Post 3 - Advertising Rules?

Advertising is one of the most powerful forms of media that we have today. Television networks and the entertainment industry use advertising images to promote their programs, and rely on ads as a source of income and sponsorship in media. Due to the dependence and influence of ads, we can see them any and everywhere thus impacting our social behaviors.

In Sex, Lies & Advertising by Gloria Steinem, we see an example of how advertising influences gender. Ms. A, a feminist magazine seeks to thrive without the use of complementary copy and harmful ads to women. The purpose of advertising is to sell products and in order to do that successfully, advertisers play into influencing societal norms. “Advertising creates a mythical, WASP-oriented world in which no one is ever ugly, overweight, poor, struggling or disabled either physically or mentally…. And it is a world in which people only talk about products." (Kilbourne, 2). Ads function to make people want things that they may otherwise have no use for or even realize they desire. The mythical world created from advertising uses the obsession with materialism that comes from living in a capitalistic society to its advantage while simultaneously feeding on the social anxieties of people and the standards set in patriarchal societies. For example, ads on television tend to be very happy where everyone is living a carefree life due to the recent acquisition of a new product, when in reality we know that reality has never been that simple. Wearing a lipstick color other than red makes a woman boring. Blondes have more fun. Women are responsible for the upkeep of a household. Men are sex driven even in jeans.

What does this have to do with jeans?

When Ms. magazine sought advertising from Estée Lauder, a women’s cosmetic brand, they were shot down and told that the brand would never advertise in their magazine because the brand sells “a kept woman mentality" (Steinem, 7). Yes, advertisers sell mentalities. Unfortunately, there is sexism, racism and power hierarchies in advertisements, which means that not only are these ideas and mentalities used but they’re also sold. Women are presented as weak and submissive compared to men who are presented as strong, dominant individuals. Kilbourne discusses techniques such as superiority, dismemberment, clowning, canting and dominance/violence that advertisers use and which contribute to sexism in their ads (3). These techniques are used so often that they’re almost undetectable if one isn’t looking for it.

Some companies don't think about masking their racism

As aforementioned, Estée Lauder sells the kept woman mentality and by definition, a kept woman is one who is kept as a lover by someone. Historically, the term has had a negative connotation and is often used to describe a woman who depends on men for a living in exchange for sex. Yet, Lauder said “He knows his customers, and they would like to be kept women." (Kilbourne, 7) More likely than not, independent woman are not consciously thinking about this mentality that Lauder is trying to sell to them but that doesn’t mean that it’s not subconsciously affecting us as consumers. Taking a look at Estée Lauder’s Modern Muse commercials, Kendall Jenner is the face of the brand. The Jenner-Kardashian family is made up of desirable women who sell sex appeal and attract attention from everyone. In a weird way, one could say that the members of the Kardashian-Jenner family are walking advertisements themselves because they create crazes and have a huge array of followers that would do anything to be like them. In one ad for Lauder’s Modern Muse, Kendall Jenner says, “I just want to be the best me that I can be so having the power that social media does I think that just seeing how many people care about you, and how many people want to watch what you’re doing, it just makes you really want do the best you that you can do. You don’t think about it on an everyday basis how many people actually love you and are looking out for you. It’s such a blessing. I couldn’t say anything different, I just feel so incredibly blessed.” This ad reinforces the power of social media and celebrity. It makes the audience feel ungrateful for harboring negative feelings about social media and manipulates them into thinking that they could achieve the same happiness if they use Estée Lauder and feel grateful for all of the attention that will receive from others because of it. This type of imagery is harmful to consumers especially teens who can be most susceptible to advertising, going as far as to believe they’re not good enough and even developing eating disorders according to Kilbourne in Cutting Girls Down to Size (133).

Five favorite forms of media that I consume are Instagram, YouTube, radio station Power 105.1FM, Small Doses podcast with Amanda Seales and the New York Times paper. Instagram is owned by Facebook and its advertising model is based on CPC - cost per click and CPM - cost per impression where prices for ads are based on ad auctioning. Their model is based on the idea that throwing money behind a post will increase exposure and more control over who can see the post. Youtube is owned by Google (Alphabet Inc.) and has an ad serving model to maximize channel revenue by matching eligible videos with the right ad based on factors like viewer demographic, geography, and viewing device. The goal is to optimize for the right ad to the right viewer so the most lucrative ad can be shown on your videos. Power 105.1FM is owned by iHeartMedia. iHeartRadio owns over 850 radio stations and sells advertising space on its stations as well as through the usage of billboards. The majority of its advertising business model comes from radio since ⅔ of iHeartRadio usage comes from broadcast radio listeners. The Small Doses podcast is owned by Starburns Audio and the podcast itself does not have advertisements but some have heard regional ads from other shows on Starburns Audio. Starburns Audio happens to also be the same production studio that produces the show Rick and Morty cartoon. They produce high-quality comedy content. The New York Times newspaper is owned by The New York Times Company and sells ad space in its newspapers, magazines and digital websites.

Ownership and advertising affects the content depending on the agenda of the company. The five forms of media that I listed all have a common goal of making money but some companies are willing to go to greater lengths than others to make that happen. Small Doses podcast is more concerned about creative content and over saturating their stations with ads. YouTube tracks the viewing patterns of its users to match them up with ads. This disrupts the viewing experience of the viewer and tailors the content to attract the viewer to similar videos and ads that are like the previous ones they’ve viewed. It’s manipulative in the sense that it makes the consumer think they have a choice in what they consume which is only true with an ad blocker. Taking extra measures to curate your news and media is the only way to beat the system assuming that the media isn’t loaded with ads within the content itself.