Advertising – Positive or Negative?

Marketing and advertising’s goal is too grab you attention as quickly as possible to sell their product or service. The tactics use to accomplish this task have changed over the years but one thing that hasn’t changed is the use of the female body. If you look at the history of ads you would find that the use of “sex” has been in the forefront although becoming much more sophisticated. From magazines, to billboards, bumper stickers, TV, and now the internet the human body is used to send the message. Depending on the product or service being advertised, the use of the female body can certainly be justified. For example, undergarments, lingerie, and clothing, by Victoria Secret (http://www.victoriassecret.com) you would expect to see women modeling those products. Some individuals would argue that it is to “sexy” and portrays women as sex symbols. Although I would not disagree with the fact some of their images are a little provocative, I would suggest that there is another site that truly portrays women as sex symbols.

That site is Sports Illustrated, (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com). Between the extra mustard link and the swimsuit link, I am not sure which is worse. What does the “hottest NBA dance team” have to do with basketball? What does “Swimsuit 2008” have to do with football? Apparently, “sex sells”, according to the sports world. The tall, lean, size 2 blonde, with a D cup, is the messages we are send to the sports enthusiast. I find these images to be an unfortunate really to our culture. The boys (men) play the sport and the girls (women) cheer them on in the less than nothing garments. These images do not empower women but only continue to degrade them. Do we see men in Speedos parading themselves across the floor at women’s games? (Not that the women athletes get much press) Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly NOT advocating that we should! The point is this, as long as women continue to participate in presenting their bodies in a provocative way; advertising will continue to use this patriarchal version of sex.

Annette Parson