Advertisement plays a key role in defining the success outcomes for a company or organization, as it seeks to attract audiences towards the message presented within the advertisement. However, one of the key issues raised when dealing with advertisement is the fact that most advertising agencies have developed a culture of objectifying women through their portrayal in advertisements. Zimmerman & Dahlberg (2008) argue that the objectification of women was only evident within pornography, which later spread to advertisement as a way of gaining that sense of attraction. In 2010, Jean Kilbourne developed a five minute video that sought to highlight some of the negative impacts associated with advertisement on women and young girls (Tokmak, 2017). From this view, one of the key aspects to note was that objectification of women had become a common occurrence in advertisement as a way of creating that sense of appeal towards its audience. The advent and demand for advertising has created that abject need for the agencies involved to focus much of their attention towards objectifying women through their portray in advertisements and features.
Psychological Perspective
One of the key perspectives that would be of value towards evaluating the notion of objectification of women through advertising focuses on psychology. The idea of objectifying women has been presented and described, thus, creating the need to evaluate the psychology behind why women are objectified as part of advertisement. When creating advertisements, the agencies involved reflect more on the need for attracting that general audience, which includes both men and women. For the men, the psychology behind the objectification of the women revolves around the need to capture their attention, which would help in selling the intended message in the advertisement. Ullah & Khan (2014) indicate that men are more likely to focus their attention on advertisements that show half naked women portrayed in a particular manner when compared to other forms of advertisements.
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For the women, the psychology behind the objectification of women in such advertisements is that the portrayal of women in a specific manner creates attention among women as part of their desire to look the same. When comparing advertisements, one of the key aspects to note is that the portrayal of women is the same, as these women have curvy bodies, long legs, ample breasts and buttocks, and dazzling bright eyes among others (Krishen, LaTour, & Alishah, 2014). From the perspective of the women, their attention towards these advertisements revolves around the psychology that women intend to look the same as these women. From the psychological perspective, one would argue that the objectification of women through advertisement has been of value towards creating attraction among both men and women. Ultimately, this serves the intended purpose of the advertisement, which is to attract an audience towards the specific message, product, or services.
Economics Perspective
Another notable view that can help describe the objectification of women within advertisements is the economics perspective, which reflects on the economic standing associated with the expectations of the advertisement. From an economics perspective, businesses and organizations engage in advertisement as part of their approach towards meeting their set out goals and objectives with regard to business performance (Patterson, O'Malley, & Story, 2009). The idea of engaging in advertisement is to help attract consumers and customers towards a given product or service provided within a given company. That means that the key element of focus for advertisement is improving the economic positioning of the businesses involved. For these businesses and organizations, the idea of objectifying women presents them with a viable approach towards creating the expected level of attraction towards the products or services offered, as these advertisements are well positioned to capture the attention of both men and women.
The idea of viewing objectification of women from an economics perspective is important, as it seeks to support the position that although businesses engage in objectification of women, their key aspect of focus is on the profits that they would rake. The businesses engaging in advertisements that seek to objectify women only focus on the perspective of the economic gains that they would get from these advertisements with little or no consideration of the impacts that these advertisements would have on the women involved. Vance, Sutter, Perrin, & Heesacker (2015) suggest that the need for increased objectification of women arises from the fact that using this perspective of women helps in creating what would be described as a sense of attraction towards the products or services. Consequently, this means that the businesses involved stand to gain significantly from such advertisements with regard to their set out profit margins, as well as, their abilities to perform within the set goals and objectives.
Cultural and Ethnic Studies
The diversity framework that would help present a viable view on the issue of objectification of women in advertisement is cultural and ethnic studies focusing on the objectification of women from a cultural perspective. In cultural and ethnic studies, the element of focus is trying to understand the diverse areas of portrayal for women within different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. The objectification of women through advertisements presented within mainstream media only works towards creating a negative image for the women, as they are only viewed as sexual objects (Das & Sharma, 2016). However, it is important to take note of the fact that the portrayal of white, Hispanic, black, and Asian women is very different, which highlights a key connection to cultural and ethnic studies. According to Patterson, O'Malley, & Story (2009), the portrayal of women from different cultures is different attributed to the variation in the nature of advertisements that women are involved.
A survey conducted with regard to understanding the difference in portrayal of women indicated that white women are used in advertisements focusing on fashion representing 78% of the models used (Elan, 2016). However, this is different in other advertisements including car advertisements among others, which focus more on using women with an African American background, as well as, women from other ethnic backgrounds. The portrayal of women from different cultural backgrounds also presents a major difference, which seeks to support the notion of cultural and ethnic studies focusing on this topic. African American and Hispanic women are portrayed in a rather sexual manner when compared to white American and Asian women, as the general audience is able to identify itself with African American and Hispanic women’s objectification (Elan, 2016). The difference in terms of portrayal of women within different ethnic groups not only works towards exposing women to further objectification but also builds on stereotyping of African American and Hispanic women as sexual objects. They are viewed as objects that seek to serve the intention of the advertisement, which is to meet the obsessive demands of its audience (Harper & Tiggemann, 2008).
Self Reflection
After embarking on a research on this particular topic, my self-perspective on the topic changed significantly based on the information that I was able to gather from the sources. Firstly, I changed my understanding towards the fact that the objectification of women is becoming a common occurrence in advertisement as more and more advertisers are using women to serve the obsessive needs of their audience. I noted from the research that advertisers are fast creating the need for the society to view women in an objectified manner attributed to the fact that most of these advertisements do not portray women as human beings. These advertisements seek to portray women in a manner, which seeks to support my position on the fact that objectification of women tends to have a negative impact on women with far reaching outcomes.
On the other hand, the main insight gained from the research revolves around the fact that the idea of objectifying women acts as a contributing factor to some of the negative experiences that women are having in the society. For example, increase advertisements that seek to objectify women create a situation where the number of gender based violence cases against women is increasing at a rapid pace. That means although this is a non-conscious effort, men are gaining the view that women are objects rather than their consideration as human beings. Ultimately, this creates a situation where men in the society tend to engage in acts of violence against women based on their objectification through advertisements. My vision for the future is to work hard towards changing the negative perception that the society has created with regard to the position of women, as I believe it is part of my role in ensuring that I provide the society with a better understanding of women as human beings.
In summary, objectification of women through advertisements has become one of the key challenges affecting the society today as more and more advertisements are portraying women as objects rather than human beings. In 2010, Jean Kilbourne developed a five minute video that sought to highlight some of the negative impacts associated with advertisement on women and young girls. From a psychological perspective, the objectification of women seeks to attract the attention of both men and women depending on the varied perspectives presented within the report. From an economics perspective, the objectification of women serves the inherent purpose of ensuring that advertisements meet their expected goal, which is to attract an increased number of audience towards a given message, product, or service. From a gender and women studies perspective, the objectification of women serves as a key aspect that portrays women negatively, as it only seeks to promote stereotyping.
References
Das, M., & Sharma, S. (2016). Portrayal of Women in Indian TV Advertisements: A Study of Audience Perception. IUP Journal of Marketing Management , 15 (3), 57-94.
Elan, P. (2016). Survey finds that 78% of models in fashion adverts are white . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/may/10/survey-finds-that-78-of-models-in-fashion-adverts-are-white
Harper, B., & Tiggemann, M. (2008). The effect of thin ideal media images on women’s self-objectification, mood, and body image. Sex Roles, 58 (9-10), 649-657.
Krishen, A. S., LaTour, M. S., & Alishah, E. J. (2014). Asian females in an advertising context: exploring skin tone tension. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising , 35 (1), 71-85.
Patterson, M., O'Malley, L., & Story, V. (2009). Women in advertising: Representations, repercussions, responses. Irish Marketing Review, 20 (1), 9-22.
Tokmak, G. (2017). Attitudes toward Woman Body Portrayals in Advertising: A Comparison In Terms Of Feminism Levels Of Female Consumers. Uluslararası Yönetim İktisat ve İşletme Dergisi, 13 (5), 467-475.
Ullah, H., & Khan, H. N. (2014). The objectification of women in television advertisements in Pakistan. FWU Journal of Social Sciences, 8 (2), 26-35.
Vance, K., Sutter, M., Perrin, P. B., & Heesacker, M. (2015). The media’s sexual objectification of women, rape myth acceptance, and interpersonal violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 24 (5), 569-587.
Zimmerman, A., & Dahlberg, J. (2008). The sexual objectification of women in advertising: A contemporary cultural perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 48 (1), 71-79.
