In Jean Kilbourne’s article “Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt: Advertising and Violence,” she describes how advertising and violence has defined sexism. For a very long time, advertising in the United States and other nations has played a very important role in how people identify themselves in relation to their culture and the other cultures of the world. Advertisements shape the decision making of potential customers in terms of they should invest their funds on them, the way they should dress, and most importantly, the mindset that they should have in order to prosper. Advertisements introduce new products, inform customers on improvements and changes on existing products as well as encourage the buying attitude of these customers among other important roles. Despite the fact that advertisements make life easier and enjoyable for most people, it also has some negative effects to the society, especially when it is inclined to one group within the society. Advertisers in their bid to convince potential consumers, at times they manipulate the beliefs, morals, and values of our culture.
According to Kilbourne’s article, advertising has now considered bodies as objects thereby normalizing attitudes that lead to sexual aggression. In the article, she cites several examples of advertisements, which she considers to violate the rights of women. For instance, she gives an example of a Diet Pepsi commercial that featured Cindy Crawford as some two young boys ogled her, about twelve years old, as she bought a Pepsi from a machine (Kilbourne, 468). In her opinion, which I consent to them, the suggestive comments that the boys made, which turned out to be about the drink and not the lady, were acceptable and ordinary enough to feature in the soft drink commercial and disregard the woman dignity. In this paper, I will analyze three adverts that have featured in magazines that have violated women’s dignity and conforms to Kilbourne’s thesis.
Duncan Quinn
The above photo shows an advert from Duncan Quinn, who is a well known suit maker. The ad leaves us with question of whether the advertiser intended to show the impression of the half naked woman, or the fully dressed man standing next to her in a suit. From this ad, one could ask himself if the woman has been sexually violated or if the man has such intentions (Green, p. 7). The violation even comes out more considering that the man standing next to the woman is holding her with a necktie tied to her neck. According to Kilbourne’s article, some of the ads that are published on the media depict scenes that are unfriendly to women as they exalt men. For instance in this ad, it is evident that the man is superior to the woman since he is decently dressed while the woman is not (Green, p. 7).
Such scenes in advertising always affect the customers and the society, especially the women since they are the despised group in this context. In my opinion, a lady would not comfortably buy her husband Duncan Quinn’s suits after watching this add that I consider to violate women’s dignity. If the advertising could continue in this form for this suit maker, women would develop negative attitude towards his collection and convince their husbands that these suits are not the best for them to purchase. He would definitely lose his customers due to an ad that he intended to increase his sales.
Calvin Klein
This company has been the most daring in its advertisements. Form one of the ads in Australia; the company released suggestive images of one woman with three men. The woman was lying half-naked under on the lap of one man, another man bending over her and the other sitting with bare chest next to her. The men had their trousers loose and unzipped as the woman lay suggestively (Green, p. 3). Just as Kilbourne’s article, some of the ads that feature on the media do not clearly depict the items that the advertisers intend to communicate to the audience. For instance in this ad, does not instantaneously indicate the intentions of the advert. Some ads are not appealing for general family viewing even though they are aimed at the whole family. For instance, Calvin Klein Company produces clothes that are meant for the whole family; however, this ad discourages family viewing.
She explains in her article using the cigarette ad in which a woman says while lying in a man’s embrace clearly after sex, “Does this mean I get a ride in your cigarette” (Kilbourne, 459). In this example from the ad, the writer intends to show that most adverts have become pornographic thereby objectifying and dehumanizing people, mostly women. She also indicates that despite using pornographic adverts on these items, the items cannot fulfill human sexual desire. In the Calvin Klein’s advert, the clothes that they advertise cannot fulfill human sexual desire. Therefore, in my opinion, pornography in advertisements does not necessarily influence buying attitude positively. In fact, sometimes most potential customers often ignore the advertisements that violate women.
Dolce & Gabbana
This company also consistently markets itself as a nervous brand. It ran an advert in Esquire that it later retracted after receiving discouraging comments from the public. In this ad, the company published one woman lying under a muscular man. She is in the company of four men, with two of them having half-buttoned shirts and the other two without shirts. This ad also depicts the same picture as the aforementioned Calvin Klein ad
The above-mentioned ads affect the consumers because the women viewers and readers of these ads might develop negative attitude towards the products, especially, these that show the women as being gang raped (Green, p. 5). On the Berlusconi ad, women would not buy these Ford cars considering that they depict women negatively.
Conclusion
Advertising and sexism are important when considering the types of ads to run on the media. Some goods are aimed at the public such as cigarettes, clothes, shoes, and cars among others. In these commodities, advertisers should be conscious of the content of the ads they run so that the company’s image is upheld. In my opinion, some ads violate women and I am confident that humans have the intellect to know the things that are socially acceptable and those that are not. They also have the consciences that help them differentiate right and wrong. Additionally, human beings can also think for themselves without necessarily obeying misleading information. Therefore, advertisers should avoid sexism, violence and pornographic content in the ads they run on the media.
References:
Dominic Green. 15 Recent Ads That Glorify Sexual Violence Against women. The Business Insider. May 18, 2013, 12:22 PM
Jean Kilbourne. "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt": Advertising and Violence. Berkeley, California: Free Press, 2012.
