Lying Ads by Jarett Zackman

These days it is virtually impossible to avoid the constant barrage of advertisements present in all forms of media. Jean Kilbourne states in her chapter, "The More You Subtract, the More You Add", that “today our children are not brought up by parents, they are brought up by the mass media” (page 129).  The one constant platform in media is overexposure to advertisements. Over exposure to advertisements makes it increasingly difficult for the viewer to avoid being affected by the messages they present.   A direct result of this over consumption is the constant exposure to harmful ads that put tremendous pressure on young adults to resort to unhealthy behaviors.  The younger the person, the more susceptible he or she is to be persuaded by the advertisement's pitch.  In the same vein, young girls are the most at risk group to be persuaded by an advertisement and Kilbourne emphasizes that “Even young girls who are raised in loving homes by supportive parents grow up in a toxic cultural environment.” (page 130). Ads are displayed over tv, radio, internet and several other mediums at a rate of one every couple of minutes. Kilbourne explains in, "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising" how big the advertising industry is in today’s world and the ubiquitous nature of the ads.  She explains that "advertising is an over $130 billion a year industry and affects all of us throughout our lives.  We are each exposed to over 1500 ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society.” (page 121).  With scrutiny, it becomes clear that the purpose of these ads is to tap into the viewer’s insecurity, causing him or her to feel the impulse to consume the product the ad promotes.

Ad promoting thinness

Young adults are the group that is the easiest for advertisements to manipulate. More specifically, young girls are the most at risk group for persuasion. Ads create serious unintended effects and can cause serious health issues for women around the world, which I will discuss later. Writes Kilbourne, "when a girl enters adolescence, she faces a series of losses-- loss of self-confidence, loss of a sense of efficacy and ambition... " (The More You subtract, The More You Add, page 129). Adolescent girls take to heart the ads they see on a day-to-day basis. The importance of looks and weight shown repeatedly in popular culture begin to lay a foundation of insecurity within a young girl’s personality.  It is this insecurity that feeds a growing desire to conform to the message of the ad--to be thin, to be beautiful, to fit in. This desire in turn drives the viewer to purchase clothes, cosmetics, beauty products and even resort to cosmetic surgery in order to capture the desired look. These behavior patterns are proven through tracking the money that is spent yearly in the cosmetic industry.  Anthony Cortese explains in his article, "Who gains by promoting this nonsensical image of the ideal women?  Cosmetic surgery is a $300 billion industry.  The diet industry rakes in $33 million per year, cosmetics $20 billion." (Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads, page 56).  Dismembering women's body parts in ads promotes a longing in women to correct any imperfections they see in their bodies. The intended effect on consumers is to show that a person can become the perfect embodiment of beauty as long as they spend money to fix the imperfections, so the diet industry, cosmetic industry, and beauty industry reap the benefits.  While these companies benefit, the ads also have unintended effects on young girls.

Ad promoting cosmetic surgery

The overall message that these ads place on young girls is that being thin is the ultimate goal and the only way to be accepted by society.  The thinner you are the more beautiful you will be, and, in turn, the higher you will go in life.  The problem that this creates is that a young woman will believe that achieving this level of perfection and thinness is possible.  The one body type that is considered beautiful is skinny and using this ideal body type in ads and commercials solidifies that this type of body is what all people should strive for. The problem with this type of message to young girls is that it is selling a lie.  The lie is that all women can achieve this type of body by diet or other methods such as plastic surgery.  The human form comes in many shapes and sizes and it is not possible for all people to have the same body type.  The variety that the human body takes should be celebrated for its many forms and instead popular culture tells young girls that they must conform to one specific form. Since thinness is so prevalent in all advertisements, harmful effects result, and, “girls [are] made to feel so terrible about themselves that they would rather be dead than fat.” (The More You Subtract, The More You Add, page 134).  

Ads such as this one to the left, create serious unintended effects and can cause health problems for women around the world.  Many insecure women either resort to unnatural dieting or even worse, an eating disorder.  The advertisement to the left shows a female model whose bones are clearly visible especially in the rib area.  This does not promote a healthy lifestyle, instead it promotes eating disorders, which are quite common in the fashion industry.  In reality the model shown here was treated for anorexia and this ad was banned due to the overall sickly thin look of the model.

Overly sexist ad

Sexism in advertising is rampant in today’s world.  A majority of the ads display an overly sexist attitude toward women and food ads in particular are the culprit.  A common theme in these ads is replacing the product being advertised with sexual genitals like the ad to the right.  Women are constantly portrayed as sexual objects used primarily for the pleasure of the male audience. What makes this even more distasteful is the message it places in young girls’ heads’ - when they grow up the role they will have in this world will be primarily as sexual objects. Women then emphasize perfecting their appearance and want to be judged by men as beautiful.  If they are not considered beautiful and desirable by men, they feel unimportant. Popular culture bolsters this vicious cycle, especially through sexist advertisements.

Sexist ad demonstrating a subservient women

    

In addition, the overuse of sexist and submissive ads diminishes the female's role in today’s society. Placing emphasis solely on sexual qualities lowers a women's perceived importance in society.  Typically this message "puts women in their place" and forces them to yield to a man’s orders.  The ad to the right is a picture of a man spanking a grown woman as if she were a child being punished.  A young girl seeing this in a magazine takes away the message that her role is governed by a man and she must be submissive.  This takeaway message leads girls to act submissively with men and not stand up for themselves.

Example of an ad superimposing a models waist  to make her skinnier 

An advertising strategy that is used to incentivize consumers to buy products is superimposing images. The superimposing strategy does not represent the models proportions accurately and perpetuates young girls’ conforming to an unattainable specific form.  The models’ measurements are reduced by photo shopping the original pictures making them seem thinner and blemish free to the viewer or consumer.  This is harmful to consumers because even the models in the ads are unable to appear as beautiful as the ad portrays.  The level of beauty that the ads sell tricks the viewer to believe this form possible through dieting or surgery.

An alternative to sexist and weight loss advertisements is a tough proposal.  Growing up watching many hours of TV a day you are virtually programmed to accept the ads you see on a daily basis as the norm.  I think a healthy start would be to promote a form of advertising that shows a variety of human shapes and sizes.  The world today mostly consists of women of all sizes and they all are consumers.  Showing one body type as the ideal cuts out a large majority of the population who do not fit into this box.  Plus size models for clothing ads are beneficial in many ways because the viewer sees models that look more like them and therefore the ability to purchase items in this range seems more manageable for them.  No advertisement should force young women to feel that they need to change who they are to fit into a mold of someone else’s creation. I also think a realistic alternative is to create an advertising campaign that shows the dangers of unnatural dieting or eating disorders.  Showing what these diseases really look like might make the viewer think twice before going down this route. The truth behind most of these ads is that the models shown are severely sick and have resorted to eating disorders in order to achieve this look.  The model below died in 2010 from complications related to anorexia and it pulls the curtain up to show that models are relying upon unnatural dieting to achieve the desired look that popular culture considers normal.  There will always be ads that lie and trick the consumer to believe that it is possible to adapt to a norm that society deems as the norm. My hope is to increase the amount of ads with different body types to show young women that it is not normal to be pin thin. I know that ads with super skinny models will not stop, but adding other body types is a good step. Additionally, increasing ads to show the dangers of eating disorders would make a positive change in the advertising industry as well. 

Anti anorexia ad showing a model who eventually died from complications caused by the disease.

Kilbourne, Jean, "The More You Subtract, the More You Add." Deadly Persuasion. Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1999. 

Kilbourne, Jean, "Beauty and the Beast of Advertising." Media & Values. Diana George & John Trimbur(Eds.), (1999) (pp. 178-184).

Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul, "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads," Provocateur: Images of Women & Minorities in Advertising. Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.