The blog I have selected draws on the representation of women in popular advertising ads, particularly with food ads. The blog can be found at http://jezebel.com/5726834/six-overly-popular-lady+images-and-what-they-mean. Please copy and paste this to your browser. The blog overall focuses on a variety of topics ranging from popular music, culture, entertainment, news, etc. The intended audience seems to be for young adults looking to check up on the latest celebrity gossip, stories around the world, and popular culture. This article talks about the ways in which people learn to associate women as being healthy, eating less than men, and as generally happy people because they buy the products that are being aimed at them. This blog discusses how certain foods (salads, nutrition bars, etc) are aimed at women and how as a society we tend to naturally think that women gravitate towards these products. As we previously discussed, the women that we see in popular media are typically young and attractive (meaning that the elderly are often excluded, or when they are included it's to sell us medication).
Conversation starters:
What kind of impression do you receive from these ads about women? In other words, what is the representation of femininity here (how is it being manufactured –can we buy our femaleness)? What are women being led to believe about themselves? And how are men in turn taught to think about women?
How do food advertisers attempt to induce a ‘feeling’ in their audience (how is happiness/satisfaction tied to their product)?
What do people commenting on this blog agree/disagree on? What kinds of things do they pay attention to? Can you expand on any of their ideas?
Can you think of other ways in which these images repeat in advertising? How does this connect to food/drinks targeted towards men (like the craze over Red Bull and Rockstar sports drinks)? What foods are specifically ‘male’ centered?
what impression I get from the women in these commercials and advertisments is that, if you don't look or live like these women do, than you can't be happy with the person that you really are. Every picture, excpet for the women suffering from depression, shows her smiling and being extreamly happy from the product that the company is trying to sell you. The company is trying to make you fell that their product will make you feel better inside and saying that with a little money, we can make you look and feel better with your appearance and overall state. From some of the comments i read on the web page, alot of people agree with my opinion saying that these advertisements are just trying to hard sell their product. That they don't really care for your stage of happiness, as long as the product sells, then they are happy. For the last question, women are used in Redbull, Rockstar, Skyy Vodka, etc. To make men buy their product. They will have some kind of model or some very attractive women in their commercial eyeing this guy across the bar who is drinking their product. Pretty much saying , if you drink our product, we will asure you, you will get laid. So being a male I am thinking, where and when can I get that? But i havent had anybody eyeing me from across anything if I ordered a redbull. What foods I believe attract men to food commercialsare not all women orianted. The advertising scheme they use is if you are a man, you will eat this. Here are some examples that I can think of. Camels Chunky Soup. They use big linemen from the NFL and their moms to say, if your a man who likes soup with big meat chunks, eat this, you'll be as big as a NFL linemen. The commerical used a very big male sport (Football) to sell their product for males to buy.
ReplyDeleteIn our society today, you are a nobody unless you are in the in crowd. At least that is what these magazines want you to believe. So many of the women in these magazines, practically all of them, do not really look the way that they are pictured. The great, or bad thing about the technology today is that we can alter the appearance of anyone by just uploading their picture to a computer and making a couple clicks of the mouse. Today it is as if beauty is unattainable. Just as you think you may have bought the right kind of make up, another product that is so called "better" is stocking up on the shelves. The editors of articles like this, and other magazines does not care how his audience will turn out because of a certain article. All he/she cares about is how much money their magazine is going to sell, and that intern will also sell the products being shown in the magazine. No one smiles that big when they're eating a salad, I mean come on. When it comes to trying to make men buy a certain product such as red bull, women are the one and only marketing tool. As men we cannot help but glance over at a women who is half naked on a magazine cover, it is just in our nature. Guys will immediately drop what they are doing and focus when it comes to starting at a women, they could care less what product they are selling. Men are addicted to sex, and marketers hit it on the nose when they use women to advertise their products. We all tell ourselves that we cannot be persuaded by some chick holding a can of red bull, but then we check out of the store with two packs of it. The advertising business just works in funny ways like that. And if hot, attractive women don't sell the product, then they revert to extremely muscular men. The poke at men who are not in shape as if buying a product from this man will make me physically fit. We think that we will finally be able to achieve those wash board abs that all men dream of, when the fact of the matter is that you get what you want from hard work. What advertising agencies need to focus on is that each one of us is different in our own unique and special way, and we shouldn't be promoting a product that will get us to look like one another. We should be cherishing the life that we have, because who knows how long we have to live it.
ReplyDeleteThe impressions I got after seeing these ads are that women have no identity, but rather are subjects of our amusement. Women in today's society are constantly being flooded with how they should look, eat, dress, and how they can act. After seeing a women in a magazine that is flawless they feel that they have to mold to that picture that they just saw, or the woman they saw on tv, perfect. They feel to be socially acceptable they have to do as the others do, thus, taking away there identity and just molding them into class of women, fat, skinny, pretty, and ugly. This is no way to think about oneself, always thinking about how they compare to the others, a constant competition to see who is better than the other. In turn, men are being taught to think that women are objects that are supposed to look how we want them too, rather than who they want to be. We are taught that women's only goal is to be accepted in the eyes of men, rather than themself. There thoughts are always second to mans. However men are targeted as well. In many commercials such as energy drink and alcohol commercials are telling us how to act manly and if you don't and act how we do then you aren't a real man. Advertisements accomplish this by always making the woman or man appear happy to be doing what they are doing, which makes us think that the only way to be happy is do exactly what they do. For the 2 blogs that I have read it seems that they both have the same ideas about advertisement, a universal disgust for how these advertisements affect our lives. On the other hand everyone is a victim of this in some form, nobody is innocent. In closing, I think that we all have to be aware of our surroundings and not follow the wills of society blindly.
ReplyDeleteWomen these days are seen as a source of pleasure and a way of attracting people's attention. No matter what cultural background a person has, the society has declared certain "norms" that we all think are normal. All the women i noticed in the ads were slim and were mostly smiling which tells most women that trying such products may help them fit in and be praised by the society. What they don't realize is that everyone is probably not capable or wealthy enough to purchase such items. And the ones who really cant purchase them get left behind with low self esteem.
ReplyDeleteSuch extreme ads are made for the men as well; Why does the guy, drinking a sports drink, have to be bulk? Why cant he be a healthy guy or even an overweight person?
Overall i think the advertisements have lost originality and should think of better ways to portray women than just the cliches. More than half the women in the world are not as shown by them, which causes this urge for every other women to be "perfect" even if they are bankrupt. Though the companies may be profiting from it, the message sent out is very damaging overall.
I apologize before hand if my blog is too lengthy or offensive to anyone.
ReplyDeleteThe impression I got from the women in this article is that food is the next ecstasy drug since you cannot live without it and apparently you no longer need a man anymore when it can give you such orgasmic reaction with JUST a bowl of cereal (now just imagine that lunch and dinner you are planning on eating). The other thing I got from this article is that the only time to take a woman seriously is when she is looking outside a window with “thoughts” or crying into her hands which I disagree with since these are not the reaction I get when I get kick into the doghouse on the contrary it's usually through a fit of anger and rage. Well according to these advertisements they are trying to convince girls out there that low fat healthy food that does not have enough calories for you is all you need to eat. Not only that but it is the food of the next top model out there and you could be one of them if you did this. Also that it is healthy to look like a stick and to that I say: you're going to get blown away by the wind I know that gas cost a lot now a day but this is not the route to go. As for guys the advertisement is telling us that girls don't need an average of 2000 calories a day or more and anything else it is getting wasted and that women are very emotional.
Upon closer inspection of these advertisements they are attempting to induce a feeling into the audience. Such example is by smiling freakishly wide while eating a salad. Boy I sure do remember the last time I smile this big when I ate a salad! No! No one smile like this when they eat a salad or any vegetable. Remember when your mom forces you to eat that broccoli? Exactly! Now when an advertisement wants to portray and invoke an unsatisfactory response they pop in grey coloring and hopeless gaze or crying and depressing colors. Just like in those in save an animal organization advertisement. My gosh I’m depress already that it’s a Monday and I have to go to school but you don’t have to make it worse by showing crying figures with sad music to me especially when I’m a poor broke college student living at my parents. Also which part of that did you expect me to have money to donate or even a credit card.
As for the bloggers who posted already. There seem to be a general consensus that advertisements are trying too hard and that they only care about money. I would somewhat disagree what about those non-gender commercial like Geico where you can save 15% or more on car insurance. Not all commercial or advertisement follows this trend out there.
However, there are tons of commercials following such trends out there but for guys. Take for example the axe commercial. Yes by using deodorant girls are going to go wild for you and are willing to run half way around the globe just to nail you. On the other hand it might just be the fact that you just fail to realize that most girls beforehand didn’t approach you for hygienic reasons. At this point in time I must disagree about Jake who blogged earlier about one thing. Camels Chunky Soup is pretty dang good and that if you eat enough of it you may become as big as NFL line backs except for that fat won’t be distributed nicely and you will now have a beer keg. On one last note beer keg > six pack there is more volume there think about it.
These advertisements give off the general impression that all women are constantly emotional, especially about food. The food products are portrayed as “girly” with only women ever eating certain products, such as the ones mentioned in the blog, yogurts, salads, nutrition bars, etc. The foods try to instill into females that if they consume these foods then their lives will be blissful and they’ll drop weight rapidly. Foods are described sensually and pleasurably with words that do not realistically relate to food in any way. The commercials give a false sense that one product can be the solution to any worries that a women may have. Other advertisements also show women as unintelligible people that are concerned with material things only. The advertisements attempt to draw women into commercials with enticing slogans about shoes and shopping, but shoes and shopping are not the only things that women do. Women are emerging as powerful, intellectual people and the advertisements are not relating to those characteristics of women in the world today.
ReplyDeleteThe foods aimed at women are all aimed to make them think they will lose a ton of weight and be super model skinny. You never see cheeseburgers or pizza aimed at women, it’s always the yogurt, protein bars, salads, and smaller items. These are advertised showing women happy and excited to eat them, but nobody is ever that excited to eat something that barely fills you up. If there were ever an ad that showed a women biting into a big burger or eating ice cream, then it would be understandable they would be excited. Women are always shown as being ridiculously skinny and that puts so much pressure on others, when in reality most women have curves. You would never see yogurt ads or salads aimed at men because these foods are considered feminine. Men are shown as being supposed to eat steak and other filling, manly foods and get big. That’s a lot of pressure for them too to always have to be fit and trim. Why can't they put regular sized people in ads, both men and women?
ReplyDeleteThese ads give me the impression that women have to eat very healthy to be skinny. Advertisers are brainwashing people with this information, basically saying that if you listen to this ad and eat salads you will be healthy, happy, and have a great life. In reality, this is not true because being happy depends on other factors than just the food you eat. Femininity is being portrayed as something we, as women, can achieve if we eat these light, low-fat foods. Women would never be advertised as eating steaks or hamburgers because those are ‘men’ food. In contrast, men would never be advertised eating salads, Luna Bars, or yogurt because those are considered ‘women’ food. This way of advertising not only segregates women and men but also makes them think they can only eat certain foods. Although this way of advertising is meant to appeal to a certain gender’s senses, it just puts more guidelines on what men and women should be eating.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest theme across most advertisments, especially the ads in the blog, are trying to sell happiness. When looked into at an even deeper level not only are they trying to sell us happiness were being sold the idea that we aren't happy. Luckily for us while were finding out how unhappy we really are were also offered an easy quick solution! The specifics of the food advertisements for women are that not only will eating this food bring happiness or contentness because it taste so wonderful but also eating foods like these will help us get the bodies we've always wanted that are similar to those of the models in the ads. Imagine how much happiness a great bod like that will bring you! I particulary like the ads depicting depression and its quick fix. These ads are literally saying that you are not happy and theres nothing you can do about it except buy our product. That's terrible! I think popular culture tries and feed us many different things, gender is something that is definitely considered when developing ads. Final thought; the people who develope these ads, that tell people how unhappy they are, are also subject to the ads they create! They are making something to sell unhappiness to themselves, why would they want to do that? Wouldn't everyone be happier if all ads told us we are content with what we have?
ReplyDelete-Daniel M
After going through the commercials and advertisements, I really could only think about how sad the world is today. So many people look at these commercials and advertisements as the ideal life or the “right” way to live your life. For the most part, the ladies in these advertisements look happy. They are also pretty. I could only imagine some of the thoughts that go through younger girls minds that have a low self-esteem when they are looking at these. They are probably wanting whatever the item is that is being advertised because they may feel it’ll be helpful to them or they could be getting even more depressed because they feel as if that’s how they should look. I think that the wrong images are being sent out to the people and it’s unhealthy. Girls are caring about their appearance too much these days and its starting young. They barely have a chance to enjoy themselves because they are worried about whether or not they will be accepted due to their appearance. I wish it would change. It needs to change.
ReplyDeleteThe message you tried to print is protected with Information Rights Management. The sender didn't give you the rights necessary to print the message.
-Alex L.
These ads give me the impression that women have to eat very healthy to be skinny. Advertisers are brainwashing people with this information, basically saying that if you listen to this ad and eat salads you will be healthy, happy, and have a great life. In reality, this is not true because being happy depends on other factors than just the food you eat. Femininity is being portrayed as something we, as women, can achieve if we eat these light, low-fat foods. Women would never be advertised as eating steaks or hamburgers because those are ‘men’ food. In contrast, men would never be advertised eating salads, Luna Bars, or yogurt because those are considered ‘women’ food. This way of advertising not only segregates women and men but also makes them think they can only eat certain foods. Although this way of advertising is meant to appeal to a certain gender’s senses, it just puts more guidelines on what men and women should be eating.
ReplyDelete-Brooke S.
These ads depict women in certain ways that do not exist in real life. The first picture with the salad implies that women are animals, in that, there happiness can be controlled by food, and can be bought if you do what the ad is saying to do. It also implies that femaleness can be bought by buying these products, which is the medias way, and the producers way to trick people into thinking they must buy it to feel good about themselves. Most people when seeing ads, disregard them and understand they are being tricked. However, many viewers take these ads seriously and believe that to be happy or to be accepted into society, you must look like a photoshopped model, and eat exactly what she does, or does not eat. This follows the same pattern for ads depicting men. In particular the the gatorade commercials where the basketball, football, et ali stars are depicted with little clothes and perfectly fit bodies. These ads make it seem like to be a successful man, you must look and perform like this, which is, of course not true.
ReplyDeleteAfter I reading these ads, some scenes I saw on TV before come to my mind. They are just so similar that we feel they are repeating all the time. The trick is, they are all employing women as tools and media to sale they goods. Why women? That is a thought provoking question. Admittedly, beautiful women are attractive and may draw public attention then boost the sale. However, the reality is far more complicated. Women are deindividualized nowadays in the ads. What people care is probably not who they are and what they do, but how they (or parts of their bodies) look, and the key points of the ads usually come from these features. No matter a woman in an ad is attractive or not, there must be reasons to put her into the ad. Not only women themselves, but also sores of women are dug out to be advertised. Whatever the format and plot are, the logic behind is pretty straightforward: you have some sore spots and anxiety and our product will offer you solution that make the best of both worlds. Those things are surely embarrasing to women who suffer but the ads will still talk about them for thousands times to make women believe that the product is the only remedy. Under the influence of this atomosphere, women are more stressed out as they shoulder a heavier burden, not physically but psychologically.
ReplyDeleteThe impression I received from these ads was that women are rarely portrayed as deep thinkers and instead very "in the moment". Meaning, they are very concentrated on what they are doing but are not analyzing the situation they are in. Even in the ad with the woman looking pensively out a window, her face is relaxed instead of furrowed and it looks as if she is merely staring and not thinking deeply about a topic. In the first ad with the woman happily eating a salad, the fact that she is smiling over a salad makes her seem shallow. Only an idiot would be that happy over a salad. These ads are teaching women that they should be happy about simple things like a salad or a spoonful of yogurt and to never yearn for more or indulge. Men are being taught that they do not need to give women a lot in order for them to be happy. These ads are also teaching women that they must eat low-fat foods such as yogurt and salad in order to not only be happy but to be skinny.
ReplyDeleteFood advertisers normally use cliché facial expressions to evoke a feeling. A huge goofy smile induces happiness, closed eyes mean enjoyment and staring out a window blankly evokes reflection. Advertising agencies try to make the viewer feel the same feelings as the subject in the ad, and in order to do so, they must make the feeling very obvious.
I try my best to ignore ads like these because I understand that the ad companies are trying to make me buy their product. However, many people do not realize they are essentially being brainwashed. Once you are exposed to something, the initial feeling stays with it and every time you encounter it, that feeling is brought up again. We (humans as a species) love to mimic facial expressions, even though most of the time it is subconscious. So when a person sees that salad ad and how large that womans smile is, they cant help but feel the same way. So when a person is in a grocery store and sees the brand of salad that was on the ad, they feel happy and are then more likely to buy it.
The goal of commercial ads is always to increase the revenue, and boasting could help to gain more revenue. After showing the images which state that food with less calorie could incredibly satisfy women to audiences again and again, the audiences will connect the low calorie food with delighted women automatically. We know that human body needs enough fat and protein to keep healthy. And low fat food could be a result from the connection which relates a slim body to beauty. The opinion that considers the thinner the nicer has already deeply planted into people's mind which also by the means of media. As we could see that a lot of girls are suffering from the side-effect of a skinny body. When watching the ads, it should always keep in mind that the goal of the ads is not to make audiences' life better, but to sell the product to the audiences.
ReplyDeleteThe female in today's understanding of gender is portrayed as the healthy, slim and beautiful woman who's every decision contributes to her overall well-being. These ads are specifically directed towards an area where women feel they can define themselves in today's gender standard- food and health products. Food is portrayed as a source of happiness and pleasure, an "escape" from the everyday struggles that women face. The moment where grabbing a salad with a fancy non-fat dressing or a yogurt that delivers you to your five minutes of heaven per day is always enticing. These products are targeted to make women believe they can achieve this inner sanctum of peace and happiness while consuming them, and for some that may be true. Ultimately, the goal of these ads are to show women that this product with help bring them closer to the idea of the perfect female in society. Take salad for example- refreshing, light, clean, crisp. These characteristics can be synonymous with the idea of being a healthy food, therefore helping sustain a healthy lifestyle, which is one of today's key ideas in defining the female gender. This idea of needing certain products to be included in the idea of the perfect woman has created a wave across the female gender to always be searching for the next product that will bring them closer to the ideal image. The latest diet plan, the newest yogurt or dessert which of course is fat free, the latest salad from McDonalds which claims to be healthier than their previous salad. These are all products which are in advertised to make women believe that with these in their possession, they can be happy. Therefore, to say that femaleness can be purchased is a true statement. The same can be said for males too as certain products are aimed to increase a man's "manliness." Heavy, meaty, thick foods are always geared towards men. Campbell's Chunky Soup was advertised using football players and construction workers who were much larger than the average male, ultimately suggesting that with enough of this soup you can be this size.
ReplyDeleteWomen are eager to be beautiful, slim and acceptable (popular) nowadays. They do any endeavor to make it happen. It is common that girls always on diet and yoghurt turn out to be their best food. In an attempt to attract people’s eyeballs, women change their natural body fling caution to the winds. No doubt it benefits a lot to specific industries, but economic growth is definitely not the only thing we should care about. Beauty always desires increase. However I consider pursuing beauty especial good looking body as a dangerous thing, because it’s an endless anxiety. Like a match, first be kindled by some external agent, but afterwards burn itself to death.
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting is, back to 1400 years ago, in The Tang Dynasty of ancient China, that people regarded the fattest woman as the most beautiful one. It’s easy going with an example, like Yang Guifei, favorite concubine of the Tang emperor, famous because of her plump body and decent manner.
So what originally affect the definition of women’s beauty? The most desirable body shape survived just like a natural selection? Anyway, the advertisements are teaching everyone including men that women should be thin and sexy. And as long as women care much about what people say regarding their body, the advertiser can constantly use skinny models to represent the fashion and beauty.
I found this blog to be interesting in that they state what you’re thinking but would never have said: “My vagina cannot keep me down!” It points out that most advertising is absurd and ridiculous. Jezebel presents six overused images and once we think about it, these are just the tip of the iceberg. Advertising uses only a few ways to express feelings and portray the message of their product. Not only that, but there is a predominant use of one type of woman and man who are flawless from their size to beauty to clothing. Advertising has gotten away with selling us everything with the message of happiness and fulfillment. What’s ridiculous though, is that we allow it. The majority eat it up. We buy the products without a second thought to the fact that a granola bar is supposed to give us lifelong happiness. We want the clothes we see on TV because that will make us just like the stick thin and beautiful models. It keeps getting worse, and it results in things like eating disorders, unreachable standards, and depression. When will we finally get enough? When will we start to demand that these absurd images and standards be put aside? It’s time for us to step up and say that this type of advertising is no longer acceptable.
ReplyDelete-Rachel M.
The first impression that this blog gives me is the overwhelming idea of how all women need to eat the same things to be healthy and fit the “skinny” mold. The advertisements also suggest that all of the women who eat these products are happy and believe they will lose weight quickly. All of these women have been brainwashed into thinking that they can’t achieve their goal of being skinny while still eating food that has some sort of substance behind it. All of the advertisers clearly have a goal to sell and they are achieving this by plugging their product with these healthy and skinny women. What all of the women reading these articles need to think about is how they can be just as skinny as these girls as long as they exercise and eat a balanced diet and a balanced diet doesn’t include eating cereal seven times a day.
ReplyDelete-Ryan B.
I have to admit that most of these ads are humorous to me. I understand that it take a whole lot of persuasive leaps to get the general public to buy the company’s product. I mean would you really pay attention to a bland ad with no humanity in it, or didn’t have any emotion that we could relate to? Not really. So these companies have to make these ads far out, just to get our attention, and the best way to do that is to relate to us. Who doesn’t like to see a beautiful woman smiling and being happy? And the sad ads are something we can relate to because we’re human and we get sad. Some people more than others. I’m just trying to think like the advertising companies, because I’m sure there’s a method to their madness. I mean they’re not trying to pick on because you have a couple extra pounds, or that you’re pathetic because you’re sad. They are just trying to sell their product, who isn’t? It’s all about retail. If you ever worked in retail, I’m sure you can understand. Yes it’s sad that they have to come this far, and I agree that it seems unnecessary, but what else can they do? Tell us not to go out and buy healthy food? Not to get help for our depression? Tell us that were fine the way we are and don’t need their products? Just saying that the door swings both ways, and I’m sure they get upset when the consumers aren’t buying their products because the product next to their product on the shelf has the idea of happiness. Guess they feel that they have to up their advertisement.
ReplyDeleteFrom the pictures of women being depressed, it seems that women are taught that even when they’re sad (which they shouldn’t be), they need to be attractive while they do it. I think this is completely unfair considering that when I cry, just like everyone else, my eyes get red and my face gets blotchy, and no one looks good when they’re sad. The women who are just black shadows on the healthy bars are also deceiving, especially since they are all crazy thin and seem to be the most graceful creatures alive. I don’t know about you girls, but I took ballet when I was like 10 and I never looked like that! Not to mention I quit and joined the boys lacrosse team because I hated dance so much (which seems to make me very un-feminine, according to these ads). These ads are trying to make girls like me, and probably you, believe that if I buy these things, I can be more of a woman. Well who would want that??
ReplyDeleteIn a society where it's commonly thought that women are judged mostly on their beauty, it makes sense that women are going to be hypersensitive about their appearence. Models today are getting thinner and slimmer by the day, and with the help of retouching technology, women on television are 8 times better looking then they are in real life. These women set unrealistic expectations for young female buyers, and unfortunatly, many young women are so obsessed with their appearence that they'll pay top dollar to look like the attractive lady on the T.V. screen. Big shot advertising companies know this and are cashing in. Women spend thousands of dollars every year on makeup, anti-aging serums, moisterizers, hair gel, eyeliner, blush, ect. Basically anything that even remotely claims to boost beauty is going to catch the eye of a self consious female buyer. In addition, these models also set regulations on who men are suppost to like. When men see these models they are essentially being told that they are suppost to be attracted to a very specific type of woman. Models these days are mostly white, a certain height, slim, young, and have big breasts. Because of this men are more likely to persue women of this nature because they feel like they will be ridiculed if they are attracted to someone who doesn't fit those requirements.
ReplyDelete