Social Media And Its Effect On Women

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?’’’.

What is it that drives commercials towards their target audience? Commercials can be for a certain age, race, and sometimes even a certain gender. Pop culture has influenced the minority groups and shed light to women 's rights or so it was thought. 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 a particular gender. What is interesting is it shows a false image of the opposite sex to the audience being portrayed toward their preferences. It is the image the audience wants to see that appeals to them. This is all in an attempt to sell their products and take advantage of our desires and anxieties. Craig shows commercials brings gender norms that produce the ideas of what a man’s man and a woman’s woman which is why he would agree with Shaffer because it promotes an old way of thinking.

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.

The two ads have a very different interesting factor of using women to sell their product by creating a psychological aspect to costumers so it will enhance their product of getting sold. Before advertisement became to effect tremendously in the American culture in 1920’s, Americans were going through ambivalence when they were categorized in functional groups such as the old middle class and the new middle class. The old middle class believed that hard work is good for the body and mind because Americans were working longer hours for less money compared to the new middle class that have great opportunities to work new jobs and have satisfaction doing the job while being paid well. Since America has changed to a new middle-class evolution, the economy and social status has shifted tremendously by creating new job opportunities

Within the advertisement they broadcast systemically reenforced and exaggerated a large number of stereotypes about both men and women. Some may wonder, however, how this really effects everyday life. If someone sees so many ads in a day what is one more, one that is just a bit more sexist than the typical beer ad. While this it is true that the average person is overstimulated by the number of ads as it is there is still something to be said for the content of the ads. Even if a person doesn’t mentally acknowledge them the brain still notes them and stores them in the brain. If time after time one sees women in the submissive role or treated as objects, chances are they will start subconsciously believing it. On the other hand if men are constantly portrayed as stupid and hormone driven then that bias will start to seep into reality. There are also significant moral issues with this ad, if time after time women are portrayed simply as a visual feast it changes how they will be treated for the rest of their lives. Next time they walk down the street theres a chance a man may catcall her, acknowledging the fact that she was in some way appealing to him. He doesn’t do this because she is smart, funny or kind he does this simply because he was pleased by her appearance and may even think he is complementing her. However, by doing this he reenforces what the media has

In the article, ‘“Empowering” my Ass” (2017), Gaby Del Valle asserts her opinions on the issue of women-centered advertising. She views the concept of “empowertising”, as coined by Andi Zeisler, as just another scheme companies have implemented to make more money. Del Valle forwardly states: “The messaging has changed, but the purpose remains the same: Companies want you to buy their shit, and they’re happy to trick you into thinking consumerism is a form of self-expression to do so.” She provides examples of companies and aspiring brands who have recently begun integrating the concept of women empowerment into their advertising techniques. Brands such as Dove, Blink Fitness, Nike, and Aerie have all benefitted from spotlighting the idea

In 2015 during the Superbowl, Procter and Gamble released an ad called “Like a Girl” representing the feminine product brand Always which was directed by Lauren Greenfield. P&G conducted research for the campaign finding that over half the women claimed they experienced a decline in confidence at puberty (Always, Procter & Gamble). The opportunity was clear, empowering girls during this time of their lives when confidence is at its lowest stage would give a powerful and purposeful role in how they would grow up to see themselves.The audience of this advertisement is a wide range of people, from those who watched the superbowl, and those who buy the variety of products P&G sell. The award-winning response Always #LikeAGirl campaign commercial, had turned a phrase that had become an insult into an empowering message for all young girls.

In her fourth installment of “Killing Us Softly”, Jean Kilbourne explores the image of women that American advertising industries have created in our society. Kilbourne breaks down the trends that advertisements constantly reinforce for women throughout the decades, and criticizes the impossible standards that women are shamed into trying to achieve. She allows us to take a deeper look at the exploitative, sexist, and misogynistic tendencies embedded in commercial culture, which is presented everywhere we look. Proceeding to emphasize that these ads have damaging effects in the real world, leading to violence against women, eating disorders, and low self esteem. Furthermore, Kilbourne acknowledges that although things have changed through the

Jean Kilbourne’s 2010 documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses the idea that the businesses of advertising and commercialism have promoted specific body ideals for women in our modern day society by the methods in which they market towards their target audiences, specifically how women are portrayed in their ads. Throughout the documentary, Kilbourne is extremely critical of the advertising industry, accusing it of misconduct. She argues that objectification and superficial, unreal portrayal of women in these advertisements lower women’s self-esteem. Women have many industries that try to gear their products towards them with apparel, beauty, and toiletries being amongst the most prominent. The majority of advertisements put out by companies

Gender stereotypes have been around for quite some time now. It is important that as a society we recognize the harm that can come from these stereotypes. During the 2015 Super Bowl, Always, the brand of feminine hygiene products launched an ad pertaining to their campaign “like a girl”. This particular ad stood out and not necessarily for its humor. In this ad a diverse group of people (young boys and girls of various ages) were asked to perform tasks as a “girl” would.

In addition, celebrities use social media as a powerful and influential tool of income having sponsorship from companies and product promotions. As I pointed out on my Blog Post, there are three main ways that celebrities make money off of social media: “They are paid directly by brands they promote, they are paid higher salaries based on the number of followers they have, according to This is how celebrities use you on social media by Jo Piazza and they get all of their products or brands items for free” In other words, many corporations give their products to celebrities for free and ask for posting the picture with products to advertise and promote. They are paid salaries, which depend on how many followers they have. The combination of

Christina and Sebastian met their sophomore year in highschool. They developed a loving relationship towards the end of their junior year. Their feelings towards each other never changed and they dated the rest of their high school careers.Both of them being straight A students, in varsity sports, involved in many clubs, and even being in the National Honor Society they without a doubt got many scholarships and many offers from colleges. One day Christina went over to Sebastian's house to tell him “I know we both promised to go to Texas A&M together but I feel more drawn to go to Southwestern University in GeorgeTown”. Sebastian was saddened by the news, but they both chose to remain faithful in the relationship even if it is long distance.

Society has ascribed to women the negative gender stigma that they are weak and incapable. One obvious manifestation of this is the mocking phrase that someone does something, such as run, fight, or hit, “like a girl”. While most people say this phrase as a joke, it truly does have an effect on young girls. In the Always “Like a Girl” commercial, parent company Proctor and Gamble presents the statistic that girls ' self esteem drops dramatically during puberty (AlwaysBrand). Although Always is attempting a new tactic to reverse the negative gender stigmas of women by focusing on the core of the problem, puberty, the point in girls lives when they stop perceiving themselves as strong and capable, Always’ morals have flaws. Large advertisement campaigns like Always determine how well a product will sell based on the response from the viewers. These advertisements represent large marketing investments balanced by the hope of reaping high increases in resulting sales. By juxtaposing the two ideas of the adolescent target market and the apparently feminist marketing campaign, this paper will examine the psychological changes during puberty and marketer’s focus on adolescent stigmas in an effort to demonstrate that the brand Always is not actually bringing a new face to feminism, just exploiting the issue for their own self-interested profit in sales.