Blog Entry # 3

Michele Schwamberger
March 20, 2008
Womens Studies 200

To me, the woman in this ad is represented as a stripper clearly because of her risky stance and how she is portraying herself. She is a young, beautiful, very thin female trying to sell herself to men and women in general.

Her sexuality is being used to sell herself and to possibly get people interested in Las Vegas, i.e. Sin City. The company could also be trying to sell the lingerie that she is wearing. I think this advertisement is trying to reach the male dominance and it probably does a very good job reaching them. She looks very feminine and very seductive which is what the ad is supposed to represent.

To me, this ad isn’t offensive, but I can see it being offensive to other women. Some women wouldn’t want their husband or significant other or even their children seeing or viewing this advertisement and I wouldn’t want my daughter to view it. Some women and young ladies who aren’t comfortable in their own skin could look at this and think this is what they should look like. Not everyone has this body frame or can even be this thin. This ad portrays that being thin makes you beautiful and all the self-esteem issues follow. To me, this ad represents entertainment in Las Vegas.

This ad could be both feminist and anti-feminist. I think it is feminist because not only do you see women half-naked in advertisements trying to sell underwear and entertainment (stripping), you also see men advertised in underwear and also selling entertainment (stripping). It is feminist to me because both men and women are being treated equally in that both men and women advertise stripping. I think this ad could be viewed as anti-feminist because I think that consumers see more women portrayed like this than men. I tend to think that men would want to see this kind of entertainment more than women.

Yes, I believe advertising does affect body image issues for girls and women. When girls and women see this beautiful, very thin woman dressed in lingerie, they start thinking that is the “normal” body shape to have. They think “thin is in” and start to diet, etc. Some girls don’t realize that some of the bodies in these advertisements aren’t really the model’s body – it was “adjusted” to look like that. I think this plays a big role in our younger generation’s self-esteem issues. Girls should be taught that they are beautiful and to love themselves at a very young age. I think the advertising industry has been better than in the past, as now at least there are fuller figure advertisements and magazines. Not everyone can be stick skinny and bodies are supposed to be different – we are all unique.

I think that if the consumers find the ads offensive, they shouldn’t buy the item that the advertisement is selling and they should write to the companies to protest this. Unfortunately, I don’t think this would really put an end to it. It may be offensive to some, but to others it is entertainment and not offensive at all and it achieves its purpose…to market something and capture the public’s attention.


REFERENCES:
http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/stripper/pics/stripper24.jpg