Magazine advertisements are enhanced by images which are sometimes totally divorced from reality. Most advertisements images apply stereotypes concerning the role of men and women in the society. Women are the most vulgarized, commodified and presented as sex objects – usually in a manner that is not way related to the actual product. In this case, the context will discuss how three commodities have used their advertisements with respect to women dignity degradation by men counterparts. Newport cigarettes advertisements violate women dignity and have a heavy decisive influence on the public. Although there is freedom of expression, it is important for advertisers to remember that respect for human dignity is vital. In the front image of the products imperceptibly give us distorted ideas of the roles, status, and behavior of women in the community.
According to Jones, 1999, showing body parts especially in cigarettes and beer products denies women a sense of humanity and only heightens the focus on sexuality. Further, stereotypes portrayed by men in the ads, such as voice-overs, masculinity and having power over women contribute to making women look too much submissive to men and have their emotions devalued.
Newport cigarettes advertisements express love, but women are presented in a manner that shows being submissive to men. Besides the subtext part of the adverts, the writings are also more seductive to the public. Concerning the advert, it works by manipulating various forms of sexual desires, which aim at attracting men and associates with various desirable female body parts.
Most images in these advertisements showcase women as passive while men as active. In simple terms, men are actively smoking in the ads while women watch or show their attraction to the smoking man. Moreover, the images bring back a return of the worst of the old, with men attracted to women due to their actions and beauty. Finally, these products’ ads images denounce the discrepancy between the stereotype used and the wide range of roles that women engage in. According to Carter & Weaver, 2009, personality and how a group of people presents themselves in ads shows how muscularity, heroic masculinity promotes products that are mostly associated with men. Beside masculinity, some ads such of those in most beers they glamorize male potential for violence and overpowering of women (Carter & Weaver, 2009).
Presidente imported beer advertisement images are no exceptional. The ads images have aggressive sexual images of women body parts, which lower their dignity and it also contributes to the misunderstanding between both sexes. The use of women showing their body parts in these products’ adverts is far from conveying the message that woman and man are equal. Women are presented to be more submissive to men thus making them have a passive voice while men present themselves as having an active voice. Female are silenced and portrayed as sex objects. The expression of women showing their body parts in the adverts enhanced men attraction towards the product but lowered women strength. Although it the way of advertisement nowadays, the truth of the matter is that stereotypically masculine emotions are more valued than those stereotypical feminine emotions. Images used are definitely humiliating to women – presenting them. For instance, the use of women showing their body parts presents a stereotype of women’s physical beauty and uses them as bait to attract customers’ attention. Carter & Weaver, 2009, continues to say that most beer and cigarette adverts portray the idea of weakness in women, which shows a backlash against feminism. She also adds that some of the adverts used in these products are offensive and that they are inappropriate displays to children who preferred not to engage in porn. Adverts showing women body parts when men cover in clothes may seem attractive to customers’ attention but the fact remains that they are showing women submission to man and are emotionally abusive women (Carter & Weaver, 2009).
Additionally, the issue of violence which is present in both advertisements presents men as individuals who are in control over women. Some actions present in both adverts shows that women are subjected to some activities that they would not have engaged in while in the real world. Some women hate cigarettes and nudity but the presence of them in these three adverts shows the products rely on the female body as sale ploy which turns women into sex objects. Men are also used in the same to represent the ability to assert power over women (Stark & Buzawa, 2009).
Today, freedom of expression is a very vital pillar of democracy, but its attacks on human dignity among women is on the rise. In both ads, women showcase men as voice-overs and women voice are underrepresented. Besides women effort to eliminate portrayals that don’t show them as voiceless and sex objects, ads are taking a whole new turn, very young girls are being used in both adverts, which is detrimental. In addition, both products’ adverts show men muscularity, heroic masculinity, and even overt male violence.
Besides the above two products, Camel cigarettes also use the same structure to push its products to the market. The product ads consider men stereotypically masculine, and women present their weakness and submissiveness to men. Moreover, the product also shows women as sex objects subsequently showing greater rape-supportive attitudes (Stark & Buzawa, 2009).
Conclusively, in all the three product advertisements qualities such as masculinity and active are silently linked into men, and they have continued to oppress women and make them look too much submissive and weak, a character which translates into real gender inequality. The issue of sexual orientation is also showcased in these adverts through the showing off various body parts to attract men attention. Showing of body parts doesn’t make women prettier instead it makes them weaker making men believe that women want to be raped and that they deserve it or asking for it in the adverts (Stark & Buzawa, 2009). Adverts in the above three products have not only made the male voice active and female voice passive but they have also silently linked men to stereotypically masculine emotions while denying women their stereotypically feminine emotions. Finally, the above three adverts are silently commenting on the issue of weakness in women, which is making them face inequality even in the real life.
- Carter, C., & Weaver, C. K. (2009). Violence and the media. Buckingham [u.a.: Open Univ. Pr.
- Jones, J. P. (1999). How to use advertising to build strong brands. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Stark, E., & Buzawa, E. S. (2009). Violence against women in families and relationships. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO.