Kotex Ad: An Analysis On Women And Menstruation

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.

Always “Like a Girl” commercial was not only a hit in the media world, but a hit to the hearts of many women across the nation. In this commercial Always attempts to reach out and inform Americans of the damage caused to a female’s confidence when they do finally hit that age in their lives where insecurities begin to exist. Positively using their credibility and reputation to target a worldwide issue among woman so that it gains enough awareness to hopefully get fixed. Women working their whole lives to break society’s doubt so that they aren’t classified under another demeaning stereotype when asked, “What does it mean to do something ‘Like a Girl?’’’.

Teenage girls are at an impressionable time in their lives. Mass Media is a key idea in one of the factors of socialization that become important to teenagers. Teenagers look to the media for a sense of entertainment. Whether it is movies, magazines, or even some aspects of social media, teenagers get a lot of influence from the media’s message. The problem with this is the media has a specific way of doing things and can be negative to a susceptible teenage girl. Media’s way of portraying a woman can be skewed and unrealistic way from what reality is. Teenage girls then have a desire for this look or way. In this essay the three ways I will describe as to why the media can negatively affect a teenage girls body image is by showing

She does this by describing advertisements for different products. One example she uses is an ad for Possession clothing. She describes the ad by saying “Sometimes it’s ‘all in good fun’ as in the ad for Possession shirts and shorts featuring a man ripping off the clothes off a woman who seems to be having a good time” (492-93). This is an example of how most men in society see women as their property and how they can do whatever they want to them whenever they want. As well as describing the ad for the Possession clothing line, Kilbourne uses an example of a Pepsi commercial featuring Cindy Crawford. The commercial is of Crawford getting out of her car to go buy a Pepsi while being checked out by two young boys (502-03). This is showing how even from a young age, boys are taught that it is okay to view a woman as something that can just be stared at and thought about in ways that are nothing but sexual and objectifying. Kilbourne also makes a point to explain how if the roles were reversed in some advertisements nothing would change. She does this by using an ad for jeans. The ad shows a little boy lifting up a woman’s skirt and looking up it (507). She states “it may seem that I am reading too much into this ad, but imagine if the genders were reversed. We would fear for the little girl who is unzipping a man’s fly in an ad” (507-08). She does this to explain that no

Finally, a commercial ad from 2000. It starts with a white back ground and a brunette woman in an all-white outfit. She begins by saying she’s, “[…] a believable 18 to 20 year old female who is racially ambiguous, and [she’s] in this tampon commercial because market research shows girls like you like girls like [her].” They go on to several angles of the same woman in white. She then says “Now I’m going to tell you to buy something. Buy the same tampons as me. Because I’m wearing white pants and I have good hair. And you wish you could be me.” Then it goes to a black screen that reads “Why are tampon ads so obnoxious?” then it cuts away to an image of all of their new products with a headline of “Break the Cycle.” It seems that this commercial ad is calling out all the go to appeals feminine hygiene products advertisers utilize, but on the other hand still using one of Fowles fifteen main appeals, autonomy. Basically asking the viewer to be their own person, but to still buy Kotex products.

Moreover, as Richins (1991) reports, women always make social comparisons between the advertising models and themselves. As a result, advertising images create negative affect and increases women’s dissatisfaction with their own appearance. Since those images are edited through the consistent usage of digital technology, these idealized images do not portray women in a healthy manner. Indeed, these enhanced images would give these young girls the impression that they need to be ‘perfect’, just like these ‘fake’ images. According to Reist in ABC’s Gruen Session (2010), ‘young women get the message that they need to be thin, hot and sexy just to be acceptable’ in this society. Therefore, by generating the wrong perception of real beauty, the responsibility is pushed to the marketers, as they portray women with this stereotypical body type as acceptable. In addition, as the brand, Dove’s tagline in its advertisement - What happened to the ‘real beauty’? (Reist, 2010), marketers need not market their products in manners portraying women as airheads. Consequently, marketers gave most consumers viewing the advertisement, the wrong impression that

I can relate to being a teenage girl. Fearing the worse, that someone will see evidence that my monthly visitor has arrived. The text in the ad lures in females. When you look at the text you see some in a soft pastel pink. The ad contains a package of tampons with a heart shape on the box. The heart gives the feeling of sensitivity and is appealing to female emotions. All women can relate to the feeling of menstrual cycles. Most women feel sluggish, and bloated with water weight. With the font being very tall and stick like, it takes away the feeling of bloating and gives more of a tall and slender feel. The words used in the ad are also very persuasive. When thinking of a menstrual cycle, the words that come to my mind are dirty, bothersome, and bulky. The ad clearly changes my mind by using such words as protection, clean, carefree, small and compact. The brand Tampax has been around for several years. The fact that they have a product they now call Tampax Pearl is a clever way to advertise, as many consumers relate pearl to the color white and the color white to cleanliness.

Today’s world is dominated by the great influence of advertising media, which often depicts the objectification of women. The film Killing Us Softly 3, discusses how influential the negative portrayal and misrepresentation of women is throughout advertising media. The Versace advertisement I have chosen to analyze displays a slim, scantily clothed woman of color guarded by a shirtless, muscular man. Based on concepts from the film and the course’s text, it is clear that this advertisement sets a particular feminine beauty standard and, nonetheless, illustrates women as solely being sexual objects of men, having little to no power. This fashion ad influences the way women view their physical appearance, along with their position and function in society.

She begins the essay by pointing out the use of porographic themes in advertisements, which use sexual fantasies, such as bondage and domination, to appeal to the desires of the audience. However, as well as promoting the advertiser’s product, these advertisements send a message about men and women that Kilbourne identifies as harmful to society. She connects that these advertisements promote the idea of male domination and female submission, and the sexualization and objectification of women. She provides many examples of this to prove her point, describing one horrifying ad after another. Kilbourne speculates that these ads, as well as objectifying women, also promote rape culture, and the idea that women are responsible for their own assault. As though these messages were not enough, ads also sexualize children, and teach them that objectification of women is normal and accepted. Kilbourne addresses these issues in advertisements, stating that they are promoting the dangerous ideas that today’s culture already has. She connects female addiction to

MESSAGE: Neither “feeling prepared" nor “relieved” is set-up or paid off as fully without images of instant access (drawer, purse). The idea becomes instead a message of general empowerment. Without the visual specificity of Preventeza on hand, some felt this could be confused with a tampon ad.

Throughout the article, Bates provides the reader with many quotes and studies from girls with first hand experience. This adds to her credibility by showing the use of multiple resources and thorough

In today’s society, many young girls are becoming mothers at a extremely young age. In this ad, it is logical that they are focusing this message on young girls from getting pregnant. The message is clearly stating that teenagers should be focusing on their education to later have a successful future for themselves. This advertisement was placed inside the Seventeen magazine which is viewed by young girls who lean to this magazine. This magazine is targeted to an audience of their age, they are more likely to relate to the advertisement and understand what it is advocating. In this advertisement, along with the message, is a picture of famous female singer, Carly Rae Jepsen, again another attraction for young girls especially those who are fans of her music. The fact that this singer appears on this advertisement can make young women pay some attention to the message being told in the advertisement.

There has been a growing trend of hypersexualization of women over the span of all forms of media. The women within these images are made to look perfectly flawless. They are extremely thin without a trace of fat or cellulite to be found. The people who consume this media are exposed to the idea that the women they are observing are models for true physical beauty. These standards are accompanied by an alternate message from the media that pushes the idea that women’s value comes from their beauty. While some women may understand that the messages about the ideal woman are unrealistic and false, it is found that adolescent girls are vulnerable to the media’s strategies due to their lack of media literacy as well as the search for their own identity during this developmental stage in their lives. The exposure to these standards of beauty can have several negative effects on the girls such as lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction, depression, and eating disorders. SPARK and 4 Every Girl are two of a growing number of campaigns that are working to fight against the sexualized images of women in the media and the negative effects it can have on the viewers.

Two similar ads were found in People magazine relating to the subject of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Every girl dreads this time of the month, which is why these ads are featured. What kind of coverage the individual wishes to adhere is completely connected to their daily priorities. It is important because each Miss has her own opinion and different comfort levels to relate and look for. There is the Playtex ad, exclaiming the sport level protection that is comfortable, while the Tampax brand emphasizes relaxing protection anywhere you desire to explore.

Amongst all of these advertisements, a natural link is developed between the visual representation and the product/idea being sold. In the first ad, a masculine link of control and success was created between the picture and job, targeted for both elder men and women. For man, their natural state of superiority would increase if he took this job. For the woman, her natural lower class state would move up to that of manís. The perfume ad, on the other hand, is attracting female customers only. The feminine feelings of happiness, peace, beauty and truth are linked through objects from nature, such as the sky and clouds; and these feelings are stereotypically viewed as feminine. The third ad selling a vacation trip is directed mainly toward college students. The presentation of freedom, adventure and relaxation grab studentsí attention, especially for those who really need to get away from school stress. The ad targets all sorts of students, those ìmasculineî ones who are seeking adventure and those