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How does the sexualisation of women in advertising impact the society
Role of media in changing society
Role of media in changing society
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“Sex sells” has been used as an excuse to exploit and humiliate women through advertising for years. It is seen everywhere: television, movies, magazines, billboards, literally any place that can have an advertisement put in/on it. One company that specializes in advertisements composed of sexualizing women in order to sell their clothes is American Apparel. For years, they have created degrading ads that make the average believe they need to look like these images in order to feel good about themselves. Advertisements like these have a negative effect on society and especially women but American Apparel has taken things to a whole new level of exploitation.
In Jean Kilbourne's documentary “Killing Us Softly 4”, she gives multiple detailed examples of advertisers making women a sexual object which leads to society dehumanizing the female species. As well as this, they are finding younger and thinner women to use, even photo-shopping their models to unrealistic body shapes; warping the average women's view of what she should look like. American Apparel's founder and CEO Dov Charney himself stated that he had worked hard to acquire the provocative image they have today and that he purposefully created ads that were “soaked in youth and sex” (Chauduri). The company insists that they are simply “open about sexuality” and should not be persecuted for it (Chauduri). While sex is more prominent and less taboo than it has been in society, there is a definite line between more “open” about sexuality, and abusing the sexual side of men and women. By “open about sexuality” Dov Charney and American Apparel actually mean that they are going use extremely young women in promiscuous positions to sell their clothing, despite the fact that the...
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...he rise of materialism, depression, sexuality at a young age, and eating disorders are just a few examples that have definitely not been helped by advertising. As long as companies like American Apparel continue to produce images such as the ones they have been, these things will only get worse.
Works Cited
Chauduri, Saabira. "Nipples, Nudity and a Small Striptease: American Apparel's New Ad Campaign." Fast Company. Fastcompany.com, 21 Nov. 2008. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. .
"Eating Disorder Statistics." 2003 Retraining Grant Program. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, 2006. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. .
“Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women” Jean Kilbourne. 2010. Documentary
In the article, Jesus is a Brand of Jeans, by Jean Kilbourne, we get an insightful look into the effects of advertising on us, as human beings. As we all know, humans let us down. We are imperfect beings, going about life interacting with each other, good and bad. It seems though, over the past 50 years advertising has taken away from human value, and brain washed us into thinking stuff is more important than people.
To what extent is it acceptable, in an age of shifting morals and the increasing acceptance of sex and violence in entertainment, to use sex to sell to consumers? Does this definition of acceptable shift when the consumers are underage children and teenagers? We all know that "sex sells", but deciding where to draw the line is becoming increasingly difficult as what is acceptable is redefined with each new generation. When does a company's tactics move from representing progressiveness to having crossed the line? Well in Abercrombie & Fitches case they continue to push the envelope.
Advertisements are all over the place. Whether they are on TV, radio, or in a magazine, there is no way that you can escape them. They all have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. And of course they are selling their product. This is a multi billion dollar industry and the advertiser’s study all the ways that they can attract the person’s attention. One way that is used the most and is in some ways very controversial is use of sex to sell products. For me to analyze this advertisement I used the rhetorical triangle, as well as ethos, pathos, and logos.
Sex is everywhere is America. In 2010 Kim Kardashian modeled in a commercial for the fast-food chain Hardees. The commercial features Ms. Kardashian on a bed seductively eating a salad while in a silk robe. At the end of the commercial Ms. Kardashian eats the salad in the bathtub because she dropped some dressing on herself while eating in bed. Kim Kardashian is one of the sex symbol of the 21st century, and the Hardees commercial used her status to sell their salad. Kim Kardashian 's Hardees commercial is not unique in it 's philosophy of using sex to sell a product seeing as almost every company, excluding children’s products, uses sex to sell their product. Being a sexually active person is seen as extremely important in main-stream American
Thus, we can assume that the audience itself, the members who believe in the content of ads and its sincerity, as well as, people who agree with the portrait of the women that is being created are the only prisoners in this particular situation. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Plato 868). On the other hand, according to the Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” what is not mention to the public is the fact, that many women from the very young age during the process of finding out the truth and being blinded by the “light” are fighting with depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders and sexual harassment. “I contend that all girls growing up in this culture are sexually abused – abused by the pornographic images of female sexuality that surround them from birth, abused by all the violence against woman and girls, and abused by the constant harassment and threat of violence” (Kilbourne
Eating Disorders." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Watching television growing up, half of the time spent watching was filled with advertisements. Most of the time, the ad would include a beautiful woman, barely dressed, doing something sexually suggestive. The whole advertisement would consist of this, while most people have no idea what the product being sold is. Then at the very end, they provide a brief description of the product. This is an example of using sex to sell products. It is no secret that advertisers have been using sex to sell their products for years. These tools are used in all types of advertisements. However, this is not just selling sex, it is selling elitism. It is selling the status of “hey, if you can get our product, you can get these types of girls”. Elitism is
Eva Mendes half top is undressed and she is exposing her bare back turning her torso slightly, while her face confronts the spectator. The skin dominates the image and the eye is immediately drawn to the intensity of her expression, the curvaceous figure and her arms in an explosion of seductive beauty, framed by nothing but a pair of jeans. To quote Berger’s line “her expression is the expression of a woman responding with calculated charm to the man whom she imagines looking at her…she is offering up here femininity as the surveyed”. (Berger, 1972, p. 49) The centrality of the body in this case is even more reinforced by the caption advertising the brand called unmistakably the BODY Line.
In a study done by The 4Th Estate, the results showed men are quoted around five times more than women in stories regarding women (Pesta 1). With media being so male centered, it is not surprising that often women become the target of sexual objectification in all realms of media. With the concept of “Sex Sells” still holding true, many advertising outlets have continued to fund ads with sexually focused content. Whether you are listening to the radio, reading your favorite magazine, or just window shopping in the mall you are being targeted by media’s gendered advertising.
ANAD. “Eating Disorders Statistics”. National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders, Inc., 2013.Web. 18 Nov 2013.
The Web. 24 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. The "Eating Disorders" University Health Center. University of Nebraska, n.d., a.d. Web.
Shapiro, C. M. (2012). Eating disorders: Causes, diagnosis, and treatments [Ebrary version]. Retrieved from http://libproxy.utdallas.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/utdallas/Doc?id=10683384&ppg=3
Steele’s Constructing Sex, the Sexual, and the Erotic- 'Doing It’: The Social Construction of S-E-X, which covers the social construction and perception of sex, sexuality, pleasure, and gender. In the text Steele mentions that very often in this society, penial penetration and male pleasure and climax are commonly seen as indicator of having had sex (Steele). The focus on male pleasure above females is not only relevant to the physical act of sex, but also the perception of gender and the way media targets their audience. More often than not, the typical objects of male pleasure (females) are taken and added into media and advertising to appeal to male pleasure even in ads that the products are targeted away from men. For example, underwear made for females often features an ‘attractive’ female seductively showing off the garments, effective for targeting straight males. Even in commercials for products for either gender like burgers or sunscreen, still use an objectified women as their selling point. Another point that Steele looks at in the text is the idea of consent, Steele states that “The dangers inherent in contemporary constructions of S-E-X… is about the pleasure of the actor” which can cause the dismissal of the object of desire as irrelevant (Steele). This idea of the focus being solely on the actor is problematic as it can easily perpetuate rape culture, and is a large part of the RadioShack ad.
In many clothing advertisements, particularly jeans and lingerie ads, women are used as the main subjects to entice the viewer to notice the ad and most importantly, be excited about the product. In one photo, Calvin Klein Jeans promotes its clothing through what seems to be unwilling, reluctant sexual activity – rape. The advertisement displays the woman resisting the man with the palm of her right hand, and she is pulling her shirt down to cover her stomach with her left hand; yet he is still pursuing her and attempting to remove her top. Her body language and gaze – devoid of emotion – reveal that she is not interes...
Woman’s apparel is often advertised on television and magazines, yet the Internet is becoming a bigger part of many campaigns. Marketers customizing their advertisement based in lifestyle that they are trying to emulate. For example, a commercial could suggest that a particular designer's clothing is makes its customers more appealing to men like Victoria Secret featuring a woman in their underwear and bra. Presenting clothes as transformative is another common advertising strategy for women’s apparel.