Smelling Nice has Become a Different Kind of Cliche

Perfumes/ Cologne have been around for as long as we can remember. Through time presenting perfumes has changed a lot. Back in the 1920’s through 1990’s perfume ads were just as objectifying to women as they are now but in a different perspective. If we look at the older ads below they give women the message that they can turn all heads on them when wearing that specific perfume. Messages like “wear it; he’ll say, Oh la la”. “He can’t get you out of his mind”. “The perfume men love on women”, “A girl’s greatest asset”. All of these messages are telling women if you don’t smell this nice, he won’t think of you as much, you are not good enough. In other words, the difference the perfume makes for a woman is on her worth to herself and others. Then comes men’s cologne, like Lauder for men; “scent matters, if you feel good about your scent, so will she” and Centaur “Massage Cologne”: its “half-man, half-beast, all-male.” Both colognes are presenting a message that they can have the lady if they wear this perfume, she is under control. Here the difference the perfume makes is in how much control the person is able to exert on another. It’s degrading in a sense where men are dominating women in both male/female perfume ads.

  

The ads of perfumes today give the same message but with different ‘visuals’. It’s the 21^st century now and the perfume industries have cut down on the slogans, focusing on the image for the perfume. They still objectify women with the sexual images of their bodies for perfumes and leave only the name and brand name of the perfume/ cologne. These type of industries present an ideal image and message for women and men if they purchase these perfumes. Men’s cologne like Tom Ford’s and Gucci Guilty, use female bodies as this is the prize, this is what you will get if you wear our perfume. For the women’s perfumes they focus on the image of the women to be young, attractive, and thin to show women this is what men want. By purchasing this perfume, it’s like one step closer to getting the ‘man’.

These types of advertisements are so degrading to women; we are seen as sexual attractive prizes for men and nothing more. I always knew women were seen as less valuable than men, but it has never caught my attention within the messages of all advertisements. It’s a shame to see how society portrays women, as if degrading women is the only way to attract men and women to purchase items. The worst part is not the industries objectifying women, it’s the society that participates. Leaving women to be an object for men’s pleasure and given a unrealistic icon for women to look up to.

 

Images for this post came from:

 

“Vintage Perfume Ads of the 1920s.”Vintage Perfume Ads of the 1920s. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/perfume-ads-1920s>.

“Wholesale Perfume News.” Wholesale Perfume News. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://wholesaleperfumenews.com/2013/03/romance-discount-perfume/discount-perfume-yves-saint-laurent-cinema/>.

“EXCLUSIVE: Kim Kardashian’s Sexy New Fragrance Ad Revealed.” Style News StyleWatch Peoplecom RSS. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2010/01/05/exclusive-kim-kardashians-sexy-new-fragrance-ad-revealed/>.

“Beauty Bargain Queen.” : Gucci Guilty Intense fragrance sample for him or her from Perfume Connection. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://beautybargainqueen.blogspot.ca/2012/02/gucci-guilty-intense-fragrance-sample.html>.

“The Style Bugs.” The Style Bugs RSS. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://thestylebugs.com/tag/jadore-dior-perfume>.

Let’s sell some ideas

Ideals have changed through time. Today we are obsessed with a skinny figure in our culture, while it is pretty ugly to be skinny in some cultures. These are ideals, historically dependent.  Here’s an interesting ad I came across today:

1920-1950 advertising for ideal body

They had to be NOT skinny to attract males and feel attractive. Now that would be unthinkable to a person brainwashed by today’s society here. Another important feature in these ads is the amount of detail and information given. If you go even further back in time the ads would only have writing. Wow, they had time to read and process information! Also they weren’t bombarded with so many products that are only slightly different from each other or so many ads for that matter.

So we have moved to a visual culture where image means so much personally and in turn carries lots of power. Today, we use image to not only sell products but also ideas and ideologies. We’d rather be affected quickly through the power of image rather than take time to consider facts. If you were thinking that we aren’t easily influenced then think again!

Each ad if you consider carefully promotes ideals to the audience who are the society. There are also ads that promote directly an ideal, rather than a commercial product. Let’s consider some interesting ones that objectify women in order to promote a worthy (depending on your personal standards) cause:

•  Ever since I saw this ad, I have wanted to share it on the blog: 

This ad is objectifying the woman’s body at several levels: the body is used as a canvas, the painting is itself another objectification of a woman’s behind, the body is shown as a part instead of a whole, and they have made an effort to highlight the nipples in order to add the sexual appeal. You would have agreed that this is sexual objectification, unless you knew it was an ad promoting breast cancer awareness with the slogan “are you obsessed with the right things?” The slogan itself reveals what they’ve tried to do in the ad, to grab the attention with a sexualized body in the hope that the person would stop to read the tiny message in a corner of the ad. Almost like this one: 

• Peta! People for ethical treatment of animals. Now that sounds like another good cause. They often have created ads presenting the human body (specially of females, wonder why.. ) as equal to the animal body. Whether we classify it as objectification would depend on whether we perceive animals as “things” or “beings”.  Aha! Now I see a connection: females are often represented as “things” in our culture, just like the animals.  However, they have also created ads that objectify and degrade women in most obvious ways:

Tell me again, why is it the women? I mean if women are animals, men are too.. right?

• Become an organ donor:

 

   Have we degraded to the point when we need to use an attractive woman who has posed to imply sexual readiness, to promote such a worthy cause as promoting organ donation? The text reads: “Becoming a donor is your only chance to get inside her”. Okay, so are we supposed to donate an organ because we aren’t sexy enough to have sex with her? Does this also mean that the sexy ideal is more worthy of an organ donation? Nice playing – with our minds!

What happened to those good old ads that promoted ideas with BIG BOLD LETTERS AND INFORMATION?

Image Sources

1. “Vintage Weight Gain Ads Discourage Skinny Body” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/vintage-weight-gain-ads_n_1119044.html

2. http://pinkribbonblues.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BCF-Body-paint.jpeg

3. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PXd4PwMOno8/T0vkF1qXGqI/AAAAAAACExU/DXYy4HZ2u6Y/s1600/Renuzit_Wo

4. http://veganfeministnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/PETA-Woman.jpg

5. http://media.tumblr.com/28507c8fd046850dec5f3dd8602c3c7c/tumblr_inline_mfa84cha8p1rag3fs.png

6. http://feministcupcake.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/anderson-peta-gal3.jpg

7. “Organ Donor Foundation – Only Chance to get inside.. – print, Belgium” http://adland.tv/ooh/organ-donor-foundation-only-chance-get-inside-print-belgium

Is it sex that sells?

When we talk of sexual objectification in everyday life, the answers as to why it happens are most often blocked off with the most common answer, which is “sex sells, we all like sex”.  True! And Obvious! But why is there so much disparity between the objectification of women and the objectification of men? I feel that we need to dig deeper than this.

The argument goes like this “If it is sex that sells, and considering most of the population is heterosexual, why is it that men are not as equally objectified as women?”

Nope, we don’t want it to be the same. We want both to be gone! But here are some clear differences:

• Huge difference in the amount of objectification between the two sexes. Do I even need to mention which sex is objectified most? Here’s an example I like; American Apparel selling unisex clothes: 

Does the difference need to be made clearer?

• Even in ads that objectify men, men are shown in their agency, there is little passivity represented in these pictures. It’s still rare that a man’s agency is taken away from him. A man does not wait as an object for someone’s attention or action. However, a large number of ads represent women in this way.

 VS   

• Their relationship to the opposite sex is different! We talked about this idea in our last post; how ads help produce, reproduce and maintain stereotypes. The patriarchal ideals of male dominance and female submissiveness still exist widely, unnoticed, and ignored. Male is the one in control and it’s totally okay to lose control. In fact, that’s what women should use their sexy powers for:
  

  “Can she make you lose control?”

• Objectification of a body is bad but objectifying a body in parts is even worse. Women are represented as parts and not wholes. When was the last time you saw an ad with a man’s sexy legs photographed in a way that leads the eyes to his sexual organs? There are numerous ads that use women’s body parts to advertise their products.

“Play with my V spot”

There have even been studies showing that the way people cognitively take in the image of a man and a woman are totally different. Both men and women tend to see a man as a whole, a human being with a unique personality and a body. On the other hand both females and males tend to see women in parts, focusing on parts of the body while failing to see her as a whole. It would take lots of blind hope to expect the results to be different in a culture that constantly objectifies parts of women’s bodies and also obsesses with the need for perfect flawless body parts for women.  Media is the main driving force for these obsessions. We are still a culture that dehumanizes and degrades women.

Is there any inherent trait in a woman that makes it okay to reduce her to a “thing”? Or are we witnessing the amplification and continuation of age old ideas of dominance and submissiveness in a modern society? As I have tried to make it clear with all the differences mentioned above, it is not only sex that sells. It is bodies that sell. It is female bodies and body parts that are being sold alongside products.

                                                                                                                             (Source of image: http://ad-busting.tumblr.com)

Image Sources:

1. ” Is American Apparel sexist? Latest “unisex” campaign adds fuel to the fire” http://starcasm.net/archives/220360

2.   “Hot men no longer the focus in underwear ads, according to New York Times” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/hot-men-no-longer-the-foc_n_3332233.html

3. “American Apparel Now Open ad” http://www.about-face.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/American-Apparel-Now-Open-ad1.jpg

4. “Breaking: Lynx ads banned for objectifying women” http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/breaking-lynx-ads-banned-objectifying-women-136696

5. “Play with my V spot” http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/03/play-with-my-v-spot/

Creation of Male and Female Ideals

In our modern day society we are given a stereotypical image of beauty for both men and women. The biggest lead to these stereotypical images is media. Men are given the image to be masculine, being a “man“, to be in control and powerful while women are given the idea of having to be “sexy“ and thin to attract a man. Attracting the male gaze is important. She has to put her body out there making it sexually attractive. The same representation of the gender roles and ideals is done through ads that objectify women; but these ads to it better!

The photos we see are touched up to perfection, and are defining beauty. Women try to perfect themselves to fit the definition of beauty but what they don’t realize the image of beauty they are provided with is a false image, it`s impossible. These advertisements are setting women up for failure, according to the images we see on a daily bases we all have flaws. They believe they don`t have the “perfect features“ but every women and man are perfect the way they are. We created a monstrous society, and try to fit into the ideal image of perfection. (Have a quick look at this 37 second video that is the reason we have a stereotypical standard of beauty; http://www.upworthy.com/see-why-we-have-an-absolutely-ridiculous-standard-of-beauty-in-just-37-seconds?c=ufb1

Girls at a young age look up to the actresses or models they see in everyday media who are often objectified and retouched. The advertisements are almost everywhere in their reach. Those women they see don’t look like that in real life, they are given a definition of beauty, and they start objectifying themselves. While boys are given a standard view of being masculine, they follow these trends whether it may be in movies, video games, and advertisements. Both girls and boys are afraid of the consequences if they don’t follow these trends. They will be the so called “outcasts“.

Society, through time has created the concept of being sexual from our drinks, to our clothes, to the products we use. The advertisement business in this time basically makes it sexual or else it won`t sell.  Everything we purchase has a sexual side to it considering the way we were introduced to it. If we look at this Low Carb bar shown in the picture below, we are given the message if we eat this product we will have the body they advertise. Tom Fords advertisement for cologne, is giving men the idea that women are attracted to this smell, it lures men into the sexual schema that if they wear this cologne they are in reach and in power over the female body. Dolce & Gabbana`s ads are probably the worst I have seen not only does it objectify women, and show men as the powerful masculine image they supposedly should be, but they make it okay to flash sexual content and advertising rape and male domination over a female body.

This is not what we want to teach our kids or adults. These images are degrading, when people are influenced with the kind of images we are provided with every day, it is then that we have created the monstrous society we live in today. The type of society that always has a “man“ in power, the type that teaches us its accepted to sexually advertise ourselves and get criticized for doing it. We create an image we should follow and whether we follow it or not we are criticized. If a man is not masculine enough he`s not a man, if a women does not look like the advertising images she is not beautiful and when she does follow these images she is criticized and looked down upon in our society. It is the type of society that we look down upon, but yet we promote it by participating. She is not an object; she is a human being!

 

All images above came from:

“Keep Australia Beautiful: trash sexist ad campaigns | Collective Shout.” Collective Shout. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://collectiveshout.org/2011/08/keep-australia-beautiful-trash-sexist-ad-campaigns/>.

“Sexiest perfume commercial! (Page 1 of 3).” Sexiest perfume commercial! (Page 1). Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.fragrantica.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=62949&p=3>.

“Sexual Objectification, Part 2: The Harm.” Ms Magazine Blog. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/07/06/sexual-objectification-part-2-the-harm/>.

“Thread: Dolce and Gabbana underwear advertising campaign for Summer 2009.”Gossip Rocks Forum RSS. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/magazines-photoshoots/107796-dolce-gabbana-underwear-advertising-campaign-summer-2009-a.html>.

Objectifying Women in Beer Advertisements

For many years, the beer industry have been sexually objectifying women in their advertisements using women`s body as a way to lure men to purchase the specific brand of beer. The beer industry`s advertisements have created it to be a male dominated environment, revolving around partially naked women, having sex and getting intoxicated. Although it has not been proven that men purchase beer because of these sexualized ads they continue to degrade women.

The ways they advertise in my opinion is disgusting and downgrading to women, take a close look at the photos below. Women are in the arms of a man, dressed down to only a bikini, body painted to look like the beer bottles and covering the women`s breasts and private part with beer bottle caps only. They use women`s body as an object in the hands of men, men are seen as more powerful and masculine. Masculinity plays a big role in these ads, they create an image for men; this is the way you are supposed to look like, and you will have these attractive young women when drinking this beer! The industry`s show the bodies of men and women only in a good light where men are muscular and women are thin and fit showing off their bodies which contradicts the product since beer is unhealthy, really high in calories, and gives you a beer belly. Even when beer companies started making the `light` choice with less calories, they used fit skinny attractive girls to advertise by using their bodies and painting them like the beer bottle. By showing these attractive thin women in the `light` version, it advertises that even when you drink this beer, you can still have a nice body. They use this sexual image to grasp the attention of men and getting a man`s hope to have women like the ones in the advertisements.

Not only in pictures do they objectify women but in most commercials as well. Take a look at this commercial by `Bavaria`;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYK3D9EGIP8

In this commercial, the Bavaria Company uses the beer bottle as an object to control the women, using her as an object as well. Whatever the man does with the beer bottle the women imitates going back to the man being in power. These types of industry`s are giving the message to men that they are in power, they are in control, they can dominate, if they have this beer.

If we have a look at this commercial by `Thirsty for Beer`

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4EmIuq29Rc

This commercial is showing men, when they are thirsty to keep drinking. The more you drink the better outcome. Which in this case he kept drinking, the more he drank the closer the sound of the women was by the time he drank all the beers a young attractive women approached him sexually while wearing almost nothing. These types of advertisements in the media are a big impact on society; they portray a sexual image for both men and women to admire.  They are not just objectifying women but making every women feel worthless and under control of a man.

 

All Images are from:

“Bad Ad Sample Essay.” Media Literacy Project. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://medialiteracyproject.org/bad-ad-sample-essay>.

“Funny Ads: A Delicately Handpicked Collection of the Best and Funniest Commercials Ever.” The Best Funny Ads. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.inspirational-quotes-short-funny-stuff.com/funny-ads.html>.

“Nightmare Depression Restroom Tornado.” Bizarro Blog. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://bizarrocomics.com/2012/03/05/nightmare-depression-restroom-tornado/>.

“Taking a Stance Could Literally Empower Women.” PolicyMic. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.policymic.com/articles/21252/taking-a-stance-could-literally-empower-women>.

“The Gender Ads Project.” Literal Object. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.genderads.com/page5/slideshow-22/>.

Market, Ads and the Objectification Epidemic

How many advertisements were you bombarded with today? And how many of them did you pay conscious attention to? Over the last few decades the average number of ads we see per day has increased exponentially, with the increased availability of media and technology. Everywhere you look, there’s somehow wanting to sell something to you, in spite of  your interests. With the increased number of ads and increased amounts of choice, the marketers are competing for your attention. Yes, yours! One of their best tricks is to use a highly sexualized subject or an object for this task and we the consumers constantly fall prey to the tactic. When was the last time you looked at an ad once more, this time consciously, just to look at the girl in the ad who was so damn hot?

You might be wondering what is so wrong with someone, a woman, being super attractive. Nope, that’s not the problem at all. The problem is when the human being in the woman is stripped away, depicting her as a mere object. When women’s bodies are represented as only an instrument of pleasure, you have transformed the woman from being a subject to an object (Note the difference: an object is passive and can be acted upon by a subject, a subject has agency). And it’s no news that a hugely increased number of ads do just this! The range of ads objectifying women includes selling products such as beer and underwear, to selling beauty to selling of ideas such as the importance of being a vegetarian or preventing breast cancer!

The scariest bit however is that ads don’t even need your attention. Many ads rely on the effects of unconscious exposure to sell their products to the over-scheduled, cognitively overloaded, and a mentally exhausted population. Most ads rely on the unconscious association between the product sold and the pleasant feelings evoked through the advertisement. Hence, the use of feel good music and people as sex objects. It seems we as a culture are attracted to both! Even though men are also increasingly objectified in media, it is still greatly less compared to women. The gap between who gets objectified still remains.

What is most important to realize is immediate arousal and slightly probable buying of the product are not the only consequences of these ads. The effects of conscious or unconscious priming contribute more to creating the mind of society than it does to selling the products. How many of the stuff you see in ads, do you actually buy?

The effects they leave on society however are long term and damaging.  We will explore these ideas further in the upcoming posts!