African-American Women

Women, beauty, sex, money--they may seem like completely unrelated words but when combined together create a powerful driving force within American society. This “driving force” is known as media, though, in this essay, I will be focusing mainly on advertisements. There are a variety of ads being made everyday and can be spotted almost everywhere; billboards, magazines, shops, and even online, just to name a few. However, many of these ads--ranging from food to fashion--have began involving women in them. Not just any women either; these women are the idealized women American society has conceptualized as they flaunt their bodies whilst also implying sexual themes. Individuals, literally and figurative, by into the way these advertisements
I chose to use those women as they are the top three most prevalent minorities found in the United States. I also did it to break away from the typical Caucasian, American barbie dolls one would typically see just about everywhere in the ad world. The women are of different body types and represent their culture to bring about more authenticity and non-conformity in the advertisement. The background the women are in are plain white as to not take away any attention from them. Nike checks have also been noticeably placed in each panel the women are in as if to say women don’t only have to be strong in a physical sense while also unconsciously functioning as a way to promote Nike as a brand. Nike’s trademark “Just Do It” slogan, found at the top right of the ad, is also there as a way of telling women to go out and be the leaders that America needs. Lastly, there is text found on the advertisement that says, “Don't love me for my body--love me for me”, which is there to reiterate my statement I made previously; women should be loved based on their inner self rather than their outer
This, consequently, turned me into a bit of a feminist as my views on women were greatly enhanced, driving me to create this ad. Though my advertisement was drawn on a small scale, my ad would be best fit as a picture on a billboard and possibly within the pages of a magazine. My target audience(s) are women and men that range from teenagers to middle-aged adults as the entire concept of beauty is of utmost importance during this age range. My ad’s purpose is to bring awareness of how feminism is viewed in the United States as well as to love the women who go beyond the stereotype of a woman. And, in regards to stereotypes, I was able to place the women in certain situations in which the extinguish the myth that all of the people of their ethnicity are the same. The Hispanic woman is showing that she is worth something as she has won an award and is not, instead, doing housework. The Asian woman is giving/about to give an important speech instead of “digging for gold”. Lastly, the African-American woman is ecstatic about just graduating, showing she's an intelligent being. This, overall, shows that all women are not the same as they are made out to