Advertising R Us Rubin Analysis

In her article “Advertisements R Us,” Melissa Rubin notes that Coke’s message in the ad she analyzes is that “Coke will refresh and unite working America” (249). Her evidence for this is based on several things—for instance, right in the middle of ad sits a large Coke machine and the bottom of the ad explicitly states, “A welcome host to workers—Inviting you to the pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca-Cola” (249). She concludes her article with the insight that “Coke ads helped shape the American identity,” pointing to the underlying message of the ad that Coke can provide the carefree, joyful life it never fails to portray in its ads to everyone who takes a sip (250).

What is it that drives commercials towards their target audience? Commercials can be aimed toward certain age, race, along with certain gender groups. Pop culture has influenced minority groups and shed light on women 's rights or so it may seem. Lisa Shaffer a fellow student feels otherwise and believes that Pop culture has only defended traditional values and does little to challenge those who already have power . Commercials bring in gender norms and in Steve Craig’s article, “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” he speaks on four particular TV ads directed towards male and female audiences. Interestingly enough these tv ads deliver a false image of the opposite sex to the audience catering to their preferences. It is the image of what the audience wants to see that appeals to them. This is all in an attempt to sell products and take advantage of our desires and anxieties. Craig shows how commercials bring gender norms that produce the stigmas of a man’s man and a woman’s woman, which makes it apparent that he would agree with Shaffer because it promotes an old way of thinking.

Men and women in advertisement were not equal but instead conformed to common beliefs about appropriates gender roles and gender stereotypes. In many advertisement women were more likely sexualized more than men. Women were more likely to wear seductive clothing and more likely to be objectified. In most advertisement women were less likely to be presented in working roles and more likely to be presented in recreational

Advertising ideologically shapes our perceptions of beauty and strongly influences our ideas, attitudes and values within one’s culture. Advertisers achieve this powerful and direct communication through signifying practices which gives meaning to words and images (Kang, 1997). For example, the exploitation of women is most apparent in TV beer commercials, where the promise of sex and fun is the norm (Hall, Crum, 1994). For example, the Swedish Bikini Team commercial for Old Milwaukee beer. In this commercial, large-breasted blond women wearing bikinis were portrayed as fun companions brought in especially to party with very few men.. Through the exploitation of women in advertisements, this oppression leads to social problems, such the development of eating disorders by young women attempting to achieve the conditioned idea of the “ideal image” (Kang, 1997).

During the 1920’s, advertisement has changed in many aspects of American culture. Although the concept of advertising has existed in the United States since the establishment of the thirteen colonies, the American advertisement became what it is today as in a result of the 1920’s. During that time, most of propaganda techniques, that were used in modern times, were officially established and perfected. However, advertisers find great accomplishments with the different techniques such as psychology of advertisement, brand consciousness, therapeutic ethic, and even the use of women image use on consumers that will master mind the advertisement culture.

In today’s mass media, it is quiet common for advertisers to assimilate class into their commercials. These advertisements portray a certain level of elegance because of the sophisticated choice to use classical background music and thick European accents. On the contrary, other advertisers take the common-folk approach by structure these commercials around the western concept. Both of these advertising tactics supports an American paradox. As argued in Jack Solomon’s “Master of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising”, the contradiction lies in the desire to strive above the crowd and the quest for social equality.

The first advertisements viewed looked at were of women and men being objectified by being barely dressed and posed in provocative positions. The objectification of women has been a prominent issue for women’s rights activists, but men are rarely seen as being objectified. The first advertisement observed was a Budweiser ad. This ad showed an oversize bottle of beer with a fit woman leaning against it wearing a red bikini. The woman is lying up against the bottle in a provocative manner. This ad is suggesting that the woman is just as good to “consume” as the beer itself. It is also a great example of how companies strategize to get peoples attention. This ad is clearly geared towards men who then buy this

Race representation in advertisements is often anything but diverse, however as time moves forward and attitudes in society change there has been a considerable amount of progress with the inclusion of more than the typical white male or female. One of the most classic examples of the progress in representation of more than one race in advertisements is with the classic body products from Dove and their commercials seen on TV. Upon exploration of Dove’s older ads, the typical female portrayed is a White female with either brown or blonde hair, playfully cleaning her skin, often times she has a face blooming of satisfaction and happiness. The classic ad for Dove’s Pink soap released in 1958 not only seems to be selling the pink and fragrant soap but a

From 1890 to 1940, advertisements were produced in such a way of generalizing groups of people to make goods more appealing. Advertisements directed at women generally concerned beauty products and household goods, which were women’s main concern in this time period. These advertisements capitalized on women’s inferiority to men, and motherhood. However, women were also used to help sell goods, by making men think they will attract more women, or be able to provide for their woman with certain products. People of color were treated as almost a whole other species. African Americans were used on labels to represent a richness about the product, in that people who had this product seemed to have the resources to hire a person of color to work

In Craig's article, the author explores how advertising views men and women as separate consumer markets and appeals to both of them at separate times. Gender roles are heavily influential when creating commericials for each respective market. Craig details this through an analysis of beer ads

I will begin with the commentary “Advertisements R Us”, by Melissa Rubin. I agree, somewhat, that advertising is a way to hook the consumers. Of course, that is how they expect to sell their product. When a company wants to market their product, they will advertise it to appeal to a variety of consumers. They will try to convince the consumers that they must have the product they are marketing.

The Carl’s Jr Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger Commercial shown on television is a clear example of how women are objectified in advertising. The ad is to promote the idea of the new TexMex thickburger but how you may ask? It includes two models representing Mexico and the other United States. Both women are in tight fitted cheeky bikinis competing over whether the fast food is “Tex” or “Mex” playing volleyball. The idea of the commercial was made to appeal to men in seeking an attraction from the target audience using women in a sexual aesthetic. As both men are watching from the bleachers they are sure enjoying the women compete on who is right. “Should we tell them it’s both?” a man watching the game adds before his friend is quick to answer “eventually”, this bodily language emphasizes that both men already know it’s both Tex and Mex combined but want to watch the women as they are jumping around playing dirty in such bikinis. The ad has created a way to lure men to purchase a specific brand of burger using women’s body. Generally, it’s a win win situation because advertisements affect cultural ideas and what people desire, the influence of individuals is overlooked more than the actual persuading of buying the product. In “Can’t Buy My Love” and Killing Us Softly by Jean Kilbourne she relates society as a passive mirror where advertisements develop an effective pervasive medium of influence because as people consume ads they see they will eventually base it off themselves personally. With ad’s constantly lingering, our mind is presented to subconsciously process the ad and the sexual appearances. Therefore, by showing these attractive women as a highlight, it advertises the objective of women in making you crave this specific burger.

The Tiger Beer advertisement shown in the appendix is a clear example of the objectification of women in advertising. The Tiger Beer advert was made to appeal to men from the age of 20 to 60. The advert seeks to get a cheap laugh from the target audience with the image of the woman in a sexual pose and the picture of the beer. The ad promotes the idea that beer is the most

Since the emergence of advertising in American culture one thing that has remained constant is the visible truth that men and women are portrayed differently. In consideration to the evolution of man kind gender roles have evolved immensely throughout time, although advertisements have not kept up with this process of evolution. Companies to this day use their tactics and skills to reach out to specific genders such as pretty fonts with a stylish message, while advertisements towards men portray the character as strong and intimidating. The typical viewer can easily spot the difference in the portrayal of genders. Men are portrayed this way because the viewers look up to these characters, they want to be

One will see a white female with pouting red lips and the very petite body that resembles a thirteen-year-old girl. The extremely artificial women and the heavily photo-shopped pictures in these ad’s create a norm and make those women who look differently, feel insecure of who they are and make them feel as if they are less of a woman, for example they tend to over represent the Caucasian, blonde with bright eyes, white complexion and a petite body. This is an unattainable beauty for most women, which has caused many to develop issues such as eating disorders, depression and the very much talked about these days, anorexia.