Advertising in media today is a form of violence against women in particular, against their genetic dispositions. Everyday we're bombarded with thousands of images, especially here in NYC, on screens, in the subways, in magazines, television, and movies, you name it. We're constantly pressured to consume and the way that endless cycle of consumption is achieved is through insecurity in ourselves and through degradation of our value as humans. We are made to believe we are physically inadequate because of the altered images we compare ourselves to in these ads and commercials Women are de-humanized as well into objects that men use for either sexual or entertainment purposes.
When the ideal image of the women was constructed as "very slender, white, blonde, heterosexual, and young," the possibility of all women reaching that expectation is impossible, especially when you are not born blonde, white, or with a fast metabolism (Wykes and Gunter, 211). But the media makes it even tougher on black women. When women of color are portrayed in ads, their hair is straight, their skin is light, or they have features that approximate that white women ideal of beauty. They are given this air of exoticism, and one of the ways this is done is by placing them in a jungle setting.
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| World Wildlife Fundraising Campaign Ad |
They are made to look an exotic animal by placing them in animalistic positions and environments. These representations of the black race in the media do nothing but exacerbate racist stereotypes in our culture and keep it alive in insidious ways such as this.
Worst of all is that it is all intentional. Women in general are dehumanized violently. Kilbourne says they are "dismembered in commercials, their bodies separated into parts in need of change or improvement" (124). Different parts of our bodies are torn apart, modified, and sold as reality, as what me must achieve. According the The American Society of Plastic Surgeon's 2013 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, between 2000 and 2013, tummy tucks rose by 78%, breast implants by 70%, upper arm lifts by 4470%, and Botox procedures by 757%. Our bodies are supposed to be perfect, the way they are in ads and commercials, or else we are not attractive and we cannot attract men and we will not be happy.
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| Nikon ad comparing the COOLPIX 3100, a compact digital camera, to the old, inferior model COOLPIX 2100. |
These messages drive us to frankenstein madness, changing parts of our body however we can to fit this ideal through exercise, surgery, and diets. And when we don't achieve them? We are made to feel contempt for ourselves, ashamed of our bodies. That insecurity is what propels that vicious consumer cycle because women "will buy more things if they are kept in the self-hating, ever-failing, hungry, and sexually insecure state of being aspiring 'beauties'" (Wolf, 52).
The other form of violent dehumanization is the ways in which women are a vehicle for sexual entertainment. "The perfect provocateur is not human; rather, she is a form or hollow shell representing a female figure" (Cortese, 54). These big, perky boobs we strive for all for men's pleasure and it what is most used to sell everything. Big butts and boobs are turned into visually arousing objects. The women who possess them do not hold any value in the advertisements other than their promise of sex:
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| Axe Shower Gel ad showing the objectification of women's bodies |
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| New improved Axe Shower Gel ad promoting the sexualization of women's bodies |
Women become objects for the sexual imagination of men, but also just objects in general to sell most male products. When we are turned into a bottle of beer, we are no longer a human:
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| Michelob, an American Pale Ale, advertisement converting a women's body into a beer bottle. |
Autumn Winter 2013 Campaign Promo video for Agent Provocateur directed by Penelope Cruz
Personally, I used to be obsessed sort of with reaching this impossible image, and I beat myself up over not being able to be it. But certain circumstances in my life made me realize that the way I look is not the door to success or happiness. My ambitions are much greater than that and the things I achieve are what bring me most pleasure in life and measure what I am capable of. I grew up being called anorexic because of my thinness, and i could not understand how models would want to be the very thing i was ridiculed for. Then, I ate excessively to become more accepted. Now, I simply nourish my body with healthy foods and exercise because it makes me feel good and strong, not because it will bring anyone else pleasure. I also stopped watching television and I read books instead of magazines, and I feel like flushing out all the advertising and commercial bullshit is the reason I'm not so affected on an obsessive level. I come from a culture that is obsessed with having big butts and huge boobs, but I'm a small Colombian girl that's "lucky that her breasts are small and humble," and his happy with her body. If this was my alternative, then I feel like it's an alternative for anyone else as well. Just realizing how edited these images are and focusing on you instead of how everyone else sees you is effective.
Obesity is a complicated disease influenced by poverty, genetic disposition, racism, and many other factors. And, I feel like the media's solution to it is making women hate themselves, when it should be changing our culture about food and the way we eat. However, this is the opposite of what they want, and instead of forcing change on ourselves, we should raise hell on the cultural landscape the media industry has created by forcing change through our own "anti-advertisments," such as in Jean Kilbourne's Documentary Killing Us Softly 4, where she shows a Dep Advertisement (shown below) and reads what it would sound like if it were used the same way for men in a Calvin Klein's Denim advertisement.
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| Dep advertisement, "Your breasts may be too big, too saggy, too pert, too flat, too full, too far apart, too close together, too A-cup, too lopsided, too jiggly, too pale, too padded, too pointy, too pendulous, or just two mosquito bites. But with Dep styling products, at least you can have your hair the way you want it. Make the most of what you've got." |
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| "Your penis might be too small, too droopy, too limp, too lop-sided, too narrow, too fat, too pale, too pointy, too blunt, or just two-inches. But at least you can have a great pair of jeans." - Kilbourne's response to the Calvin Klein ad using the same words as the Dep advertisement." |
Being humorous and attacking men is not going to solve anything, but it opens our eyes to how only women have it that bad. That tactic on men's jeans, would never see the light of day because that degradation is saved for women. It enrages us against the violence of the media on women, their bodies, and their self-esteem. That rage can be used to spark more rage and create a chain-reaction of changes.
by Vanessa Rodriguez
Resources
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. "Conclusion: Body Messages and Body Meanings." The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2005. 204-22. SAGE knowledge. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons. 2013 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report. 2013.
Kilbourne, Jean. “Beauty… and the Beast of Advertising.” Reading
Culture. Ed. Diana George and John Trimbur. 4th ed. New York:
Longman, 2001. 121-125
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Print.
Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul. Provocateur: Images Of Women And Minorities In Advertising. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008. Print.
- Jhally, Sut, Jean Kilbourne, and David Rabinovitz. Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation, 2010.
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