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Female objectification in advertising
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When it comes to shopping for the right mascara, people are looking for a product that will change their lashes from boring to bold and beautiful. I am referring to Benefit’ brand They’re Real! Believe it or not, this mascara has the power to transform the appearance of your lashes from boring to gorgeous and long. Listen to how Benefit describes the mascara: "They're real; lengthens, curls, volumizes, lifts and separates your lashes. Our jet black, long-wearing formula won't smudge or dry out. A specially designed brush reveals lashes you never knew you had!" The company is known for its great cosmetic line, but I can’t say the same about the advertisement the company displays. Even though Benefit’ mascara really does work, the advertisement …show more content…
This advertisement sexually objectifies women because the focal point of the ad is of the model's large breast. Benefit’s mascara ad is treating women as an object of sexual desire with the outrageous amount of cleavage being shown, sex appeal with a gorgeous model, and body gesture of her mouth being slightly open. Not to mention the advertising choice of the 1940’s era font style and black and white photo with the implications of a sex driven marketing ploy and sexist ways of displaying women. With the exception of the mascara bottle shown on the top corner and the lie detector machine, you would not have known this was an ad selling mascara. The message the company conveys could be misleading to consumers with the way the publication does not support the selling of mascara but instead displays very sexist …show more content…
As if women are not objectified enough beauty is now classified as to how sexy and revealing you look. A large portion of people believe that women should have sculpted bodies and perky breast to be beautiful. A women’s beauty is being measured by how prefect and revealing her body can be. In some ways women have lost respect for themselves fighting for the attention of men and became sexual objects in the process. Being judge solely on a women’s sex appeal and failing to see that there is a difference between being sexy and beautiful. This behavior is forcing young women to conform to unrealistic habits of trying to be sexy in order to be seen as
Beauty is a cruel mistress. Every day, Americans are bombarded by images of flawless women with perfect hair and smooth skin, tiny waists and generous busts. They are presented to us draped in designer clothing, looking sultry or perky or anywhere in between. And although the picture itself is alluring, the reality behind the visage is much more sinister. They are representations of beauty ideals, sirens that silently screech “this is what a woman is supposed to look like!” Through means of media distribution and physical alteration, technology has created unrealistic beauty ideals, resulting in distorted female body images.
The theme of The Super Sizer mascara is big, bold, bright, and noticeable. On the other hand, the theme of Lash Potion is enchanting, elegant, psychedelic, and spell-binding. You can get a rich sense of these themes through the commercials’ use of colors, phrases, and setting. The colors of The Supersizer are bright, bold colors whereas the colors of Lash Potion are more psychedelic. The phrasing of the commercials go hand-in-hand with the theme of each of the commercials. For The Super Sizer phrases like “supersize your lashes, advertise your eyes” and words like “dramatic” emphasize their theme of big and bold. However, for Lash Potion phrases like “This brush has magical powers” and “spell-binding volume” assert their enchanting theme. The settings of each commercial show a large portion of contrast in the two commercials. The setting of The Super Sizer is in a loud, busy city with Katy Perry as a giant in the middle of it. The setting of Lash Potion is in a quiet apartment where Emma Stone is casually getting ready for what seems like a night out. In addition to these differences, the commercials are peculiar in their choice of their endorsers. The Super Sizer’s endorser Katy Perry is a well known pop artist known for being over the top, bold and gorgeous. Having Katy as the endorser attracts her fans towards the brand. For Lash Potion their endorser is Emma Stone, a respected actress known for her iconic look, loveable personality, and versatility. Emma being the endorser makes anyone who has watched her films attract to what she is in, attracting them to the
We hear sayings everyday such as “Looks don’t matter; beauty is only skin-deep”, yet we live in a decade that contradicts this very notion. If looks don’t matter, then why are so many women harming themselves because they are not satisfied with how they look? If looks don’t matter, then why is the media using airbrushing to hide any flaws that one has? This is because with the media establishing unattainable standards for body perfection, American Women have taken drastic measures to live up to these impractical societal expectations. “The ‘body image’ construct tends to comprise a mixture of self-perceptions, ideas and feelings about one’s physical attributes. It is linked to self-esteem and to the individual’s emotional stability” (Wykes 2). As portrayed throughout all aspects of our media, whether it is through the television, Internet, or social media, we are exploited to a look that we wish we could have; a toned body, long legs, and nicely delineated six-pack abs. Our society promotes a body image that is “beautiful” and a far cry from the average woman’s size 12, not 2. The effects are overwhelming and we need to make more suitable changes as a way to help women not feel the need to live up to these unrealistic standards that have been self-imposed throughout our society.
“Sex sells” is an aphorism closely adhered to by both the film and print advertising industries. For over a century, magazines, newspapers, film, and other advertising mediums have utilized women and sexuality to persuasively market their products to consumers (Reichert, 2003). By representing an assortment of consumer products surrounded by women who exemplify a “desired” body type, marketing specialists quickly discovered the direct correlation between sexuality and consumer buying. So why is using beauty and sexuality as a marketing gimmick so harmful? With women being the primary audience of both general interest and consumer product magazines there is constant exposure to the idealistic body image that advertisers and mass media believe women should adhere to.
In the documentary America the Beautiful directed and narrated by Darryl Roberts, the narrator states several central points and arguments. He makes a case for objectification of the female body, socialization of genders, and how culture plays a role in todays in society. When Darryl asked a teenage boy about how his perfect women should look, his answer was that she has to be “hot”, “attractive”, and have nice legs. This shows how males are objectifying the female body, because they do not care about the person’s emptions or feelings. Darryl was trying to state that men only see women as an object to gaze at, which makes them seen as sex objects.
Men rarely compliment women on features other than their physical appearance. They tend to give compliments that are directed towards a woman's body and face. Many of the praises that women receive from men are “you look pretty.” Comments like these, that are directed towards appearance, forces women to invest more energy and time in order to abide by societal standards and to be accepted as a woman in the terms of society. Women become hard-wired to look prettier, dress nicer, and maintain a specific personality in order to “have a value” and “be worthy” in the eyes of men. Comments like “you don’t wanna ruin that cute figure” are comments coming from other women. Not only are men objectifying women, but objectification has become the norm that women begin to objectify one another. Men rarely look at women as their equal. Men feel that they are entitled to women as though she were his property. Throughout many instances, we see that men kiss and touch women inappropriately without
Girls are constantly pressured into conforming into the media’s standards of beauty. This is reiterated through the article “The ‘Beauty’ Ideal.” This except enabled to gain more knowledge about how the media portrays the ideal standards of beauty. From a young age, women are compelled to conform to the standard size and looks of beautiful models. I learned that beauty is a huge aspect of corporate capitalism and consumerism as a large amount of money goes into fashion, cosmetics, and entertainment industries. The debate concerning voluntarily stripping greatly aided in expounding my understanding of beauty ideals of women where women, such as those on Girls Gone Wild, are tall, blonde, and skinny which only reinforces America’s beauty standard. In addition, our culture automatically associates sex with gender, giving males and females separate gender performances. I learned that through sexual scripts, society sets a guideline in which men and women are supposed to act and feel as humans. Tough Guise addressed this problem in showing the many ways that boys and men act tough to be seen as masculine, powerful, and violent. Women, however, are supposed to follow the script of being emotional, beautiful, and dependent on
I believe the objectification of women’s bodies has not only a huge effect on women and their self-esteem, but our society as well. By objectifying women we are not only teaching all young females that they are only as good as their bodies. We are teaching all of our young men that women deserve no respect, no peace of mind, and that we are nothing more than objects to use and to look at. As Jean Killbourne said, “turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person” (Delaney, 2010). This can be seen in the media advertisements thrust into our faces on a daily basis. The effects of this are also very clear if you know what you are looking for. “Although biology may create some behavioral
I have examined and analyzed the COVERGIRL™ NatureLuxe advertisement that uses common feminine stereotypes. In this advertisement, COVERGIRL™, which runs in Seventeen magazines, targets women through their choices of colors, fonts, and images used. Certain stereotypes are used; such as, those who are more feminine tend to prefer lighter, happier colors, such as pink. Also, the use of a celebrity, who many young women look to as an icon, assists in the advertisement of the COVERGIRL™ product. COVERGIRL™, more than likely, is able to successfully market their lip-gloss product in the United States by using common gender stereotypes to show femininity and how those, mainly women, should be presented in today’s society.
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 act of objectifying a person is belittling and disparage somebody to the point where they are viewed as an inanimate object. Women, more than men, are the target of objectification in the media through ads in magazines to the way they are portrayed on television shows. The ideals of femininity and masculinity become very known when children become older and start puberty. When the adolescent body continues to change, many children start to become insecure about they way they look. The explanation behind adolescents becoming insecure and dissatisfied with their bodies is due to how social media portrays the “perfect body”.
To begin, social media has created unrealistic standards for young people, especially females. Being bombarded by pictures of females wearing bikinis or minimal clothing that exemplifies their “perfect” bodies, squatting an unimaginable amount of weight at a gym while being gawked at by the opposite sex or of supermodels posing with some of life’s most desirable things has created a standard that many young people feel they need to live up to. If this standard isn’t reached, then it is assumed that they themselves are not living up to the norms or the “standards” and then therefore, they are not beautiful. The article Culture, Beauty and Therapeutic Alliance discusses the way in which females are bombarded with media messages star...
...he media as much as the ones for women are. An advertisement like this is definitely one a feminist would disagree with they would argue that it is oppressing women in to staying young and beautiful.
The visual images on the ad directed me towards the target audience. The woman who is featured in the ad, P!nk, is a punk rock star who is loud, fun, and crazy. With the product being labeled “Flamed Out Mascara,” I think CoverGirl couldn’t
I would like to begin with the fact that women have always been known to dedicate their time to beauty. Those who are devoted to their appearance most often believe that beauty brings power, popularity, and success. Women believe this, because they grow up reading magazines that picture beautiful women in successful environments; not to mention they are popular models and world famous individuals. Beautiful women are no longer just a priority for most advertising, but we have become a walking target for the working class employers. It is documented that better-looking attorneys earn more than others after five years of practice, which was an effect that grew with experience (Biddle, 172). We cannot overlook the fact that it is always the most popular and most beautiful girl who becomes homecoming-queen or prom-queen. While these are possible positive effects of the "beauty myth," the negative results of female devotion to beauty undercut this value. These effects are that it costs a lot of money, it costs a lot of time, and in the long run, it costs a lot of pain.