Women in Ads: Victors or Victims

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Women in Ads: Victors or Victims

The influence of media portraying female sexuality in advertising has led to the display of women in a degrading and an anti- feminist way. Advertising visuals such as posters, television and print advertisements that display women as sex objects for male satisfaction tend to generate degrading statements that the responsibility of women is to satisfy men’s desires. I agree with Kilbourne that displaying female individuals as sex figures leads to misogyny, a position where women are viewed as inferior when compared to men, therefore justifying the former into being ruled and controlled by the male populace.

In the article, Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt, the author explains how advertisements have used the popular sex appeal strategy in marketing various products. The common goal of such promotions is to make the product attractive to its customers in an appealing manner.

For example in the Dolce & Gabbana Company, an advertisement that was displayed in the May, 2008 issue of Men’s Health magazine to advertise a perfume product shows the image below of a woman willingly agreeing to be controlled by a man. The woman appears to be sensual but seems to be weakened by the man’s attempts to embrace her. Although she looks attractive, this image is not justifiable to use it in marketing the product because it diminishes the dignity of women.

Kilbourne explains that sex has become a major tool for organizations towards successfully marketing products. Despite the fact that it belittles a woman’s standing in the society, marketing organizations still use it to sell their products. The worst thing about this approach is that it displays women as objects that can be acquired, utilized and done away with once the desired purpose is attained. This statement is true because if women are displayed as being of less value to the society than men are with the only relevance attached to their sexuality, it is expected that in reality, they will be treated similarly. Some advertisements used for promotional purposes that diminish the value of a woman borrow some concepts from pornography and therefore accentuating the given issue.

This view can be well illustrated in the above diagram as an example from the August 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine displays an advertisement for a perfume invented by Mariah Carey. The advertisement displays a naked young woman lying above a water pool. The purpose is to sell the woman’s purity and incorporate it with the message communicating that the perfume is as captivating as a woman’s innocence. However, had the advertisement excluded the bottle of a perfume from the picture, it would be similar to watching a pornographic image because it would only visualize a naked woman and emphasize on her power to fascinate men. In addition, the company or owner of this perfume communicates to the society that for a product to be used, it has to be sexually preferred, evidencing the woman’s position in any relationship.

However, Kilbourne argues in her article that some female advertisements are trying to solve this problem through their advertising by changing the message of displaying women as decent, powerful and independent. A majority of perfume companies have retaliated on this statement and differed on the given view of how a woman should be displayed in a perfume advertisement. A woman’s role is noted as being that of appeasing the male ego into purchasing the product. Despite a woman’s intelligence or independence, if she fails to fulfill her duty towards serving the male populace, then she actually fails in her role as a woman (Benjamin 5). From this, it is evident that efforts towards instilling respect to the female figure have been inhibited by the subjugation view accorded by the males in relation to women as sexual icons.

It is very irresponsible of companies to encourage the society to view women as being of lesser value when they are quite important in the functioning of the world. These advertisements have further made it seem like the duties performed by a woman are of less importance as compared to those achieved by men. It is quite shocking to identify the same perspective within the celebrity culture and icons evidencing a large form of stereotyping in a global level. This is because, most individuals like following celebrities lifestyles and views. An example from the May 2007 issue of the Billboard magazine shows the advertisement of the Beckham Night perfume, owned by the famous football icon, David Beckham that has been illustrated quite clearly.

The advertisement shows a man standing behind a woman as she poses in the style that suggests sexual submission (Turin, Lucia and Sanchez 203). The man displays passiveness because he is only staring at the camera, as the woman appears to be getting pleasure from being entangled with the man. In reality however, this displays a woman that decides to sell her sexuality. In addition, it shows that in order for a woman to be desired by a man, she has to align to his needs. In advertising, most of these presentations have illustrated a restriction of women’s responsibilities to particular roles, which they are supposed to use in presenting themselves within their society.

However, this stereotype can be negatively consequential to the society since in as much as the cited advertisements portray women with perfect and beautiful characteristics, the reality is that most women are not as perfect and hence this creates a standard of how women should appearance in terms of shape and dressing. In addition, this creates the issue of low self-esteem because women who suffer from obesity or weight factors experience confidence loss because they are not able to fit in the society that demands such standards of the female body image. An ordinary woman without these qualities may end up dissatisfied with her physical appearance and hence might be the reason for companies to display the alluring representation to men. This is because they are able to persuade such an individual into buying the product with the view that it will improve her image upon utilization.

However, this mode of advertising has led to women suffering from health dangers such as eating disorders. Females targeting to have their appearance to such perfections starve themselves in order to loose extra weight. Most unsatisfied women also become depressed and end up suffering from low self-esteem while in extreme cases they end up committing suicide. Representing women as sex symbols to the society allow the society to undervalue a female’s existence and purpose. In addition, the community only evaluates a woman’s relevance as an object instead of a valuable individual.

This aspect of advertising also communicates the message that women should consider the materialism of beauty to be more significant than qualities such as intelligence, health and confidence among others. It leads to women practicing unhealthy habits that set a negative path for young girls over their physical appearance rather than their real value as individuals. Another example is noted in the perfume advertisement of Calvin Klein of the name known as Ckin, displays a young woman with attractive features being approached by a man in a suggestive manner that indicates the trade of female sexuality. The man appears to have control over the woman who shows signs of vulnerability (Katherine and Meller 118). This advertisement sets a wrong materialistic path for young girls to follow in that they should only focus on how to represent their external appearance to the society.

After analyzing different kinds of commercials that degrade the value and existence of women, it is evident that the modern society is setting a twisted path for what women should become. Advertisements especially in the perfume industry as discussed in the argument depict the female figure as only valued for sex purposes for a high acceptance by the men. I think it is very degrading as to how women allow themselves to be depicted in the society. I also do not agree with how men are stagnant with taking action and instead taking pleasure of watching such injustice-taking place.

This means that a woman has to strip off her dignity in order to get the society’s attention to her. The perfume industry therefore fails to show the relevance of real beauty and ends up corrupting female sexuality. However, there is still hope for women if they only focused valuing themselves as individuals before focusing on the external demands of the society. If one is able to value and accept herself internally, she will be able to establish and defend her identity despite the harsh demands of the society.

Works Cited

Frith, Katherine, and Barbara Mueller. Advertising and Societies: Global Issues. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. Print.

Gomez-Mejia, Luis, David Balkin and Robert Cardy. Managing Human Resources. UpperSaddleRiver: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.

Pauw, Jacques. Dances with Devils: A Journalist’s Search for Truth. Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2006. Print.

Straight, Benjamin A. The Two Finger Diet: How the Media Has Duped Women into Hating Themselves. New York: iUniverse, Inc, 2005. Print.

Turin, Luca, and Tania Sanchez. Perfumes. London: Profile Books, 2009. Print.