Why are advertisements so important? And what do our ads say about our collective understanding of gender and sexuality? These are the questions that can be answered when thinking about the readings we have done in the last few weeks. In a general and very brief way, we can say that advertisements and the media that is attached to it are important because of the messages that are being sent to the public as a whole. Which impacts how individuals see themselves, how they spend their money, and how they interact with others in the public sphere. Media and advertisements play a major role in socializing and projecting certain perspectives onto the public which then impacts how we see gender and sexuality.
When we look to see who chooses these perspectives we see that the large majority of individuals are White heterosexual males. These White heterosexual males have been dominating the media industry and have projected their narrative throughout various forms of media, whether that is TV, news, magazines, and ads. Although we may believe that times are changing, this change is not reflected in the media. If we look at the facts in June of 2016 Forbes curated a list of the 15 billionaires who owned the news media. The list included names such as Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Media, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp, Jeff Bezos of The Washington Post. All 15 of the billionaires are White heterosexual males who have the power to choose what content is shown to who. This same pattern is occurring in the upcoming wave of digital media. Digital media advertising is growing rapidly, an increase of 60 Billion dollars in revenues from the previous year (Pew Research Center). So, all forms of our media is being sent through and approved by this small group of individuals. This then limits our understanding of the world through the filter of these few people and their associates. This concept is explained in Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire. Where the author states “The cultural matrix through which gender identity has become intelligible requires that certain kinds of identities cannot exist- that is, those in which the practices of desire do not follow from either sex or gender. “Follow" in this context is a political relation of entailment instituted by the cultural laws that establish and regulate the shape and meaning of sexuality.” (Butler 24) The author explains how the way we see gender is limiting because there are more ways to see it but we are only shown one way and this creates a system that is regulated and much more difficult to break from. When we look at our advertisements we can see the objectification of the female body and this is done to prohibit female agency.
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| Google Images |
If we look at ads we can note how the female is always portrayed through the male gaze even if the product that is being advertised is for women. In this ad for Miss Dior, Natalie Portman lies barely clothed in a provocative pose in order to elicit a wanting or desire to be like her. John Berger says it best when he states “The promise of the commercial is not just “You will have pleasure if you buy our product,” but also (and perhaps more important), “You will be happy because people will envy you if you have this product.”(Kilbourne 123). Women are bombarded with images of other women acting as only sexual beings this creates an understanding that the women’s worth is in her beauty as perceived by the male. So, women are being sent messages that they need to buy products in order to achieve a certain status above other women. This type of mind-frame when it comes to advertising is harmful for several reasons first it pits women against each other and secondly it creates an environment where we need to look a certain way to be accepted by society. In Hunger as Ideology, the author discusses how commercials regarding food can be harmful. She states the following, “In these commercials, food is constructed as a sexual object of desire, and eating is legitimated as much more than a purely nutritive activity. Rather, food is supposed to supply sensual delight and succor - not as metaphorically standing for something else but as an erotic experience in itself. Woman are permitted such gratification from food only in measured doses.” (Bordo 112). Further down on the same page the author gives us an example of how food is described in ads targeted for women i.e “ “Refreshing dip” into Weight Watchers linguini”. These messages allow for an environment where eating disorders are prevalent amongst all age groups. Kilbourne states that “Advertising images do not cause these problems, but they contribute to them by creating a climate in which the marketing of women's body - the sexual sell and dismemberment, distorted body image ideal and children as a sex object- is seen as acceptable.” (Kilbourne 125) Although advertisements may not play a direct role in the creation of eating disorders and other societal issues, I do believe that the presence of the white heterosexual male perspective creates a narrative that erases the diversity of the real world and invalidates these individuals from being. As media consumers, we should all try our best to be aware of the messages that advertisements and media companies are sending us.
As someone who thought they could spot promotional and sponsored content easily I was very shocked to find out some of my favorite media websites and influencers creating content that was sponsored. It was very interesting to see how interconnected media and ads are. The first form of media that I consume often is Youtube specifically beauty channels. The large beauty community on Youtube can advertise in various ways. They can create videos featuring products, mention products in hauls and makeup tutorials but the way we recognize these advertisements is through the affiliate links that are put in the description box.
One of the influencers that I often watch is Zoella. She had posted a PO Box Opening and within the description, there were 10 affiliate links. Which means that revenue made from these links were given to her and these 10 links were found in just one video. The second form of media that I consume often is the GoalCast page on Facebook. The GoalCast page creates short motivational videos that encourage their audience to accomplish their goals. So, when I looked through their page to see how they were advertising we see they have their own merchandise. They also promoted a MasterClass session with a motivational speaker. In the post, they had a short video of the said individual and offered a discount code for their audience. The third form of media that I follow is an Instagram account by the named of Dina Tokio. Dina is Hijabi fashion blogger whose Instagram consists of pictures of her outfits, travel snapshots, and her family. One of her Instagram posts was of the new Google Pixel.
In the caption, she states “Converted to #teampixel today & so far LAAVIN it! yupp those are my initials engraved on the back ThankYOU @google” So, we see that this was obviously given to her by Google and she was paid to promote it on her Instagram. Dina also shares outfit details by tagging brands on her posts. A news website that I visit often is CNN.com. When looking to see the advertisements we have to scroll all the way down and there is a section literally titled Paid Content, which consists of articles related to cars, insurance, and credit cards. My last example is the TNT channel where I watch Basketball games. The ads that are shown on this channel largely consist of cars, alcohol, and the official merchandise of the NBA.
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| Dina Tokio Instagram Post |
We can see how drastically different the last two forms of media advertising. This shows us that with traditional media it is more likely for advertisers to project ideologies onto the audience. With this in mind, we can say ownership structure greatly influences what advertisements are being used and what content is being displayed. With traditional forms of media, there are a specific set of ads that target their audience. Meaning if the owner feels that his audience is male-dominated the ads that will be played will consist of cars, insurance, and credit cards as seen with CNN and TNT. However, with the rise of digital media there is a slight change although a few brands own the majority of these Social Media platforms there is an individual that has control over their niche content. Advertisers then have to reach out to these individuals and give general guidelines as to what they want to portray to their audience. I don’t know if the advertising industry will change its power dynamic I am hopeful that it does. But the only way I see it drastically changing is when more people of diversity are put in power.
Overall, we can say that advertising plays a major role in the development of our society. It impacts every individual on various levels and creates an environment that needs to be challenged in order to cater to the diverse audience that is present in modern-day America. Jac Vanek once said “You are the books you read, the films you watch, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in. You are what you take from these...” This quote signifies the importance of our interaction with media and advertisements it leaves us to question how we will change our mentality and our media consumption in order to become the individuals we want to be.
Citations
Bordo, Susan. Unbearable weight feminism, Western culture, and the body. Univ. of California Press, 2013.
Butler, Judith. Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge, 2015.
Kilbourne, Jean. “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising .” pp. 123, 125.
Stocking, Galen. “Digital News Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, 7 Aug. 2017, www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/digital-news/.
Vinton, Kate. “These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 2 June 2016,
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