Advertising: Selling More than What is Shown.

Advertising serves many more purposes than to promote a product or a service. It sells sex, impossible realities, pressure (to be more like what they are telling and showing you) and promotes a standard that can sometimes be physically impossible to achieve. This realm of advertising and how it portrays sexuality and gender has been around for a long time now and not much has changed. Though today you can find advertisements that debunk the usual context of over sexualizing women to sell products or promoting unhealthy ways of living. Those ads that debunk the myths usually promote awareness to a cause or to combat the effects of everyday advertising.

Beverage ad that depicts women sexually

Advertising, when it comes to gender, tends to place favor on the man in every sense of the word. They appeal to the male’s gaze. "Women are mere 'beauties' in men's culture so that culture can be kept male" (Wolf, 52). Every ad that has a women placed within it is used in a very sexual manner. No matter what is being sold, you will find a woman posed sexually. It seems that the more sexual the ad is, the more likely it is that a women is at the forefront. Advertisers have a true talent in making anything sexual. The product or service could be completely unrelated to the subject matter and yet it will still be used in sexual context. In fact, the notion of the ads are so ridiculous that when you were to change the subject matter from female to male, the true absurdity of what they are promoting is shown, proving the fact that they use sex to appeal to the masses. Even though both men and women can be used in ads for persuading and selling, both genders are used in very different manners, but both appeal to the male ego. Ads use imagery to display what they want society to believe that men and women are about. They use this in a way to make us feel that without what they are selling we will never achieve what they are displaying.  

Vintage ad on body images of women

Advertising can be very damaging to all those who don’t take the time to deconstruct them or to those who do not have the knowledge to do so. This can be especially damaging to young children, especially girls. As a child growing up, especially in this day and age where the media is crucial part of their lives, they are bombarded with thousands of ads a day, even if they are not aware of it. These ads present an unrealistic "ideal" person that they should become one day.  They show children that they must look a certain way, act a certain way and of course have certain things to be accepted and wanted in this world.  If you are thin, blonde and own tons of makeup, then you're perfectly perfect, even though not everyone is made in this image. Representation is very important and having  a lack thereof will lead young children and even some adults to feel unimportant or not good enough for not being what is displayed. Since media is so prominent within our culture children have no choice but to look towards it for inspiration or to get a better understanding of who they are and who they should be. They want to look like the guys and girls of the magazines, even if they don't understand that not even the men and women of the magazines don't look like the men in women in the magazines. They shape themselves to want to be like these people and have what they have, because only then could they be accepted. Ads give a sense of completion, of want, they persuade people into think that buying into those products or services can make you better, and that connection with the consumer and advertising starts from young. There is a high percentage of eating disorders among young girls. The desire to stay skinny and beautiful is very important and they get these messages from ads. "There is evidence that this preoccupation with weight begins at even earlier ages for women. According to a recent article in New Age Journal, "even grade school girls are succumbing to stick like standards of beauty enforced by relentless parade of wasp waisted fashion models movie stars and pop idols." (Kilbourne, 124)

Women Equality ads for UN Women

"If they find it, they'll play with it" ad
that promotes Gun Violence
"Lock up your Guns"

We are used to the usual. The sexy woman promoting shaving cream for men, or an apple being photoshopped to look sexy and represent the female figure, but not all ads are used to promote beauty, sell a product, or to give unrealistic standards to people. Some ads can be used to raise awareness or reshape culture's views on the "norm". As of late these type of ads like the one on the right can be seen. Though there aren't many of these types of ads or campaigns like the dove beauty campaigns, this is still a step in the right direction, even if they are baby steps. Ads that raise awareness tend to be found more online than in person. These types of ads can be very useful to try and change the way advertisers advertise. Representation is important and if you attack every area (race, gender, sexuality) then people wont feel the need to have to go an extra mile to change themselves. They will be seen for who they truly are rather than who they want us to be. “They are really projecting gender display - the ways in which we think men and women behave - not 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)

As much as we, those who can point out the crap that these companies are selling us, would like for things in the advertising world to change, the truth is it will be a long time before it does so. Sex sells, it appeals to the masses and thats the sick and simple truth. So as long as a women is beautiful and her body image is 'perfect' she will be the center of it all...and her image will be thrown in everyone's faces. 

Words Cited:

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

2. 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.

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

Advertising= Real Life?

According to the group presentation and the readings, I now have deeper thoughts and understanding about the relationship between advertising and gender. Seeing the advertisement through the media nowadays is absurd, because the audiences are used to whatever given to us. Advertising is a powerful tool to shape the society and culture since the information is handing out to people, sometimes people forced to see it and accept it somehow. In order to create a better and more awareness image for sexism, racism, and power hierarchies is to use the same tool--- media advertising.

Picture from LoyolaDigitalAdvertising

Interesting article "Reversed Gender Stereotypes in Advertisement"

Advertisement is an influential tool that can secretly construct the culture in different ways. Imagine how many people spending how many amounts of time on getting information from advertising, that’s how affected it can be. Jean Kilbourne mentioned in her essay “Advertising is an over $130 billion a year industry and affects all of us throughout our lives. We are each exposed to over 1500 ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society…They tell us who we are and who we should be. Sometimes they sell addictions” clearly shows that advertising shapes our culture and show how society look like currently (Jean Kilbourne 121). For example, during the WWI women filled up the job positions for men in order to keep the economy to work. All the advertising and campaign were directing women to be strong and praising them to come help out the country. But after the soldiers had come home from war, all the advertising suddenly changed their objective. In Wolf's essay, she mentioned,“ In the United States, the government needed ‘to counter fears that American soldiers would return to an employment market saturated by women’... In fact, 61 to 85 percent of women, a 1944 survey found, ‘certainly did not want to go back to housework after the war…The year after the war ended, the magazines swung again… and three million American and one million British women were fired or quit their jobs” (Wolf 63-64). These facts have proven that Wolf's theory of advertising through magazines advertising. “Women’s magazines for over a century have been one of the most potent agents for changing women’s roles, and throughout the time--- today more than ever--- they have consistently glamorized whatever the economy, their advertisers, and, during wartime, the government, needed at that moment from women” (Wolf 64).


Just like every other, I don’t really pay much attention to what I see every day on TV or on Internet. I usually just take in whatever it’s given without questioning or wondering, but sometimes I do criticize myself while seeing the images that shows on TV, magazines, or any other social media platform through advertisement. First, when I see a female model with perfect body shape, I tended to feel bad about myself and wanted to look like her. When guys see the same image, they tend to praise the model and to think that’s what women should look like. The advertising strategy is smart enough to makes consumers feel certain ways while watching the same image, it creates the picture of the culture and society. However, not everyone can relate themselves or have proper reactions to what they see on media. Bell hooks claim the oppositional gaze base on her own experiences in her book. Black women have a hard time to relate themselves because they don’t often see themselves through the media. In the end, people feel left out or thinking if they don’t look like what society is presenting now, they are wrong in many ways. In order to get them purchase the products, companies of the products tries to make people feel bad about themselves or create a non-realistic model to set the high level for people to pursue. People need to realize that advertising on TV, magazines, or movies are not realistic, and stop judging each other so harshly.

Kate Moss Picture by Calvin Klein
Obsession for Men Perfume Ad

Picture from Rimidesigns' Blog

A lot of people are still struggling with the gender role that advertisement has create. As Judith Butler discussed in her essay “ If gender is the cultural meaning that the sexed body assumes, then a gender cannot be said to follow from sex in any one way…Assuming for the moment the stability of binary sex, it does not follow that the construction of ‘men’ will accrue exclusively to the bodies of male or that ‘women’ will interpret only female bodies” When people see the advertising on TV or movies about how girls always play with Barbie and boys play with cars, parents and kids automatically accept the fact without thinking if this is what their hearts really wants (Butler 9). So, when we see a boy playing with dolls, we tend to question his sexuality. However, it’s not all about the sexuality because interests have no gender. Female can play basketball, just like male can be a cloth designer, without being categorizing to lesbian or gay. Also, being in LGBT community is difficult because the advertisement seldom present content for them, but again there is nothing wrong about having an interest or being yourself.

When we realized how advertisement could change the society and culture, we wanted to create a better environment for everyone. A world without judging or criticizing people based on whatever images that the media have given, and develop more contents for different gender, races, and classes to relate to. Therefore, people become more aware and relevant to the society we are in and have an open-minded brain to consider the issues we have nowadays. We can change the world by sending out more information through advertising, create a more equal place. It’s possible because we have proven that throughout the history.  

Women's Ideal Body Types Throughout History

WorkCited:

Butler, Judith. "1." Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990. 1-46. Print.

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

Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Gender objectification and power in advertising

  Your gender is part of your identity to the opposite sex, in order to be distinguished one gender from the other. Gender and sexuality are part of advertising images. In the advertising images we have idealization of sex, women have to look more feminist and men have to be bigger and stronger.  Female body is use as a sexual object in most of the cases and in men cases it happen the same.  The advertisers use the gender binary which shows the difference between the two sexes to sell their products. “Woman and man are similarly produced within the binary frame (Butler, 31).” In the sense that each gender has to have its own stereotype to be differentiated one to the other.

women seen as a sex symbol, men showing his masculinity.

We can say that the “ideal female aspect” for advertising is always skinny, tall, long hair, usually blonde and light tone skin. If the women have all these features, then she is qualify to advertise any product, with the expectation that the product will be sold. Most of the perfume advertising lately has a nude woman with it, in which we can notice the whole seductive naked body more than the little perfume bottle. The perfume is in a little corner in a tiny size. On the other hand, we have the objectification of male figure which is presented similarly as women, with the difference that men, do not get perceive as if they were selling sex like is the women cases. Therefore, men are presented on advertising half naked but the message is different, he is just showing his masculinity.

Objectification of women in advertising.

Objectification of men in advertising.

“Beauvoir proposes that the female body ought to be the situation and instrumentality of women’s freedom, not a defining and limiting essence (Butler, 16).” A good example for this quotation is Hooters in which we see women presented as a sex symbol in order to attract customers (male customers preference), just to sell their products. Women have to be thin, big breast and use tight clothes in order to be able to work there.

Female body ought to be the situation.

Advertising are the open flag for young people and they are aware of it, so they take advantages of it, just to sell their product. “Adolescent are new and inexperienced consumers and such prime targets (Kilbourne, 129).”  Young people are basically the objective of advertising because “they are in the process of learning their values and roles and developing their self concepts (Kilbourne, 129).” So usually adolescent wants to be cool trying to copy everything that they see, especially things that are giving on the media. Girls get the wrong idea thought the media in which they fight to be perfect. “Girls of all ages get the message that they must be flawlessly and above all these days, they must be thin (Kilbourne, 132).” They think that they are expected to be and to look as the images they see and read on magazines and advertising.  The whole society is part of these too, since everybody sees these images and, “they influence their sense of how girls should be (Kilbourne, 139).” Therefore, girls are told how they should behave and they never get to develop their own personality. “Girls grow into women afraid to speak up for themselves or to use their voices to protect themselves from a variety of dangers (139).” Women learn to be an object for men since their young age. “Mass media have been obsessed with defining and exaggerating codes of masculinity and femininity, they have ensnared us in an endless struggle for gender self definition (Douglas, 17).”

Popular culture is found in all these images shown in the media. We all learn the message that is transmitted to us and we follow them as a rule in our culture. We all learned all these messages that are giving to us and we accepted them without questioning. We all critique our appearance at some point, thanks to the influence that surround us, instead of critique and question the message we received from the media.  

An alternative path for the industry will be to try to have diversity in their images. In other words try to use a mixture of people to advertising their product (all kinds of women) and try to show them in a more natural way. This way the society will not get the wrong idea trying to get the perfect image, it will be no a stereotype to follow but a mixture, just the way is our world. Presenting all types of figures, people will be less influence in follow an erroneous image. Another thing that advertiser should consider on changing, is not to use women as a sex symbol, instead they can use women in their advertising by trying to focus more on the message of their product. For example if there is a perfume advertising instead of putting a nude women, they should try to built an image of a women (dressing regular clothing) that is buying the perfume, and try to show more the product that they are advertising. I think they should be more creative and try different options and not keep the same image because there is not only one specific consumer.

gender role stereotypes,sexual objectification, and power in advertising.

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.

  

Advertising, you've come a long way baby, really?

Advertising is a method to get people to believe that something whether it is a specific product or an idea that once they have it and use it will be beneficial to those particular groups of people.  There are many forms of advertising but the objective or the bottom line is the same is that it is an attempt to get people to buy into your thing or your ideas whether they need it or not.  It is simply a way for business and politicians to make the masses to spend their money and get the masses to vote for them, by any means necessary. 

Kenwood magazine ad

            

In traditional advertising “corporations, industries, and government agencies sometimes use advertising as bureaucratic propaganda, just as national governments use psychological warfare or religious cults use proselytization.” (Cortese 51) That is pretty scary considered what governments are capable of doing and how much control they have over mass media even though America claims to have a democratic government and its people lives in a free democratic society, but do we really or are the American people under some sort of control and censorship from corporations and from the US government?  

            According to Jean Kilborne, author, film maker and renown for work in image of woman in advertising said that “advertising is an over $130 billion a year industry and affects all of us throughout our lives.  We are each exposed to over 1500 ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society. The average adult will spend one and one-half years of his/her life watching television commercials.”  (Kilborne 121) Our lives are constantly being bombarded with advertisements and advertising anywhere and wherever we go. Whatever the medium may be, advertisers will find new ways to place ads in anywhere and everywhere they can find space.  And most if not all of these advertisements and the contents in the advertisements itself are controlled by a male dominant industry, even though the products are produced for female, there still are not enough women voices in those boardroom meetings to have any bearing on how those ads are to be produced and or distributed. 

Calvin Klein perfume ad

            It is widely known that in the world of advertising that sex sells, and sexism is rampant in the industry even when since the beginning of advertising.  The advertisers have a great deal of say about images to control and identify gender identity to ensure the right gender get their attention and properly persuaded.  These images play a great role in ads especially with female and how they perceived themselves and are portrayed to persuade the women to buy into the goods and services.  Kilborne said “advertising creates a mythical, WASP-oriented world in which on one is ever ugly, overweight, poor, struggling or disabled either physically or mentally (unless you count housewives who talk to little men in toilet bowls)… [And] women are shown almost exclusively as housewives or sex objects.”  (Kilborne 122)  When the ad industry said sex sells, as it was mentioned in Gloria Steinem’s article, Sex, Lies and Advertising that “in Chicago, the big attraction is Marilyn Chambers, who followed Linda Lovelace of Deep Throat fame as Chuck Traynor’s captive and/or employee. VCRs are being demonstrated with her porn videos.” (Steinem 115) 

Calvin Klein clothing ad

            As for other sexism in the ad industry, images of women in ads today “is not human; rather, she is a form or hollow shell representing a female figure.  Accepted attractiveness is her only attribute.  She is slender, typically tall and long legged. Women are constantly held to this unrealistic standard of beauty.”  (Cortese 54) This dilemma makes it extremely difficult if not impossible for today’s average women to achieve or obtain causing many young girls to do horrible things to their body like purging, eating disorders caused by extreme dieting which leads to anorexia and possible substance abuse.  Kilborne said “adolescents are particularly vulnerable, however, because they are new and inexperienced consumers and are the prime targets of many advertisements.  They are in the process of learning their values and roles and developing their self-concepts.”  (Kilborne 121-122)   

           

Broomsticks trousers ad

Beyman Blender designer store ad

Women 2.0 web image women leadership

 I believe that more women need to break into the advertising industry, especially at the executive level where she has a voice in the boardrooms to change the advertising industry’s culture to curb sexism, objectification, images that invokes violence, racial and gender discrimination.  Otherwise, business is as usual and good old boys will be just boys with their toys. 

Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul.  Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising.  Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.  45-76. 

Kilbourne, Jean.  Media&Values:  Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.  Los Angeles:  Center for Media and Values, 1989.  121-126. 

Steinem, Gloria.  Ms. Magazine: Sex, Lies and Advertising.  Arlington: Ms. Magazine, 1990. 112-120.

Advertising. It sucks. Oh wait... Maybe it's just telling you to.

An ad that just screams "EAT ME AND YOU WILL LOOK
LIKE THIS FAKE MANNEQUIN OF A MODEL!" or something
to that effect.
Credit: Digital America blog

Advertising. Wow. What a subject! So prevalent, and yet so undeniably sinister. They are everywhere. Not just physically, but mentally as well. Jean Kilbourne writes “…ads sell a great deal more than just products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be.” (Kilbourne, p.121) Because of this people should be more aware of the effects of advertisements. Advertising is the single largest educating force to anyone consuming mainstream media. Starting from being a way for the mass media and the content creators to support themselves and what they create, to being the reason mass media is around at all. This evolution sees advertisements, conventionally a way to market products to consumers, combining with the universal access that mass media provides to take on a life of their own, taking advantage of unassuming and impressionable human targets.

Speaking of impressionable targets… Teenagers. Ugh. I’ll get to my personal experiences later, but teenagers are a very insecure group who are just starting to gain disposable incomes (on a personal note, I despise the term “disposable income”) making them a prime target for advertisers. Not only are they easily influenced (read “peer pressure”) but they also are at a time in their lives where the choices they make now will define their lives for years to come. This is a prospect that advertisers just drool over (it’s kind of funny/sad bringing the image of ad execs actually drooling over this concept). Not only can they easily win over people who will buy their products with any spare cash they have, they might have someone who will become loyal to their brand and continue to purchase their products for years. Because of this irresistible prospect, corporations spare little expense to create advertising to target impressionable teenagers. Unfortunately, teenagers are not just impressionable as far as what cosmetic products or technology they have to own, they are trying to form an identity for themselves, and that is precisely why the advertising methods discussed below are so damaging.

Parody of a Women's magazine front cover which
lampoons the messages presented.
Credit: Huffington Post

Kilbourne continues on how advertisements adversely affect teenagers. “On the most obvious level, they learn the stereotypes. Advertising creates a mythical, WASP-oriented world in which no one is ever ugly, overweight, poor, struggling, or disabled either physically or mentally.” (Kilbourne, p.122) Reading those descriptions of the world portrayed in advertisements, it’s easy to see how they create an unrealistic self and world-view within teenagers. But let’s focus on one particular part of the demographic here, teenage girls and subsequently women. Advertising especially preys on the insecurities of women and girls who, from a very young age, have been instilled with the expectations of the male gaze. John Birger explains that even when the girls or women themselves are not being looked at and judged by others at a given point in time (when they are "alone"), they are reflexing the male gaze upon themselves by imagining how they will be seen and judged by their peers and strangers alike. (Birger, p.46) Using the effective industry standard tool of the trade, Photoshop, ad agencies create an idealized image of a woman that, if effective, will instill an impossible ideal that women will force themselves to achieve. The message they transmit is one of hopefulness that through the product they are selling, that ideal image will be achieved and the customer will be recognized as the ideal when she is next judged. That message (read "myth") of an ideal becomes even stronger when advertising and media aimed towards men displays this ideal image to influence his expectations, making his gaze even stronger and more impossible to appease. This vicious cycle also extends to the media that is supported by this advertising. Magazines and health/beauty oriented media give "advice" to consumers because their advertisers pay them ad revenue to do so, furthering the agenda of the male gaze.

Now, what to do about it... That question might be easy to answer, but the implementation of a solution is nearly impossible because of the constant reinforcement of the beauty myth being forced into our psyche every waking moment through society and media as a whole. It all starts with the oppositional gaze. Girls and women should understand that the beauty myth is exactly that. A myth (Wolf, "Culture"). Look at the advertisements through a critical lens. What response is the ad eliciting? Yes, it is just trying to sell a product, but it comes down to the choices of the individual. This is a very basic and obviously flawed solution, it does little to tackle the efforts of the advertising engine, but little by little, even that will have to bend if people stop responding to it. A bigger victory happens when advertisers themselves start tackling the tropes of advertisements within their own material. Not only will that broadcast a more positive message to the public, it will force other companies to capitulate if the campaign is a success. This is already just starting to happen with companies running "Like a Girl" ads that empower instead of enforcing a myth (and during the Super Bowl no less!). Some detractors will argue that "biological engineering" will get in the way (read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"), but when the will to change is strong enough, I'm sure stranger things have happened!

I'll leave this off with that positive message that encourages strength and success during the formative developing years.

Sources:

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

Kilbourne, Jean. "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising". Media & Values 1989. Print.

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

Sure, Sex Sells: But Exactly What Does It Sell?

(Figure 1.1) Walking All Over Women 

It is impossible to avoid advertising in this world. They are aligned with  the articles you read online or in print, the public transportation you take, with the television shows you watch, the radio shows you listen to; advertising is everywhere. And with this omnipresence of advertising comes responsibility with the public, which is where it begins to fail the women in this country of all ages, especially young girls. There are two types of advertising with women involved, the housewife who is "pathologically obsessed by cleanliness and lemon-fresh scents" and the sex object who "is a mannequin, a shell. Conventional beauty is her only attribute", according to author Jean Kilbourne. (122) Advertising is inundated with that mannequin, that shell, much more than the housewife. So is it really any surprise that 80% of fourth grade girls are watching their weight in the Bay Area in a poll conducted by a University of California professor? (Kilbourne 124) Damaging images of an unattainable beauty is failing women and their self esteem.

(Figure 1.2) Perfect Body Campaign by Victoria's Secret

The overarching theme of advertising is that women are disposable; women are there for to make the world look more beautiful or to make their man look better, more attractive, more competent. Or as Naomi Wolf puts it, "Women are mere "beauties" in men's culture so that culture can be kept male." (59) The reason why the relationship between women and advertising is so crucial is because advertising campaigns change the way we create societal norms. In 1929, Lucky Strike cigarettes had a thoroughly plotted campaign to generate more revenue by including women, which of course, was having beautiful women march in the Easter parade on Fifth Avenue telling women, "It's okay to smoke, especially outside." And women listened. So if the idea morphs itself into advertisements that now literally sell "the perfect body" (Figure 1.2) that will naturally have a negative effect on the mental health. A major cause of body dysmorphic disorder is the environment that a person is surrounded by. If that is environment is toxic, what is to follow suit?

A major part of how an environment, in this case advertising, can be toxic is the way that is treats gender identity. Similar to how bell hooks speaks about her own oppositional gaze to the lack of women of color on movie screens, similarly the average woman are surrounded by women they can't possibly identify with. How could it be possible to identify with women who aren't even themselves in the photos due to photoshop giving them an unattainable level of societal perfection? Part of the issue lies with gender identity. "[Ads] are really projecting gender display -- the ways in which we think men and women heave -- not the ways that actually do behave...women are primarily depicted as sexual objects" (Cortese 52) In both figures 1.1 and 1.3, women are being depicted as objects -- a rug for people to step on and a closet of sorts for those to take what they want out of her. These depictions of women are intolerable at best. If there is already a binary world with two genders, to humiliate one is of them is unfair at best.

(Figure 1.3) Female Objectification

Whether it's selling a rug or shoes or a car (Figure 1.4) the idea of women having a brain, or even free will, does not often appear in most advertising. As Jean Kilbourne said earlier, there are two types of women in advertising: sex objects or perfect housewives. In Figure 1.4, Ford's ad campaign is suggesting that the car is so easy to drive that even a woman could do it, even if she doesn't like to drive. Cortese's idea of gender being performed through advertising is shown here with the hyper-feminine idea of a woman and a wife. "Advertisers targeting women consumers subrscribe to very limited notions of what constitutes femininity (e.g., dependency, concern with superficial beauty...)" (Cortese 52) There is no more room in society to grow. You are either a man or a woman, and according to advertising, a simple housewife or a sexy object.

(Figure 1.4) 1950's Ford Commercial

Popular culture is founded on the ideals found in these advertisements and campaigns. It shapes the way that we view gender and we view identity. I have grown so reluctant to identifying with any advertising campaign because I know that behind it, the only motivation is how to generate revenue. However, in a capitalist society, that will simply continue to be. However, the future does not have to be so grim. One fool proof way to change advertising, and society for that matter, is for it to bend gender roles. Easy enough, show more women doing "masculine" tasks, like engineering, and more men doing "feminine" tasks, like caring for a child. There is no reason to box any person's interests or desires into distinct categories. The purpose of advertising does not have to be maintaining a male kept world, as Wolf says. The purpose of advertising could potentially be making the satisfying things that make up real life become appealing and desirable: acing an exam, getting a promotion, or feeling glad that you benefited someone or something that day. I'm just going to go ahead and say that as a society, we need to understand that "slapping into a tummy party, snapping into a Slim Jim" (Figure 1.5) benefits no one. 

(Figure 1.5) Slim women playing with beef jerky,

overweight, shirtless men playing with beef jerky

Works Cited:

Cortese, Anthony J. "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads." The Pop Culture Zone. N.p.: Wadsworth, 2009. 52. Print.

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

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: W. Morrow, 1991. 59. Web.

Messages in Advertising

Gender and sexuality are used to drive advertising revenue around the globe, and advertisers often exploit the general public and reinforce ideas of male superiority while simultaneously setting unattainable goals for women. The continued use of these advertising strategies effectively stop our society from moving forward and pigeonhole women into feeling what they should be, not what they want to be.

Photoshop can fix any imperfection

If you have ever seen a commercial or watched a television show, you know that a woman cannot be the complete package and will almost always be inferior to their male counterparts. "Culture stereotypes women to fit the myth by flattening the feminine into beauty-without-intelligence or intelligence-without-beauty; women are allowed a mind or a body but not both." (Wolf, 59) This is true in some of the most popular shows on television, such as "The Big Bang Theory." In this show, there are a few women, some smart, some beautiful, but none portrayed as both. This effectively carries out commercial advertising's society roles and shows young girls  that you can choose to be one or the other, but not both. Many of these shows take their cues from advertising, which has been limiting and classifying women since its inception. A great example of advertising's negative effect on women can be seen in advertisements for beauty products. These ads set unattainable ideals for young girls and tells them they are not good enough if they do not look a certain way. This is a great way for these companies to generate revenue. "Advertisers have an enormous financial stake in a narrow ideal of femininity that they promote, especially in beauty product ads." (Cortese, 54) By telling women that they cannot achieve this level of beauty without their products, the makeup companies are driving business their way, even at the expense of women around the world. Over time, this ingrains in women the thought that they are not beautiful without these products. The fact that many celebrities endorse these products does not help either. Many young girls look up to these women and will listen to almost anything they say. Being told these things from a young age is a reason why the advertising is so effective. Self image not only relates to the way women feel about their face, but their bodies as well. "The argument that the media causes eating disorders assumes not merely that media representations misrepresent but that they also inscribe, directing women to train, shape and modify their bodies to conform to what, very clearly, are impossible ideals." (Wykes, Gunther, 206) Most commercials feature young, beautiful girls with bodies that are impossible to attain. These commercials do not mention that photo shop was used or enhancements were made. No, they are broadcasting the notion that it's normal to look that way, that you can only be happy and successful if you look that way. This is what leads to low self esteem in women. They cannot possibly live up to the ideals set by these advertisements, but most of them try to and beat themselves up for not reaching that unattainable goal. As I said before, these images are intertwined with popular culture and are continuously reinforced through repetition. Women cannot escape these messages and are almost brainwashed to think like advertisers.

Beyonce, pictured above, is never shown without makeup in advertisements

If is extremely difficult to find or think of alternatives to mainstream advertising strategies as it is almost all we see. In class, one of the groups presented and showed us a campaign ran by a beauty products manufacturer encouraging women to be themselves, be natural. This ad featured prominent female celebrities such as Ellen Degeneres and Beyonce. What I found interesting was how much makeup these celebrities were wearing while filming the ad. It was ironic to me, and I couldn't help but think how much that went against the message they were trying to send. I think a great way to start to send out new messages is to feature women in their natural state, without makeup or airbrushing. I have seen this a few times but not nearly enough. I think that campaign would have been more effective if they had shown the celebrities without makeup. That would have shown women that they are not perfect either, and that is OK. Having more advertisers embrace women in their natural state would send the message that not everyone is perfect, and it is normal to be comfortable in your own skin. I think this would start to change the thinking of the general public and restore confidence in women around the world, especially young girls.


Overall, I feel that advertisers will continue to exploit women and prey on their insecurities. Why would they change a formula that has always worked? If women in positions of power continue to go along with this then it will never change. There needs to be a shift in the collective thinking of the general public, and the only way to start that is from women with high visibility. The Beyonce's of the world need to be the people to take a stand. There will be no change until this happens, and unfortunately, it seems that they are content with being used and misrepresented for the all mighty dollar.




Works Cited

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: W. Morrow, 1991. 59. Print.Cortese, Anthony J. "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads." The Pop Culture Zone. N.p.: Wadsworth, 2009. 54. Print.

Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. London: SAGE, 2005. 206. Print.