Effectiveness of Advertising that Degrades Women
A long debated subject within the
context of Advertising has arisen since the late 1950s - the portrayal of
women in Advertising, which is most in need of analysis and change.
Advertising is said to be the economic
sustenance and pillar of the mass media. Societal issues have arisen
scrutinizing the various advertisements seen and heard.
Many people believe that
Advertising’s approach to sex is pornographic; it reduces people to objects and
deemphasizes human contact and individuality. Many would argue that
this reduction of sexuality to a dirty joke and people of people to objects is
the real obscenity of the culture.
Example: BMW
The Advertisement depicts a man and a
woman during an intimate moment in the bedroom. A magazine covers the woman’s
face with a BMW editorial print advertisement displayed. The copy states “The
ultimate attraction”. This layout followed by the copy is a fine example of
advertising that degrades women. Not only is the woman in a submissive
position, but also she is degraded and objectified by such a sexual notion
whilst being portrayed as being the next best thing to a BMW car. Men, who
would be the target audience for this Ad would find it appealing, but not
women. Ads like this can resonate deeply
and negatively within women.
There are many that assert that these ads
encourage women to be viewed as objects by “the all important male”.
Many scholars/activists believes that this
objectification comes in several varieties. They believe that sex is only used
to grab attention, which is apparent in the BMW Ad above. They state how some
people refer to this usage as “borrowed interest”. This is a method of
captivating the target audiences’ attention for a limited period of time.
On the contrary, an
attention-distraction explanation hypothesizes that the visual draw of the
suggestive illustrations decreases reading time for the ad copy . Advertisers should be wary of a reduction in brand recall and
awareness due to this distraction factor. This would also result in a reduced
recall of brand names and product information as well as negative product
attitudes.
Culture can be redefined and expressed
through the people that fit into it. This portrayal of Advertising is negative
and should not be an indicator of the ingenuity of such Advertising. Killbourne
does not disfavor Advertising completely, but believes that the images in Advertising
do not cause the problems, but they “contribute to them by creating a climate
in which the marketing of women’s bodies, is seen as acceptable”.
Measuring the effectiveness of such
advertising from a Brand status has proven challenging with no direct
co-relation to the advertising and sales. However, societal issues discussed
through various forums online and research conducted is a key indication to the
negative perceptions viewed on this subject.
Researchers already have established that some
women compare themselves with the idealized images in advertising and that some
women who compare themselves with these high attractive models may experience
negative feelings as a result. A survey
in the United Kingdom, for example, shows that about two thirds of women
thought that advertisers go too far in using sex to sell product. They
found explicit billboard advertisements more offensive (Media and Gender
Monitor Issue 8). Also, while doctors do not agree on the extent of this problem,
eating disorders such as anorexia have been affecting more young people. This can be seen even by global brands such as an Estee Lauder advertisement even goes so far as to boast that
they are “Defining Beauty”. The way they are defining beauty is with three
supermodels, one being Elizabeth Hurley. Young women would
look up to these role models as societies perception of the perfect look.
Ad Age published a list of Top 100 most
effective advertising of the century, out of the 100; only 8 involved the use
of sex (Ad Age, 2011).
It is clearly defined that the
degradation of women in any sexually portrayal has negative implications to the
masses. They may not directly be linked to a Brand’s sales or brand equity, but
is talked about and discussed and scrutinized through various media channels.
This still happens even in this day and age, but the question remains - are the ads degrading, or is it up to the reader to perceive it as so?
Kind regards,
Daniel-Jacob Santhou
au.linkedin.com/in/djsanthou/en
Twitter: @djsanthou
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/thecreativestrategist
Instagram: @thecreativestrategist
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