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| Credits: Fanta Girls |
The goal of advertisements is to get you interested in their products, to make you know their name, colors, tag line, representatives, logos, and other useless information. Advertisement agencies are always aiming for the newest and innovative trends to capture audiences and customers- why do the results tend to circle around the same old concepts? The same type of models (white upper-middle-class, size zero, blonde) representing everyone, using photoshop to make the rare to the even rarer representation of ourselves, and the ability to copy and paste this image/concept anywhere and everywhere so everyone and their mother’s mother would recognize it (Douglas 11, Wolf 83). It’s unethical to have these companies to spend billions upon billions of dollars placing images promoting negative images/fictional portrayals of beauty everywhere and therefore unconsciously disciplining audiences to recognize the advertisement's display as the norm (Kilbourne 121). –If they’re advertising clothing, or anything else for an average person’s use- why is an un-average person promoting it?
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| Credits: HuntsManProducts |
We as a society need to change the way we use space and advertisement. There should be no need to eliminate a specific ad, there should just be more variation. The goal to diversifying ads, their models, and concepts is to allow all sorts of people to identify an idea of who is in society and who can make it on to an "exclusive" advertisement- it seems like those who are chosen to model have that honor of being seen by everyone, and only these people with these specific qualifications can do it, leaving everyone with different qualities feeling unwanted. We need to represent the elderly, the disabled, the colored, the chunky, the glasses wearing kids, and so much more in a positive light.
After coming with more variations of ads that actually promote positive images and values, it’s time to take it to the streets and do that brain washing-like advertising where this image is posted everywhere. One way or another this positive image/concept will get to you, just like how those horrible ones do. I don’t really need to know that Pepto Bismol can help you with “Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea.” On the other hand, it’ll be a good idea to remember that pink represents Breast Cancer awareness, and always be conscious about it. There are many diseases that go unknown without the media's assistance. -Red represents AIDS, but on a huge billboard, you might go ahead and think it’s a CocaCola ad. Point being, advocacy advertising should be promoted on a equal or higher level than products (Cortese 45).
In addition to plaguing the media space from prints, to radio, to television, to films- values that stick to us the best are learned at a young age. Aside from the media output- another way to stream information and increase it’s value is through stressing the importance in school. Why don’t we have classes and programs that addresses the wrong doings of advertisements? We need to identify those that hurt society with it’s dishonest portrayals and messages. The contradicting messages of what a person should be truly conflicts all who are unsure of their identity (Kilbourne 134). As of late, body image has become such a dilemma with both females and males –it’s mandatory to set the truth straight through reliable sources instead of just relying on magazines and product campaigns such as Real Beauty by Dove, that although positive, just isn't enough.
Above all it must be recognized that advertisements hold tremendous power in society. With it’s widespread and invasive nature- these small messages become big parts of how we identify with society. There comes a point where we try to separate ads from reality, making it two separate entities- when the real goal should be to alter fantasy-like ads to become reality (Wolf 73). We need real people representing ourselves, not ideal computer generated figures. All companies who have that money to spend on advertisements should take on the initiative to promote positive messages through their ads. We consume advertisements by the hundreds- daily, that time is valuable and should consist of beneficial and positive messages instead of those that want to make us feel incompetent (Kilbourne 121). It’s not going to be an easy task, but we must start somewhere to reform the world of advertisement, and essentially society's perception of beauty/the norm.
References:
Cortese. Construced Bodies, Deconstructing Ads: Sexism in Advertising.
Douglas, Susan. Introduction Where the Girls Are.
Kilbourne, Jean. The More You Subtract, The More You Add.
Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.
Kilbourne, Jean. Beauty and the Beast of Advertising.
I completely agree with your idea that advertisements should include all body shapes and types. People do recognize that the people in such ads don't represent reality and are often photoshopped, but that doesn't deter people from becoming influenced and wanting to achieve that same look. Like you mentioned, I think it'd be great to teach children at a young age that the models used in such advertisements are retouched as a marketing ploy to make a consumeristic audience give in to insecurities and buy products. The question is if that will actually help when children and people in general are surrounded by these types of advertisements and messages everywhere they turn, 24/7.
ReplyDeleteOverall I agree with you. People need to learn that these advertisements are just trying to sell, sell, sell. However, I feel that people should not be victim of advertisement, i.e, model being skinny or model having flawless face/skin because they should know that these imagery are fake and it shouldn't make them feel horrible about themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is when Japanese advertising agency use American people, they are always white, blonde, and size-zero women. We should learn and teach the advertisements do not represent the "norm," especially to younger people as you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post because I felt like I was nodding my head in agreement throughout the whole reading. When I see companies trying to add diversity with different races to promote their products, I feel like they're always trying too hard. If you look more closely, the focus most of the time is always on the model who fits the "American" look the best. The blonde with the blue eyes either represents the flavor that is the most popular or she's put on the screen more often. And it's funny you mentioned how Pink stands for Pepto more than it does for Breast Cancer awareness because a couple years back a friend of mine and were walking through this park and we saw these pink heart shaped ribbons posted everywhere and she said something like "why are all these splotches of pepto all over this park" and I told her "I'm pretty sure it's for breast cancer" and she gave me one of the "-_-" faces lol.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a lot of valid points. I like the connection you made with the significance and meaning behind certain colors. Advertising is a place of irony and contradictory. You want to sell your clothes to the average woman while using the unaverage woman to advertise the clothing.
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