The BIC for Her Women's Day ad is from BIC, a family owned, global company. BIC was created in 1944 by Marcel Bich and Edouard Buffard in Clinchy, France to make writing instruments (BIC, 2017). This company's first product was a ballpoint pen in 1950 and their focus was on making simple, reliable products that are easy to use for everyday needs (BIC, 2017). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the company greatly expanded all around the world (BIC, 2017). Since then, the company has continued to expand the types of products they offer, growing from just pens to stationary, lighters, and razors (BIC, 2017). Surprisingly, BIC has a history of sexist ads and campaigns as shown in the attached images below. These ads from the past and present use the …show more content…
This company banks on the fact that eventually one's pens will run out of ink, lighters will run out of lighter fluid, and that razors will eventually become dull so as a consumer one will be forced to go and buy more of the product. The ad chosen for this project is supposed to be convincing consumers and viewers that BIC is a company that is supportive of women. Additionally, this add subtly calls attention to the female BIC products that are specifically designed for women. BIC's female products include "Miss BIC" lighters, the "BIC Soleil" razors, "BIC for Her" pens (BIC, 2017). All of these products come in the stereotypically "female" colors such as pink, purple, and other bright colors as shown in the picture of BIC for her products below. This demonstrates social learning theory because young children who see these products and ads like the Women's Day ad learn how they are supposed to behave based off of the attitudes that the media portrays (DeFrancisco & Palczewski, 38). Thus, through social learning in regards to the BIC Women's Day ad and BIC womens products in general, young girls learn that they need products that are specially designed for them so that they may express the correct
In a consumer-driven society, advertisements invade the minds of every person who owns any piece of technology that can connect to the internet. Killbourne observes that “sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women,” (271). Advertising takes the societal ideology of women and stereotypes most kids grow up learning and play on the nerves of everyone trying to evoke a reaction out of potential customers, one that results in them buying products. Another point made
This is another commercial where we can directly see how the advertisers are overlooking gender stereotypes, by it being ranked number one it proves that when gender stereotypes and gender bias are not incorporated the advertisement becomes effective and
Friday night, as I watched television I evaluated commercial content in relation to the target of women and what message advertisements send to women of all ages. In one hour I saw twenty-four commercials, eleven were targeted at women and every single one had something to do with either the appearance or beauty of women or a domestic focus. These commercials touted products to enhance beauty or lose weight with the underlying message of "improved self-esteem". I have always blamed the media, or more broadly, cultural attitudes for the problems young girls and women face with low self-image and often find myself citing Barbie dolls and the overwhelmingly pink aisles at the toys-r-us as a root cause of the marginalization of women's roles. Peggy Orenstein refers to this as the "politics of the external", a term which, at first, I had a difficult time accepting. Is this not a major implication when discussing a society that promotes female self-censorship and devalued intellectual potential? After reading "Schoolgirls" I came to understand exactly what Orenstein meant and she convinced me that "the internal need not, and indeed should not, be ignored". Although it may not be well documented it is indeed established that although "women's lib" has come a very long way since we received the right to vote there are still social implications that can only confuse women's' identity and self-image. Peggy Orenstein's book has indeed caused me to look deeper into the internal issues affecting self-esteem that women face beginning with adolescence.
A vast majority of this ad is in black and white. The Psychology of Color says that black is a powerful color and with the black and white the producers are giving an authoritative tone to the woman. With no colors, the image is simplified, giving a wide range of ways it could be taken. There is only one hint of color in the ad, which can sometimes be indicated as the most important piece; the pink, the tribute to our femininity. Just like in Haley’s chosen ad in the [Re]Writing, this image is in black and white with pink writing. “By using the ‘girly’ colors that symbolize love and passion with the negativity associated statement, [the thunder thighs] it suggest that women should love their bodies,” Sarah Haley, page 108. Pink is a prime component of all Playtex ads, it is meant to salute our feminine side. With the new liners it is advertised that our tough, athletic side can also be praised, giving a best of both worlds kind of image. Even the box of this product is meant to stand out and promote our love with our bodies, with an emphasis in pink and yellow. Yellow is known to advance from surrounding colors and install optimism and energy, and pink is bright, sensual, and passionate. A wrap of all these colors, the black and white image, and the pink and yellow box and writing, it can be inferred that we should be happy with our
Advertising has become a means of gender socialization because it is a way for people to learn the “gender map” that lays out the expectations for men and women based on their sex.
They want to show a “sparkling version” of the product and that implicates that, “if you buy the one, you are on the way to realizing the other” (26). So the portrayal of gender is essential in advertisement when it is trying to catch the viewer’s attention, since gender norms can be considered as a form of silent language in the society. Simply put, it can be said that gender roles are “a language which needs no complex translation by the viewer, just transmission through the image” (Capener 3) and therefore it is important for the advertiser to utilize the imagined gender roles within the advertisement
Craig breaks down the gender biased commercials into four different categories. The first category, “Men’s
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
Where commercials that are selling a product to women focus on beauty or the ease of use using wording like sleek clean lines, soft, makes life easier. This is because men are portrayed as being masculine and being responsible for outdoor chores like lawn maintenance where as women are portrayed as delicate and weak and tend to be in charge of daily in home chores like cooking, and cleaning. While analyzing the genders used in the commercials and what the roles were we found that the women tended to do the shopping and asking the questions about products and the men seemed to be bored and were there to pay the bill and be the one responsible for the assembly of the product purchased. The colors of the products being sold play important role as well. Men seem to be more attracted to darker or bolder colors like black, red, green, and blue where products for women are usually lighter or softer colors like white, or pastels.
I have examined and analyzed the COVERGIRL™ NatureLuxe advertisement that uses common feminine stereotypes. In this advertisement, COVERGIRL™, which runs in Seventeen magazines, targets women through their choices of colors, fonts, and images used. Certain stereotypes are used; such as, those who are more feminine tend to prefer lighter, happier colors, such as pink. Also, the use of a celebrity, who many young women look to as an icon, assists in the advertisement of the COVERGIRL™ product. COVERGIRL™, more than likely, is able to successfully market their lip-gloss product in the United States by using common gender stereotypes to show femininity and how those, mainly women, should be presented in today’s society.
Advertising in American culture has taken on the very interesting character of representing our culture as a whole. Take this Calvin Klein ad for example. It shows the sexualization of not only the Calvin Klein clothing, but the female gender overall. It displays the socially constructed body, or the ideal body for women and girls in America. Using celebrities in the upper class to sell clothing, this advertisement makes owning a product an indication of your class in the American class system. In addition to this, feminism, and how that impacts potential consumer’s perception of the product, is also implicated. Advertisements are powerful things that can convey specific messages without using words or printed text, and can be conveyed in the split-second that it takes to see the image. In this way, the public underestimates how much they are influenced by what they see on television, in magazines, or online.
To sum up, it is often said that advertising is shaping women gender identity, and some have been argued that the statement is true, because of the higher amount of sexual references of women that advertisement show and the damages that occur on women’s personality and the public negative opinions of those women. As well, the negative effects that those kinds of advertisements cause to young generations and make them feel like they should simulate such things and are proud of what they are doing because famous actors are posting their pictures that way. Others deem this case as a personal freedom and absolutely unrelated to shaping women gender identity. On the contrast, they believe that, those sorts of advertisements are seriously teaching women how to stay healthy and be attractive, so they might have self-satisfaction after all.
The objectification of women in advertising is far too common. Advertising has become so concentrated with images of passive woman wearing little clothing that it is now accepted to laugh at these sexist ads. The reason why some men find this ad funny is because within Australian society there are so many similar ads that it gives the impression that women in adverts are something to laugh at. The new ad is not offensive and should sell Tiger Beers without having to further promote sexism.
The media favors one women's body type; the tall blonde with perfect, tan skin and long, beautiful hair. Because the images of women in advertisements are unattainable, it keeps them purchasing new products in their quest to be like the models they see (Moore). The actual women in these advertisements can't even match up to the
Curry and Clarke’s article believe in a strategy called “visual literacy” which develops women and men’s roles in advertisements (1983: 365). Advertisements are considered a part of mass media and communications, which influence an audience and impact society as a whole. Audiences quickly begin to rely on messages sent through advertisements and can create ideologies of women and men. These messages not only are extremely persuasive, but they additionally are effective in product consumption in the media (Curry and Clarke 1983: