Part One:
These two images were advertisements that I thought are good representations of what we have been reading and what we have been talking about in class. The message in the Mcdonalds advertisement is to get people to buy their fries. However, they do not say anything about fries. To me this is the less obvious message being communicated since all they have is a picture of fries. The advertisement says "Tall, blonde and gorgeous". This message is obviously portraying a beautiful female, maybe even the desired female. It seems as if they are making you desire to have these fries by relating them to a tall, blonde, gorgeous woman.
Another advertisement I thought definitely represented the issues in class was the Dolce & Gabbana ad. They are known for their racy ads. When I first looked at this advertisement, I have no idea what they are trying to sell. All I see is a woman being held down by a man and a few other men standing around watching, possibly waiting their turn to be with her. After I did some researching, this ad is for a fragrance. A fragrance??? Didn't see that one. Women in Spain, Italy, and the United States thought the ad was demeaning and portrayed a man raping a woman. An article about this image stated that in 2008 Dolce and Gabbana won a prize for its "continuing depiction of women under a sexist angle over the years". Congrats?
Both of these advertisements relate to "The Beauty Myth". The Dolce and Gabanna advertisement shows men controlling a woman and being the dominant force. The ad reinforces that men have the power in relation to the women. They also reinforce the beauty myth by having a woman that is stunning and very skinny and men that are are ripped and good looking. The beauty myth in the Mcdonalds advertisement reinforces the want to have "something" tall, blonde, and gorgeous.
Part Two:
Dove's *Real* Beauty advertisement works against reinforcing dominant myths of what constitutes beauty. Usually women in magazines are tall, emaciated, and have no clothes on or are wearing some kind or sexy lingerie. The Dove advertisement shows what people would define as real women in society. These women are proud of their bodies and I like that Dove gave these women a feeling of empowerment. It proved to women around the world that you should love and embrace your body and men should too! If I was creating my own advertisement I would use a man for a masculine product and a women for a feminine product without undermining women in either one.
The two advirtisements fit hand in hand with our readings. There is no doubt that something as simple as a mcdonalds fry in this culture shapes the image of a perfect women. However, Dove is something that inspires women to be beautiful no matter what.If only there were more advirtisements such as these....
ReplyDeleteThese two pictures relate to the class discussion and readings this week because they both demonstrate how advertisements make women look inferior to men. In the first picture the woman is a carpet and the man is stepping on her while underneath is a caption that says “It’s nice to have a girl around the house”. The message that they’re trying to send is that men can walk all over women because they are more “powerful”. Also the caption underneath is basically saying that it’s nice to have a woman around the house to do the cooking and cleaning so that their lazy buts don’t have to do it themselves. This picture is offensive because men don’t have the upper hand anymore, times have changed.
ReplyDeleteIn the second picture they are demonstrating how back in the day when it was wartime and the men had to go to war so the women were forced to step up and help out. The most offensive part of this picture is the bottom where it says “Turns out you gals are useful after all”. This advertisement is from an era where the women’s job was to only stayed at home, take care of the children, and cook and clean. This is such a cliché stereotype created by men because they didn’t know what women were capable of at the time because they never gave them the chance. Women were always viewed as vulnerable and fragile when really we can do anything men can do and women proved this when they had to work while the men went to war.
If you examine these photos even more you will also notice that both of these women have makeup on and their hair done. To be considered beautiful in our society we have to fit into these standards that are set for us. If the second advertisement was a picture of a man at work then he would have dirt and grease on him, but because it’s a woman in this picture they felt the need to put makeup on her while she is supposed to be working.
This Nike advertisement empowers women in many ways. It’s describing her butt and it tells us that she’s okay with having a big butt because she’s comfortable in her own skin. She shows her strength by telling people that if they don’t like her for her and they can’t accept her big butt then they can kiss it. I think that every woman should have this self- confident mind set because men would respect women more if they did. The beauty myth that we read this week was about how the media and men tell women they should look a certain way and this advertisement is perfect because it’s basically saying screw you if you can’t accept my body just the way it is. If I was making my own advertisement in order to empower men and women I would show them as equal because I truly believe we are equal. I don’t think there is any problem with a man picking his child up from school or cooking dinner and there’s nothing wrong with a woman mowing the lawn. I believe marriage is about teamwork not certain gender roles and men and women doing what they’re stereotypically supposed to do.
I can't figure out how to add my pictures to this, so if someone could please help that would be great:)
-I cant figure out how to put pictures on here so if anyone could help that would be awesome
ReplyDeleteMy first article advertisment was from Germany in a magazine. The picture is selling a vaccum, but trust me you would never know bc all you see of the vaccum is the cord. The woman in the picture is tying up a man, that is in his underwear with a six pack. She has in these 5 inch heels and you cant even see her face. The advertisment stuck out to me for several reasons, one being that the product that they are trying to sell sint even being seen in the picture. Isnt that the main idea to try and sell your product? Another reason was how advertisments sometimes treat people as slaves. In this picture this woman is wrapping this man up with the cord of the vaccum, maybe that is suppose to be sexual and arose someone i dont know? The only thing different about mine is that the woman is actually the leader in this advergtisment, they ususally use woman as a sex toy but not so much here. Another ad I used is a Skyy Vodka ad. The "Blonde" woman is laying out and she happens to have big boobs, while the man is looking over here with his Skyy Vodka. This advertisment fits our mold of the average woman. Every man wants a blonde skinny woman with big boobs, so of course that would sell on a vodka ad. One thing that was weird for me is the man looking down on her. It seems that a lot of men do that to woman and treat them as if they are just only sexual "things".
The one advertisment I chose for the empowering of women was the dove ladies. Its a picture of several different race women, with many different figures. This is so inspiring to youg girls and young women because we are so use to the "normal" models that are all skinny or have really big boobs. And in reality that is not how ever one is. These women are trying to make a difference and tell ladies that you should be proud of your own body and the skin your in. The sad thhig today is that we feel as if people want us to be a certain way for example, men or anyone. We feel that we arent pretty unless we wear a size 2 or 4, but in reality your beautiful in your own way!
@Kate, I totally agree with you on the Dove advertisement. The advertisement does not depict your average, super slim, blonde-haired model, but depicts models of every race and size. It empowers women to love their bodies.
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