Women Potray in Advertistment
Everywhe one goes, unless he or she decides to be come a hermit and reject civilation, he or she sees advertisements with the same theme “sex Sells.” Ther is no getting away from these commercials and the sad truth is these ads are targeting our young people with dire consequences.
The Unrealistic Message
Women Potray in Advertistment
Advertisements are geared to tantalize the senses, and no one does it better than a woman who is skinny, barely clad and is able to look sexual alluring.
The woman in this picture is selling a product, no, not her body. Even though she is on the beach she is obviously not selling swimsuit. Why is she on the beach and dressed like this? She is sending a message, “sex sells.” A fifty- one year old woman’s reaction was “She is half naked.” When she was told that the model was selling perfume, she responded; “How does that sell perfume, I would not buy the perfume just because she is half naked, I don’t want to be half naked therefore, this picture would not influence me to buy or not to buy.” Just by looking at this picture no one could tell that it is an advertisement. I asked a relative in his late forties if he would trade his fat wife for the woman in this picture. And he responded that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if she were his wife she could only model for him, looking like that would not help him to decide whether or not he buys this perfume for his wife.
Clearly this advertisement is not for people in their forties and fifties. It is for a much younger audience a fifteen year old boy gasped at the sight of this picture, and said he would like to have a girlfriend looking that good, nonetheless if his girlfriend is a good person, he would not give her up for someone who looks like this model. He continued to say that the only place this type of dressing is appropriate is on the beach. He also stated that even though the model is on the beach, evidently the photo has nothing to do with swimming or swim suit. A sixteen year old girl who is as skinny as the model said that she would not dress like that; despite the fact that she has the body of a model. When she was told that the model is advertising perfume, she was shocked. The effects this this commercial should have had is lost on these two teenagers.
Unfortunately, not all teenagers are as sensible as these two; the impact of these advertisements is seen everywhere. Young people from age twelve to thirty, give and take a few years, have definitely fallen prey to this type of advertisement. Why does this happen? “Researchers found seeing an attractive man or woman in an advert excites the areas of the brain that make us buy on impulse, bypassing the sections which control rational thought” (Daily Mail 2011).
It is not only models that teenagers want to imitate, any celebrity will do. If an actress/ actor , or a member of a popular sport endorses any product it is a must have for teenagers. To prove this point, just visit a middle or high school. Students who do not wear the most update or the latest name band outfit or sneakers are shunned and are not accepted in the in-group. Teenagers are always going to succumb to these appalling images presented by the media. Often times the student who does not submit to the messages sent by the media, will get picked on and or forced by peer pressure to get on the bandwagon. The majority of teens will continue to mimic deceptions in the media.
It is not only teenagers who are the victims of advertisement like these commercials. Groups between twenty-four to thirsty, or older are falling under the spell of these commercials. The sad truth is many young people see these advertisements and truly believe that to be attractive they must use the perfume, or wear the clothes the model is selling to be attractive. Some even go further, they are not as “sexy” as the model, therefore they must lose weight. The psychological effects of ads like these consume them and in their thirst to look sexy, eating disorder takes over and their mentality is shot to pieces. The danger of eating disorder, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, is sometimes fatal; it is a disease that can affect the whole body. A research done by Tom Reichert, (2001)states that; “The message being sent to women is: "You must look like this. You must act like this. You must dress like this. If you want to attract a man or achieve some level of relational `success' with a man, you need to follow these rules." Similarly, an unspoken set of rules is provided to men:”
Many teenagers and young people yearn to be pretty. Even if they are really pretty with cures in the right places, because of their low=self esteem, they cannot be convinced that they are attractive. They will always aspire to be someone else. A doctor once said on television that many of his young clients bring in pictures to show him who they want to look like; he said the greater part of his clientele wants Jennifer Lopez’s butt. Sexy commercials are aimed at young people, but there are exceptions to the rule. Late last year the mother of a famous sports person decided to have a tummy tuck, breast enhancement, and face lift. Regretfully she died from complications following the surgery. The message of these images sometimes crosses boundaries.
The common denominator of all advertisements is sex, and it usually reaches its intended audience, young people. As long as there is revenue to be gained from these fascinating images, sex will be used to sell. What these young people do not know is that most of these models are just an illusion that they can never attain. The creative use of computer , fans, and makeup can make most people look sexy. In this particular picture, if the model had just woken up and shower, got dressed, walked out of her house and run back to spray on perfume and she is shown being delightful and contented, the same result would be achieved. The ad would probably reach a larger audience because older people would find it attractive. However, most ads have a special viewer in mind and sex will sell them anything.
Here we are in the twenty-first century, the age of advanced technology, yet society still acts as if we are in the caveman era; we gawk at sexual images, and our young people, despite their ability to excel academicly are slaves to an illusion.
August 2, 2012
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am a concern citizen who values the welfare of our young people. Lately I have started to pay attention to the advertisements in the media, magazines, and billboards. I have come to the conclusion that the main theme of most if not all of these ads is using sex to sell. Regrettably our young people are at an impressionable age, between twelve and twenty-five years old, and they are deluded by these commercials. They actually believe that the way to be attractive is imitating these models. Ads like yours are affecting them physically, mentally, and financially.
As you view these facts I appeal to your good sense of responsibility and implore you to tone down the sex appeal in your ads in order to save our young people. I am sure you are aware that eating disorder is a common disease among young people, they chase the elusive dream to be like the sexy model advertisements like yours present. I am confident that between you and your advertising department you can discover new ideas that will sell your products, without using sex, and save our young people.
The Department of Mental Health reports that: the United States have an estimation of eight million people with eating disorder; eating disorder is a mental illness that has the highest mortality rate; five to ten percent of people with anorexics die within ten years once they have contracted the disease, twenty percent after twenty years, and only thirty to forty percent attain complete recover. “ The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of all causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.” Just think of the fulfillment this will give you and in the long run you will be hailed the trailblazer of changing the way advertisements are shown. You will also attract more audience, since the older crowd will look upon you as the one who dares to go against the norms of the advertising world. .
I sincerely hope that somehow I have appealed to your compassion for our young people and aim to make your advertisements saleable to all.
Sincerely:
Reichert, Tom. (
“Sex Does Sell,” Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2040218/Sex-
DOES-sell-Attractive-men-women-ads-affect-capacity-rational-
thought.html#ixzz22MZMvppC
Reichert, Tom. (2001 May 1). “Sexy Ads Target Young People” Retrieved from The Free
Online Library.
