Advertising

Advertising is defined as a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, message to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It is everywhere in our everyday lives, from commercials on television, to a poster on the subway, to a two minute video on YouTube before the one that you actually chose to view plays. With mass media being the deliverer of the audience to advertisers, there are always messages being communicated to us.

 When you consider who actually controls these agencies that use advertising, often we see how that trickles down and influences the message that are being conveyed.  According to Gloria Stienem, “the ad world euphemistically describes this as ‘supportive editorial atmosphere’ or ‘complementary copy’ (for instance, articles that praise food/fashion/beauty subjects to ‘support’ and ‘complement’ food/fashion/beauty ads).” This is a direct dictation on how and where you see what’s being conveyed. Too often that image becomes one that stems from an ideal-like male perspective of what is socially acceptable. An image that becomes repetitive and detrimental throughout generations. This leads to a misrepresentation of usually gender, sexuality, and also race attempting to become the norm and shift the direction of culture from both a conscious and subconscious standpoint.

The main thing fueling advertising is the money it generates. As marketing in its various forms continues to grow through mobile, content marketing, social platforms and new digital platforms ever evolving, it's no wonder that it's become a trillion dollar industry. Not only has it become a money machine, but also one could even argue that advertising has become a powerful educational force in society. According to Jean Kilbourne we see about 1,500 ads a day, which do not only sell products but “ values, images and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, and popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be.” Now while adults are vulnerable to the seductive power of advertising, advertisers especially target adolescents. This is because these years usually are the formative years for them where they are in the process of learning their own values and roles and developing their self-concepts. When we also look at gender in this situation, according to Jean Kilbourne, “there is a particular kind of suffering in our culture that afflicts girls. The culture both reflected and reinforced by advertising, urges girls to adopt a false self, to bury alive there real selves, to become ‘feminine,’ which means to be nice and kind and sweet, to compete with other girls from the attention of boys, and to value romantic relationships with boys above all else.” I believe this forces young girls and women of all ages to base their self-worth off of their level of desirability and lovability. It is almost impossible to attain the levels of perfection or the ultimate simple problem solvers portrayed in most ads, without sacrificing a great deal to get it.

 

Old ad hinting at body types.

Though I understand, truly I believe it is unfair to one’s self to even attempt. After constantly seeing the same models with the same body types over and over, often thin and long legged, all “beautiful” by conventional thought, and above all young, time after time, one might assume that this is how women should be. Showing her also playing the typical housewife role or sex symbol or any other accessory role to her male counterpart, rather than independent and a unique individual in her own right continues the idea of what ideal should look like. Now times have changed somewhat, and with the world around us slowly becoming more consciously awake, some progress has been made within advertising. Progress like more ads in support of showcasing people of color and more women slowly breaking out of molds that have been set generations ago, Jean Kilbourne says, “ these new images do not represent any real progress, but rather create a myth of progress, an illusion that reduces complex sociopolitical problems to mundane ones.” Advertisings contributions to these problems, has created “a climate in which the marketing of women’s bodies…is seen as acceptable.” To combat these truths, I think it takes both the public and audiences who receive these ads, and the advertisers them selves to work in conjunction. This sounds easier said than done but I think it starts with continually challenging the norm and demanding that the people in ads should be a representation of real life and not one’s constructed by Photoshop or any other mask used to hide the imperfections but real beauty of what make us individuals. I terms of the advertisers I think it takes them understanding that while the “ideal” might always be something to rely on, with the power that they have to essentially dictate what’s right or wrong, things that are “real” should sell to.

Positive Ad about self love.

If more ads spoke about loving yourself and the skin that your in, I think on a conscious level it would help move things in a more progressive direction. Now most of the media I consume is centered around sports, music, and fashion. If I’m not watching ESPN, I’m probably scrolling through InstaGram or Tumblr, or with an honorable mention, probably watching whatever’s showing on ViceLand. Even on those platforms I pay attention to the images that are usually being displayed in between content. On ESPN commercials are usually about cars, or some type of workout supplement, and if any commercial features a women she’s most likely seen as a object or accessory. On InstaGram I usually see a mixture of everything, and I think it's because I’m more in control of my content. So whether it's a go to fashion blog like @HYPEBEAST showing a variance in models for brands, or just following models and artists in all shapes in sizes, I usually get to see the diversity of the world around me. Now though one could argue Instagram does kind of over hype things and make somethings and people appear perfect, I try to follow people who go against that norm as well as try to emulate that myself throughout my page.