POST 2

    Advertising images are everywhere we look. It either makes us feel happy, like we can take on the world, or broke and then we spiral into a depressing mood because we realize that we can’t afford whatever it is that is being advertised, or we simply will never look like models these advertisers pick for these giant posters. Either way, we are the target for these advertisers. Most people don’t stop to analyze the picture in front of them to see the sexism, racism, or the power hierarchy in it. It’s there though.

    Women are usually exploited in many of these advertisements we see everywhere. In Culture, Naomi Wolf states “Women are mere “beauties” in men's culture so that culture can be kept male.” Many advertising's are created to cater men, especially alcohol adverts. Most of the ads in magazines have a half naked woman standing next to or holding a bottle of vodka or beer. In many magazines, women's intelligence is belittled. There is almost always an image of a male CEO or a picture of a man in a position in power.

     Another great point: “We pretty much count on peer groups to get it wrong much of the time: it is those same-sex groups who often set the unrealistic standards against which our performance will be measured and judged, and our manhood credited. And it is through media images that we come to know what performance is supposed to be.” Kimmel makes an excellent point here. It is through media that society depicts what we are supposed to look like, act like, and be. Another great point that is made in this quote is that same-sex groups are the ones who set these unrealistic standards against each other. Women judge other women more than they judge men. Same goes for men, they may not be as “catty” but there is still whispers around the office about a man who isn’t as ‘manly’ or ‘masculine’ or about the suit he is wearing. 

Why do women care so much what the magazines say and show?
    They care because, though the magazines are trivialized, they represent something very important: women’s mass culture. A woman’s magazine is not just a magazine. The relationship between the woman reader and her magazine is so different from that between a man and his.
            - Naomi Wolf






    Many magazines only display ads of light skinned females, making society believe ‘the lighter the better’. Very rarely, until very recently, are images of dark skinned women featured. Certain races are portrayed in ads for “what they’re good for”. However, I feel like stereotypes are there for a reason. There IS a reason certain races have certain stereotypes, and therefore are represented a certain way. Those stereotypes will never change, it’s up to the ad companies whether that is what they in fact want to use to draw in their consumer. 

“Stereotypes, however inaccurate, are one form of representation. They are not there to tell it like it is but to invite and encourage pretense”
Bell Hooks- Representations of Whiteness

    I think the answer to changing advertising strategies is very simple. Don’t photograph women to look like sex bimbos and don’t portray men to be the head of the household since times have changed. When it comes to the race issue, I feel like society is changing slowly. More dark skinned women are being shown in make up ads as well as more women with realistic figures. People are still going to look at ads as long as there is something out of the ordinary going on with bright colors.

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