What are ads saying to our society? What are they saying to men? Take this Jbs ad for men's underwear.
The first thing I thought when I saw this was, why does she look like she was just violated? And what are they selling? After a closer look, the text at the bottom of the page says "men don't want to look at naked men." Okay, so I get it. I still don't know exactly what they are trying to say with the interesting arrangement of the naked girl with her boxers down and crumpled paper towels by her side. What possibly could this be hinting at? I can't help but recognize the similarity between this ad and a girl that was date raped (i.e. why she is passed out and naked). Maybe its my own trained mind that has been conditioned to see women as victims, but hasn't everyone's mind been conditioned to see women in that same way? So, on that note, maybe this ad is counting on us to see her as a victim. The perpetrator would obviously be a man since the ad is selling a product designated for men hence, men don't want to look at other men naked.
The problem with violent ads is that they depict men as the violent perpetraitors and women as the victims. Violence and power over another female or weaker male is used to validate the mans masculinity. Violence is often paired with sex in order to make something more desireable. The entire goal of an ad is to make people want whatever product they are selling. What better way to sell something to a man than to show a masculine man using violence and getting sex at the same time? Men are stereotypically violent and want sex: thats what we have been conditioned to think since we were born. The media has normalized and justified violent masculinity by repeatedly using men and violence paired together. It's justified because we are constantly told that men are inherintly violent. In conclusion, men believe that in order to achieve full manhood, they must be violent, intimidating, and in power just like advertisements tell them to be. Unfortunately, ads make women the most inticing targets for violence.
I really liked your post comments and photos. I understand what you mean when you discuss the fact that we have had these ideas and beliefs since we were born. It bothers me that women and men are represented in such drastic differences. Why are the women the victims? The women in most ads our seductive, sexy and deserving of any aggression or violence they receive. These ads are just a normal part of society because that is what the media shows us. I understand that it "sells" but how would the advertisers fell if that were their daughter sitting in that chair with her underpants at her ankles? What if their child was being choked or slapped by a man? Is that sexy when it is so close to home? I would just love to hear what they think about that. Would they think differently if it sold their product?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your opinion on these ads. The ads are showing men how they "should be" in order to get the women that they want, aggressive. The boxer ad was quite disturbing though. They not only were showing that women were the victim, but I believe they may have been saying you can only be a man if you like seeing naked women. By saying, 'men don't want to look at naked men' could be a message toward gay men. Saying they are not a man if they like to see other men naked. That, to be a real man, you have to want to look at naked women, no matter how you get the job done, as long as you do it.
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine what was going through the mind of the model in the first picture. I can't imagine being asked to pose in a scene where I appear to have been violated in some way.
ReplyDeleteI saw an ad once(that I haven't been able to re-find) of a man in a designer suit and there appeared to be a prostitute lying passed out (or possibly dead) on the hood of his car. The scene was set up to make the man wearing the suit look powerful. It was disturbing that this violent display of dominance was supposed to be seen as sexy. What seems worse then leading men to believe that they have to be physically aggressive towards women to be desirable, is the idea that women should be submissive and admire this aggression. In all, its ads like this that send the message to women that its sexy to be the victim/its what men want.
Its also offensive to imply that homosexuals are any less manly than their heterosexual counterparts, but maybe that's just another example of the dominant group bullying the subordinate group of people into believing that they are deserving of being the subordinate group.