Advertising

Advertising is a tool that has gained power over the audience with the years. Even though its main goal has always been to impart information to the audience, it is true that it has also been used to encourage consumers to consume the products or services of a specific company or organization. The main question here is "how". How these companies have decided to arrive to the consumers and convince them that a specific product has been made with a specific purpose or for a selected amount of consumers. Obviously, not every product’s been made to be purchased by everyone. Each product has its purpose and it's audience. But, again, how do the companies bring the attention to what they sell to their consumers? In my opinion, unfortunately, they bring their attention mostly by making a relation between sex, beauty (or what's defined by beauty) and advertising. As observed in the article Pretty Unnecessary, written by Lindsay King-Miller, where the author quotes "The need for visibility often becomes entangled with the 'need' for beauty, because media so seldom represents bodies and faces not considered beautiful that it becomes difficult to recognize ourselves if we are outside of the mainstream beauty standard". Fact that brings me to question myself 'what is beauty?' and 'who decides who and what's beautiful and not?’ To my perspective, every human being has its own beauty, external as well as internal, and all have a different perspective of beauty depending on our preferences, likes and dislikes. Media shouldn’t alter our point of view. That's the reason why I feel very identified with the statement that Lindsay King-Miller says in her article Here

is what bothers me about the new Dove ad. "I can like my body and have a positive self-image without thinking I'm pretty".

To my believe, all these advertisements, unfortunately, create confusion and lost of identity in many women nowadays. Beginning from an early age were little girls are told not to eat too much calories because that would make them fat and not pretty, to being able to have easy access to plastic surgeries to make us look like celebrities. Because, of course, who said that celebrities are ugly? I personally observe that while babysitting for a five years old girl. Instead of appreciating her red, short hair, she keeps complimenting my long, brown hair because everyone says, “it’s pretty”. So, my role, as many others roles may have, I believe, is to make the little girl feel pretty the way she is without wishing to have what somebody else has. I want her to love herself the way she is, because prettiness is general and everyone has its own beauty. It makes me so upset seeing kids at an early age who are already confused and concerned about who they are and whom they think they should be. Society marks limits for them and, from my point of view, parents follow them because “it’s the easiest way”. Who wants to sit down with their kid and explain them that beauty can be found in many ways and that they don’t have to show their breasts when

they grow up to be sexy when they can just put the television on and let their kids get distracted while they relax? They should know better and notice that while they do that, they are exposing their kids to a very negative perspective of the world where men have power over women. Media makes them believe that certain products are made for certain women and that, for instance, related to the case referred in the Reading Images Critically article, written by Kellner, “The image of a slender woman, in turn, associated with slimness and lightness, not only associates the product with socially desirable traits, but in turn promotes the ideal type of femininity”. If you show a girl that by smoking a cigarette she would look skinny, pretty, and men would be attracted to her, the first thing she would do when she has the chance would be smoking. Which brings me to another quote extracted from the text written by Lorde, “If you want us to change the world someday, we at least have to live long enough to grow up! Shouts the child”. It is ridiculous how parents let their kids be exposed to this kind of media and, in this case be intrigued by the way a cigarette would change their lives but, on the other side, they believe they can make a change in the future.

On the other hand, I would also confirm that, from my point of view, all these decisions about advertising are related to the culture we grow up at. For instance, an advertisement directed to women in America it would be cast by different kind of women with different bodies related to the ideal body shape of women worldwide. A good example of it is shown in the following images. 

To conclude I would like to point out one of the quotes extracted from the text written by Lindsay King-Miller, Pretty Unnecessary, that, in my opinion, summarizes my entire point of view about this subject. “We should affirm our bodies for what they can do, how they can feel, the tribulations they’ve survived, and the amazing minds they carry around, without having to first justify their existence by looking pretty”.

Works Cited:

Lorde, A. Poetry is not a luxury. , 371-373.

Kellner, D. Reading Images Critically. , 126-132.

King-Miller, L. (n.d.). Pretty Unnecessary: Taking Beauty Out of Body Positivity. In https://bitchmedia.org/article/pretty-unnecessary-beauty-body-positivity. Retrieved March 8, 2016.

King-Miller, L. (n.d.). Here's What Bothers Me About the New Dove Ad. In https://bitchmedia.org/post/heres-what-bothers-me-about-the-new-dove-ad. Retrieved March 7, 2016.