Advertising, the Self-Sustaining Monster

Advertising has always been known to be a visual aspect of media. The images we see everyday in magazines, posters, and the internet are all influenced by the aesthetics that us as consumers approve of. More specifically, advertisements use images of men and women while claiming that what is seen in the image is ideal. "This is what all women should strive to look like", is what advertising says. Of course, in reality women do not look anything like the women on the cover of Vogue look like. However, these images create insecurities which the media lives and feeds off of. Advertising has turned into an almost self-sustaining monster, by creating their own supply and demand of "ideal images"that attract brain-washed consumers.

The media and advertising are an integral part of society. They influence consumerism greatly with its false representation. For example, a magazine cover of a model looking "flawless" with an article next to her saying, "10 Ways You can look like this!", will tap into the conscious or subconscious minds of women everywhere who see that model as someone she should look like. This is a perfect example of the false representation of beauty and perfection used in media. This "beauty myth" and the view of models as "role models" are discussed by Naomi Wolf. She claims, "Why do women react so strongly, really- images, scraps of paper? Is their identity so weak? Why do they feel they must treat "models"- mannequins- as if they were "models"- paradigms? Why do women react to the "ideal", whatever form she takes at that moment, as if she were a nonnegotiable commandment?"(Wolf, pg. 59) Naomi Wolf explains that women react to the ideal images of supermodels as truth. Models are meant to be mannequins, to show off clothing and other products. However, they are seen as literal "models", in the sense that they are an accurate representation of women everywhere.

What a lot of people do not realize about the women they see on advertisements is that they are heavily Photoshopped and manipulated. A published ad might show a women with smooth, spotless skin and shiny, flowing hair along with a 22 inch waist. The image alteration is outrageously clear, but somehow many women still buy into it.

In addition to creating an unrealistic portrayal of the ideal women, media and advertising also transform living, thinking women into sex objects. Much of the time, advertising companies will place a cheeseburger in a lathered up supermodel's hand and have her go to work on it, not unlike the infamous  Carl Jr.'s commercial which shows the exact image mentioned above. What does the model have to do with the burger? Absolutely nothing. Of course, that doesn't matter though. The commercial was aimed at men with the fact in mind that it would stir up controversy among women. Advertising companies do not care about this. Sex sells and they will sell sex regardless of the uproar. Controversy creates buzz and attention and attention will lead to sales. Using women as sexual objects is a surefire way to gain attention, good or bad.

Sex sells. Our car is as good as sex. 

It is no surprise that expectations for women have been influenced heavily by media and advertising. In this case, rather than media aiming at women, they are aiming at men. Men ultimately are the final judges of the portrayal of women in media. If women are shown in media, they will always be sexualized into an object. They will be put up against a standard that they cannot come up short of. For example, in Kilbourne's "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising," she describes the sex object created by a male culture. "The sex object is a mannequin, a shell. Conventional beauty if her only attribute. She has no lines or wrinkles, no scars or blemishes- indeed, she has no pores. She is thin, generally tall and long-legged and, above all, she is young." (Kilbourne, pg. 122) Kilbourne explains that women are literally turned into objects and only their outer beauty are considered in determining her value. She has no flaws and is considered perfect. This is the ideal woman that men want to see.

The fact that the cover shows that "4 out of 5 GUYS agree"
supports the notion that men are the Judge in this culture.

In addition to Kilbourne's explanation of what a sex object is and how women are turned into them by men is Naomi Wolf's discussion of the dominant male culture. She claims, "Women are mere 'beauties' in men's culture so that culture could be kept male. When women in culture show character, they are not desirable, as opposed to the desirable, artless ingenue." (Wolf, pg. 59) Wolf explains that our culture is a male one and that women are only seen as external beauties in the eyes of men. If they show their personality and character, which are traits that are desirable in men, then they are seen as unwanted. Only the bland but beautiful survive in this culture.

What can we do to change this unfair, sexist, misrepresentation of women in media and advertising? First and foremost, people must be aware and mindful of what they are consuming. While scouring a magazine looking for what makes Angelina Jolie uncensored, one should instead realize that magazines are advertising and advertising does anything to bring you in. Analyzing what you are looking at can help you determine if you should buy it, rather than it buying you. The portrayal of women as sexual beings as well as ideal forms of beauty and perfection serve as a mass brainwash of the public. However, with education and mindfulness about how media and advertising manipulate, the trend can be broken and women may once again want to be themselves rather than a mannequin.

What makes Angelina Jolie "uncensored"? Buy me and find out!

Bibliography

1. Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. Print.

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