Colorism In Advertising

Looking at all 8 ads there are clear similarities and differences. One similarity is that men and women are both required to be in good shape and have perfect features. This can be explained because the media wants men and women to live up to this “ideal male or female beauty” and companies feel that by selling their product through or on attractive men and women, people will be inclined to buy it in order to achieve that beauty. However, these perfect features are more likely than not photo shopped in advertisements. Advertisements over exaggerate the ideal male and female beauty in society by doing this. Another similarity is that men and women should both omit sexuality and show off their femininity or masculinity. This can be explained

In terms of race, the issue of colorism comes into play. Colorism is the racist preference for light skin. Aside from Lady Gaga’s ad, every other ad featured white men and women or more tanned, but still white, men and women. Colorism is an issue because by only showing white people in clothing, food, fragrance, and other measures of media, it is basically saying that dark skinned people are below whites and that they are less attractive solely because of the color of their skin. In terms of sexuality, the only acceptable groups of people to show their sexuality are young and perfect people. In Killing Us Softly IV, Kilbourne says, “ if you’re not young and perfect, you have no sexuality”. Ads often avoid using older people or people with disabilities because they are not seen as attractive and lack masculinity or femininity because of that. Finally, sexual orientation is a clear factor regarding the rules of beauty in ads. Advertisements are extremely heteronormative. Gay men are rarely shown in advertisements because men are encouraged to be tough and violent. When talking about the perception of men, Kilbourne also states, “you better not have a feminine side or have anything in you the least bit feminine”. Gay men are often affiliated with being feminine, so their sexual orientation goes against the rules of male beauty that is based primarily on masculinity. Similarities also occur when it comes to lesbians. “Butch” lesbians oppose the idea of femininity, which is the building block of female beauty. Despite this, feminine lesbians are rarely shown as well and if they are, it comes from the world of pornography and using feminine lesbians as sexual objects even