Anything to sell a product.

Throughout history, selling products has proved an effective way of making a profit. Making people buy the products is always a constant concern of the advertisers. Some companies will do anything for money. In an industry that makes over a billion dollars a year, they apparently have no conscience as to what means they use to make this profit, including deceptive tactics. One of the tactics is "The Problem". According to advertisers everyone has a problem which can be solved by buying their product. People are made to feel as if they are lacking and that buying these products will improve them in some way. Another tactic is using women in advertising. Women in advertising are often put on display. Using women in advertising is nothing new, companies have been employing this tactic for years. "Buy this brand of beer and you will get this female", will be the usual tactic. This is used over and over.

People are bombarded everyday as Kilbourne says, "by 1500 ads a day or more. The advertisers constantly try to manipulate the viewer into thinking that they do not know what is good for themselves. The viewer is portrayed as clueless and in desperate need of the advertisers help."


Constantly in advertising, "Woman are shown as housewives or sex objects." (Kilbourne)Many times in car advertisements there have been women on display near the car as if to say "by this car and you will get this woman" to men. However some advertisements go even further than the latter. As in the above advertisement, the dismemberment of the woman's legs in skimpy clothing are not advertising the car whatsoever. In fact there is not even a picture of a car. The only indication the advertisement is about a car is the logo at the bottom. The advertisement also features the tagline "Get there faster" objectifying the woman.


Other advertisements will target women by telling women to improve themselves. (with the help of a product.) "Women are constantly exhorted to emulate this ideal, to feel ashamed and guilty if they fail, and to feel that their desirability and lovability and contingent upon physical perfection". (Kilbourne.) Often women are forced in society subconsciously to construct an artificial image of themselves. They are exposed to advertisements from an early age that cause them to feel the pressure of society, always watching, expecting them to behave in a certain manner and look a certain way. "Women are made to feel constantly in need of alteration, improvement and disguise. Advertisers objectify women often, employing derogatory means and tactics such as dismemberment to "promote mindless women" (Kilbourne)

The contradictory message, "both sexy and virginal, experienced and naive, seductive and chaste." is often a major problem that women encounter. (Kilbourne) "advertisement's pornographic approach, reduces people to objects and de-emphasizes human contact and individuality." Many of these advertisements are overly sexual and devalue sex itself.
An example of exploiting women are car advertisements. Women are portrayed in older car advertisements as naive and stupid. Either women are not interested in buying cars at all or if they do buy one, they are the worst drivers. An example of this one of the old Volkswagen ads featuring a Volkswagen car with the tagline "Sooner or later, your wife will drive one home one of the best reasons for owning a Volkswagen". The picture shows one of the headlights of the car is smashed, keeping in check with the "bad driver" stereotype. Shockingly, the advertisements of Volkswagen still continue to cater this line of advertising with their new advertisement featuring a picture of the new Volkswagen with the tagline "It's a boy" implying the car is for men.


How do we improve these advertisements? Is it necessary to sell the product? Volkswagen despite its other advertisements was able to shockingly create one that does not exploit women at all. In fact it does not even display a female lingering seductively next to the car. No, instead it was a commercial featuring a child in a costume. The advertisement ran during the superbowl and was one highest rated commercials of the year. All of that was done without a single sexual reference, dismembered woman's body or jab that women cannot drive. Instead, they employed humor. This is perhaps a tactic that companies could apply in the the future, one that still conveys the product but does not use women in deplorable ways.

(photos from the examiner.com and Ms. blog magazine.com)