Depiction of Women in Advertisements in Mass Media-- Week of 9/17-9/21/2012

     Over this past week,  our class discussions revolved around the focus of women in advertisements and the social impacts and consequences they leave for women who are subjected to their messages.  Over this past week, our class discussed and studied about the portrayal of women in advertisements and how the media's ideal image of women in advertisements impact both women and men, and how these images affect many people's self-esteems.  To begin, many of the common themes we were able to depict from analyzing a numerous amount of different advertisements were: the objectification of women, the ideal of women being flawless (both in gestures and beauty) not to mention thin, the idea of women having no power at all or being extremely powerful, the reinforcement of women's domestic roles, an animalistic approach implying dehumanization, racial and gendered hierarchies, violence and vulnerable images depicting women as being victimized, and many more demeaning images of women.  I named a few of the common themes that arose from one advertisement to the next, and although we should question if these are the messages we want people to receive from mass advertisements, these messages have been embedded for so long throughout all media, that there seems to be little room for change.
     Sex Sells! This is a concept all of us have been exposed to since we had first seen a single commercial, or magazine, or even through the first doll or action figure we may have owned first.  We are not the first generation to be exposed to these messages; our parents, grandparents, and many more generations prior have been taught through media the ideals of what "beauty" was supposed to mean.  These messages have a huge impact on girls growing up, and can even cause or lead to many of them developing insecurities, and complexes about not only their appearance, but also how they feel as a whole.
     Over the past week, our class watched two films and read an article relating to these topics in particular.  The first film we viewed was Killing us Softly III (2002) by Jean Kilbourne.  This documentary addressed many issues about the long term effects of women's portrayals in advertisements, and how these ideas of women through media are normalized in the minds who are exposed to them.  The film also addresses the damages these common themes of images of women in advertisements has on women's self-esteem throughout the world.  These depictions of women are very contradicting.  From the moment we begin to be exposed to them, we are taught the be beautiful through our appearances and materialistic things, rather than our personalities.  We are also taught to be submissive and innocent, while at the same time we are supposed to be alluring, seductive, and dominating.  As Jean Kilbourne says in her film and the article we read from her, "this concept of contradicting ideals of women can be tricky," while at the same time overwhelming.
     We also watched a segment of a movie called Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher.  An interesting thing I took from this film, was that less than 5% of women have the natural genetic body images of the women we are exposed to through advertisements, and that the average model is 5'10'' in height and only 110 lbs.  My first reaction to this surprised me.  Even though I am exposed to these advertisements regularly, I guess I never thought that the average weight would be so low for people of that height.  Overall, after both films, and the article we read, I realized three main things in all of them.  First of all, all three sources imposed the ideas that as women we look to peers and media to form ideas of how we "should be".  These advertisements we are subjected to and influenced by are then internalized, which lead to women creating complexes of themselves and feelings of inadequacy.  In addition, all advertisements featuring women also reinforce the idea and teach women that sexuality is valuable.

     The topics of our classroom this past week made me think about some of my experiences throughout my previous jobs in fragrance, and in Clinique Cosmetics.  When I worked for fragrances, I had clients, both men and women, who looked for a signature fragrance.  This concept of the fragrance being "signature" meant that they wanted people to think of them when they wore this specific fragrance.  They wanted this fragrance to trademark them.  I also had clients that would buy every perfume of cologne under a specific designer.  For instance, I would have clients that would come in and buy every Marc Jacob fragrance, or Dolce n Gabanna, Dior, Armani, or Chanel.  People would attempt to mask themselves with a designer, or a scent.  I am also addicted to fragrance.  I have over 60 bottles, but my choice of fragrance is not impacted by a designer name, its by the scent.  However, I do not have a fragrance that trademarks me because I cannot settle with one scent.  I like to have a different scent for every day or mood that I am in.
     I also remember working for Clinique, and I would have certain clients who would come in with complexes about themselves and insist on needing a particular product to "fix" themselves, even though I would attempt to reassure them they did not need it.  Clinique is interesting in their depiction's of women in their advertisements, because there aren't any.  Clinique is one of the only, if not the only, cosmetic company that does not use any people in their advertisements.  Although, they do not use people, it is interesting to still have clients of women still coming to the brand convincing themselves they need a particular product to "fix" something.  Sometimes the product the customer needs can help with assisting their concerns, but on the other hand you still have people who convince themselves they have skin or body issues they don't have; therefore, they don't really need the product they are convincing themselves of the do indeed need.  One of my memories at the counter, in particular, really disappoints when looking back on it.  I was a sales person, so I was not going to refuse to sell someone something they convinced themselves of needing.  However one time, I had a mother come to me with her 10 year old daughter, telling me about her daughters skin issues.  At around this age, I was thinking acne may have been the concern, but that was not the case.  This little girl's skin was flawless! The daughter was standing right next to her mother, while the mother was explaining to me that her daughter was developing wrinkles, and that she needed a cream to fix them, and makeup to cover them.  I explained to the mother that all her daughter had was expression lines, which was completely normal, while the daughter still remained silent.  The mother persisted that her daughter needed a repair creme for wrinkles.  I then explained how I did not recommend the specific product for a girl her age, and then recommended a preventative creme more age appropriate, even though I explained ten was still a bit young to fulfill such a skin care routine.  The daughter then lashed out n said how she needed the heaviest coverage makeup, and a repair creme for her "wrinkles", because she referred to herself as being "ugly".  The mother then went silent and smiled in satisfaction of her daughter agreeing with her. I then proceeded to grab the products they wished for, rang them up, and wished them a good day.  I was a professional giving my recommendation, and they both convinced themselves, that this young girl had skin issues she did not have.  I gave my recommendation, and attempted to reassure her self esteem that they were both worrying about issues that weren't there, but they did not want to listen so I was not going to refuse to sell them.  This situation is extremely sad and disappointing, but it just goes to show the impact of the women portrayed in advertisements and the impact they have on women exposed to them.