No matter what newspaper, magazine or online advertising that is being reviewed it is likely that they will see ads featuring female models representing any number of products. Some advertising is directed towards the male demographic, this includes everything from auto parts to cologne. Other advertising is directed at women, encouraging them to purchase the products that will make them look like the women in the ads. Either way, there are beautiful, young women peddling products. However, both, men and women are being misled by advertising; it is women who are more often than not objectified, over sexualized and stereotyped in such advertising. The modern America of today is not above using dishonest and detrimental representations of women that is unrealistic to achieve and physically impossible to obtain. That said after reviewing available information it becomes clear that advertising has negatively shaped society’s way of thinking on women’s body image and has too often objectified them.
There have always been gender biases and stereotypes that lock women into an identity created by society. A society that sees women as an object to be obtained and is to be sexually appealing to men. This can make it difficult for women to break out of that mold. Men are judged on their character and skills, while women are more often judged not on what they can do, but on how they look while doing it. One aspect that is incredibly relevant is the fact that the advertising images that they are being encouraged to emulate are not real. Most print advertising takes advantage of modern technology and “perfect” models images. They can change highlights and shadows, shrink down the waistlines and trim thighs and arms, and add a sheen over the image that blurs away all flaws. Even the models cannot meet the idealized concept of beauty that is celebrated today. Despite the fact that this photograph fakery is becoming more and more common knowledge, there are still millions of girls, teens and women who continually struggle to meet the unrealistic physical standards being identified to them as ideal, which leads to down a dangerous path with serious consequences (Heldman 1).
When a young women see a women in a advertisement they instantly start comparing and contrasting themselves. Many will go to dangerous and unhealthy means to obtain something does not exist to begin with. Women and young girls may starve themselves to achieve extreme weight loss, including developing psychological disorders, like anorexia and bulimia. Girls of all ages are swept up in the need to have plastic surgery to fix imperfections. These issues of self esteem and self image only become even more intensified when it comes to female sexuality. Women in advertising are perceived as a prize to be won and an object to be used for sexual purposes. This infers that women are only as valuable as their individual parts, breasts, legs or backsides; sometimes advertisements do not even include models heads (Heldman 1). A fantastic example of this parceling out of women’s parts is the Calvin Klein advertisement featuring Eva Mendes, in 2009; it is a clothing advertisement, but in many of the photos she is topless. What does the model being topless have to do with the selling of jeans? It does not. Men want their women to be topless in their jeans, but women know that they probably cannot look as “good” as the dogma about beauty they are being taught. We are seeing a culture that perceives that every part of a women’s bodies exists for a sexual purpose Women are being attacked for breastfeeding their infants in public places as if the breast is a sexual organ to be hidden. Breasts are an intended food source for offspring; it is not directly a sexual organ. This objectifying and sexualizing of women continues to be a detrimental paradigm.
This kind of sexist traditional advertisements is sending damaging messages to both boys and girls, men and women, that men should see women as nothing more than an object of desire, however, most women cannot meet these ideals and women are influenced to attempt to be those women. Pre-teens have become far more sexual than previous generations, because even youths are attempting already to strive to be the women that they see in advertisements. Their self image and self esteem is linked to the success or failure of those efforts. The standard has been established and society does not forgive flaws that medical procedures can fix. If a girl has small breasts she should have them enlarged, if their teeth are not white and perfect get dental implants and if you are not thin enough get on a commercial diet. However, the average American women, let alone teens and pre-teens, cannot afford such procedures and instead live with damaged self esteem and poor self image that it could create problems in their relationships and day-to-day life (Heldman 1).
For decades advertising pitches and schemes have been used to bolster sales of all sorts of products, some of which have been negative. So negative that it can lead to some profoundly serious issues associated with the use of the female form. For many women it has created a preoccupation; women are expected to be what advertising and society seems to want them to be. Female Americans, and women all across the globe, are not only attempting to achieve the impossible ideal, they are highly critical of other women. “Girls’ and women’s bodies are objects for others to visually consume” (Heldman 1).While men may objectify women as sexual objects, women judge other women and happily point out all of their flaws in others who do not meet the ideal standards. Standards that even the models of the world do not possess in reality. Women are harder on other women than men are in many cases. Most likely this stems from the personal insecurities that all women are being indoctrinated to feel and being able to lash out and criticize others instead of criticizing themselves is probably somehow gratifying
So if this phenomena is, in fact, detrimental to the psyche, emotional stability and even the physical health of many women, what can be done to change it? This will never be an easy feat to accomplish because the mentality of objectifying and sexualizing of women is something that has been part of advertising for decades. In order to change it the society will have to make a very large transition. There are times when models may seem sexualized, like in an advertisement for lingerie or bathing suits; however, is there still a need to see a half-naked woman eating a cheeseburger on a car as necessary imagery to sell fast food. Again, the Calvin Klein shows that advertising will use whatever female body part that will sell products. The reality is that it would be possible for the advertising world to change; after all some progress has been made, there is still a long way to go and it will require a change in society that vindicates women from objectified objects and instead as individuals whose thoughts, ideas, skills and opinions are far more valuable than their bust sizes, waistline and their worth as sex object. Boycott businesses that promote this image of women, that is how change will be achieved (Heldman, 1).
Advertisers are business people, not ethicists; they do not have much interest in “right” and “wrong” of such misleading imagery, but only that imagery sells. We are, however, living in the 21st century and things are improving in some industries but not in others. Despite the facts that women have proven time and time again that they are far more than the sum of their parts. Advertisers still promote an idea that it is better for women to be thin, pretty and sexually enticing than it is to be a good person, educated and have skills. That said there is still a long way to go. This type of advertising is not beneficial to women’s psychological stability, emotional well being and self image. Eliminating these oppressive mindsets, stereotypes and objectified images of women would go a long way to repairing the damage that advertising could have on future generations of women.
Work Cited
Heldman, C. “Out-of-Body Image.” Ms. Magazine. (2008): 1. Web.
<http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2008/outOfBodyImage.asp>.
Calvin Klein Advertisement. “Eva Mendes and Jamie Dornan” (2009): 1.
