The American advertising industry has taken human sexuality, an entity that has permeated and molded art, culture, society, politics and religion, and monopolized it. Today in the United States sex sells. Advertisers use unrealistic stereotypes of the ideal, highly sexualized man and woman to sell everything from rope to cheeseburgers. These ad's are encoded with propaganda of a lifestyle the viewer associates with popularity, acceptance, praise, success and respect.
When analyzing these ad's most see the blatant marginalization of women; trivializing their stupidity and pressuring them to conform to the rigid American ideals of the sexual female figure. however, this scrutiny and negative association is not limited to women; men are victims as well. Less in relation to physical appearance men are pressured for the sexual approval of their stereotyped female counterparts and financial success.
According to this ad, the only way for a man to hold onto the love of a women is to shower her in diamonds. this message is flawed in many ways: first, what kind of man has that kind of disposable income? second, if the only way to keep your wife is to keep her in expensive jewels your relationship is in more real trouble than any diamond can fix. An ad like this subliminally pressures men to think that if they are not successful and wealthy enough to be able to afford expensive jewelry for their partners they wont have any; that without that level of affluence they will never be loved, or considered funny.
In this blatently sexual advertisement we see the epitome of the highly sexualized and idealized American woman’s body. She is naked, her vagina holding a bottle of cologne creating a subliminal connection between this brands sent and sex with a beautiful woman. To the right of this we see a handsome man in an expensiv
e suit with a woman’s arms reaching for his chest and his crotch reinforcing the idea that if a man wears this sent- he will be rewarded with sexual attention from beautiful women. I showed my friend Justin, a 22-year-old male, this ad and asked him, would he buy this cologne? His expression showed an understanding of the offensive material. His response: "It's a great ad."
Alcohol is not inherently sexual. It’s a beverage enjoyed by many across the world without any necessarily sexual connotations. Here we see the blatent connection between drinking bicardi and seeing sexy naked women. Bicardi wants the viewers of this ad to associate drinking bicardi with a lifestyle that allows for scantily clad, tan, beautiful women to be parading in the presence of the drinker. The tan and perfectly sculpted model even has the liquor's logo as a tramp-stamp tattoo. This is not only directed at the men who want to see this woman while drinking Bacardi, but also at the women who are taught that they should be that half-naked girl in the ad. It screams, “boys who drink bicardi are cool and they only like women who look like this- conform conform conform!” The print at the bottom of the ad, "Librarian by day, Bacardi by night," performs two functions: first, brings up the stereotypical sexual fantacy of the sexy librarian; second, suggests to women that even the studious bookworms should look like this, dress like this, and drink Bacardi to receive praise and attention from men.
These highly sexualized and stereotyped ads did not come into existence because of a few powerful advertising executives once upon a time. They have survived in our media world because they evoke a response from the viewer. Americans see these ads and associate the idealized images of sexual beauty with a social culture of affluence, popularity and acceptance. Every human is guilty of wanting these things. We all seek acceptance from our peers even if it means altering ourselves to change the perceptions of others. We see these ads and want them to reflect our lives- this is the root problem.
I believe that every human is guilty of being shallow at some point or another. I also believe that every human has the potential to be more than just another stereotype; to grow beyond what is expected of them. If from the beginning of our lives we weren’t bombarded with this type of propaganda perhaps America wouldn’t have so many anorexic teenage girls or mooks harassing the general public emulating Johnny Knoxville.
It appears that Norway and Denmark have set an example that I hope someday will be implemented in America. In these two countries there are, “strict limits on the use of such [sexual] images for commercial gain.” (Holmes ) The ban is part of an effort to protect, “the depiction of religion, sexuality, race and gender.” (Holmes) Unless sexuality and nudity are actually associated with the product having sexually explicit images in an advertisement is illegal. According to Sol Olving, the head of Norway’s Kreativt Forum, “Naked people are wonderful, of course, but they have to be relevant to the product. You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car.” (Holmes)
Sexuality and nudity are not all bad. They permeate the human experience, our art, our films and effect the structure of every culture across the world: they cannot be ignored. However, in America we clearly have allowed the images of sex and nudity to mutilate our youth and perceptions of gender and success. No man should think the only way he will be loved and accepted is if he is wealthy, lean and muscular. A man should be praised for being funny by his partner because he is: not because he bought them diamonds. Additionally, America’s pre-teen girls need to see images of realistic women in the media. As discussed by Jean Kilbourne in Killing Us Softly 3, the image the ideal woman is primarily genetic. This means for many, regardless of effort, such a figure is unattainable. These girls need to know that they are beautiful even if they’re a size 15 and more importantly: they can be loved, successful and accepted filling pants that size.
If we were to have similar restrictions in advertisement as Norway and Denmark do, I think America’s future would be happier, more realistic and self-aware. As step one the general public would associate beer with drinking beer, and bathing suits with being half-naked because that is logical. The second step would be having realistic physical representations of men and women when an ad was appropriate for showing nudity. Unfortunately I think we are a long way away from step two.
"A sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing." -Marilyn Monroe
References:
Click Here to view the Diamond is Forever ad.
Click Here to view the cologne ad along with many other sexually offensive ads.
Click Here to view the Bicardi ad.
Click Here to read Stephanie Holmes article on Scandinavia's advertising laws.
I really like the way you point out there is nothing inherently wrong with nudity, sexuality, the body even in advertising as long as the images are created with care and are actually relevant to the product they are selling. That bacardi ad is pretty ridiculous; the body pictured is literally marked, stamped with some symbol as a sign of loyalty to the brand? the idea that if you drink bacardi you'll get women like the one pictured? It doesn't make much sense at all and is thus, quite aggravating as it comes off as a cheap ploy to get people to buy bacardi.
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