Societal Effects of Advertising

[Poet]

This is an essay I wrote last year for my Psychology of Women class, would appreciate any feedback or comments on the issue itself...

Sexism refers to the belief that one gender or sex is inferior to the other. It can also refer to hatred or prejudice towards either sex as a whole. In our society power, prestige and intelligence are usually associated with males. We are often not aware of these associates me make, I noticed it a few weeks ago when I was talking to a friend about my developmental psychology class and I had mentioned the professor and she assumed that my teacher was a male. I asked her why she made that assumption and she replied “I don’t know, I just figured”. I went on to tell her that her conditioning had led her to make assumptions such as that. That she associates positions of power, wealth or intelligence with that of a male, like it’s the natural thing to do. I then asked if I was to say “I’m going to the doctor” would she picture the doctor being a male or a female. The question was basically rhetorical being that I already knew the answer. Women are often seen as second class citizens, especially in the media and advertising.
The average individual is subjected to 3,000 advertisements per day and spends 3 years of their life watching commercials. With the amount of money spent on advertising per year it is undoubtedly bound to have an extreme effect on our society. Advertising sets the tone for what society accepts as the norm or at the very least re-enforces it. It is based on advertisements alone that we have this concept of what the “typical” woman should look like. They sell the idea that woman can obtain perfection from these products which is, although widely believed, a false concept. I came across an advertisement for underwear that gives larger women the appearance of having curves, as to say well you’re not perfect but at least you can appear to be. It gives women that don’t have the “perfect” Barbie doll figure a negative self image. Another negative of advertising is the objectification of women in these ads. In many magazine advertisements women are often viewed as objects rather than human beings. Instead of focusing on the woman as a whole, many ads will just focus on one part of her body. Also, women are looked upon as weak sexual objects in these advertisements.
In preparation for writing this essay I took a look at the July 2008 issue of GQ Magazine. I thought I was going to have to search for an ad that portrayed a negative image of a female, but as I opened the magazine randomly to the middle I stumbled upon an advertisement for Gucci. In the advertisement there is a male wearing a Gucci suit priced over $2,000 and in the background there is a female posing in a flirtatious manner, with her skirt hiked up a bit and her cleavage showing, what the female in the picture has to do with the ad for a men’s suit is beyond me. As I said earlier in this essay, society has conditioned us to associate men with positions of wealth, power and prestige and this advertisement is the epitome of that. The advertisement and countless others like it do nothing but disregard the personal and intellectual abilities of women and reduce them to no more than instruments of sexual pleasure, objects in the background that have no real significance other than to satisfy men. These Ads are not harmless pictures. They do more than just condition us to think certain ways in terms of money and power. In certain pictures women are presented as being vulnerable and easily overpowered especially in ads where they have on revealing clothing and take on submissive roles. Women are looked upon as weak sexual objects. Men are often appealed by this because it places women in inferior positions and it re-enforces traditional gender roles. In many advertisements women are portrayed as being vulnerable and easily overpowered which has lead to violence towards women. Sexually graphic pictures have also led to violence. These images of women arouse men but research shows that it also leads to a feeling of acceptance of violence toward women; men have less pity or mercy for victims of rape because of these images.
Sexual objectification occurs when a person is seen as a sexual object, when their sexual attributes and physical attractiveness are separated from the rest of their personality and existence as an individual, and reduced to instruments of pleasure for another person. Sexual objectification plays an important role in the inequality of the sexes. As I picked up the January 2009 issue of Glamor Magazine, it wasn’t hard to find an advertisement objectifying a woman. As I skimmed through the magazine I came across an advertisement for Burt’s Bees Lip Balm. In the ad there’s a young women, well at least her lips are in the ad. I guess that’s all the company needed in order to advertise the product. She’s shown smiling as she wears the lip balm, her nose is shown in part and her hair is brushed over her eyes so she remains anonymous. This ad is a further continuation of the ideal that women are relatively invisible, more of the literal sense and less the metaphoric kind in this case.
Women are often valued for their physical attributes. It is said that such sexual objectification can lead to negative psychological effects including depression and hopelessness, and can give women negative self-images because of the belief that their intelligence and competence are not being acknowledged.
Advertising is an annual multi-billion dollar business in America. Advertising is everywhere - in magazines, on television, in movie theaters, on countless web pages, on buses, in subways and almost everywhere else you go. In fact, advertisements are so common today that we don't even realize we are looking at them anymore. Advertising contributes to the images we shape of women in our society. We need to educate ourselves about the subliminal messaging behind these advertisements in order to correct all the false concepts that have come about because of it.

[nik]

Quote:In the advertisement there is a male wearing a Gucci suit priced over $2,000 and in the background there is a female posing in a flirtatious manner, with her skirt hiked up a bit and her cleavage showing, what the female in the picture has to do with the ad for a men’s suit is beyond me.

The advertisers were targeting men to make them think if they strive to present/become the idealised version; the stereotype, of what constitutes a successful male then women will find them more attractive.

[Poet]

(08-18-2010 08:52 AM)nik Wrote:  

Quote:In the advertisement there is a male wearing a Gucci suit priced over $2,000 and in the background there is a female posing in a flirtatious manner, with her skirt hiked up a bit and her cleavage showing, what the female in the picture has to do with the ad for a men’s suit is beyond me.

The advertisers were targeting men to make them think if they strive to present/become the idealised version; the stereotype, of what constitutes a successful male then women will find them more attractive.

I understand that, that was my point

[nik]

(08-18-2010 09:40 AM)Poet Wrote:  

(08-18-2010 08:52 AM)nik Wrote:  

Quote:In the advertisement there is a male wearing a Gucci suit priced over $2,000 and in the background there is a female posing in a flirtatious manner, with her skirt hiked up a bit and her cleavage showing, what the female in the picture has to do with the ad for a men’s suit is beyond me.

The advertisers were targeting men to make them think if they strive to present/become the idealised version; the stereotype, of what constitutes a successful male then women will find them more attractive.

I understand that, that was my point

Yes, but the onus of your argument is singularly focused upon the capitalisation of the female form or psyche, whereas in the advertisement, with all advertising in fact, the assault is not gender specific; men and women are targeted equally to strive to conform to the images and symbols as laid out by the controlling sociopolitical structure through oblivious consumerism as dictated by finance.
The bias between manipulation of one gender's thoughts and the fabricated goals they are encouraged to aspire to, within the consumerist society (in this case the women as oppose to men) above the other, is nowhere near as pronounced as your essay potentially posits. That was my point : )

[Poet]

In the advertisement the assault is gender specific, the power and prestige is attributed to the male... The picture is in front of a brownstone, the man is on his way to work (one would assume) and the women is in the background dressed provocatively, as she bids the man adieu.. It paints the picture of the man being a provider, the women staying home as the man is out having to support her and whatnot.. Her submissive & sexual posture & attire objectifies her (and women in general).. it places value on physical appearance, portrays her as a sexual object rather then valuing her as a human being.. that was the main focus of the essay itself.

[nik]

(08-18-2010 10:19 AM)Poet Wrote:  In the advertisement the assault is gender specific, the power and prestige is attributed to the male... The picture is in front of a brownstone, the man is on his way to work (one would assume) and the women is in the background dressed provocatively, as she bids the man adieu.. It paints the picture of the man being a provider, the women staying home as the man is out having to support her and whatnot.. Her submissive & sexual posture & attire objectifies her (and women in general).. it places value on physical appearance, portrays her as a sexual object rather then valuing her as a human being.. that was the main focus of the essay itself.

How is that not also mentally assaulting men? ? ?!

"If you don't succeed or conform to this goal, then forget getting laid"

The exact same tactic is used on women too by objectifying the idealised male form:

"If you don't succeed in conforming to the goal, forget snagging a decent male or having good looking children"

[Poet]

(08-18-2010 10:36 AM)nik Wrote:  

(08-18-2010 10:19 AM)Poet Wrote:  In the advertisement the assault is gender specific, the power and prestige is attributed to the male... The picture is in front of a brownstone, the man is on his way to work (one would assume) and the women is in the background dressed provocatively, as she bids the man adieu.. It paints the picture of the man being a provider, the women staying home as the man is out having to support her and whatnot.. Her submissive & sexual posture & attire objectifies her (and women in general).. it places value on physical appearance, portrays her as a sexual object rather then valuing her as a human being.. that was the main focus of the essay itself.

How is that not also mentally assaulting men? ? ?!

"If you don't succeed or conform to this goal, then forget getting laid"

The exact same tactic is used on women too by objectifying the idealised male form:

"If you don't succeed in conforming to the goal, forget snagging a decent male or having good looking children"

I see your point, but I just view it slightly different.. maybe would have to see the exact advertisement.. or then again it might not make a difference. I somewhat agree... but overall (in my opinion) women feel the effects of such more severely then that of a male.. in all forms of advertising.

[nik]

(08-18-2010 10:41 AM)Poet Wrote:  I see your point, but I just view it slightly different.. maybe would have to see the exact advertisement.. or then again it might not make a difference. I somewhat agree... but overall (in my opinion) women feel the effects of such more severely then that of a male.. in all forms of advertising.

[Poet]

(08-18-2010 11:07 AM)nik Wrote:  

(08-18-2010 10:41 AM)Poet Wrote:  I see your point, but I just view it slightly different.. maybe would have to see the exact advertisement.. or then again it might not make a difference. I somewhat agree... but overall (in my opinion) women feel the effects of such more severely then that of a male.. in all forms of advertising.

Yeah posting one advertisement really proves your point -__-

[nik]

poet Wrote:Yeah posting one advertisement really proves your point -__-

*shrugs* Just trying to help, at least I paid you the courtesy of reading what you asked us to read.Your essay was just based on one advert too.

Much of contemporary P.C. education is brainwashing in itself anyhow JMO

The advertisement is emblematic. I figured it would be impolite to post a great many of such advertisements, not to mention needlessly laborious.

It represents something and yes, I do think it illustrates the point I was tying to make

How many advertisements should I have posted for you???

Maybe you are already aware of "Bisphenol A", if not, it is worth familiarising yourself with. Which gender that is aggressively targeted at having an effect on?

Your feminist discourse is outmoded IMO. You make some salient points in your essay but it is not the whole story, by any means. It's half of it.

[crystal]

theres a good analysis of womens magazines here.
While the pressure on beauty is strong the emphasis on distrust and fear is even stronger imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8kk8Y5w5aQ

[SiLVa]

Seeing the thread title, I thought it was about both genders as well, but being that this was a psychology of Women class, I can see why this was pointed in that direction. But overall, the psychological effects in advertising are pretty much the same when targeting both men and women.
Women by most statistics tend to buy more products and also respond more to advertisements on an emotional level, so I can see how they are targeted a bit more often and with more products, however as the title goes, the "Societal Effects of Advertising" do effect both sexes equally.

[nik]

(08-18-2010 03:23 PM)SiLVa Wrote:  but being that this was a psychology of Women class, I can see why this was pointed in that direction.

Fair point..

[mothandrust]

'Killing us Softly" - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...337678412#
is a good examination of how women are used in advertising.

but the bottom line is, it works. if these images/ideas didn't sell products then ad agencies wouldn't use them.

[nik]

(08-18-2010 03:57 PM)mothandrust Wrote:  'Killing us Softly" - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...337678412#
is a good examination of how women are used in advertising.

but the bottom line is, it works. if these images/ideas didn't sell products then ad agencies wouldn't use them.

sure, but it is chicken and egg all over again though. Iknow they capitalise on innate basic drives within both sexes but to what extent is it simply reaping the effects of the conditioning and fabricated socialisation that has been drummed into people since childhood?

I use the manipulated creation and engineered disintegration of the "nuclear family" as a case in point.