Too Many Commercials on Television

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?’’’.

For centuries, women have found it to be difficult to live up and be the standard “runaway model”. Women have the pressure to fit in to be considered beautiful since ads and media have distorted society in how they view and evaluate beauty. The false representation of models in the beauty commercials have made women want to replicate them even though they don’t know what’s behind the editing. Even though this is a huge matter, companies did not stand back but instead made more commercials that self-degrade women constantly, except one. The Dove Evolution Commercial- “Campaign for Real Beauty” focuses on the way they change women sending a strong message to women about beauty and what it really

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.

Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly surrounded by advertisements. On average, we are exposed to approximately 3,000 ads per day, through logos, billboards, and television commercials, even our choices of brands. But in today’s society, one of the most used and influential tools of advertising are women. But the unfortunate thing is that women are not just viewed as actresses in these ads but as objects for people to look at, use, abuse, and more. In her fourth installment in a line of documentaries, “Killing Us Softly 4,” Jean Kilbourne explains the influence of advertising women and popular culture, and its relationship to gender violence, sexism and racism, and eating disorders.

Ram’s advertisement immediately begins by utilizing logos and pathos to embolden women to fight against stereotypes. First, the commercial’s narration uses a series of repetitive rhetorical questions to inspire the audacious emotions of the audience. Ram repeats “have you ever thought” multiple times to capture the female viewer’s attention. This technique establishes an understanding and inviting tone that prepares the viewer for Ram’s overarching message. Next, allowing the viewer to ponder these rhetorical questions, Ram briefly pauses the narration. Following this pause, Ram articulates their message: “You can break a stereotype and throw it into a whole ‘nother gear. Because

The sexualisation of women in advertising has become a very prominent and controversial issue in today’s society. Many brands, products and campaigns we are presented with portray women as being available and willing sexual objects, who exist to cater to the male gender. Gucci is one such brand that does this, focusing on emphasizing the sexual appeal of the female gender in order to sell their products, because as advertisers know: ‘sex sells.’ This new cultural shift can however, be seen as politically regressive for women, as the ideology it brings negatively impacts how women are viewed by society and how they view themselves.

Steve Craig, in his article Men’s Men and Women’s Women especially define how different sexes in advertisement can influence a particular audience towards a product; one stereotypical method he describes is “Men’s Women” (Craig).One such ad using sex appeal, and a basic structure of “Men’s Women” to bring in customer was made by BMW in 2008 to sell their used cars. BMW, which is a world-renowned company known for its performance heavy automobiles, targets a male audience by comparing a gorgeous woman to their cars.This ad by BMW, who no doubt make amazing cars, degrade women through its message, and it enforces Steve Craig’s “Men’s women” tactic, but this ad also goes a step further and displays the ever-present patriarchy in advertisement overtly.

The use of sexualization also reinforces a pattern of gender roles that are currently circulating throughout advertisements. More often than not, women who are used as ploys in ads are seen doing household chores like vacuuming, changing the toilet paper, or making coffee. Females are rarely ever seen in a work place, and definitely not in a powerful position. In fact, the directors of most of these ads place women below or behind the man to show who has the power in actuality. Women are seen as skinny, fragile, and immobile in high heels, while men are strong and powerful. By setting up such a strong binary between the two different groups, it is obvious that the majority of the American society will not be able to fit into these roles, and it leaves a sense of rejection for the average person. This rejection, accepted by the viewers, manifests

Gender role bias in advertisements has been so prevalent for so long that the untrained eye wouldn't even discern it. All the same, these biases, for the most part, put women in subordinate positions and men in dominant ones. This assumption on both the genders is unfair and demeaning. These ads portray women as subservient and play toys for men. Not only do the models depict an image nowhere near close to reality, but their bodies are scantily clad and what few clothes they are wearing are very revealing.

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

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.

In 2013, UN Women launched an ad campaign that revealed the prevalent and rampant sexism and discrimination against women worldwide. Memac Ogilvy and Mather Dubai, the creators of the advertisement, placed authentic Google search text boxes over the mouth of the woman pictured, as if to silence her voice. By using a Muslim woman in a hijab, real searches via Google, and highlighting the true, subconscious feelings and attitude of the audience, the advertisement attempts to expose the negative biases towards women, ranging from stereotypes to blatant denial of their rights.

Pantene’s advertisement entitled “Not Sorry” stands out amongst other ads because it employs both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication in order to convey a message that goes beyond selling their brand. The ad strives to empower females and encourage a pivotal change in an unacceptable aspect of societal behavior. It opens with a question: “Why are women always apologizing?” The words are in a bold, black font with a white background. The simplicity of their appearance draws the audience’s attention. The graphics are direct and unadorned, speaking directly to the message and motivation behind the ad. It is an engaging question, one that gets at the heart of a prominent societal issue: what is the role of women and how is it different to that of men? At first, the audience may be unclear about what the question means: “apologizing” for what? But, the montage of diverse women in different environments quickly makes its point. Each of them is saying “sorry” to male figures: co-workers, husbands, bosses, even strangers. The issue is that none of the women are shown doing anything deserving of an apology. Despite this, it appears to be their immediate, automatic response. Then, a major metamorphosis occurs with the women in the video, and suddenly, they are no longer saying “sorry”; instead, they say “sorry, not sorry”. Ultimately, Pantene desires to promote a change through showing viewers a better, altered reality from that of our own, by utilizing innovative marketing