2-6-15
In the novel Feminism And Pop Culture, author Andi Zeisler traces the portrayal of woman in advertisement all the way back to the 1940’s. Zeisler dives into a practical and entertaining conversation discussing romanticized Ads leading to false hope. As a reader, it is hard to be bored with Andi’s witty yet fully accurate points. She is a relatable woman to speak on this matter because of her indulgence in the topic. Advertisement
is everywhere. It is such a huge contributor to our society today; it is almost
like we have become immune to its effects on us. Each ad has an underlying
method that intends to sway the audience’s opinion in some way. We are
subconsciously letting these ads brainwash us into what is supposed to be the
“norm.” What we are supposed to look like, smell like, act like. I challenge
you to find somebody in your life right now that looks like the Victoria Secret
models. I dare you to find a woman you know who smells good and refreshed all
day long. Ads make it seem like perfection is easily attainable with the use of
their products.`
Zeisler hits the nail on the head saying that “advertisement has
always had one chief aim: to make a consumer want to buy a product by any mean
necessary.”(24) Ads don’t care that they
are constantly contaminating the minds of all woman. When we can’t attain the
image on commercials and posters it makes us feel insecure. Therefore we are
forced to buy their product, which was their ultimate goal. Zeisler also points out "Advertisers pitched their female audiences with the language of love: "adoration, "glamour", "loveliness", and "femininity" were oft-used catch words in ad copy"(24) This is comical how accurate she is. There are so many products out there with bogus names to win the minds of consumers. In Gisele Bundchen's interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien she brought new products of _ to advertise. The names of the Victoria Secret products are "Pleasure Me Blush", "Beg Me", "Ravish Me Eye Shadow". These names are only implemented to force woman to have false hopes from the products. Especially with a stunning supermodel promoting the products, naturally woman either aspire to be like her, or become depressed.
Woman should feel empowered from their
own self-esteem, not by what advertisements tell them. Feel confident in your
own skin, not the plastic skin of what pop culture deems the standard. Andi
provides an educated and confident voice to this subject matter. It is easy to
admire her voice and opinion, so why do we focus so much on what ads say? Listen to your own body and to feel comfortable in your own skin. I
can’t be won over by the false hope advertisement provides. Confidence is the
best trait to possess no matter what pop culture portrays.
You did a pretty good job mentioning that quote on the second paragraph because if you think about it its true ads don't really care about the damage that they cause on us women, like yea they might make us think that they are actually doing something good by trying to sell us something that we believe will make us look prettier because probably the girl doing the advertisement is an actress that we look up. But again in reality that's not whats happening and all they care about is the profit that they are going to make at the end of the day by selling their products to us.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you are saying. I like how you mention the names of products from Victoria's Secret and how they have names that women will believe they need them to look good
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