Sex Sells?

Our society is undeniably shifting towards being heavily dependent on the media for almost everything; hobbies, news, and entertainment. And one of the most controversial and debated issue in media is advertising. It is hard to ignore the direct and indirect messages that are presented to us everywhere we turn. We are constantly told what to look like, what products to purchase, and other persuasions. These messages not only determine our next step in what we purchase, but in lifestyle, whether we realize the influence the media has over our lives or not.

Advertising was initially created for political and ideological purposes, to deliver a message to the public through imagery. It was simple and mostly positive messages, that had a clear purpose. However advertising went through an extremely fast shift in the way it was presented, and the message that it delivered. Specifically, women in advertising has been one of the biggest downfall in the messages it delivered to society.

The famous Rosie the Riveter campaign, promoting
women to join the work force in place of the men
who went off to war.  

Ads itself have turned from purposeful messages, to simply selling a product that one may or may not need. But the ad will make sure to make you feel like you need this in your life in order to feel good about yourself.
In the same way, women have been turned into objects, ideas, and concepts as they sell products, and display an aesthetic far from reality. This has corrupted not only the "expectations" of what a woman should look or act like for both women and men, but the way women feel about themselves as they compare themselves to the women they see in these ads.
Although the women seen on billboards and magazine covers themselves do not look like what they "seem to" look like on these media platforms, (due to excessive Photoshopping and other altercations) we are set to believe that that is in fact the way they look even in real life, and all women should look just like those women. “Through advertising, the face becomes a mask (something you put on) and the body becomes an object.” (Cortese, 55) Women are featured in ads to be looked at and admired, with the sole purpose of making something look desirable, whether it is a true representation or not.

Faith Hill shown in magazine platform Redbook, with photoshopped
arms to look thinner and "beautified" facial structure/makeup.

“Advertising..contribute to them by creating a climate in which the marketing of women’s bodies--the sexual sell and dismemberment, distorted body image ideal and children as sex objects--is seen acceptable.”(Kilbourne 125)

Apart from the aesthetic aspect of the curated "perfect woman", is that she must be a sexual being. She is expected to act a certain way. Whether displayed serving beer in a tight and revealing shirt, or cleaning the house, she is always servicing and seducing. “Ads portray woman as sex objects, or mindless domestics pathologically obsessed with cleanliness.”(Cortese, 54)

A Burger King ad sexualizing a woman when
promoting a new type of burger.

As we know, the youth in the modern day gets an extremely early start on having access to social media. They are exposed to the "standards" at a very young age.
Ads definitely do not discriminate on age, resulting in exposure of repetitive types of women on magazines, TV shows, and movies. This repetition can only fixate a certain standard of beauty in the eyes of the female youth. Due to this "standard", a large population of young females suffer from not being happy with the way they look. These ads force young women to be merely something to look at and admired, affirming the concept of the male gaze; "men watch women while women watch themselves being looked at" (Berger, 47)


Young women are not influenced to want to be like someone because of their admirable ways of thinking or helping others, but more focused on a visual trait. Whether it's big hips or long straight hair, if you do not have that "visual", you are not desirable.

Kim Kardashian promoting weight
loss supplement pills with the quote,
"I love my new body!"

This type of categorizing women into only being concerned about the way they look physically, condones sexualization and stereotyping of women and if this continues, this will only slaughter the confidence and pride of female generations to come, concentrating only on her looks, and not on her abilities. These stereotypes stunts our society from growing, for both men and women on the way they see and think about women.

Recently however, there have been a series of movements that look like it can be a silver lining such as, Like a Girl , Aerie Is Real, and Girls Can. Companies such as Always, Aerie, and Cover Girl and more have joined in on spreading the message about women empowerment, using strong and admirable female figures in doing so. Although there have been certain comments on how these movements were presented and when, the fact that we are taking steps towards the right path is a step that shouldn't be taken for granted. The path towards a world where we don't condone selling sex, selling whatever will sell without any standards or morals, should be the path we work towards.
The first step is realization and with realization, we need to use the media platforms that hold an immense amount of power towards a positive outcome, that is not damaging to the women all over the world, young and old.







Works cited:

• Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. Print.
• Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul. "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads: Sexism in Advertising." Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Print.
• Berger, John. "Ways of Seeing". London: British Broadcasting, 1973. Print.