This week in class. we watched part of the film "Killing Me Softly 4", which is about how women are consistently objectified in advertisement. A few of the advertisement's that the woman read in the film were, "feminine odor is everyone's problem", "It sure was a load off Roy when I lost 59 pounds", "Honey, I don't think you're antiperspirant spray is working", and "I never would have married if I hadn't lost 39 pounds". In the film, she also showed pictures of woman who's bodies turned into objects, such as beer bottles or cars.
Before watching this film, I never really noticed how much woman are objectified in the media. I goggled searched and found a few examples of woman's bodies being objectified. I decided to stick to just the beer advertisements since I found some good examples for them.
As you can see, these women are clearly more like objects in the ads more than anything else. The first one show's a woman's bra having an easy eject button on it. The second show's a woman laying in a pool of beer caps, with some on her body. The third show's a woman with three breast, because three is better than two. And the fourth show's a woman's torso become a drawing of people, with her belly button being the mouth of one.
I think that when a man see's these ads, they think 'hey, I want that!' and so it makes them want that beer. I mean what man wouldn't want a woman with three breasts? But I think that when a woman sees it, it makes them feel more like an object than a person. I know that when I see these ads, I feel like a man just wants a woman for their body and nothing else. I think to young girls, ads like this can make them feel like they have to look perfect for a boy to notice them, and that all guys want from them is their bodies. I feel like this can cause major self-esteem issues for them in the future.
Large corporations responsible for these types of advertisements devalue women on a regular basis and it is wrong. Yet, they often treat men in the same way. Good-looking men with perfectly sculpted muscles are used to sell everything from perfume to underwear. How do you think these equally unrealistic portrayals of masculinity impact society?
ReplyDeleteMany agree that the effects these kinds of ads have on women can be very negative, but the idea of sex sells just continues to be present. Do you feel there will ever be any solution to eliminating it?
ReplyDeleteI must agree with your statements, there are better ways to advertise beer than to have women be treated as objectives. Because beer should be able to sell with just their taste alone. Why do you think beer companies decide to take this route of treating women as objects when it comes to advertising their product?
ReplyDeleteCloud City, I think that it makes men feel like they need to be perfect and look just like how they're depicted or else women won't find them attractive. I think that it is an equally unrealistic problem in the media today because most men do not look like that and that isn't always what a woman wants. I know personally, I don't like how men are portrayed in the media and I think it looks gross. I can't speak for all woman though because I'm sure there are some out there that that is what they want in a man. Example would be that Nikki Minaj song, how she wants a man that is 'ill' and well defined.
ReplyDeleteChelsey, I would like to say yes, that this can be eliminated and advertisements will stop using the female body to sell products but I just don't think it will happen, at least no where near in the future. I feel like they know what helps sell their products right now, and why would they try something else that may hurt their company. I think there are better ways to sell products and that they could get creative and find those ways, but I just don't think they want to spend the extra money to do research and find that option and that they would rather stick to what they know works, even if it's offensive.
ReplyDeleteKelsey, I think beer companies choose to use the female body to sell their product because men usually are the ones buying the beer and men like woman. So I'm guessing they think that therefore if woman are used to advertise their beer, men will buy it. I think that they think the "sexier" the woman, the more man will see the ad and therefore buy the beer. I just think they are going about it the wrong way. I think a man may find it sexy just to see a beautiful woman drinking the same beer they like. They don't have to make the woman lie naked in a pool of beer caps to do it.
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