Advertising:
The Lesbian Focus
For the final project, I decided to embark on a journey to
discover the effects advertising on the body image of the lesbian community. In doing so, I also created a personal instagram, where I posted pictures and wrote blurbs relating to facts I was learning. During our class, we did read about advertising and how the lesbian audience
has not really been found to have any commercial value to advertisers. We read
the article, “Commodity Lesbianism”, BY Danae Clark. However, the research in
the article was from the 70’s and 80’s, so decades ago. Times have advanced
somewhat since then, so I wanted to see if there was any change in gay
advertising.
When researching it is important to be able to compare and contrast
groups with one another. So I took some time to research how advertising has
influenced the gay male community first... and I found some interesting things
out… www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/general-information/lgbtq.
“Approximately 20
million women and 10 million men in the U.S. will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives”
“gay
men struggle disproportionately with body image issues and eating disorders: Though they are thought to
make up just 5 percent of the national male population, gay men account for 42
percent of men who report having an eating disorder.”
Gay men are appearing in ads like cover girl. They share a lot of
similarities with heterosexual females, thus when advertisers target women they
are also targeting some of the gay male community.
James Charles, 2016 Covergirl Campaign. |
As my research continued, I found an article that focused more on
the lesbian population’s issues with body image. The following information came
from the cite: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu
“While gay men act out similarly to heterosexual
females in their issues of body image and self-esteem, lesbians seem to combine
the experiences of both heterosexual females and males”
“Findings on this issue seem to be
contradictory. Adopting feminist ideals frequently leads lesbians to care less
about body image and weight; instead focusing more on the whole person. Other
arguments indicate that it is impossible for lesbians, regardless of their
beliefs, to ignore the pressure from media and societal messages that female
beauty is synonymous with thinness”.
“All women irrespective of their sexual
orientation are targeted constantly by media and societal messages that promote
the thin ideal”
Since I was unable to film interviews with lesbian women first
hand, I chose to look at a few online blogs to learn about different journeys.
“Megan, 25, feels
better about her body when dating women because it changes the way in which she
sees herself.”
“I was judged and of course it was suggested that the only reason I ‘said
I was gay’ was because I was too fat to get a boyfriend.”
“Sadly, the LGBT community
suffers higher rates of suicide attempts, depression and anxiety than the
general population. We are also at higher risk of disordered
eating.”
Though the majority of my research showed that lesbians are still
not really targeted in advertising, there were still a couple ads that did!
The Coors Light ad actually had two women in an ad for an equality
campaign.
This Subaru ad did not have women in an ad, but planned on
psychologically grabbing the attention of that audience… while mainly focusing
on heterosexual men.
And then I remembered how I would see so many lgbt folks smoke at
bars. It seemed like everyone was smoking, especially in NYC, so I looked up
some information to see the lgbt smoking statistics. I did find out that I was
right. Gay men, women, and trans people do smoke more than any other group. It
does not help that cigarette companies gear their products for poor and lgbt
communities.
“lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender adults smoke at rates up to 2.5 times higher than straight adults, due in part to targeted marketing by
Big Tobacco.”
“20.6 percent of LGB adults and 35.5 percent of
transgender adults smoke cigarettes”
“Big Tobacco has targeted the LGBT community
since at least 1991”
In the end, it is fair to say that lesbian women are rarely
targeted in ad campaigns. It is clear that companies have yet to see lesbians
as a community they would be able to make money off of, except for cigarette
companies. However, the subgroup within the community still share the qualities
of straight men and women, so some advertisements do resonate with them. All
women are told to be thin by the media, whether they are gay or straight, masc
or femme. Women like Roxanne Gay have found themselves in a negative place
because of society's view of what women should look like. Other gay women, feel
they aren't phased by the norms set. My research did not really show one
consistent finding, but was contradictory. There needs to me more studies done
that focus on the lesbian community. For now, it is just important for all
women and men to see through the psychological effects advertisements are meant
to have on people. Be smart and love yourself.
Works Cited
“Eating
Disorders in LGBTQ+ Populations.” National Eating Disorders Association,
21 Feb. 2018, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/general-information/lgbtq.
Chabot,
Nicole (2005) "How to Look the Part: Implications of Body Image Issues for
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual College Students," The Vermont Connection: Vol.
26, Article 8. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/tvc/vol26/iss1/8
Rubin,
Elana. “3 Women Explain How Dating Women Has Made Them Fall In Love With Their
Own Bodies.” Elite Daily, Elite Daily, 13 Nov. 2018, www.elitedaily.com/p/body-image-for-lesbians-can-be-complicated-but-heres-how-3-women-fell-more-in-love-with-themselves-9901117.
“Distorted
Self Images | Out & About Nashville.” Out About Nashville, 8 July
2014, www.outandaboutnashville.com/distorted-self-images/.
Stevens,
Perry. “An Analysis of Tobacco Industry Marketing to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender (LGBT) Populations: Strategies for Mainstream Tobacco Control
and Prevention.” 1 July 2004, www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1524839904264617.
Lee JGL,
Griffin GK, Melvin CL
Tobacco
use among sexual minorities in the USA, 1987 to May 2007: a systematic review
Tobacco
Control 2009;18:275-282.
“How
Advertising Depicts Gays and Lesbians.” HBS Working Knowledge, www.hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/how-advertising-depicts-gays-and-lesbians.
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