Advertisement images and their impact in the society
The extent to which sexuality is dominating the advertisement industry is posing a significant threat to society. In her video lecture, Jean Kilbourne discusses how the advertisement methods have changed from the older way of advertisement to a modern approach concerning using female images. Kilbourne believes that the use of women’s photographs on the ad has put more pressure on women to be young /thin and beautiful than ever before. In this paper, we will learn different ways in which adverts have affected women and girls both physically, emotionally, and mentally and how men and women feel about their body is affected by advertisements.
From Jean Kilbourne’s lecture video, we can identify several potential physical, emotional, and mental effects on girls and women who try to live up to our culture’s ideal image of beauty. Kilbourne quotes the words of a supermodel, Cindy Crawford, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.” This is evident that the exaggerations in the photo used for advertisement made Cindy feel that she was not beautiful enough. This can have physical effects on Cindy has she may try to change her physical look in an attempt to match the image used on the ad. This feeling of Cindy that she is not beautiful than her image on the ad can affect her emotionally as she may feel she is not attractive enough and can lead to lowering her self-esteem. If Cindy thinks she is not as beautiful as the image of herself on the ad, she might not want to talk about the ad in public for fear of being asked why the ad image is that beautiful than the real her. This shows that current adverts can result in mental disorders. Though Cindy is used as an example, she represents the Girls and women in the society who are victims of modern advertisements.
The relationships Kilbourne sees between cultural ideals of thinness and the cultural obsession with both dieting and eating disorders is that adverts tend to prefer the use of thin images of women. This s mostly achieved by the use of Photoshop. This makes girls think that thin people are more sexy and beautiful, and because they want to look sexy and beautiful, they will try all the ways they can to remain or become thinner even if it means changing their diet or feeding abit. Kilbourne, in her video lecture, says that “Girls exposed to sexualized images from a young age are more prone to eating disorders, depression, and low self-esteem.” This is because they want to be like the people in those sexualized images. In case they fail to do so, they will end up hating themselves, and this will result in a lack of self-confidence.
According to Jean Kilbourne’s lecture, advertisements affect the way men and women feel about their bodies. Jean says that when Andy Roddick saw the bulked-up arms on an adverts cover photo, he laughed and suggested they should be returned to the man they belong to. This shows he felt the exaggerations were too much for his body. In contrast to Cindy Crawford, who wished she looked like her image in the advertisement. This shows men don’t like their body exaggerated, but women like their body exaggerations as they want to be sexy and beautiful.
According to Jean’s lecture video, it shows that advertisers lack responsibility to society. This is because they tend not to respect women and their bodies. They fail to see women as a human being but uses women as a thing or an object. The advertisers are not accountable for the harm they are causing to young girls as the adverts expose them to unethical behaviors.
In conclusion, advertisements have changed the identity of women in modern society. Women are interested in making their selves more attractive and beautiful to fit in this culture where advertisement gives a picture that beautiful women are more important in society. The use of women images in adverts has resulted in viewing women as objects and not as human beings. Advertisements are causing a lot of harm to young girls. Advertisers should consider being more responsible for the images they use in adverts.