Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The Objectification of Women in Advertising
Essays on portrayals of women in media
The Objectification of Women in Advertising
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The Objectification of Women in Advertising
Introduction Traditionally, the popular culture has almost automatically accepted women objectification. For instance, one striking observation is that magazines meant for men have always been based on highly eroticized women images. At the same time, magazines meant for women have also been based on similar types of images; eroticized women images (Zimmerman & Dahlberg, 2008). For both cases, the aim is to portray women as very beautiful, mostly in a sexual way that will make men attracted to them and other women yearn to achieve such heights of beauty. While women objectification is still very high in the mainstream as well as social media, a new development has seen men begin to be objectified as well. It has become common to find men topless and in underpants with emphasis being put on their physical characteristics and facial looks. Advertisers take advantage of these traits to promote fragrances and briefs thereby capturing the attention of many potential buyers. Recent Advertising Campaigns Top British model David Gandy collaborated …show more content…
Men on the televisions, social media, and other types of media are also finding it necessary to look good and to do things that will be termed as sexy. David Gandy’s photos look incredibly seductive in a manner that has been common with female models and other personalities looking for fame or marketing particular products. Fourth, men are not opposed to the objectification of other men. According to research, men do not complain about the trend of objectifying male counterparts, and they do not have any problem looking at images or watching video clips of men with perfect bodies and good looks (Cook 2005, p. 59). In fact, most of them feel that it is better to watch clips of such people rather than look at some realistic bellied men. It cannot be said that men are equally concerned about their looks as women are, but the rate of concern has been
This advertisement’s intended audience is men ranging in the ages of 30’s and 40’s. In order to get this age group’s attention, the advertisement uses a fact that Blum discussed in her article, which is that testosterone rises in the competitive world of dating and settles down with a stable and supportive relationship (Blum 6). The Dove men’s deodorant advertisement takes into consideration this fact about testosterone, and caters to the preferred audience’s likely testosterone level by showing the man smiling with a child. The man is also wearing a wedding ring, and altogether this scene implies that he is in a healthy relationship with both his wife and child. The viewer seeing this relates to the advertisement and makes his purchase of the product based off of a simple placement of a man smiling at and holding a child. However, the advertisement still acknowledges that there is more testosterone than females in the consumers that they are trying to attract. The words “Tough on sweat, not on skin” put next to the scene of the father and son are bolded as opposed to the words that are more informative about the product. This adds to the ideas brought up by Blum about violence and an in-your-face attitude being more likely among men because they have more testosterone. In a Dove women’s deodorant advertisement you never see the word ‘tough’ but instead words like ‘soft’ and ‘smooth’. Men,
I chose these four journal writings because I believe they are the strongest pieces I have written from the second half of the semester. The main focus of these journals was based on readings under the women as objects topic. The oppression of women has led to females being objectified and used as gratification for men. A woman’s body and appearance have become a commodity, especially in the media. Films, television shows, music and advertisements use women’s bodies to attract their audience and sell products. The movie watched in class “Killing Us Softly 4,” highlights this fact while presenting how women are represented throughout the media. The media has set and perpetuated a particular standard of beauty that is restrictive, but for some many women completely unattainable. The women represented in the media are young, thin and have western or European characteristics. Where does that leave the majority of women that do not fall under this category? This leads to women developing eating disorders to achieve an ideal body image that is manufactured through Photoshop and other picture editing systems. Women of color, women with disabilities or any woman that does not follow this standard is not represented within the media. When a few women do break this mold and become famous, they are set at a different standard. These women’s differences become the highlighted feature of their fame. However, the one constant in the media when it comes to women is the objectification and sexualization of women. This sexualization can lead to aggression or violence against women and the perpetuation of rape culture. The images viewed in the media directly impact how women view themselves and how others view women. By examining the issues women f...
Body image is what you believe about your physical appearance. Images of beautiful men and women are displayed everywhere from billboards to television advertisements. Fortunately, everyone does not look the same. Looking at models and movie stars often can create a negative self image of oneself in relation to these images. Approximately 46 percent of men of normal weight think about how they look constantly or frequently (Cloud, 46). The emergence of men’s new obsession with body image is connected to pressures from the media, plastic surgeons, and peers.
Open up any magazine and you will see the objectification of women. The female body is exploited by advertising, to make money for companies that sell not just a product, but a lifestyle to consumers. Advertisements with scantily clothed women, in sexualized positions, all objectify women in a sexual manner. Headless women, for example, make it easy to see them as only a body by erasing the individuality communicated through faces, eyes, and eye contact. Interchangeability is an advertising theme that reinforces the idea that women, like objects, are replaceable.
Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the negative effects it has had on the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. What negative effects do the media have on male body image? When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience both physical insecurities and emotional issues related to body image. This paper will address these facets of the media’s negative
Some people may not agree with this theory, and they think that women are merely over exaggerating being viewed as sexual objects in advertisements, because men’s body’s are also being sexualized in advertisements. But men’s body’s are not constantly looked at like an object or rated, or not good enough. Women’s...
There has been much research done regarding the media’s portrayal of celebrities and how it affects both men and women's view on body image. Although there has been little change within the last few years on what is now viewed as beautiful, women and men are still going to extreme lengths to achieve the “perfect” body image. The media influences men and women through their depiction on how celebrities look as well as how they make them appear. Through the use of airbrushing and other techniques, magazines and other media outlets change the appearance of a celebrity and create a more perfect look, which is then, what society is seeing. Men and women are striving to look like images that are impossible to achieve. In the present paper the role that the media has on men and women’s body image will be investigated. It is hypothesized that the media’s portrayals of celebrities affect men and women's body images as well as the lengths they take in achieving the perfect body image. The following eight literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support this hypothesis.
In modern society there is more and more digital editing without the knowledge of consumers. Currently there are various reasons for why women develop negative body image, low-self-esteem and eating disorders. According to Naomi Wolf in her novel “Beauty Myth”, one of the many reasons women obtain concerns with their bodies is due to the universal images of young female bodies presented through advertisements in fashion magazines. Advertisements in magazines are altering and shaping the desires of men and women. Magazines sell viewers images of beautiful, skinny, flawless confident young women. When people are constantly antagonized with the magazine industry’s ideal of “perfect beauty” the viewer’s then, subconsciously believe these images to be true and begin to form biases about what they themselves should look like and what other people must also look like. People who view magazines get mislead by advertisers because they are unaware that all the images displayed are digitally altered through Photoshop and airbrushing. Today’s magazines are formed completely on false ideals of flawless beauty and unattainable body images, to prevent women and men from falling victim to the magazine’s deceitful images we as a society need to become aware and educate ourselves.
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
Entertainment based magazines including Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly are notorious for portraying female characters as sexually provocative beings, those who are attractive for their sexuality rather than their intelligence or physical dexterity. These magazines in particular are known for putting provocative imagines on the cover to attract more readers. Hopefully, as the country continues to mature and become even more tolerant of people’s differences, people’s expectations will change accordingly. Instead of portraying sexy and provocative images of women that make normal women feel insecure, more natural and real looking models should be shown in the media. For the future, I hope to see that media can start relaying messages to the people that challenge and even defy their preconceived beliefs.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
People may think that men should be cool and handsome and should look and be a certain why like having a lot of muscles. McClure Stewart is the managing of editor of Women’s Quarterly Journal and Kate Kennedy is the campus project more important, our inner Women’s Forum, stated, “Again, this one features a corpulent guy’s guy lounging on his sofa in his dirty undershirt, which barely covers his beer gut” (1).Why is it that males are always stereotyped as the ones that cannot take care of themselves. Females are not the only ones that care about body image. So do males because like women they too try to attract the opposite sex. Many males find this offensive because it’s like we are not all slobs and they all would not want to be categorized like that too. At the same time, females worry about body image more because of the many advertisements that make women just look like sex objects. Katherine Toland Frith an associate professor at the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Barbara Muller coordinator of the Media Studies Program at San Diego State University stated that Gentry found that female college students who were repeatedly exposed to thin models in ads feel increased guilt, shame, insecurity, and body dissatisfaction (5). Women tend to be more sensitive than a male which is already a good reason that females have it worse than males. Not to
Images that eroticism is implied tend to represent the availability of the women’s bodies, in the implication that they are objects of eroticism (Sturken and Cartwright 2009: 116), consequently affecting the way society views women such as illustrated in Figure
16.)Utt, Jamie. "Navigating The Difference Between The Appreciation of Beauty and Sexual Objectification." Everyday Feminism 18 Apr. 2013: n. pag. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. .
In the capitalistic society, sexual objectification of women has become one of the most popular and effective ways of promoting a product. Female bodies are used in a lot of commercials. Not only do females reveal their body parts for the sake of ‘sex appeal’, they are often identified as a product itself, sometimes even regardless of the context.