Women As Sexual Objects In Advertising
Diana Rosales
Dr. Tricia Farwell
Reflection Paper
02-21-15
Women as Sexual Objects in Advertising Advertisers use women as an object in a sexual manner to call men’s attention when promoting and selling products. Women are used as a strong symbol that society connects with weakness, sensitivity, and dependence (of a man) but is also seen as a sexual object. From the professional interest as an advertising student, woman have, are, and will always be seen as profit and a way to bring a bigger audience into the business. As long as the consumers respond and react to the advertisers messages whether is good or wrong, it will be a successful message. However, there are critics from society that say women are being dehumanized, taking out their identity and just use their beauty and body to the service and satisfaction of the male audience. I find it particularly curious how in a world where society is denominated, globalized, and gender equality free that has evolved, continues feeding these announcements in the most explicit possible manner without the collective conscience noticing it. Despite the years, it is still illogical and absurd how we still look at women as a sexual object using them as viral hooks of sales. For example: going back to the pictures shown in the class from the advertising campaign of Tom Ford shows that in order to promote a male …show more content…
fragrance, they pictured fragments of the female body with a high sexual and absolute explicit content.
It is evident the disequilibrium between the female body versus the male in the advertising display, the
female body is dehumanized to pieces that feed the desire while men are been seen as a whole human being. In other words, men have always been seen superior, stronger, and, powerful. Throughout history the beauty cannon has been modified and reinvented each decade, from the prehistoric fertile abdomen to the voluptuous Greco-Roman hips there has been an evident reduction in the natural proportions of the woman body. Today the female figure is nothing but a strictly skinny vision with juvenile proportions, almost unreal to the general population. It’s been 25 years since the concept of the true woman had deteriorated and disguised under the brush of digital tools as it is Photoshop. Women are being “photoshoped” into what society believes to be beautiful. But what is beauty in a world where everything is relative? Today due to the global phenomena of best sellers as it is “Fifty Shades of Gray,” a current and popular subject among teens and young adults, there are sadly more women with the desire of being submissive rather than brave heroines that fight for female respect and bring out inspiration to the future generations. I personally believe that society should be more cautious with the images it exhibits to the world and teach the future generations to be conscious about equality among men and woman and find a way to recover the real graphics of the female human body. The truth is that advertising has no limits; women will always be the unique and provocative selling point to most of the products targeted to the male audiences and even women audiences nowadays. It is a controversial subject even more now that the Internet has produced a direct line for much stronger, graphic, and sexual material to enter consumers’ homes. Therefore, as sex has become a more relaxed subject, I believe it will become a bigger part of the advertising landscape in the future.
Works Cited
Suggett, Paul. “Sex in Advertising” <http://advertising.about.com/od/advertisingprojects/a/Sex-In-Advertising.htm>
Dr. Tricia Farwell
Reflection Paper
02-21-15
Women as Sexual Objects in Advertising Advertisers use women as an object in a sexual manner to call men’s attention when promoting and selling products. Women are used as a strong symbol that society connects with weakness, sensitivity, and dependence (of a man) but is also seen as a sexual object. From the professional interest as an advertising student, woman have, are, and will always be seen as profit and a way to bring a bigger audience into the business. As long as the consumers respond and react to the advertisers messages whether is good or wrong, it will be a successful message. However, there are critics from society that say women are being dehumanized, taking out their identity and just use their beauty and body to the service and satisfaction of the male audience. I find it particularly curious how in a world where society is denominated, globalized, and gender equality free that has evolved, continues feeding these announcements in the most explicit possible manner without the collective conscience noticing it. Despite the years, it is still illogical and absurd how we still look at women as a sexual object using them as viral hooks of sales. For example: going back to the pictures shown in the class from the advertising campaign of Tom Ford shows that in order to promote a male …show more content…
fragrance, they pictured fragments of the female body with a high sexual and absolute explicit content.
It is evident the disequilibrium between the female body versus the male in the advertising display, the
female body is dehumanized to pieces that feed the desire while men are been seen as a whole human being. In other words, men have always been seen superior, stronger, and, powerful. Throughout history the beauty cannon has been modified and reinvented each decade, from the prehistoric fertile abdomen to the voluptuous Greco-Roman hips there has been an evident reduction in the natural proportions of the woman body. Today the female figure is nothing but a strictly skinny vision with juvenile proportions, almost unreal to the general population. It’s been 25 years since the concept of the true woman had deteriorated and disguised under the brush of digital tools as it is Photoshop. Women are being “photoshoped” into what society believes to be beautiful. But what is beauty in a world where everything is relative? Today due to the global phenomena of best sellers as it is “Fifty Shades of Gray,” a current and popular subject among teens and young adults, there are sadly more women with the desire of being submissive rather than brave heroines that fight for female respect and bring out inspiration to the future generations. I personally believe that society should be more cautious with the images it exhibits to the world and teach the future generations to be conscious about equality among men and woman and find a way to recover the real graphics of the female human body. The truth is that advertising has no limits; women will always be the unique and provocative selling point to most of the products targeted to the male audiences and even women audiences nowadays. It is a controversial subject even more now that the Internet has produced a direct line for much stronger, graphic, and sexual material to enter consumers’ homes. Therefore, as sex has become a more relaxed subject, I believe it will become a bigger part of the advertising landscape in the future.
Works Cited
Suggett, Paul. “Sex in Advertising” <http://advertising.about.com/od/advertisingprojects/a/Sex-In-Advertising.htm>