Quit the repetition! Think of something better.

There is always this ideal image that women try to live up to due to constant exposure of advertisements. People of all ages are being exposed to these feminine images everyday of their life. Seeing these types of advertisements have become the norm of society and thus, created a sense of acceptance for these ads among the public. Advertisers use sexual images and words to sell to the public. And the public accepts it.

Sexuality became such a big part of advertising that nearly all the ads we see today involves sexual content. Women’s bodies are regularly used as an object to sell an object. Many ads use women’s body to project the importance of the product while ignoring the presence of the female. When a man and woman is put in an ad together, the woman is always displayed as helpless, where she allows the man to do whatever he wants with her. Why does sexuality have to be used in an advertisement in order to get consumers attention? Better yet, why does the society allow these ideas to be spread? The public is exposed of advertisements involving sexuality so often that they have come to accept it. They see these images so frequently that they allow it.

Through advertising, the face becomes a mask and the body becomes an object (55, Cortese). Women are constantly exposed to ads that depict the ideal women. It makes the consumers believe that if they buy this product, they will look like the model; slender, beautiful, and flawless. They have an urgency to want to become them without realizing that these images are made to be flawless. These images are all technologically enhanced so that no one on this Earth can look like the models do in the ads. Without realizing, the female consumers will continue to chase after an impossible image of the ideal woman.

The advertisement above is selling a fragrance named “Womanity”. The name itself is already unique. It combines the words, woman and humanity together, linking the concept of women being a part of humanity. Women are people, not objects. Compared to other ads in the present day, there are positive and negative aspects of it. Although it does show women’s faces as a mask and bodies as objects, it successfully shows the power of women. There are four different images that show confidence and beauty. The four different images each portray a special sense of individuality of women (which is hard to find in the present day). Two of their faces are covered by an object but one can really feel their confidence even when their faces are not fully shown.

One way to improve advertising is by lessening these ideal female images. However, it is nearly impossible since all advertisers seem to use this idea to sell products. They would never break their own rice bowl, as us Chinese would say. A more effective way to sell a product is being unique. Being unique can be difficult especially with numerous competitors but it can really attract consumer’s attention in the long run. Advertisers should project more reality in their ads rather than promote what cannot be reality. They have to learn to put women under a positive light rather than constantly using their bodies to sell products. Not only do advertisers need a new approach, the public need to be more aware of what advertisements should be accepted rather than taking it as is. Ideal images are socially constructed and when people accept these images, advertisers only do what is beneficial to them which is to use these constructed images to sell the products.

Image Credit: http://beauty411.net/