More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of advertising on women
The impact of advertising on women
Essay on how advertising effects women
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Depiction of men and women as sex objects” In the article “Two Ways a Women Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” Jean Killbourne talks about different ways women can get hurt through advertising for products and the way the images have an effect on everyone, ultimately leading to domestic violence. Although some advertising objectifies men and women, it’s more when people are being displayed as objects. The negative effects affect women are things such as self-image and drug abuse. Men and women should be depicted as sex objects in advertising because it has a negative effect on their self-image and leads to drug abuse and also domestic violence. In the advertising business, they have a saying that has been used for many …show more content…
Due to the woman’s obsession to have a look of perfection, when the media shows beautiful women with long hair, amber colored eyes, thin body shape, and a flawless skin-color/complexion, the average women starts to think and find ways so she can come to have the same body perfection. In the article about women self-objectification found that “women who viewed images of a thin model exhibited greater body dissatisfaction than women who viewed images of a full body model” (Tiggemann, Harper …show more content…
Once there has been a psychological disconnect of being human and inhuman, it turns the object into the aggressor’s possession. It has been reported by the Global Report on Women’s Right’s that “Domestic violence is the leading cause of female injury in almost every country in the world” (Killbourne 277). A sad example of this is the actor/singer Jennifer Hudson. She lost her mom, nephew and another family member due to an act of domestic violence. Her brother in law could not bear the fact of losing his family to another man, so he decided that if he couldn’t have what he wanted, no one else would. Due to his deranged thinking, he nearly took out most of her immediate family and didn’t care about the consequences of his actions or the effect it would have on everyone in the
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.
Self-objectification leads to body dissatisfaction which is recognized through the constant evaluation and criticizing of one’s and others size, shape, and weight and diminishes woman’s sexual health through the hypersexualization and sexual objectification of the female body. I argue that self-objectification is a social problem that instills in body dissatisfaction from the perpetuation of the thin white female image in the media.
In “Still Killing Us Softly,” Jean Kilbourne points out that advertising and media are partly responsible for the behaviors and attitudes expected of women.
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.
The images and words chosen in advertisements society is exposed to on the day-to-day impact society. Images in advertisements seem to be almost pornographic and often portray sexual violence and objectification. For majority of her life, author Jean Kilbourne has taught and lectured about the advertising industry. She is also a filmmaker who has produced award-winning documentaries . These documentaries center around images of women in advertisements. She has graduated from Wellesley college. She also has a doctorate degree in education which she received from Boston University. In her article “Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt: Advertising and Violence”, Kilbourne elaborates on how objectification of women and their bodies in advertisements can
“Ads sell more than products”. They sell values, they sell images, they sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success, and perhaps most important, normality.” Jean Kilbourne, a media critic, goes into great detail of this disgrace to modern society in her documentary, “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising the Image of Women.” Many people like Kilbourne could argue that women have falsely been depicted as a minority to men over the years. All different forms of advertising have been guilty of womanizing in this way at one time or another.
These companies can essentially brainwash those who watch their advertisements into believing whatever they choose. An advertising company may release a commercial that shows gender stereotypes such as the breadwinning Dad, and the stay-at-home mom and have no ill intentions; but they are subliminally reinforcing gender norms and stereotypes through their ad. Women of all ages see sexist advertisements and believe that deviating from gender norms is wrong and therefore have to live their lives in a way that is unauthentic for their self, and dangergoud for their health. Dr. Suzanne Petroni, a Senior Director at the International Center for Research on Women, found that “gender norms and inequality have a significant link for suicide and vulnerability”(Valenti.Sexism). Women are taught through advertising that men are dominant and powerful beings, and that women should live their lives submissively and in fear. Although research has proven that sexist advertisements can incite violence against women, it fails to fully explain the consequences of these hostile advertisements on a woman mental and physical
To add to this, ads establish gender roles for men and women, men always have “to be ready,” Women must give in to men’s desires, promiscuous behavior is looked down upon for women, but for men, it is embraced. All of this causes even more sexual aggression towards women. Women in many ways are depicted as only objects, and the owners are the men. In comparison to males, Killbourne explains, “Men’s bodies are not routinely judged and invaded. Men are not likely to be raped, harassed, or beaten” (Para.11). Men have the upper hand and women are oppressed systematically largely thanks to consumerism. Mostly all if not all of the ads show men as the power figures and women as secondary objects. Incredibly dangerous just like Kilbourne’s expressed, “Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person” (Para.24). This quote hits the nail on the head; nothing is more inhumane for a human than to treat them as an object with no regard for their existence. Women and are routinely objectified that in return leave them seriously powerless and vulnerable for prosecution, Kilbourne implies that for men is it the opposite, men have to be “ready for action”,(Para.39), ready to justify violence and aggressive behavior towards women because that is what advertising has led them to believe over the years. Nevertheless, it is clear that in today’s environment, gender roles are pre-established for men and women. Sexual harassment is now becoming a norm in society, along with violence and aggression. This trauma is rooted deep within society; we can only assume that women are the ones that are paying the high cost of abuse and
The world is becoming more aware of the gender hierarchy occurring in our society. Men are consistently leaders and placed in positions of power while women are seen as inferior. Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, investigates this ideology as she looks throughout media and advertisements and highlights their sexually explicit commercials that degrade woman. In comparison, Allan G. Johnson, writer of Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?, discusses how the world’s view of gender has changed over time and how it has affected the world. Kilbourne and Johnson outline the presence of a gender hierarchy but do not accurately interpret why it happens. The underlying presence driving patriarchy is hidden deep in men’s resistance
Women are bombarded by images of a thin-ideal body form that is extremely hard, if not impossible, to emulate. Comparing themselves to these women can lead to feelings of inadequacy, depression, and an overall low self-esteem. (Expand on, need a good opening paragraph to grab the reader’s attention) Objectification Theory Objectification theory has been proposed as a standard for understanding the effects of living in a culture that sexually objectifies women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Objectification occurs when a person’s body is treated like a separate entity and is evaluated on its own merit, without consideration for the rest of the person.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
Through media, women are used as sex symbols and only used to help sell products, products that mostly men buy, and also that hurts women and girls as a lesser counterpart than men. In an ad by Calvin Klein, the photo was of a naked man, but Kilbourne talked about how the man was less damaging to men and how a woman in a model catalog is more objectified. (Kilbourne 500-501) Through this article, women are used to manipulate men into thinking that they have to buy this product, while making women think they need to buy a certain product to look amazing or to be more successful than what they would have been without that product. Through violence, women are hurt everyday by objectifying women and much worse by being abuse by a significant other. Kilbourne talked about how sexual assault in America is a problem and how commercials about alcohol are damaging women. They are making it seem that it is easier to drink and talk to women with alcohol. This article was informative in how I see how harmful we are to women without even trying. We, as a country, should think of a better way to sell products and to do it without hurting women as well. Kilbourne has helped me to view that violence and advertising are very harmful to women and that we should approach this issue more
Kilbourne, Jean. “‘Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt’: Advertising and Violence” Free Press. (2000): Web. 27 Feb. 2014
With so much exposure to this type of media, it is easy to become desensitised to it. With America becoming numb to the violence in these advertising tactics, domestic violence is an increasing problem as brutality against women has become trivialized. Jean Kilbourne 's “‘Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence’ argues that violence in advertising profoundly affects people in a skewed physiological manner, leading to violence against women. Kilbourne insists that “...violent images contributes to the state of terror...” felt by women who feel victimized by men who “...objectify and are disconnected...” from the women they mistreat (431). She furthers her argument by dictating that “....turning a human being into…an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person” (431). So much of the media that America consumes is centered on dehumanizing women into an object of male enjoyment. It is difficult to have empathy toward a material object. Because of this objectification, men feel less guilty when enacting brutality upon women. Violence becomes downplayed because it is seen everywhere - in advertising and media - and this has contributed significantly to the cases of domestic violence in America. America has become numb to violence against women in advertising, leading to an alarming increasing domestic violence in this
The average American is exposed to hundreds of advertisements per day. Advertisements targeted toward females have an enormous effect on women's thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and actions. Most of the time, women don't even realize these advertisements are formulating self-image issues. These ideals surround them daily and they become naturalized to the ads. Advertising creates an entire worldview persuading women to emulate the images they see all around them. In order to create a market for their products, companies constantly prey upon women's self esteem, to feel like they aren't good enough just the way they are. This makes women constantly feel stressed out about their appearance (Moore). Advertising has a negative effect on women's body image, health, and self-esteem.