No Really...You Need This

I'm 20 years old...and I bought an anti-aging cream...does that not demonstrate the power of advertisement?

Interning in Times Square, it's difficult to not see an ad. Between Roxy, Sephora, Aeropastel, American Eagle...heck even Staples with their organizational tools...being sucked into what the media wants you to buy is easy.

Since the 1920’s advertising has been affecting people worldwide. There is not one group of people that propaganda doesn’t affect, whether that be mentally, physically, socially or all of-the-above.

As American citizens, we consume thousands of images a day, those images being ads for make-up, car, perfumes, insurance, retail…and the list goes on. These images surround us over billboards, magazines, television, phones, laptops, and quite generally the Internet.

As Berger mentioned in “Ways of Seeing”, publicity wants to make the public feel glamorous. “Buy this product” to feel part of normalcy, “you need this product” to be happy, “now that you have that product buy this product” because you’re not good enough. And how has the medium made it possible for us women to keep buying their products? Easy answer: they built a nation of insecure women who gave birth to insecure women who continue the cycle and thus continue being victims of mass media. As Killbourne states in his writing Cutting Girls Down to Size: “Advertisers are aware of their role and do note hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering solutions”.

Between being ageist, sexist and racist – advertisers have produced the ideal American. Blonde, thin, fair skinned and submissive to men. Anthony Cortese illuminates the idea of the image advertisers chose to produce, mentioning: “What kind of representations does advertising produce? It creates a mythical, WASP-oriented world in which no one is ever ugly, overweight, poor, toiling, or physically or mentally disabled”.

So, as women develop diseases such as anorexia and other weight related complexes, men – still being a target by media – are not as heavily influenced by the image being consumed. As Qolf writes when describing magazines, “These magazines are not oracles speaking for men”. Yet, magazines are in fact oracles for women.

What are the purposes of this image? That is easily answered: money. As Wolf puts it: “just as the beauty myth today serves the government and the economy”. Buying make-up, clothes, perfumes, sneakers, jewelry… all these products fuel the economy. We purchase items that benefit stores and, therefore, benefit the American market. Of course advertisers are going to spend hours doing surveys, research and meetings discussing how to change women’s role and entice them into buying more – it’s an extremely profitable career choice as well as beneficial for the government.

These images, thus, are infiltrated into our minds whether we are conscious of it or not. Women, as mentioned previously, develop inferiority complexes. Diseases such as anorexia, bulimia and simply hatingyourself – are all accredited to the magazines, articles and televisionprograms that are produced.

As Killbourne states: “Being obsessed with one’s weight is made to seem normal and even appealing in ads for unrelated products, such as a scotch ad that features a very thin and pretty young woman looking in a mirror while her boyfriend observes her”.

With these images being produced and later consumed by the public – popular culture is learned. We can see his using other countries as an example. In Korean, for example, advertisements of women with perfect skin and big eyes pressures the real woman in society to get constructive surgeries and purchase whitening creams to achieve the same look as the women on the magazine covers they read. We can tell what’s popular culture in each nation by what the advertisers release.

How can we stop being victims? By being fully conscious of what we are reading and which images we are consuming. The battle/change has to start with us first. Advertisers seek profits and therefore we cannot wait for them to change what images they release. As long as there is a susceptible public who accepts the images they view and buy the products they sell – advertisers will always make us the victim of their business.

If we, as a society, can say, “No, I don’t need to be that thin. It’s not realistic”, or “no, I don’t need that cream for my face…my face is fine and they’re just selling a product”. When we can build self-confidence and be comfortable in our own skin – then the advertisers would lose their power.

The only strategy that I can create for advertisements is the construction of a new image: a natural image. Advertisers have this concept that as long as people feel bad about themselves, they’ll buy products to make them feel better – this doesn’t have to necessarily be true. Women and men who feel good can still feel good buying products that aren’t harmful to their self-esteem. Advertisers can still exploit women and men without hurting an audience’s mental state or creating a role.

 I take for instance the Dove Body Campaign. Dove has a campaign in which they advertise the image of the “natural women”, this being thin, full-bodied, white, black, Asian, etc. While such a campaign doesn’t request the consumption of make-up or clothes – it makes women feel empowered and confident which can lead to women wanting to support Dove, hence buying their body care products.

If advertisers can make us feel good about ourselves at this stage in the game – they could easily make profits. Ethical advertising doesn’t mean advertisers can’t sell products still, it just means advertisers shouldn’t create an image that we should rate ourselves against.

If I like what you support, such as Dove, I’ll buy your product. It’s about having admirers – not imitators. 

CHECK OUT THIS WEBSITE THAT ADVOCATES WOMEN AGAINST CURRENT MEDIA http://sociologyofwomen.webs.com/