Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How the media can influence public opinion
Female objectification in advertising
How mass media influences public opinion
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How the media can influence public opinion
Objectifying Women in the Advertising Industry
Have you ever strolled in the mall when suddenly something grabbed your attention? Ever noticed the big bright attractive red poster? Ever realized the huge capitalized letters? Yes, the large and attractive red sale signs that are often hung at the entrance of every clothing store. Such signs immediately attract most of the passers - especially women. The consequences of a sale sign include penniless wallets, sore shoulders, furious catfights and instant bruises. Though sales cause pain and headaches and lead customers to moan and groan, the increase stores’ profits and make customers happy. According to Malcolm X, “the media [is] the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make
…show more content…
In specific, advertisements target women by perfecting female models and retouching pictures and videos. Advertising is simply drawing attention to products, services, or even events on public display that can be reached by anyone. Companies advertise to raise awareness, increase sales, and remind people that the product still exists. Furthermore, advertising can be done through various means including visual, written, and online. Despite the many benefits of advertisements that help boost the economy, advertisements objectify women in a sickening, ill-mannered method.
Most advertisements show women as defenseless and weak characters or a prize to be won by a snobbish man. Advertisers create a perfectly slim,
…show more content…
The company’s concept is somehow logical to men but hard to believe. Personally, I find it extremely provocative and bold and unsuitable for public display. Masculinity suggests that naturally, men are supposed to be strong and muscular and not find other men attractive – variables believed to attract every woman. This explains the cleverness yet boldness JBS Underwear’s campaign’s perspective. “Men do not want to look at naked men,” is the reason why they are using female models to sell and model in male underwear. That strategy makes sense if you take into consideration the campaign’s slogan. The campaign in composes several means - the video showcases a nude girl wearing the brand’s underwear, “the boxers,” and spending the day, supposedly, like any regular man would. Spitting, farting, burping and all the vulgar actions men do that no girl will ever be seen doing in public as it is found to be offensive if done by women. This is an extremely clever way of advertising because not only does it attract the males’ attention but also glues their five senses to the advertisement. This way also creates loyalty between the male consumer and the company, but in the same time it is using the female body as an object, therefore objectifying
The ad campaign is funny to the point that the commercial is pretty much making fun of itself. The sex appeal is apparent as the bare-chested man sells the product of a man, man. The product name and logo are repeated and shown throughout the entire ad, making repetition a strong selling point. This advertisement is effective because it appeals to a wide audience using humor, sexual appeal, and repetition to sell the product. Women like attractive men, but they also like men who are adventurous, handy, charismatic, and intriguing.
By quoting the commercial, and analyzing the logos and pathos, and ethos it uses, Gray has adequately used the rhetorical appeal of logos. She also supports her statements by comparing the Hanes commercial to other underwear commericials. “Underwear commercials in general seem to abound in their portrayal of morning sunrises and beautiful people making beds.” Throughout the entire article, from her describing the scene of the commercial, to talking about the stereotypical men, women, and underwear commercials, she is able to stir emotion from the audience. “Women on the other hand…know how to be women…Just show a woman good old fashioned love scene and most likely she’s sold.”
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
Our society is a complex collection of institutions, status, roles, values, and norms, and the best way to understand and learn about them is through the use of cultural artifacts. These can be anything from music to art to literature, or as in the example of this discussion, the modern day creation of advertisement as seen in women's magazines. As Homo Sapiens moved from the hunter - gatherer way of life to industrial society , it was necessary to construct a framework for living so that such a concentrated number of people could exist together. This framework as come to consist of a myriad of expectations based on values and norms in the form of roles status and institutions. Desirable behavior is sought by people throughout the country based on how one is brought up and the expectations one is bombarded with on a daily basis. These expectations are reflected in every part of our culture and are used by people so as to know how to act in any given situation. The main examples are: the family, education, health and medicine, religion, and the law. I have found that certain mediums reflect the expected roles in these institutions better than others. I originally focused on gender roles as a depiction of stereotypical behavior as reflected by advertising especially the portrayal of women, but I discovered that there were other stereotypes being perpetuated as well that were just as institutionalized if not just simply less noticed or studied. Therefore, although this argument will focus on the depiction of females and the female role in advertising. It will also mention the general use of American values , norms, and institutions to influence consumers.
Our world has progressed an enormous amount in the past few centuries. And even today, in our modern era, we are bigger and smarter, but our thinking has not changed. Women have been restricted from many opportunitIes in the past. We as women are still being criticised and objectified, which is disgraceful and sickening because we are constantly told “close your legs when you sit” or “don’t do that it’s not lady-like”. This is portrayed in advertising that basically makes a mockery of our freedom. And we ask ourselves, where did the idea of sexism and gender inequality emerge from? Religion. It is the root of sexism and gender inequality which has been practiced for over two thousand years. It is presented through the use of advertising,
But jean sells are increasing when their commercial shows a woman being attacked by three men (464) (Kilbourne)? Kilbourne states that commercials that have a sexy man doing something dangerous becomes erotic, therefore men have this perception that being the good boy is not a positive attribute. When examining Kilbourne’s advertisement selection we see men in control, pushing women against walls and having two women flock over one man. Kilbourne’s selection was to confirm the discrimination women face. The group of feminist fund-raisers, who call themselves SlutWalkers are currently trying to “reclaim the word slut,” by marching around in skimpy clothing making jokes about the industries of prostitution and pornography. They are putting women into a difficult situation because they are pushing for empowerment, but does empower cross your mind when there are half-naked women waltzing around? These women believe they are taking a stand against men, but truthful they are giving them exactly what they want…women strutting around with very little clothing on (Powers). Women are portrayed similarly in advertisement for cars, alcohol, and aftershave; because sex sells. Women are sexy and attractive which sells products on television; however when it comes to advertisement on the radio a man’s voice is used 78% because it is convincing and strong
A strategy developed for the private pleasure of the advertisers rather than any potential to reach customers or change brand perceptions. what they don 't show you is that women control $12tn in global spending, yet some companies appear to have missed this. Why do they keep getting it wrong? Women now control $12tn in global spending. The lack of female representation in the advert is a missed opportunity, (there 's a single woman in the boardroom scene with nine men, and a pair of dancing cheerleaders) but that 's more a symptom of a deeper issue: HTC has a male image problem. It’s not just in the phone companies, it’s also in cars When I spoke to a senior marketing exec from a luxury car maker, I asked the same question. He seemed baffled. As far as he was concerned his brand was not for women and never would be. When he told me that less than 10% of the brand’s website traffic came from women, it wasn’t just with resignation, it was with pride. Even though advertising companies use women to make the
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.
(Jhally, Kilbourne, Rabinovitz, 2010) The amount of money put into advertisement worldwide in 2011 was $464 billion. (Pavlik, McIntosh, 2014, p. 268). In our society, sexism has become a normal part of our everyday life based on the ads we constantly see and because of the society we live in. Women are represented in ads as objects and not as human beings. The advertising is convincing us that the most important goal for a woman should be to become “the perfect woman” and for a man to find one. Dove has a commercial called “Evolution” demonstrating the idea that “the perfect woman” does not truly exist. They show the transformation in which models go through before photo or video shoots. The makeup applied to create a flawless face and the hair extensions attached to create the ideal look are only the beginning of the issue. After the photographs are taken, we are taken through a visual process of the editing done to the images: Bigger eyes, smaller nose, bigger lips, higher cheekbones, slimmer face, bigger chest, smaller waist, smoother skin, these are only a few of the changes they make while editing these pictures. These ads create an unrealistic and unattainable idea of
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
Nevertheless, majority of individuals in modern societies deem that, such advertisements can cause so many harmful effects to women gender identity, such as low self-esteem. Also, it can cause depression in the women advertising due to the lack of confidence. Whereas, a minority of people believe that, it is all about the women own decision whether to be exposed in such kinds of images or not. As well, it may benefit both parties, the women who advertise and the advertising companies that organize them. It can be assumed that, this issue of so-called advertising shapes female gender identity, has both benefits and damages, and damages can occur more than advantages.
It should also be able to reach its target market as long as it is advertised in the appropriate forums. The objectification of women in advertising is far too common. Advertising has become so concentrated on images of passive women 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.
Everywhere we look there are advertisements and you don’t even have to leave your house for it. On television, on the radio, on billboards, magazines, bus stops and many more places we are being bombed with advertisements. On average a person sees about 5000 advertisements each day (Story). The shocking fact is that a substantial amount of these advertisements contain objectifying images of women and people from all over the world are influenced by these images which can lead to serious harm. We live in the 21st century, we fight for gay rights and equality, but why do we accept the image advertisements creates towards women to be the standard of our society?
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
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.