Advertising is the gateway into the consumer’s hearts, minds, and wallets. With consumer spending fueling businesses, companies hire professionals to construct and produce print ads for magazines and video commercials for television to try to promote their product. The Federal Communications Commission regulates television and movies from containing obscene, suggestive, and offensive language, but it does not regulate magazine advertisements. In fact, no organization regulates printed material because it infringes on our rights of freedom of speech and press. These companies will continue abusing their freedom to show offensive, vulgar, and sexual images as long as there are magazines to print. The public is a risk of being filtered only harsh imaging rather than what advertising used to consist of, subjecting us to a society concerned with body image, reminded with gender roles, and shocked with violent and sexual advertisement.
“Today, any product is made of two things: a percentage of material and a percentage of image. And the part of the product that is made of image is getting bigger” (96, Andersson). In Violent Advertising in Fashion Marketing, by Svante Andersson, Anna Hedelin, Anna Nilsson, and Charlotte Welander, these authors illustrate a sense of how the advertising world has transformed into a competition to see which company has the most appealing or shocking image or even which image can spark the most conversation. No matter how offensive or unappealing it may be, in the eye of the ad company and the advertiser, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Violent graphic and sexually suggestive advertising has not always been the norm of contemporary advertisement. It was only because print ads were becoming furiousl...
... middle of paper ...
...arouse an emotion or just piss them off enough so they won’t ever forget about the ad or the company who had the nerve to post it? Advertisers aims to win sales, but some advertisements seek primarily to gain the reader’s attention or stimulate interest in hopes that purchases will follow in the near or far in the future. Repetitive ads for familiar products often aim to shorten the cycle of the purchase decisions. They try to stimulate the consumer to pick up the soft drink, the toothpaste, or the detergent as she moves down the shopping aisles. It is this repetition that has over the years brought the significance of violent and sexual images in the public mind and as an advertising tool in the print media. A half-naked woman is no big deal today in magazines, scenes of violence against a woman, or even rape is just an ordinary ad in the new era of advertising.
This thought has been held on for far too long. 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.
n today's world it`s practically normal to see every kind of ad, and they are everywhere! In the article “Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals” By author and professor Jib Fowles. Who claims that advertisers give “form” to people’s deep-lying desires, and picturing state of being that individuals yearn for…” stated by Professor Fowls. I will describe the fifteen apples that advertisers use when trying to sway to the public to buy their product. These apples are the following… sex, affiliation, nurture, guidance, aggress, achieve, dominate, dominate, prominence, attention, autonomy, escape, feeling safe,aesthetic sensation, curiosity, and Physiological needs. By observing some magazines which are frequently bought, I will examine three full page advertisements to to see what of the fifteen appeals are working in each ad to convey that desire.
Violence is everywhere in the United States of America. Many people in America and around the world have been a victim or know someone who has been a victim of violence. Over 22 million women in the United States have been raped in their lifetime according to the website, Victims of Crime. This number is significant. Advertisements could play a role in making violence more acceptable in our society. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is known for having shocking advertisements. This pro-vegan and pro-vegetarian nonprofit organization has always been a topic of interest. Many of PETA’s ad campaigns are related to sexuality, violence, discrimination against how people look, and dominance over women. There are many pro-vegetarian and pro-vegan ads that do not degrade women and still are persuasive. Jean Kilbourne writes about violence and the degradation of women in advertisements. Kilbourne explains her point of view in her piece, ‘“Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence.” Considering Kilbourne’s argument, PETA ads are a concern because of the suggested violence while other pro-vegan and vegetarian ads are not.
More advertisements than content fill most magazine’s editions. Advertisements may seem like innocent attempts from companies to get people to buy their products; however corporations spend billions of dollars in researching the best way to advertise their product. Dos Equis is one such company. Dos Equis for example, has a current and popular advertisement series which portrays like three friends having a night out on the town. However, as we dive deeper and deconstruct this advertisement we find that this subversive advertisement has some insensitive and subliminal messaging included within its ploy to get the viewer to purchase its product.
Kilbourne, Jean. “‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader. 2nd ed. Eds. Stuart Green and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2012. 459-480. Print.
In “The man behind Abercrombie and Fitch.” An interview conducted by Benoit Denizet-Lewis displays a glimpse into the life of Mike Jeffries and his views of his company only hiring “good-looking” people and targeting “good-looking” people to wear his clothes. This has been done in order to force his audience to recognize that the issue of acceptance one’s peers and exclusion of a community mentioned by Mike Jeffries, is a result of cultural perceptions and individual self-image. Denizet-Lewis skillfully shows that while Jeffries remarks of not wanting the “not-so-popular” kids to shop in his stores, it poses a question to consumers asking what change in our attitudes will come or if there will be any change at all. Thus comes the issue of how consumers today have a shift in the reasoning behind why one buys clothing and the motivating factors that influence one to buy certain clothing. Denizet-Lewis also demonstrates the different messages that controversial advertisements and statements affect different groups of people and how what they project is really what people desire, though deemed by many people as unacceptable or inappropriate. The author also examines how in the news media, the image has become more important than the message and how images have taken precedent over actual issues and character. As a result of this, various communities have formed by the construct of selling to “beautiful people” and how popular appeal has become an extension of a person.
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...
Have you ever seen an advertisement for a product and could immediately relate to the subject or the product in that advertisement? Companies that sell products are always trying to find new and interesting ways to get buyers and get people’s attention. It has become a part of our society today to always have products being shown to them. As claimed in Elizabeth Thoman’s essay Rise of the Image Culture: Re-Imagining the American Dream, “…advertising offered instructions on how to dress, how to behave, how to appear to others in order to gain approval and avoid rejection”. This statement is true because most of the time buyers are persuaded by ads for certain products.
In a brilliant update of the Killing Us Softly series, Jean Kilbourne explains the dangers of advertisements and how they objectify women. Advertisements intelligently portray women in a sexual and distorted way in order to attract the consumers’ attention. Media sets a standard on how young women view themselves and puts them at risk for developing an eating disorder. Kilbourne’s research has led her to educate those who have fallen victim to achieving the “ideal beauty” that has evolved in today’s society.
Domestic violence advertisements regularly appear in today’s media. The topic is a live issue in the world, causing various messages to be produced. Advertisements can evoke multiple responses: Emotional, thought provoking, or ethical reactions. Advertisers use rhetorical appeals to capture its audiences’ attention. Three rhetorical appeals commonly used are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. In a photo shopped CoverGirl ad, an argument is presented concerning CoverGirl’s continuation to be the beauty sponsor of the NFL. The only change in the new ad is the model’s makeup design. Now the model looks to have been hit. This is directed towards the NFL’s controversy about Ray Rice and other football players having committed domestic violence. Each of the
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.
Counter-hegemony, cultural appropriation and generalisation can be seen in advertising, by wording and visual representations. The following example harnesses the power of sexual or pornographic elements to sell milk. There, however, is a subtle underlining of religious iconography and reference that has been manipulated as a sexual innuendos, as a means to sell their goods.
Kilbourne, Jean. “‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence” Free Press. (2000): Web. 27 Feb. 2014
These advertising strategies include sexual, chock, emotional, fear, and humor. From these appeals, companies are seeking high brand awareness and brand recognition to consumers. When these appeals used to attract large ...
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: