Advertising Images

       Advertising is a form of marketing communications that relates messages regarding products and services to the market. Advertising uses images to help convey the messages about these products and services. Because of the model that the media currently uses, that is by having advertisers invest in different forms of media in exchange for advertising space within that media, advertisers have a strong influence over the content that is produced in the media. From a business perspective, this is a great model because both the media industry and advertisers win - while advertisers attain the visibility they desire by having advertising space in a location that is a focal point for their market, media companies receive the funding that they need to continue to produce content. 

Although this seems like an ideal business model, it is flawed for that very reason - it is a business model. As engaged as the media industry is in its business, it will never be a typical business industry because of its foundation in creating content that will inform, entertain and shape the lives of people. As long as the media industry continues to function within a money-driven business model, it will always be subjected to content and images that will help businesses make money. In this relationship between advertisers and the media industry, the advertisers hold the power because they have the money. Because they have the money, they have the ability to produce the content. And because the advertisers are biased in that their own objective is to make their businesses money, they will continue to product content that will reflect that objective, whether it is at the expense of people's livelihood or not.
     Here lies the problem - it's not that advertisers are terrible people who are purposely attempting to ruin the lives of people everywhere, but that they simply have a different objective  than that of the media industry. As we have seen in our readings, this has devastating effects on society and people. Anthony Cortese describes it best in his article "Constructed Bodies, Deconstructing Ads Sexism in Advertising" when he says, "Advertising sells much more than products; it sells values and cultural representations, such as success and sexuality…" When we live in a society where older, white, rich men in power hold the keys to the kingdom, what kind of messages and values do you think will be sent to the public through advertising images? Probably images that will make people, women in particular, strive to be young, submissive, white and with someone who is rich. Look familiar? Here is an example of a super bowl advertisement to give you a better idea.

However, all of these images stem from the idea that men are in power. In Naomi Wolf's "Culture" she says, "the little girl learns that the most beautiful woman in the world was manmade, and that her intellectual daring brought the first sickness and death onto men." Through advertising, men reinforce the idea that they are Gods who create women into who they are and will never allow them to be their equal. Jean Kilbourne adds to Wolf's thoughts in "Cutting Girls Down to Size" when she describes how women are taught to diminish themselves and be less than what they are, thereby reinforcing their submissiveness to men. These ideas of submissiveness stem from a patriarchal society that we continue to propagate despite its irrelevance in today's society with women's growing power in the workplace. However, "If women can both bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan, what does that say about men, who have been sitting impatiently at the head of the table waiting for their dinner to be served on time?" as Michael Kimmel describes in "Misframing Men." In other words, men have to search for other ways to impose their power if they can not achieve it by being the bread-winner, resulting in attacks on the female gender. Bell Hooks recognizes the detriment this patriarchal system has on society, in "Understanding Patriarchy" where men and women feed into a system that only rewards men. She also discusses in "Feminist Manhood" that as long as we live in a society that forces men to play the dominator role, this system will not break away. However, because gender is constructed and the definition of gender can change, as Judith Butler describes in "Performative Acts and Gender Construction," a change in the current media industry model to convey images and messages that are not created by advertisers could change the way that we see ourselves.

In order for a shift to occur in the media industry in how people are portrayed the current media industry model must be broken. The solution that I propose is for media content to be funded by the public. I think that until advertisers are removed from the equation, the media will always be biased in producing content that will serve businesses. And since the relationship between the people and the media, the responsibility of what content is produced should be our own. As Gloria Steinem demonstrated in "Sex, Lies and Advertising," people's ideas regarding what is good content and what businesses believe is good content does not always coincide. Therefore, we have to be proactive in deciding what content and released in the media and how we would like ourselves to be portrayed. Not only would be producing better media content, but we would also be improving our livelihood and how we see each other.