Intr Oduction

Intr oduction Author: Christopher Ruane ( Ireland ) Created: Wednesday, December 31, 1969 Last Modified: Sunday, February 15, 2009

Context

The post-war feminist movement has largely coincided with the increasing use of mass consumer advertising, some of wh depictions of women that provoke different reactions. Typically the discourse relates to the impact such images have on ho women who are subjected to them perceive themselves, and any impact this has on their behaviour.

Arguments Pros

Cons

Consumer advertising projects an unrealistic ideal of the feminine form. The vast majority of advertising used a feminine form whose key features (e.g. thinness, particular figure, unblemished complexion) do not correspond to most women’s bodies. This can create false expectations on the part of women and their partners, as well as society at large. The portrayal of women in advertising is also highly stylised and this can significantly distort its viewers’ connection between what they see in the advertisement and what women actually experience in daily life.

For many female consumers, advertising is aspirational. A allows a form of escapism that many women welcome and pursue. As with other photographs and most artistic media an implicit understanding that what is depicted is not nece mirror reflection of real life – and to many viewers this is th attraction of the images. The models in the advertising reflect how many women wa which is why they are used to advertise fashion brands in Women welcome such pictures as a way of affirming their certain elements of aesthetic attractiveness. The glamour industry in general and its advertising campaigns in particu welcome input to the humdrum existence led by many of t who consume the pictures. They are grateful for the chanc in fantasising vicariously about a glamorous, fashionable l

Much advertising is filtered through a male lens and, even if notionally targeted at women, can reinforce an unbalanced, male chauvinistic view of women as sex objects. This is reflected by the fact that most advertising uses young, beautiful female models – even when it advertises something (e.g. cars) which do have a mixed consumer base. Advertising which stereotypes women through the use of unusually aesthetically beautiful women effectively upholds a male chauvinistic system that pits women against other women in a competition of sexual power.

It is a false choice to argue that portraying aesthetically pe is an alternative to portraying women as something more t sexual playthings. Models’ beauty in no way undermines t intellectual capacity. The use of female models in consumer advertising actuall women. The high-profile models who attract media promin represent a successful role model which many other wom emulate. This rewards and encourages female achieveme that media and advertisers focus so much effort on portray a certain light reflects the fact that women as consumers a important socio-economic group whose interests need to b

Advertising featuring women plays on female insecurities. Through the use of women in consumer advertising, advertisers clearly link identification as a successful woman with consumption. This is a particularly vicious circle for people who lack the funds to feed this consumptive habit. Through its near relentless focus on ideal type models, advertising also pressurises women into conforming to a “perfect” body. This increases the likelihood of eating disorders, as well as the pursuit of unnecessary cosmetic surgery, anti-ageing treatment etc.

Advertising featuring women is an inevitable response to m demand. Much such advertising appears in media which a and purchased by women, e.g. women’s magazines. The models in advertising is a natural choice in this context. Th supply - and often a vast oversupply - of women who wish such advertising. They are not forced to participate. Throu ongoing consumption of and demand for pictures of mode in the mainstream media, women effectively signal a tacit such images. If enough women found it advertisers would switch tack rather than alienate their tar consumers.

Consumer advertising negatively objectifies women. Much advertising involving female models is semi-pornographic. It conforms to a misogynist perception of women as commodifiable sexual objects. Most advertising also uses models with a fairly homogenous set of physical characteristics and styles them so that they are often interchangeable.

Standards of how women may be depicted in advertising a varied, and the industry does vary the kind of images (e.g. of flesh on display, the "sexiness" of the photoshoot) it use different markets, showing that it follows social norms rath setting them. It is, however, unfair to accuse the fashion in

This approach emphasises a view of women as essentially biddable, commodifiable objects. Some advertising even uses an almost childlike interpretation of women which plays to a mild form of paedophilia on the pretext of advertising. As well as denigrating women generally and the models involved, this represents condoning the perversions of paedophilia.

homogeneity when models from ethnic minorities are often promoting a more diverse view of beauty. Increasingly, old and those with more "natural" bodies (i.e. without the skinn traditional models) are also used.

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