November 25,
2012
High school
Population
Dear General
Adolescent Youths,
What is more
appealing, a beautiful mind or a beautiful body? Most would want to say a
beautiful mind, but unfortunately this day and age it just so happens that the
latter of the two is the more common answer, whether one says it or not. Our
society is fueled by individual image and appeal while it should be driven by
individual creativity and uniqueness. It is well known that current media plays
a very large role on the lives of everyone that it touches (specifically young
adolescents who are still learning who they are), and needless to say, that
nowadays the media finds a way to touch just about everyone’s life in one way
or another. Billboards, magazines, commercials, buses, milk cartons, blimps,
t-shirts, and even pens are just a few of the items and methods that major
corporations use to spread their logos and get their names into peoples’ minds
in order to make a sale. These methods may work for their initial purpose, but
it is clear that they have many very negative outcomes towards the
visualization and importance of the female gender and their potential roles in
society.
Advertisers draw
upon the inner desires in people, and then they play off these desires by
creating a sense of appeal in the ads in which they design. At first it seems
like they are being creative, but when looking at current day ads it is clear
that consequently their methods objectify both genders, but much more often
specifically women. The mainstream structure of current day advertisements
appeal to sexual desire, which is believed to be innate in every human being,
and by playing off this desire ads create an image of physical beauty and
sexiness in order to grasp the attention of those who see their ads. Now that
sex in advertising has been so consistent it gives viewers the idea that it is
all that matters and in order to be happy they must look for physical beauty
rather than inner beauty in their significant others.
Distinguished
author Jean Kilbourne has written many articles pertaining to this exact topic,
and one in particular, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” goes over some similar
points. For example, Kilbourne’s opening sentences, “Sex in advertising is more
about disconnection and distance than connection and closeness. It is also more
often about power than passion, about violence than violins” (Kilbourne 575).
Kilbourne sets the stage by drawing a major parallel in ads and pornography,
trying to degrade the value of the ads themselves and point out the clear
difference in the feelings and ideals in which they present. This is where the
line for objectification begins. Another article written by Naomi
Rockler-Gladen titled “Media Objectification of Women” gives a clear definition
of what media objectification is, “Media that
objectify women portray women as physical objects that can be looked at and
acted upon-- and fail to portray women as subjective beings with thoughts,
histories, and emotions” (Rockler-Gladen 1). So by advertisers using sex in
advertising and portraying women as objects diminishes their unique values and
puts all women on the same level, which is that of unimportance and whose values
are based solely on physical and sexual image.
Now the major
corporations that put out these degrading ads may see no fault in what they are
doing because they are spending their hard earned money on the advertising
schemes in order to make more sales and in turn more money. Other corporations
will most likely see this as genius because it is just merely business at work
and they are doing what they need in order to stay on top of the marketing
brackets. But while the major business owners are thinking of themselves and
how to make more money by exploiting the female gender, they don’t realize the severely
negative effect that their work is having on the general female population. The
exploitation is resulting in women’s desire to emulate the women that they see
in advertisements, by wanting to be skinny and wear sexy attire and be submissive
towards men, and this has a harmful effect on their health, unique talents and
personal individuality. If advertisers were to draw upon different desires in
the general population, rather than solely sexual desire and physical image,
then perhaps they wouldn’t have such an extreme effect on people and they would
be able to express their inner uniqueness and personality. The outcome of
different advertising schemes would be much more appealing than the objectification
of women and their diminishing value.
Sincerely,
Zack Newland
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