Advertising

Thomas McMillen

The problematic relationship between advertising and consumers begins with the abundance of content. Repetition of similar motifs and messages allow for ideologies to form through the concept of normalities. Normative standards are designed to sell products to diverse consumers and the repetition of these standards of appearance, wealth, and so on, create a constant customer. As a media major, I have studied the fluctuation of media content in message and deliverance, and I would argue that advertising does not respond/market to insecurities but rather produces them through this normative standard. 

In our capitalist society, that was established through an elite class of caucasian males (in order to monopolize industries due to an abundance of immigrant families forced to leave their native countries for basic needs of life such as food and protection), we have an image created of what the access to power looks like. Jean Kilbourne explains in her work, “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising”, "They sell values, images, and concepts of success worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy" (121), and I would reiterate those standards are created based off of the characteristics of those who were able to hold power in our nation's history. Although earlier advertising were more overt in their racism, if we evaluate for example how certain immigrant groups became white folk, it outlines products that make people look or feel like the elite class. This access to power is desirable and thus creates an ideology of needs. My beliefs on advertising can be supported by the advertising of women as objects. 

Despite the progress we have made in todays society of understanding the problems created in establishing concepts of identity through assigned sex and genders, we still market to individuals in binary ways. Images of women as objects are sold to women in magazines, as explained in “Sex, Lies, and Advertising” by Gloria Steinem as, “When women’s magazines from Seventeen to Lears praise beauty products in general and credit Revlon in particular to get ads, it's just business as usual.” These magazines are lined in the grocery store by the cashier, grabbing the attention of women serving domestic roles, and sell to women ways they can change in order to gain perceived power while consequently solidifying their subordination. This relationship to women and power correlate directly to the ways in which they are perceived by men or ways they can appease men. Jean Kilbourne explains, “A women is conditioned to view her face as a mask and her body as an object, as things separate from and more important than her real self, constantly in need of alteration, improvement, and disguise” (122). The commonality in the products and perceptions, regardless of how much a women desires the attention or affection of a man, is resulted from patriarchy. 

In my generation, social media has enhanced the repetition and production of advertising content. These applications that are targeted to the youth are now using the ideology of content producers to promote products through “social influencers” to seem more organic. This process further drives the negative effects of advertising on mental health and overall perception of oneself because influencers can use their self-created platforms to sell ideologies and product to consumers who see them as individuals rather than corporations. For example, girls in my old high school, whose bodies have not finished muturing used waist trains to painfully pinch their organs to produce a hourglass figure, a body type common among social influencers. 

Many of the individuals I admired on social media eventually sold their soul and identity to become walking billboards for companies and for that reason I tailor my media intake. I use Instagram, Netflix, twitter, youtube, and Hulu exclusively. Although these sites are hubs for product placement and media consumption, I am able to curate my feed and my watch-lists. By unfollowing individuals who I know longer felt were organic in their output of posts, I created a space I can actually become inspired by. For example, I use to use Netflix to escape commercials however when I began to realize the blatant product placement within the shows itself, I began watching documentaries and progressive shows such as Big Mouth (a cartoon series based around the premise of growing up which includes positive messages about sexuality, gender and normality of the shared human experience). I currently also try to only get my news from media outlets that are not attached to the media giants such as Viacom, looking into the trail of ownership in companies helped me to distinguish the type of messages that are being sold to me.  I recommend finding who is producing the shows and channels you feel is a “safe” space because often these companies are working under a media giant who is monopolizing thought and media production.