Robert LaCrosse
March 22, 2008
Instructor Joelle Ruby Ryan
ACS 250 #26449
Blog Entry #3
It is very clear that this advertisement is intended to show this woman as the image the viewer should project to the public. Because the model is in a state of undress it is also an effort to get women to relate to her by using her sexuality to get women to believe if they wear this product they will be sexy and attractive. The model is either removing or putting on her jeans. Whatever the case, the advertisement is intended to show the women in a state of undress. She is wearing only her bra and jeans. This is not a manner that most people would view this person. The only people that would see her in this position would be someone that would see her and most likely know her intimately. I believe this advertisement is shouting “You will look like this if you wear this/our product!” The model appears in a manner that is out of the ordinary, but women are expected to relate to her when they compare her to what they see when they are either undressing or dressing. She represents the typical thin model used in most advertising and this may or may not represent women, but it does not represent the majority of women. Using a model that appears to be the normal look of the ideal female is an effort of the advertiser to push this image to the viewer as the image they should project.
I do not believe that most women will find this advertisement offensive. Most women will not see the women to be ultra thin or outside what is considered to be normal for a woman. The model is a somewhat average looking white female with a very slender body. This is an image that appears in many advertisements and is acceptable by many because it looks typical in appearance. Because of this most people will look at the advertisement and more than likely not even think about it.
The reality of the advertisement is that the woman is wearing her jeans below her waist and belly button and she is not wearing a shirt. What exactly is the focal point of this advertisement? Are they selling bras, couches or something else? No, they are selling jeans just as the advertisement states. Without the words in the advertisement we would not know this. This is the advertiser’s attempt at producing a sexy advertisement. This could be seen as sexy or sexist. While the advertisement is sexy in most people’s minds, most will not see it as sexist. If the advertisement is attempting to show this woman as sexy because they feel the woman seeing it will react to it thinking this person represents the normal female in our society, then it is probably sexist as well. I believe sexy shows a person that is sexually attractive and sexist shows a person sexually but in an oppressive manner. In this case, the women is sexually attractive and oppressive since she portrays an image that is considered desirable, but is not attainable by much of the population which results in a distorted picture of the ideal female in our society.
This ad is definitely not a feminist advertisement. The person represented in this advertisement would be displayed in a positive manner. This would include not being in a state of undress. This state of undress does not seem to be even remotely related to the fact that she is wearing jeans. For that manner this model could be wearing anything or nothing at all and the relationship to the product would be the same. This advertisement is not in line with the feminist view.
Advertisers have the ability to promote certain images to the public. The advertisers have a responsibility to promote a positive image to the public. The images they choose to use will affect the self images of the people viewing them. I do not wish to downplay the importance of the development of a positive self image in the home, but the public image will have an affect on the general public and especially the younger portion of society that are developing these images of who they are and who they want to be. These effects are exactly the reason the advertisers have a responsibility to the public in what they are promoting.
The final issue in this post is to determine what we as a consumer may do to promote this positive image. It is very simple; if you do not agree with what an advertiser pushes as an image don’t buy their product. To take this a step further, contact he advertiser or the stores selling their products and request a change. If we impact the advertiser where they hurt the most, the profits, they will make changes. These are just a few ways we could make a statement to these advertisers, I am sure many reading this post will have more.
