Post 3: Advertising and autonomy

We consider our modern times to represent the height of human civilization, arguing that today we live in a society representative of individual autonomy, social freedoms and diversity. We condemn the dark ages before modernity for their barbarism and lack of humanity; their lack of understanding of differences between cultures and declaration of heresy upon that which was unfamiliar.  And so we go about our lives thinking we are civilized, and are egos are sated because we know we are better than those barbarians who lived in the Middle Ages and knew nothing of tolerance. I however, think we haven’t grown so far.

A satirical depiction of the standard of beauty. 

Although less subtle and perhaps lacking in direct violence (for the most part), we are continually told what is right and what is wrong by society. And these messages are not ones of moral imperative (i.e. giving to the poor is good, stealing is bad), they are shallow fillers that confound our thought and avert meaningful thinking to obsessiveness about looks, status and accumulation of “things.” To maintain a stance of unaffectedness from advertising and modern media is naïve. It is in itself an illusion that advert companies rely on to continue thriving. We overestimate our consciousness and its ability to decipher messages that are willfully accepted and those that are not. Because we egotistically overestimate our ability to control our mind’s decision making, we reject the reality and our vulnerability to the messages that are portrayed by advertisements and the media. As Bordo states, “Like the knowledge of our own mortality when we are young and healthy, the knowledge that Cher’s physical appearance is fabricated is an empty abstraction; it simply does not compute. It is the created image that has the hold on our most vibrant, immediate sense of what is, of what matters, of what we must pursue ourselves.” (104) The influence of the imagery of advertisement has become inescapable, since its popularization in the 1900s. Every time we step outside, turn on the TV or read a magazine, we are bombarded by carefully crafted communiqués about what we should desire, what we should strive for, who we should want to be. “We are each exposed to over two thousand ads a day, constituting perhaps the most powerful educational force in society. The ads sell more than products. They sell values, images and concept of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy, addictions. They tell us who we are and who we should be.” ( 1 Kuntjara)

Advertising likes to target women especially – more ruthlessly, more insidiously and hurtfully. Perhaps, the advertising corporations know of the women’s already struggling identity within the white patriarchal word, and tug at the strings that are so fragile already. In one study exploring the difference in advertising intended for women and men, showed that companies took interest in research to find out when women felt most insecure so they could exploit these

Husbands admire wives who keep their
stockings perfect!

opportunities to advertise their beauty products more heavily. “It’s no surprise advertisers pay attention to consumers’ emotions in order to sell products. Their job is to convince people to purchase, and they’re completely justified in seizing emotional opportunities. However, the blatant exploitation of women’s most insecure moments in an attempt to make profit is not justified […]Advertising targeted at vulnerable women becomes especially problematic when compared to men. The PHD study didn’t mention men as subjects whatsoever.” ( Advertiser’s Target Women’s Insecurities). In this same publication, a survey was shown that only 2% of women think they are beautiful. And here is why: we are fed images that we should strive to become perfect, like the airbrushed photo shopped models we see, and then when our self esteem plummets, we are exploited and sold products that claim to solve these problems for us. Essentially, the problem is created and then “fixed” by the same institution. 

An unrealistic expectation of what pregnant
women should look like. 

            It is then important to question how much autonomy we really have, when our subconscious is fed continuously without our consent? Or as Bordo said, “Today all that we experience as meaningful are appearances.” (104)To understand why this strategy works so well in exploiting women, we have to remember the patriarchal view that we have internalized regarding men’s and women’s roles in society. “Men are heard, and women seen.” In essence, it is the woman’s beauty that becomes her demise. Women are constantly told that they can achieve perfection, control and desirability once they gather the magic ingredients advertised to them. We are told that this is what is required of us, as women in this society. We are systematically imprisoned by the shallow expectations placed on us and dare we fight against them, we are called ‘lazy’, ‘disheveled’ or ‘callous’. The focus in advertisements is never on the triumphs women can make possible or the skills that they have to accomplish noteworthy feats. The focus is carefully geared to focus the woman’s attention on her appearance, thereby imprisoning her to obsess rather than progress.

Sources: 

Bordo, Susan. "Hunger as Ideology." Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: U of California, 1993. N. pag. Print.

Jasenosky, Sam. "Advertisers Target Women’s Insecurities." Minnesota Daily. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Kuntjara, Esther H. "Beauty and the Beast: Images of Women in Advertisements." N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.