Images of women in both men and women advertisements, portray women in atypical roles-sex objects. These ads focus moreso on female sexuality, and uses this as a bait to reel consumers into buying the products advertised. For example, the products advertised above consist of (from left to right): Chanel perfume, Tom Ford cologne, Tom Ford sunglasses, women's Nike sneakers, Ugg Boots, Budweiser beer, Francesco Biasia purses, Miller Lite beer, and men's Nike sneakers. In each of these ads, advertisers used beautiful, scantily-clad women to bait the audience into buying these products. Some of these ads portray the idea that women will be sexy if they use the products, and other ads portray the idea that men would be desired by women if they bought the products. Advertisers use what we like, what we desire to persuade us to consume their products. They know that long hair, big butts, and tight, firm butts are what many men are attracted to; therefore they do what they can to appeal to this audience. This is how sex is sold. Sexual attraction makes advertisers rich. They do whatever they can to draw an audience to their t.v. screens, mesmerize them, and get them to buy their products.
Kilbourne states that, "The sex object is a mannequin, a shell. Conventional beauty is her only attribute. She has no lines or wrinkles...no scars or blemishes. She is thin, generally tall and long-legged, and above all, she is young. All 'beautiful' women in advertisements (including minority women), regardless of product or audience, conform to this norm." (Kilbourne, 122). This idea paints a very real and vivid image of how women are seen as something to be wanted, something to be desired. Women are to be seen and not heard. Kilbourne's analysis shows us how women should be, what would should look like, in order to be attractive to men. This analysis shows us an 'ideal beauty' that women should reach in order to be attractive.
Wolf's article, "The Beauty Myth" supports Kilbourne's analysis. In her article, Wolf contends that, "The beauty myth tells a story: The quality called 'beauty' objectively and universally exists. Women must want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it. (Wolf, 121). The 'beauty myth' claims that the 'ideal beauty' is a goal that all women should want to reach. Women who do not desire to reach this goal are not considered beautiful, not attractive. They are not desired by men. Women should want to be appealing to men.
Both Kilbourne and Wolf's article give in-depth looks into how society really views women, and the positions or roles that they believe women should play or fulfill.
Both Kilbourne and Wolf's article give in-depth looks into how society really views women, and the positions or roles that they believe women should play or fulfill.
WORKS CITED
1) Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising. Los Angeles: 1989.
2) Wolf, Naomi. "The Beauty Myth." Gender and Women's Bodies (1991): 120-125.
1 comment:
Linda-
Overall, nice work on the second blog post, I like your collage and it turned out quite well aesthetically!
Don't forget to have a very focused thesis. Whether you choose to focus on one publication to find your examples (such as the ads for this assignment) or a specific type of product that you find multiple ways it's advertised that objectifies women, your thesis should be a bit more narrow (so that your collage isn't stating a more obvious point about the advertising industry...which is that sex selling is just about everywhere).
Also, be careful with your word choice. Do you mean "atypical" in the first paragraph? Also, when you use words with normative/idealized connotations, don't use them at face value (i.e. your use of "beautiful women" is used without questioning the idealized construct it rests upon). Try to use these words as cues to deepen your analysis in a meaningful way. It illustrates you understand the subject to me, informs your reader you're a credible author, and/or provides readers who may be unfamiliar with this subject helpful definitions and points of reference. Whether one is familiar with the subject matter or not, your reader will have a much more contextualized understanding of the subject you're analyzing.
Your use of quotes has also improved quite a bit from the first assignment.
Just try to make sure that you use the quotes in a clear concise way (so that they don't end up taking over almost an entire paragraph).
For the next assignment, and for just about any writing assignment (in college or any piece of work you create), remember to include complete citations when someone else is cited or used by you in your work.
Your Works Cited list needs to include ALL sources... including the images from which you created your collage (at least the publication dates/titles).
:o)
Jessie
FYI: I posted a slide show of collages from your section of gender & pop culture (like I did with Maymester's collages). I included your blog titles and collage titles (unlike Maymester's, which were compiled in a hurry!) and if you'd like to see your classmates, click the link below:
Mixed Media: Gender & Consumer Capitalism Collages - Summer Session B 2008
Post a Comment