Viva Glam Advertisement Analysis

Do you ever watch the Super Bowl for its commercials? Have you ever bought a more expensive product because you had seen its advertisement? If the answer is yes, then you might have been a victim of today’s marketers. Jean Kilbourne, the author of “Killing us Softly” stated in one of her lectures, “The influence of advertising is quick, cumulative and for the most part, subconscious, ads sell more products.” “Advertising has become much more widespread, powerful, and sophisticated.” According to Jean Kilbourne, “babies at six months can recognize corporate logos, and that is the age at which marketers are now starting to target our children.” Jean Kilbourne is a woman who grew up in the 1950s and worked in the media field in the 1960s. This paper will explain the methods used by marketers in today’s advertising. An advertisement contains one or more elements of aesthetics, humor, and sexual nature.

Everyone has heard the phrase “sex sells.” It seems to be a major factor that drives people to buy. Advertisers manipulate this behavior by creating ads that showcase their products as a way to gain love, beauty, and desirability. Advertisers frequently use sex appeal with flirtatious images as an attention grabbing device to play with the public’s emotions. Because the public is a diverse group of individuals, it is difficult to target the masses by focusing on hobbies, sports, or flaws. Because of this, advertisers target sexuality, something everyone can relate to. In the February, 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine, they overtly demonstrate this. In an ad for Kinky Vodka, they represent multiple sexual innuendoes such as provocative body posing, stereotypical feminine colors, and seductive wording.

We've all seen and read many advertisements and we usually find them appealing and very persuasive. However the question is, what are they really advertising? Women are usually used for many different advertisements, not only are they used for women's clothing but also for other materials and objects. These are the ads that we look at each and every day. In, “Killing Us Softly” by Jean Kilbourne, she introduces her problem with how women are being used to advertise products. She shows us ads that she has seen where women are being used to advertise a company’s product. While our women are being used, dehumanized, and sexualized in our society, we’re going on with our life like it’s normal.

In addition, advertising feeds from mob mentality, convincing people a product will change their lives by deeming it fashionable or sophisticated. It bypasses logical thinking to take control of how people view themselves and their “need for esteem. People want and need to be respected and we need to feel good about ourselves. And this is where much advertising lives, often because we are selling products that people really do not need. L’Oreal’s ‘Because you’re worth it’ is the perfect example” (Madigan 83). For this reason, expectations of a person are manipulated to fit the wants of the industry to sell products. These people are affected since they feel as if they have no choice in what to wear, how their body should appear to others, and which brands they buy. It all comes down to the need to be apart of something bigger, instead of sticking out from the crowd.

Newspapers, Magazines, Television, Online… advertising is everywhere. Within the myriad of advertisements displayed in front of viewers every day, there are appeals. Society neglects and overlooks these marketing strategies that toy with their minds, resulting in skyrocketing purchases after the release of an advertisement. In “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” Jib Fowles identifies the appeals he believes are implemented in advertisements. These appeals include sexual innuendos, powerful images, or comforting displays which draw the audience into the desired product. After analyzing the ads within the Vogue January 2018 edition, an extremely popular fashion and lifestyle magazine, the demographics can be determined as a market with expensive taste. The graphics are extremely feminine and contain Fowles’s previously mentioned appeals, like the “need for prominence.” Although not all of the fifteen appeals apply to these advertisements, Fowles’s list is still valid and does not need revisions as the readership of Vogue magazine is just a small sample of the population. Through the appeals of each advertisement, this clear readership is developed, rather than using all of the Fowles’s appeals and not addressing the correct audience.

Sexualizaton and objectification in the advertisements we see and the media we watch has become a very strong issue in our society. With the idea that “sex sells”, consumers don’t even realize that they’re not viewing the advertisements for what they are, but for the women (or men) that are being portrayed in a very erotic way, posed with whatever product they were hired to sell. Many articles have been written so far to challenge and assess this problem, but one written by Jean Kilbourne (1999), “”Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence” holds an extensive amount of authority. Using her personal experience with the subject, as well as studies she has conducted herself on the topic of sexualization, she talks about how the amount of sexualization in advertising affects how society views the culture and products consumers buy. She also notes that because of the quantity and prevalence of these ads, the rate of all forms of sexual assault, specifically rape (mostly towards women of all age), increase, as well as other forms of assault. It is important to examine Kilbourne’s use of rhetorical devices, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, and how effective these devices make her article. This way, it can be examined for its validity and her understanding of her own research. Kilbourne’s article is very effective through her uses of pathos and ethos, but at the same time, it loses its effectiveness through her absence of a counter-argument, as well as a lack

Advertisers use many tactics to sell their product. They can all be grouped into Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle; which include ethos, pathos, and logos. Including a sense of credibility, facts and statistics, and reaching into the buyer’s emotion are all ways advertisers produce a persuasive argument in order to get more business. One of the most popular ways to persuade is using the portrayal of sex to do so. J.J. Boddewyn, a journalist, states “ads that are indecent, sexist, sexy, exhibit violence to woman or treat them as mere objects present a constant and even growing problem in many countries (par. 1).” An advertisement that can be applied here is for Godiva chocolate. This ad contains a model showing the chocolate in her hand, along with the word ‘GODIVA’ written largely, and some smaller words around it. Digging a little deeper, it’s not just any model, but a very attractive one. She is dressed in what looks to be sleepwear, and a cardigan draping off her shoulders. Not only that, her makeup is very dark around the eyes, making them look more sultry and seductive. The Godiva campaign uses sex appeal to sell their chocolate. Pathos can be seen by the provocative woman, which would attract more male buyers. Ethos is portrayed through the text in the ad and who the model is. There is a lack of logos or facts to support the argument.

Although society has adapted to the extensive amount of advertisements, it's critical to stop and contemplate the messages that are presented. The internet is filled with ads promoting beauty and cosmetic products, which often claim to make women feel better about themselves. In truth, the corporation advertising the cosmetic product causes the purchaser to feel inadequate, so consumers think they must use said product to enhance their pulchritude. The audience for the magazine advert comprises those who crave to look more attractive from having better-styled eyelashes, and as "Maybelline" is a supermarket brand, it appeals to an average income household.

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

The purpose of this analysis is to conduct a comparative analysis of two television commercials by examining their techniques and the use of rhetorical devices to appeal to their target audience. In the first video, “Olivia Wilde Chooses Love” by Revlon uses their product as something to give their audience a boost of confidence. Produced in 2016, the commercial provides a scenario where love is presented as an active choice that women take control. However, in the second video “Beauty on Your Own Terms” by Dove uses a variety of women from different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, and appearances to express their opinion of how people should not judge anyone for being themselves. Although both advertisements may fulfill their purpose of appealing

Objectification of women is not something new in today’s society but has been an issue for many years, ranging from advertisements in the 1950’s telling women what they had to do in order to be the perfect wife to the advertisements today telling women to look a certain way. Everyone is constantly surrounded by advertisements, they are on the television, in magazines, on the sides of buses and buildings and all around us on the internet. There is no way to escape these advertisements, as Jean Kilbourne said “The average American is exposed to over 3,000 ads every single day and will spend two years of his or her life watching television commercials.” Many people only notice that women are being objectified in beauty and fashion advertisements, as this is the most common places. However, this is sadly not true, women are used as a tool of advertisements for food, cars, beer and even by organizations such as PETA. However, this is still the biggest area of concern for women. This essay aims to address how the fashion industry is objectifying women, through advertisements aimed at females and advertisements aimed at males.

Although it may be unethical to advertise females as sex objects, the provocative ads are believed to be influential on the customer’s purchasing decision. Whether Suit Supply is genuinely trying to sell their products or just draw attention to their brand, the business is creating advertisements that are considered extremely sensual and inappropriate. Apparently, this “sexual revolution” is the new way to sell fashion; sex sells. The advertisement for the Dutch company, Suit Supply, includes sexual references to make a memorable impression on the customers and influence them to purchase the product. Their goal is to make the customers fantasize about the advertisement, which would hopefully cause them to buy the product. Not only are the

Advertising is an important form of communication between products and customers. How to get viewers’ attention is first thing need to consider for advertising. Sexual appeal is become very useful tool in advertising, and it use is increasing. The sex appeal has a very long history, the first sex appeal advertising was introduced in 1911 by Woodbury’s Facial Soap (Campaign,2014). Once this advertising is released it has caused an enormous controversy, it is considered so risqué and inappropriate by several readers, even their cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine immediately (O’Barr,2011) . However, by today’s sexually liberated standards, this advertising already is positively chaste. During the next 93 years, sex is become a

Advertisers have increasingly pushed the limits of cultural acceptance in a competition to arouse the consumers’ attention. In the new H&M commercial that aired for Super Bowl XLVIII, David Beckham performs James Bond type maneuvers while wearing only his underwear. Clearly, this commercial content attempts to appeal to visual, emotional, and primal desires. Sex and the need to reproduce are intense desires that many advertisements use as a delivery platform for product sales. Actors and advertising models are depicted as objects of worship and often bear an unrealistic aesthetic perfection, only achieved by spray brushing and graphic alterations. Advertising spotlights the actor as the consumable product and equates happiness with purchases. Traditional values are being replaced with morally questionable behavior. The commercial for H&M showcases unrealistic body images to promote products, through appeals to human sexual desire, thereby degrading the value of intimacy.

Sex has a distinguished place in culture, it is a constant theme and continues to increase as time goes on. Not only that, but sex has made its mark as an advertising tactic. However, this is not a new proposition. Sex in advertising emerged many decades ago and continues to claim its place. This presents a critical question. Does sex as an advertising tool sell? Research shows that sexual appeals in advertising leaves a negative impression. Sex does not seem to be the optimal selling tactic. On the other hand, research has also found that sex does, in fact, sell by its stimulating and arousing effect. There are important factors to examine such as; audience, where sex is implemented, how it affects brand recall, how advertising works, it's relevancy, and how it is used. Regardless if sex sells or not, it continues to remain a highlighted concept in advertising and culture.