Sad ads
Why are women constantly portrayed in advertisements as dead, defenseless, overly sexualized, put down or on the floor?
The National Organization for Women has a fantastic - yet appalling - gallery of advertisements that shows just how poorly women are treated in everyday ads by very prominent companies. I have long been horrified by this Dolce & Gabbana ad in which a woman (extremely thin, of course) appears to be gang-raped by a group of shirtless, oiled-up male models. At NOW, you can see others and even nominate your own.
It's so sad that such ads exist...but just as sad is the fact that many women and men (and children) go through their days totally unaware of how misogynistic billboards, commercials and magazine ads impact thier psyches. If you know of an awful ad, share it here so we can empower ourselves.
Thanks!
Leslie
Comments
Hi Leslie, on the nowfoundation.org site they also have a link for positive ads featuring women. I hadn't looked at the negative ones until just now, and I don't have one to add to the list, but I do like the positive ones...too bad there aren't more of them out there!
At first glance, most of these ads just appeared edgy to me, but upon closer inspection, they seem sleazy, and make me quite angry! Why do they have to put women in such inferior positions?
I agree with beth
When I first see these ads they do just look edgy and maybe even sexy but then looking more closely I notice how disturbing they actually are.
check out what i found (from http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/advertising.html):
"The fact is, while advertisements on the surface sell products, through their secondary discourse they sell normalcy, values, and ideas. The way we know that advertisements create culture rather than just reflect it, is by examining different cultures and time periods. Our concepts of gender are constructed and advertisements help construct it."
the author also points out how women are often displayed as passive sexual objects that can be bought and sold, taken and used. there is also the concept of the "ideal" women to make real women feel insecure so that they'll buy the products advertised.
the part that frightens me is how children absorb these images. they grow up thinking that this is how they should act. i can't believe that advertisers get away with this! (although i know that it's all about money.)
Thanks for the link, Peaches! Some interesting info I found there:
Statistics:
- 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.
- 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat.
- The average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5'11" tall and weighs 117 pounds.
- Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.
- 46% of 9-11 year-olds are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets, and 82% of their families are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets.
- 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted "often" or "always".
- Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year.
*Provided by the National Eating Disorders Association
This isn't a sad ad but in the same vein of educating young girls about body image and advertising. It's from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty.
http://campaignforrealbeauty.co.uk/
i'm commenting again because this topic has been on my mind all day; it really bothers me that i didn't notice this stuff before. we let the media control us, instead of the other way around. i'm going to start writing letters to magazines that carry these demeaning messages. (i'm sure most of them will laugh in my face, but some are bound to pay attention.)
Granted, when I saw this sight at first I was annoyed to see women depicted in such a way. Then I realize, these women put themselves in a position to be portrayed like this. That said, wouldn't that be... I dunno... their... fault? IF it is a fault. (I'm not arrogant enough to decide that -for- my fellow ladies.)
