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Body image effect on todays generation
Influence of advertising on society
Advertisements and their effects on society
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Nowadays, it is almost impossible to avoid exposure to advertisements. Since most of people are exposed to the advertisements, the advertisements and the values that they sell influence the society. In Jean Kilbourne’s essay, she asserts that “[a]dvertising sells values, images, and concepts of love and sexuality, romance, success, and, perhaps most important, normalcy” (126). According to Kilbourne, the advertisers sell not only their products but also the values and one of the most popular values that the advertisers sell is beauty. In today’s society, the effects of beauty are outrageous as people’s attentions to the physical appearance increases. In the past, generally women considered beauty as important value, but now, beauty became one of the By analyzing the advertisement for Pedi from Clarisonic, I will show you how the ads leave imprint on people’s idea about beauty without they recognizing it. The advertisement for Pedi from Clarisonic is an advertisement about foot cleansing brush. The ad has white background and images of two feet which explain the effect of the product at the center of it. One of two feet looks smoother and cleaner than another and it says before and after under the images. It shows the audience that the product can change their skin just like the skin in the ad. Even though it might take a while, maybe few days, few weeks, or few months, the ad only shows audience the positive final effect of the product. Therefore, the people who see this ad would think that their skin would transform just like the feet on the ads instantly. Kilbourne discusses that “[a]dvertising constantly promotes the core belief of American culture: that we can recreate ourselves, transform ourselves, transcend our circumstances-but with a twist” (122). Even though the transformation generally takes time and effort, in most advertisements, transformations happen
Jean Kilbourne’s “Two Way a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” is a section of a book titled: “Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising” that was originally published in 1999. It is about the images of women that advertisements illustrate. The central claim or thesis of the document is that: “advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish and it plays a role in shaping people’s ideas” (paraphrase). The author wants people by all genders and young children to acknowledge a right attitude towards what is shown in the advertisements so that the standards of behavior will not be influenced. As a result, it enables the negative contribution from the advertisements to be limited or eliminated.
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
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.
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
In the October 21, 2013 issue of In Touch magazine, Herbal Essences’ hair products has an eye catching, bright advertisement to catch a readers attention. As readers browse through the magazine, the advertisement serves the purpose to stop and catch the reader’s attention. The dark haired, dark skinned model, Nicole Scherzinger, is used to show-off the products. Scherzinger’s hair is an image a reader can’t help but notice. Long, think, and full a volume is what attracts the reader, especially females because they would love for their hair to look like the hairstyle shown on the advertisement. Many women will probably see the model and envy her looks and hair and so through also jealousy want to buy the product so they can be attractive like the model. Herbal Essences’ included bright colors, catchy phrases and a model in their advertisement to serve a very important purpose, to get their product sold. The intended message of this advertisement is what the received message is, simply to persuade people into buying the products. The use of flow within Nicole Scherzinger’s hair, focal point, and text make Herbal Essences’ advertisement effective.
Beginning a long time ago, many companies started using sex in their advertisements; however, contemporary advertisements are beginning to use different aspects of nature to sell their products. For years, sex appeal was perhaps the most important attribute of a product. Companies would show young, half-naked bodies in their TV commercials and magazine advertisements. The producers sought to force the public audience to take pleasure by looking at these beautiful ladies, while also making viewers feel naughty at the same time. Advertisers thought the audience would not be able to avoid looking at these well-endowed women. And to consumers, the women were appealing, and that made the product itself appealing. In some recent commercials, however, the concentration has changed from sinful desires to the more healthy approach to life. Everyone wants to appear healthy and in good shape. To achieve this, many people are eating better, working out more often and using healthier products on their skin. To demonstrate the idea about natural products, I have chosen three advertisements to show how these companies use nature to sell their products .
Dove is a personal care trademark that has continually been linked with beauty and building up confidence and self-assurance amongst women. Now, it has taken steps further by impending with a new advertising strategy; fighting adverse advertising. And by that it means contesting all the ads that in some way proliferate the bodily insufficiencies which exits inside women. Launched by Dove, the campaign spins round an application called the Dove Ad Makeover which is part of the global Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” what has been continuing ever since 2004 and times print, television, digital and outdoor advertising. As Leech (1996) believed,” commercial consumer advertising seems to be the most frequently used way of advertising.” In which way the seller’s chief goal is to sway their possible spectators and attempt and change their opinions, ideals and interests in the drive of resounding them that the produce they are posing has a touch that customer wants that will also be in their advantage, therefore generating false desires in the user’s mind. Dove is vexing to influence their viewers to purchase products they wouldn’t usually buy by “creating desires that previously did not exist.”(Dyer, 1982:6)
In addition, both media texts integrate certain perspectives to serve the purpose they aim to achieve. While the advertisement persuades the audience to buy cosmetic products, the news report is written to clarify that negative body image is initiated by cosmetic advertisements. By transmitting an unrealistic beauty ideal, the “Blushing Beauty” advert stereotypes young Women. However, in most cases even men are affected. Furthermore, the newspaper report contains oppositions to cosmetic companies, similarly, the advertisement symbolizes Jane Irdales’ perspective. On the other hand, “a toxic combination of the media, advertising and celebrity culture account for almost three-quarters of the influence o...
In Essential Beauty, the materialistic society are shown to be pursuing their fantasies by buying into the advertisements and purchasing items that they think will gain them social power , the line 'of how life should be ' shows the reader that advertisement sets standards that everyone should live by. However, these are
In the early twentieth century advertisements had just begun to capture the imagination and attention of early consumers. One of the key tactics used during this time period was to pull the stresses and social limitations felt by consumers into the ads they viewed. Advertisers knew that consumers would place themselves inside of the ad and actually feel as though the ad is speaking directly to them if they showed a culturally perceived conception of the “ideal life.” They chose to focus on elements of wealth, style, gender, appearance, and the new technological advances of the modern life, by incorporating these idealized views into their ads with their products. In this paper, I will argue advertisers took full advantage of consumers by playing upon their fears and daily life stresses when it came to issues of class, appearance, gender, and the unknown and fast paced lifestyle of the modern world.
As of the modern day, advertising is everywhere; it is on our televisions, we hear it on the radio and we see it on cars and trucks. Advertising can take many forms, one of which is propaganda. Propaganda techniques are useful in persuasion and drawing people to a certain cause, but mostly we hear of propaganda being used in times of war. However, the Dove’s Real Beauty campaign is a modern day example of propaganda that uses many known techniques of persuasion. This campaign is very prevalent in today’s society because it targets body image among women; more specifically, the campaign aims to positively change how women view themselves.
Plous and Neptune writes in their “Racial and gender biases in magazine advertising” that advertisements have been called ubiquitous, inescapable and one of the most important cultural factors affecting the modern society. They are also known to be one of the great vehicles of social communication. While it is difficult to determine the cumulative effects of the exposure to the vast number of advertisements, it is proved through research on gender stereotyping that these advertisements affect people’s perceptions of and relations with one another (Plous & Neptune, p.01). The debate regarding gender bias in advertising and marketing campaigns is not new. Since long, female bodies have been used to advertise a large number of products from chocolates to toilet products. In the new era, gender has also become a marketing tool just like sex has used to be. Gender bias in advertisements has become the new norm with brands trying just anything to sell their product even if it does not appear logical.
“Introducing the lasted, newly improved widget… anyone whose anyone has one… it is a must have!” These words sound familiar? This is due in part, because advertising today has taken such extreme measures to persuade the American public; materialism has become the most prominent and universal mentality. The need to have the newest and best has become an instilled characteristic of the average citizen. How, you may wonder, has the advertising industry become such a powerful entity? The answer is that propaganda has always played a vital role in society; this is not a new concept. Throughout history propaganda/advertising has been to entice, elude, and manipulate people. Presently, however, because of the vast amounts of available technology advertising has become easier than ever. Mass media such as Television, radio, the internet, and cell phones allows advertising to dominate the public. The advertising industry has mastered the concept of perceptivity; they know how to make anything and everything fascinate the public because of the variety of tactics they use. Sex appeal, greed, and pleasure are key elements that can be found in one form or another in every ad. Colors, shapes, words, and presentation also play a large role in the presentation of an ad, because according to how ‘catchy’ an ad is will relate to how successful it will be. Take cosmetics for example, they tend to use extremely beautiful people having a great time to entice their consumers. Clinique®, however takes a different approach, this particular ad doesn’t revolve around beautiful women or love affairs, it is ingeniously unique because it uses a sharp image of sophistication and a subliminal analo...
Estee Lauder’s beauty product is one such advertiser. In an August 2004 issue of Vogue magazine, enclosed was a two-page ad campaign intended to sell Estee Lauder’s “Future Perfect Anti-Wrinkle Radiance Moisturizers SPF.” This advertisment is appealing to the consumer because it stresses the importance of remaining young by the use of this product. This advertisement then goes further to stress that, “The past is forgiven, the present is improved, and the future will be perfect.” This advertisement includes three alluring models, all of which are of different ethnicity but essentially have the same physical attributes. This image is used to appeal to all sorts of American women. The models all have famished bodies; this includes their angular, somewhat gaunt faces and protruding collarbones. Located right below this image is the company’s slogan which reads, “ESTEE LAUDER. Defining Beauty.” The attempt is made with this advertisement to define beauty with images of starved and malnourished models which Estee Lauder claims to be the standard for beauty.
Although some aspects of the standards of beauty have changed in the past sixty years, the media portrayal of women with perfect bodies, have created insecurities among women as they internalize the thin ideal. The frenzy for a skinny body is by no means a 21st century trend. After World War II, America brought its focus back to the home life. Replacing patriotic propaganda, the media became dominated by advertisements for products to enhance everyday life. Practically all of these advertisements, whether it be for cigarettes or washing machines, were graced by the presence of a beautiful woman. In a 1950 advertisement for Barbasol Shaving Cream, a beautiful woman with perfect hair, make-up, and manicured nails is caressing a man’s...