Sexual Objectification vs Sexual Empowerment, in terms of American Apparel.
For this assignment I will be researching the way society constructs gender roles and how these gender roles are portrayed in the media. In specific I will be taking a look at how women are portrayed in advertising and focusing specifically on the objectification of women. I will do this by analysing an American Apparel Ad campaign but will also be having a look at the brand over all in order to research the topic of sexual objectification. By taking a look at their Meet the model campaign, I will investigate not only what sexual objectification is, in specific sexual objectification of women, but I will do research as to when can an advertisement be seen as sexually
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It is important to first understand how they are constructed and also the effects that they have on society. Especially when discussing how women in advertising are portrayed, we must first take a look at what exactly this gender construct refers to. Gender as defined by Chris Beasley “is a "social process of dividing up" individuals and social practices with reference to sexual identities that are masculine or feminine. He adds that gender identity from the one devalues or undermines the other.” (Beasley quoted by Karam: 305). Thus gender can be referred to as the way in which men and women are categorised according to their sexual differences. De Beauvoir claims that Women or the feminine are “positioned by society” as “the Other, while the man is the Subject”. Because American Apparel, and this specific campaign, focuses mainly on women, just like De Beauvoir, I will be investigating how women are viewed as a lesser sex or gender for that …show more content…
According to the Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World, Volume 1, the advertising industry can be viewed as “a culture industry that engages a network of ideological and dominant institutions”, that overall “produces and disseminates narrow ideals of femininity and gender roles, thereby communicating powerful messages about female behaviour and appearance for members of Western culture.” (: 36). The chapter further elaborates that these ideals are employed mainly by the “Use of stereotypes”, a “Focus on an Unattainable Appearance” and this results in a “Negative Impact on Female Self-Esteem.” (
In “Beauty… and the Beast of Advertising” Jean Kilbourne argues that advertisements sell a lot more than just their products: “They sell values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy” (1). Kilbourne states that in advertising there are two types of women, “Housewives” and “Sex objects”. Kilbourne calls the sexually objectified women “a mannequin, a shell” because their beauty is flawless, they lacks all of the imperfections that make people appear human (2). Kilbourne also states that these women are all skinny, often tall and “long-legged”, and youthful (2). She claims that all “beautiful” women in ads obey this “norm” (Kilbourne 2). Kilbourne strongly states that advertisements lack the sense
Advertising sends gender messages to both men and women. Advertising tells women how they should look and act, and it tells men to expect women to look and act that particular
Advertising, whether criticized or celebrated, is undeniably a strong force in American society. Portrayals and Images of women have long been used to sell in published advertisements. However, how they have been used has changed enormously throughout the decades. Women have fought to find a lasting and prominent position in their society. Only in the span of twenty years, between 1900’s and 1920’s, the roles of women changed dramatically here in United States.
Throughout time the evolution of American advertising has drastically changed. What hasn’t changed is the way that women are being presented. From the roaring twenties to modern time magazine ads have always advocated the main focus to be a woman’s beauty. As time goes by the advertisement industry focuses more on things like big breasts, tiny waists, long legs, and of course beauty. For instance, Chanel, a perfume line, constantly misrepresents their models in there ads by making the main focus to be their bodies.
Jean Kilbourne’s 2010 documentary, Killing Us Softly 4, discusses the idea that the businesses of advertising and commercialism have promoted specific body ideals for women in our modern day society by the methods in which they market towards their target audiences, specifically how women are portrayed in their ads. Throughout the documentary, Kilbourne is extremely critical of the advertising industry, accusing it of misconduct. She argues that objectification and superficial, unreal portrayal of women in these advertisements consequently lower women’s self-esteem. Ordinarily, women have many industries that try to gear their products towards them with apparel, beauty, and toiletries being amongst the most prominent. The majority of advertisements
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
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.
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
...r young, impressionable mind will have been exposed to more than 77,000 advertisements, according to an international study. Last week, it confirmed the link between the images of female perfection that dominate the media and increasing cases of low self-esteem among young women..” (Shields,2007). The propaganda techniques such as liking, sex appeal, and celebrity endorsements are used in advertisements constantly. Commercials on television, billboards, magazines, and various other advertisement types are everywhere you look in America, and sadly it has become very important for women of all ages to try to be perfect. We come into contact with these messages every day, and the beauty industry is getting bigger and bigger. Propaganda has molded our worldly perception of beauty and will only continue to hurt us and gain from our lack of self-esteem if we allow it to.
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.
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
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.
Women are very special and vital beings to society. They take on so many roles in life and always seem to have a way of making situations better. Through history women have been idolized and placed in advertisements that have exploited them as gender. Advertising has taken an extensive part in the exploitation and inappropriate portrayal of women throughout the years by stereotyping, creating ageism, sexualizing, and causing women to constantly be downgraded. For many years advertisers have and continue to stereotype, create an “image” for women to uphold, and sexualize women daily.
So my topic for today is about sexuality. Before I start my speech, I am going to give you imagery about my issue so you can guess what my main theme is about. So, (I will raise a ballpen/a certain object) this is an object. These things exist to do something for me. While me, Jem, is the subject.
The average American is exposed to hundreds of advertisements per day. Advertisements targeted toward females have an enormous effect on women's thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and actions. Most of the time, women don't even realize these advertisements are formulating self-image issues. These ideals surround them daily and they become naturalized to the ads. Advertising creates an entire worldview persuading women to emulate the images they see all around them. In order to create a market for their products, companies constantly prey upon women's self esteem, to feel like they aren't good enough just the way they are. This makes women constantly feel stressed out about their appearance (Moore). Advertising has a negative effect on women's body image, health, and self-esteem.