “gender norms” even amongst non-patriarchal family types (i.e. Brave). However, patriarchal families have the set-up already instilled and wreaking havoc (i.e. Billy Elliot)
• GQ article about male rape in the military “Son, Men Don’t Get Raped.” 1 in 33 men are raped; most rape victims in the military are male.

• Double standard patriarchy denies males to “access to emotional well being...expose the harsh react that patriarchy has damaged men in the past and continues to damage men in the present” - bell hooks (linking to Empire clip because it won't let me add the video)
• Class discussion: When did you first notice patriarchy in your life?

Taking Ownership of Our Advertising

by Jesika, Hayim, Phoebe, Zehui and Shannon

Ad for Budweiser
(a more traditional use of women in advertising-
overt sexualization and objectification)

Our presentation, Taking Ownership of Our Advertising, focuses on the detrimental effects of advertisements on the young girls and women who view them. Because advertisements are an unavoidable aspect of our lives, it is hard not to be influenced by the images that we see, especially if we subliminally absorb them. Beautiful, seemingly flawless models see us not only as their products, but themselves. Most women would admit that these depictions of women bring them down because they seemingly pale in comparison. Beer, cosmetics, shaving products, and basically anything you can think of use the female body to persuade the ideal audience, which is almost always a young heterosexual male.

#LikeAGirl campaign from Always
(a more inspiring message for girls and women)

However, there is now a demand in the shift toward women presented in advertising. The curtain is being pulled back on the tactics of a patriarchal media; we are beginning to see the photoshop process that makes beautiful women distorted into an impossible goal. We are now seeing a rise in campaigns, reminding women that their gender should not be diminished by the lack of self confidence traditional advertisements environments. #LikeAGirl brings up the point that the dip in self confidence begins as girls mature during puberty; the naivety of young girls makes them believe they are capable of being and doing things as well as anyone else. Advertising is absorbed by us, the general public. If we demand more advertisements like this, that encourage women to be their most honest, self-empowered, strong selves than we might see more ads like this. (For example, #BanBossy, #LikeAGirl #GirlsCan, and the Buzzfeed role reversal, which brings attention to the exploitation of women’s bodies).

The few campaigns that do exist to instill confidence in women is a great start, but we still have a long way to go.

Ways of seeing

   The male gaze is how men objectify women in media through their views. They then translate how the see women for the audience. So when we watch a movie we are doing so from the perspective and viewpoint of the male in power. Women in turn start viewing themselves from this male gaze.

   The male gaze is a pervasive from of vision in popular culture through how women are depicted in media. If you reference many Hollywood movies, the heroine is actually only important for what she represents not who she is. Her role can be played and interchanged by other actresses and at the end of the day there is no importance placed on her identity. You don’t really know who she is you only know what her position is in relation to a male. Imagine you are watching a really cool action movie and there’s this beautiful main actress, long flowing blonde hair and a trademark white bathing suit. She’s also the only woman in the movie. Does this allude to the power play in Media and just how much control the male population has, yes I think it does. Anyway, this heroine is dangerous but non threatening, sexy but chaste and the list goes on with many more contradictory portrayed traits. Now let’s say as the story continues between the villain and the hero; the actress in scene 1 has been replaced by another actress in scene 2. This goes on and on in every scene a new woman is playing the role but the blonde wig and white bathing suit stays. Now these are different women, some will have accents, some will hail from distant parts of the world, no one is alike but does that make a difference in the film? No it does not. This movie is no different from any other modern film because this is what the male gaze has done to our culture. The woman is a symbol of an idea but because her identity is not a factor she does not create the idea.

The contradictory ideals put forth by the media are then thrusted on women as of a young age and the male gaze is not just something portrayed in movies, it’s now something you live with. A woman is on display; aware that she is constantly being watched. John Berger explains how the male gaze effects gender roles “A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself… Men survey women before treating them. Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated” (46)

   The oppositional gaze is explained by Bell Hooks as a response to how black women were portrayed in films. It takes the male gaze and points out it’s flaws on a deeper level by stating that the male gaze is only how men view white women “When most black people in the United States first had the opportunity to look at film and television, they did so fully aware that mass media was a system of knowledge and power reproducing and maintaining white supremacy… it was the oppositional black gaze that responded to these looking relations by developing independent black cinema”(117). When black individuals were portrayed if they even were in films it would be in relation to serving or further the agenda of a white woman/man.

I have come to understand these structures as very real problems in our society. Reading these articles I feel that I am a by- product of all the images the media has bombarded me with. Am I now a willing participant in viewing these negative portrayals of women? I look at other women, I look at myself and as much I don’t want to admit it, I am constantly viewing it from the male gaze. There is this crisis of identity that arises from the duality of constantly watching yourself and how you appear in the eyes of others and it’s exhausting. John Berger hit the nail on the head when he spoke about the differences in presence between a man and woman. It is all rather infuriating. 

Male gaze. Subject watching the viewer, knowing she is simultaneously being watched.

Oppositionnal gaze. Black woman and her role in furthering the agenda of a white woman.

Bibliography

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting : Penguin, 1972.
2. Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992.