Objectifying Women In Advertising

Whether it is a Super Bowl commerical or ad campaign, women are objectified to help sell a product. Often, we will see women in skimpy clothing posing on a car or seductively eating a new promotional burger. For example, an ad shown in a 1998 issue of Desert News shows is trying to sell tennis equipment to the community. In this advertisement, an attractive young woman is wearing a short tennis skirt and form fitting shirt, attempting to attract males to the ad. Throughout the years, we have seen shocking commercials like Go Daddy’s Super Bowl commercial in which Bar Refaeli, a supermodel, makes out with a stereotypical nerd on screen for several seconds. This is not just overly sexual for young viewers, but also is objectifying women and setting

However, despite the progression of our society, women still face massive objectification in advertising. For example, countless beer commercials show scantily clad models laying on the beach or surrounding the “world’s most interesting man.” These women are typically all around six feet tall and are extremely slender. First of all, this creates ridiculous standards for women to have that “perfect” body they see so often on television. Secondly, this gives male consumers ability to objectify the women around them, as it is so casually done on the television. In fact, a recent ad campaign featuring Kim Kardashian goes so far as to picture her completely naked from behind. This form of advertising is disgusting, and, frankly, massively inappropriate in a growing culture that seeks to hold women as

It is disgusting that these companies feel the need to show off their products by placing them in front of poorly clad women. In the 1990’s, beauty expectations encouraged young girls to model themselves off of famous actors like Jennifer Aniston or Gwyneth Paltrow. Those women, often featured in advertising, blatantly affected the clothing, hairstyle, and body image of a generation. We can see the same today, as Victoria’s Secret models or and music icons pose almost, if not entirely, nude in front of a camera. All in all, while these different styles of advertising are different, they have one common demoniator: they oversexualize women, try to put them into a box, and give young girls unrealistic body