Accomplishments
12 years ago
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Media/advertisements influence on others
As we have discussed in class I have to wonder who exactly is the media trying to influence? It is obvious that young teens are under the pressures of being "perfect" and "beautiful", but what is perfect and beautiful anymore? When I was younger I was told that being yourself is beautiful, but now it seems as if the younger population believes that being beautiful is being skinny and having a large chest. I mean come on! The media and advertisements depict all the "beautiful people" as being really skinny and very sexual, in that they are showing a lot of skin. This was especially evident in the "Killing me softly" segment shown in class. For our in-class discussion I chose to bring in a selection of alcohol advertisements. Bud light had a women with a big chest on top of a man about to kiss him with the phrase "get it started". Bacardi had a woman (only showing her chest down) in a leopard bikini with a drink in her hand. At the very bottom of the ad it had "pussy cat by day, Bacardi by night". These ads are accesible by anyone, any therefore any one any age can view them on the internet. If a young girl happens to see this ad, what are they supposed to think? At that age they want to be pretty and fit in, and when they see these images they are told that being sexual and half dressed will get you the attention you need pretty much. I just feel like women are in a sense "attacked" in advertisements, but since they are getting paid they are pretty much putting it all out there. I understand that women are proud of their bodies but I think it is a lot more attractive to make others wonder what is under your clothes than put it out there for them on a platter. So whose fault is it? The models who agree to be depicted like this, or those who create the image?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Whose fault is it is the million dollar question! I would say that its half and half. The models are putting themselves out there for the public to see on there own will. But yet, they are getting paid to do this and in today's world, any job is a good job almost! Those who create the image are also to blame. In the video they also mentioned that most of the models pictures etc, are all camera edited to make them look even more perfect! But what is perfect, like you mentioned? My defintiton could be different than the photographer. It's a problem and to just be yourself in todays world is hard becuase of all the ads convincing you that you are not good enough!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Young girls see these images and many think thats what everyone is suppose to look like. People come up with these ideas of ads and some girls jump on that and put themselves out there. I caught a segment on mtv the other day. I don't know what show but a mother and daughter were talking about her breast size. The daughter had been seeing a counselor, the exact reason i'm not sure, but I think for one reason that she had a lower self-esteem about her body and especially her breast size. I was shocked when the mother basically sat there and made fun of her own daughter for seeing a couselor, telling her she didn't need it and what she really needed was a boob job. She sat there and laughed at her daughter for having a small chest and told her she'd never stop telling her to get implants. So not only did this girl have the media telling her out she should look, her own mother was pushing for it too.
ReplyDeleteI think the ads you focused on for the assignment were interesting in the sense that they prove on of Killbourne's main points in her lecture--that women are no longer looked at as "human" but as "objects." As you pointed out, the woman's face is not even featured in the ad. She is all "parts" instead of a "whole."
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about young kids wanting to be beautiful the way it is shown in the media. A teacher at my highschool told my class a story about her daughter that went into school and got made fun of because her clothes weren't like the clothes of the other girls. One girl said to her "do you shop at walmart?" and the other little girls had clothes from limited too and other such places (the girls were in elementary school). This is an example of the younger generation trying to look "beautiful." When I was that age I did not even care where my clothes came from. I think it is rediculous how the media now tells us what is beautiful and what isn't.
ReplyDelete