It didn't take me too long to do because these frutrations were being pondered in my head for quite a while.
WOMEN AND ADVERTISEMENTS
Women seem to be taking the initiative in commercials and advertisements these days; It's as though the product is nothing more than a "start-off" of a new way to introduce women, making them seem as though THEY are the ones for sale.
I cannot count the numerous times that i've seen advertisements with a "beautiful" woman as the object of the eye, without even seeing the product; rather just identifying it by the wording at the bottom of the page. And i would like to get back to my point of advertisements with "beautiful" women starring in them. As i seem to be informed, "beautiful" women are thin, tall, white, rich, and flawless-- not to mention that as times goes by, there seems to be a rapid decrease in the amount of clothing they wear --but other types of women-- should they be differed by color, economy and sexual taste --are barely shown, and are almost non-existent. What a close-minded industry this is, i say. AND degrading and harmful because it almost forces average looking women think that the only way they can be beautiful is to look like the "beautiful" women in those advertisements. And since average women like them are not used for or in advertisements, they lose their self-esteem and some of them are even influenced to become anorexic which is a serious issue to be dealt with as it is becoming a bigger and bigger health risk and danger towards women and monstly teenage girls. What a lot of people seem to be ignoring is that being extremely thin and wearing excessive make-up is not purely beautiful, and harmful for the woman's health and life.
A lot of men seem to be in charge or think they are in charge of women, making them feel pleased and dominant. By doing so and showing it as a sense of a man's wants, and needs, producers of advertisements often end up putting women in degrading situations to fit men's appreciation, with this possibly increasing the sales of their product.
For example, there is an advertisement for Lucky Brand Alcohol, where the woman is portrayed in many different degrading ways. First of all, she reveals a large amount of her body, wearing nothing but daisy dukes and a short tee, giving off the impression that she is submissive and sexual. Second, she is serving coffee to a male, basically tending to his needs, acting as a slave, sex slave that is. She also covers her mouth with her left hand as she pours the coffee, implying that she doesn't have a voice, that she has nothing to say only because she may possibly be dumb, stupid, unintelligent, and ditzy. And last, what goves the advertisement a lasting and obvious touch is the context which is printed right above the male's head. "Get lucky!", which can be decoded differently by various people. One interpretation can include that if a consumer purchases the Lucky Brand Alcohol beverage, that he/she too may "get lucky" in more ways than one, just like the male is in the advertisement. This ad objectifies women as sexual objects, to serve, to say nothing, and to please men.
Another ad was made for Diamond.com. A person would assume that diamonds would be the object of attention, but unfortunetly, it's not. Instead, a naked female body is objectively places on a spider web made of diamonds. Her naked body is spun numerously by these diamond-made webs, trapping her body as if it were a piece of meat, which encourages violence amongst women. The naked body lies there, helpless and barely alive. The underlying message of this advertisement is that women are bait for materialistic objects. Women love diamonds and will do just about anything to get a hold of it, even if it means degrading themselves. This ad gives the message off to men that they have control to win women over just by simply luring them with diamonds or any other material objects, just like dogs. Through this advertisement, women are portrayed as being naive, materialistic, beating bags, money-grubbers, weak, and sexual.
And as much as i would love to change the way advertisements are made and the way that companies sell their products, i wouldn't be able to because i am in lack of self-esteem, and i am not to their taste- thin, tall, white, rich, and flawless.
May 13th 2003