Advertising

Post # 3

Advertising is a way to get consumers to buy a product by creating images and commercials. The images that are created are there to provoke a consumer to make them think that it could be them in the images, if they buy that product. There’s a deeper meaning to these ads, there’s sexism and racism, but we are so conditioned to this society that we look past it and just see it as sexy and pleasing to look at. When we constantly see images that convey the same messages, we grow accustomed to it and try to be like the women or men in the ads.

Fragrance and cologne advertisements are good examples of the sexism. There is far more sexism towards women than men. They feature women in fragrance ads as sexual beings you want to be, revealing clothing, perfect hair and makeup. In cologne ads, that are geared toward men, the male is either dominating the woman and they look like they are about to get it on, or you just see the woman in the buff with a little bottle of cologne in the image.

What does this say to the females? Women read magazines, and they see these ads constantly. Do we have to keep up this idea of what sexy is in order to keep our man? Women are using their bodies to sell on a greater level than a man and it’s because women are there to be looked at. From the chapter Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema from Laura Mulvey she says “ Women displayed as sexual object is the leit-motiff of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to strip-tease, from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire.” Advertisers know that and they use that to continue to have women in fragrance ads for male and female because unfortunately, it sells and money makes it all go round.

Although this behavior is lucrative for companies, they don’t take in to account the younger generation that will be affected by it. Teenage girls rely on magazines for what’s trending, what to wear and  how to look. By putting these images out there of women, they will grow up thinking this is how they should be. From the Jean Killbourne chapter, Cutting Girls Down to Size she says that advertising is “one of the most potent messengers in culture that can be toxic for girls’ self-esteem”.  I remember myself as a teenager, and being influenced by others or what I see. As a teen, you don’t know any better. As a society, we should be a little more cautious as to what kind of information we feed our younger generation.

Racism is also another problem that I found when examining advertisements for fragrances. It was hard to find African Americans in the ads, unless you are Beyonce, Halle Berry, Nicki Minaj or Alicia Keys, literally. That, in itself, doesn’t represent the different types of African American women, these three women are all lighter skinned African American women. I think advertising leaves out a big population of women. They represent these women because they are already in the public eye and I rarely see other African American women in these ads.
 
Advertising images are used to sell a product but in return we’re buying into the sexism, and racism that goes with it. Advertising is a powerful force that continues to be used in the same way. We need to be aware of what is being put out there, rather than trying to make as much money as we can. If not for us, our  younger generation, where media has become a huge part of our society.

Here are just a few ads that I found:

                       Scarlett Johansson selling some Dolce and Gabbana to that man in your life

Kate Moss for Men, I mean Calvin Klein

                                              Tom Ford and the fragrance holder

                                                   Beyonce for heat

Minajesty

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Works Cited

Kilbourne, Jean. "The More You Subtract, the More You Add." Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising. New York, NY: Free, 1999. N. pag. Print.

Mulvey, Laura. "III Women as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look." Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. N.p.: n.p., 1999. N. pag. Print.