essay plan

The male gaze? How women are portrayed as sexual objects in advertisements such as Armani’s ‘The Tip’

Intro..

Para 1- Women sexualised in ad...megan fox?

Advertisers assume that the use of sexy models in promotional messages is what appeals to countless individuals due to how the model is portrayed (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).

This can cause identification with the model in a way that will elicit some sort of affirmative feelings within the consumer, which may increase the likelihood of purchasing a product or using a service

Many advertisements do depict women with either alluring behavior or exposing some or the  majority of their bodies, which contributes to the consumers ability to remember brand/product (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).

Goldman argued that advertisers' response was to develop ‘commodity feminism’i [;] adverts that attempt to articulate a rapprochement between traditional femininity and what are coded as

feminist goals: independence, career success, financial autonomy

Midriff advertising has four central themes: an emphasis upon the body, a shift from

objectification to sexual subjectification, a pronounced discourse of choice and

autonomy, and an emphasis upon empowerment.

Kilbourne (2002) suggested that the dismemberment of women is a monstrous problem in advertising. Dismemberment ads focus on one part of the body, e.g., a woman’s breasts.

 dismemberment ads employ female body parts for the purpose of selling a product.

Para- Talk about historical text and how representations are similar or different.. has the representations improved or got worse......levi's advert and coco chanel?

today's midriff advertising women are much less likely to be shown as passive sexual objects than as empowered, heterosexually desiring sexual subjects

recent past, women's cooking or domestic cleanliness or interior design skills were the focus of advertisers' attention

Instead of caring or nurturing or motherhood, it is now possession of a 'sexy body' that is presented as women's key source of identity.

South African advert for She-bear lingerie in 1999, for example, featured an attractive young white woman wearing only her lingerie and a nun's habit and rosary. The slogan, 'Wear it for yourself', ties the brand identity to women who dress for themselves rather than for men

women can use their bodies for profi t as a means to power;

more and more ads are made to look sexual because the new motto is “sex sells.”

Para 3- How men are represented in ads? diet coke re-releasing it


Of course, ads do not only show women. Men too are shown in many different ways. Most often they are shown in more dominant roles.

men are shown as being muscular and athletic, which in turn shows that they have more power

 “Women-and their body parts-sell everything from food to cars” 

 muscular male bodies is also causing men a lot of insecurity

4- moral panic... sexualisation of children

young women are presented not as passive sex objects, but as active, desiring sexual subjects, who seem to participate enthusiastically

objectification theory, which suggests that our culture socializes girls and women to internalize an observer’s perspective on their own bodies.

 the sexualized portrayal of women in the media has significantly negative outcomes. These negative outcomes are not only affecting adult women but also young girls. Females are buying cosmetics and beauty products at increasingly younger age

‘Sexualisation  

narrows girls 

“space for action”, 

their aspirations and 

achievements by 

re-defining femininity 

and beauty as of 

most importance’

‘Young girls are “adultified” and adult women are “youthified” ’

Young girls in particular are becoming increasingly influenced by the fashion, music and advertising industries 
that advertise that “they should look „hot‟ not later  but now” (Reist, 2008: 42)

Para 5- why are the theoretical explanations for over sexualisation in advertising? Marxism and feminism

 Also with these ads showing women as sexual objects, men then begin to believe  that the sexual image of women is what is important and what makes them "attractive"

With women treating their bodies as sexual objects it then leads women to believe that that is all that is important. 

voice-overs were generally done by men, indexing their greater authority.

feminist work has been the analysis of how ‘cropping’ is used in adverts. Many studies have highlighted the way in which women’s bodies are fragmented in adverts, visually dissected so that the viewer sees only the lips, or the eyes, or the breasts, or whatever (Dyer 1982;

Coward 1984).

 the emphasis media place on the thin ideal body image may be responsible for body size overestimations that women make, and indirectly cause increases in anorexia 

‘Particularly boys, who are exposed to sexualised media are likely to perceive women to be sex
objects’


Para 6- Conclusion