Case Study: Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely, and Advertising

Jean Kilbourne is an advocate for women and is leading a movement to change the way women are viewed in advertising. She opens up the curtains to reveal the hard truth we choose to ignore or even are too obtuse to notice. Women are objectified, materialized, and over-sexualized in order to sell clothes, products, ideas and more. As a woman, I agree with the position Kilbourne presents throughout her documentary Killing Us Softly 4: The Advertising’s Image of Women (2010) and her TEDx Talk The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women (2014.) She demonstrates time and again that these advertisements are dangerous and lead to unrealistic expectations of women.

According to McIntosh’s suggestion, “we should acknowledge enormous unseen dimensions, talk about the obliviousness advantages, and raise our daily awareness on the perquisites of being light-skinned.” McIntosh’s approaches are characterized as reasonable to resolve the issue. By listing down every advantage she takes for granted, she is raising awareness in the society. By

Dina Gerdeman’s article discusses how the cosmetic industry in India has created a stereotype in which individuals with lighter skin tones are more acceptable and successful in comparison to those with darker skin tones. The media has portrayed this image persistently despite social activists arguing against the implications. Even though many campaigns have been created to combat this stereotype, the March 2016 case author of “Fair & Lovely vs. Dark is Beautiful,” Rohit Deshpande says, “…if you look at whether it’s done anything to affect the sales of the product category, the answer is no. This is a big market by any standards, and it’s growing exponentially” (para. 12). By the cosmetic industry’s perspective, “The government

Sexist ads show that society is dominated by the same masculine values that have controlled the image of women in the media for years. Sexist advertisement reinforces gender stereotypes and roles, or uses sex appeal to sell products, which degrades the overall public perception of women. The idea that sexism is such a rampant problem comes from the stereotypes that are so deeply embedded into today’s society that they almost seem to be socially acceptable, although they are nowhere near politically correct. Images that objectify women seem to be almost a staple in media and advertising: attractive women are plastered all over ads. The images perpetuate an image of the modern woman, a gender stereotype that is reinforced time and time again by the media. These images are accepted as “okay” in advertising, to depict a particular product as sexy or attractive. And if the product is sexy, so shall be the consumer. In the 1970s, groups of women initially took issue with the objectification of women in advertisements and with the limited roles in which these ads showed women. If they weren’t pin-ups, they were delicate

When I take into account implicit attitudes and prejudice among individuals of the same ethnicity or racial background; I believe colorism typically occurs amongst African Americans on the basis of skin tone shades, from light-skinned shades of brown to darker shades of black. It had been brought to my attention that African American women show strong favoritism for the lighter complexioned women as opposed to darker complexioned women within their social group. Like you, darker skinned women shouldn’t have to seek out a lighter skin tone in means of beauty products, or lighting creams in order to project the ideal image upon their

I believe that gender codes in advertising do have an effect on how we interact with people as we picture how people are ‘supposed to look’ from advertising and compare them to the people we see in our day to day lives. When we see people who are acting different than the media dictates they should act then we silently judge them and maybe whisper about how they should be acting according to what we see on the media. It is especially explicit when we look at female athletes as they are powerful and strong in their sport but the media has them pose in accordance of the gender codes for women, so that people can see that they are truly feminine and not too masculine, since they play sports. As well for some sports how we dress to play the sports also follows gender codes where we should be wearing skimpy clothes that are revealing, this is explicit in volleyball where girls wear spandex that barely covers and a tight shirt to go along with it, and it is seen as weird if girls wear anything other than that to play. As well gender codes dictate what professions certain genders should have so when I see certain people in professions the opposite gender typically is in it could appear as weird to people since they only see males being plumbers, electricians, or mechanics, and females as nurses, maids, and stay at home moms.

The term “pigmentocracy, or colorism is the practice of interracial groups applying a valuation to lighter skin” (https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/73702) In India this is informed in various ways including, the caste system, media, and cultural practices. Similar to African-Americans, and light skin versus dark skin debates Indians have to deal with the same theory. The theory that those with the lighter skin, are “superior” to those that are darker. Oftentimes those that are darker are seen as inferior, to those with light skin. The media often shows people of a lighter skin tone than those with more pigmented skin. There are usually more light people, and maybe one or two darker people. This all goes into play with how huge of problem colorism is

Through the segregation within slavery and the expectations we put on each other, as seen in the documentaries Light Girls and Dark Girls, as well as my own experiences; we see that history has created a false sense of “authentic” culture. One example of this formation is the segregation of slaves into two classes; the house slaves and the field slaves. As the two groups were split up there were certain expectations that one formed about the other. The house slaves looked down on the field slaves for being dirty and coarse while the field slaves associated the house slaves with credulous and unsullied work with the master. This would later evolve as certain “expectations” would arise about how a dark skinned person should be and how a light skinned person should be. In turn, this type of mindset has created an authentic, albeit stereotypical cultural template that many people still follow today. In the documentary, Dark Girls, one woman states “Why is it they think I’m so beautiful, and my own people don’t see any beauty in me at all” (Dark). Expectations begin to form based on the hue of your skin. In this case, the individual’s community associates those with lighter complexions with more value. While darker complexions are more sexualized and associated with being unattractive. We assign

To the African American male, a lighter skinned female may be able to bear better-looking children with white features. They are also seen as easier to get along with. The continued success of the light skinned African Americans has created a prejudice against lighter skinned individuals in the culture. Dark skinned males and females are raged because of the fact that they get hired for good jobs. Dark skinned females are mad at lighter skinned females because they are not approached as much as they are. This is a real issue because it is causing bitterness towards one another I the African American culture. The simple fact is that no matter whether one is light skinned or dark skinned, they are still African American. However, because of the features in which a light skinned individual processes, helps them get more ahead, therefore, light skinned African Americans have easier lives than dark skinned African Americans.

Are the "Codes of Gender" suggested by Goffman apparent in advertising today, and are they a reflection of us as men and women in today's society?

It is not well understood exactly why women tend to have lighter skin tones that men, it was thought that this was due to the difference in sun exposure as men worked outside more than women, however, Jablonski states that because the discrepancy is based on skin tone that is not exposed to the sun, this is not the reason. “The discrepancy due to skin color is due to more than sun exposure habits; it is indicative of an underlying and genetically based set of causes” (64). The research into these causes is still carrying on as they have not found the precise reasoning, but the possibility that the lighter skin for women would be a way to ensure their health during pregnancy and breastfeeding is hypothesized but there is not enough experimental evidence (70). This is an area that I would like to have more information on as new research discloses. This chapter also discusses the hypothesis of sexual selection as a reason for the gap between the sexes, as men may have preferred lighter skinned women and the different variations for the reasoning of this, however, there is a lack of empirical evidence

Everyday we expose ourselves to thousands of advertisements in a wide variety of environments where ever we go; yet, we fail to realize the influence of the implications being sold to us on these advertisements, particularly about women. Advertisements don’t just sell products; they sell this notion that women are less of humans and more of objects, particularly in the sexual sense. It is important to understand that the advertising worlds’ constant sexual objectification of women has led to a change in sexual pathology in our society, by creating a culture that strives to be the unobtainable image of beauty we see on the cover of magazines. Even more specifically it is important to study the multiple influences that advertisements have

Being a woman this heightens my social awareness as how others perceive me. Society dictates ‘the body beautiful’. Magazines, Bill-boards, TV and newspapers constantly suggest the need to have a perfect complexion. This influences

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.

Advertising and promotion, ethical pitfall: Issues over truth and honesty. Issues with violence, sex and profanity. Taste and controversy and negative advertising