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.
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| Lady Gaga - No Makeup, No Wig (cambio.com) |
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| 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.
SIGN THE BILL, LOVE YOURSELF, AND KEEP THAT BEAUTIFUL BODY YOU OWN.
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| Brave Girl Want Campaign |
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.
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