Though they say women and men are now equals, it is obvious that sexism is still a big part of our culture from looking at our ads. These ads represent “a kind of statement on what it means to be a woman in this culture” (Kilbourne). In these ads, women are chosen to represent objects or animals rather than being human beings.
Below is an ad that shows a woman whose only purpose is to please and be a beer stand. The advertisers compares the beer to a woman, an object that can be shared with friends. I chose this ad because it basically says how useless a women is as a human being. This is common in ads where women are depicted to be an object whose only purpose is to please men.
What ads should focus on is the quality of their product rather than using sex to sell the product. As an alternative to the previous ad, the one shown below focuses on why their beer is good. The ad does not show a naked women but rather ordinary people enjoying the beer they are advertising.
“Advertising sells […] values” (Kilbourne), and the values that are being promoted in today’s culture are sexist, putting power into the hands of men. Advertising “tells us who we are and who we should be” (Kilbourne) and these ads tell women to be items. There are serious consequences when women are promoted to be mere objects. Women feel devalued, that they rather exist to serve men than live alongside them.
Kilbourne states that objectifying women is the “first step in justifying violence”. Domestic violence has been an issue that still exists in an age where both genders are entitled to the same rights. These advertisers are not just promoting their products, they are also promoting sexism and violence. Advertisers should focus on the selling points of their product instead of using sex to sell.
I agree. Sex sells is also a reason why women are just so self conscious of their body. Also the whole moral message to young teens or children is that you must be sexy to be liked. It also shows women as being objects, not people. This is obviously a problem in our media, but people still do it. More than ever the want to be skinny and sexy has reached it's peak. The industries have said that being skinny is in. As if that makes any of this any better...
ReplyDeleteYou really hit on an horrible aspect of advertising and that is the constant objectification of women's bodies. It's enough that girls constantly feel like they aren't the right size or the right color but on top of that, ads like these really make them less than human. Essentially, the message seems to be that if a woman isn't sexy enough, than she really isn't worth anyone's time. Advertisements really affect the way we shape our priorities and as Kilborn says, they project our society's values-- ads like these perpetuate the idea that the number one goal in life for a woman is to simply look appealing enough for men.
ReplyDeleteGuinness has lost my respect forever, if I ever had any for it. I can't believe anyone would even think of doing a commercial like this. Using women as sexual objects is not funny, it has nothing to do with beer, and does not promote the product, its just demeaning. Like women don't deal with enough sexism in a daily basis that now when they come home they have to watch these kinds of adds.
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