For Sale: Women

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Women For SaleHow advertisers use the media to
degrade womenand how we let them.
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How did it begin?Vintage Ads 1890-1920s

• Many of the earliest ads were focused on the
  product itself. Women were often used as a
  target audience as they were the primary
  caregivers and homemakers. This ad praises the
  wonders of Jell-O .

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Classic Vintage Ads Promoting the Product

• Some ads seem clearly sexist, but they are more a
  reflection of the time. Above, one happy
  homemaker manages to find time for a Coke.

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Getting Suggestive with the images and the
textPost WWII ads suggested more than the
benefits of a particular product. Below, an ice
skater thrills male onlookers with her
Springmaid fabric skirt. The women in the
Maidenform bras wear animal masks. Why?
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The ideal woman.It is interesting to see how the
ideal woman fifty years ago was NOT skinny.
These ads offer help in GAINING weight. Skinny
women should do all they can to look more full
figured. This trend is most likely a Marilyn
Monroe effect.
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The Insecure WomanInsecure women began making an
appearance in the late 40s and early 50s. The
woman on the left has been locked out from her
husband because she forgot to douche. The woman
on the right worries that her husband, who has
clearly aged better than she has, will want a
younger woman soon.
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Getting the Message AcrossDuring WWII, many
women got a taste of independence by joining the
work force since so many men had left the
factories to go to war. Ads from the forties
and fifties clearly reinforced the idea that a
womans natural place was in the home.
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Some interesting messages here
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And here
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Moving Forward?The sixties and seventies were a
turbulent time in American history. However,
images of women in the media remained limited.
There were only a few roles a woman could fill.

• First, there was the mother figure, which here
  we see a twisted version of in this American
  Airlines ad.

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Moving Forward?

• Then, there was the child-woman, shown here in
  this creepy ad that sexualizes a little girl.
  Notice the shape of the perfume bottle. The
  seventies saw an increase in phallic imagery in
  both ads and products.

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Moving Forward?

• Finally, there was the sexualized woman, or the
  tramp/mistress. She was often hard to control,
  but still desirable. She, of course, was not the
  girl a man would marry. Thus, she was often
  shown in pieces only. What does the image of a
  dismembered woman imply?

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Contemporary adsToday, there are several ways
advertisers use women in their ads. One popular
strategy utilizes womens sexuality, which is
often unrelated to the product. Notice the
phallic symbols in these ads.
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Sex is PowerThese sexual ads clearly target a
male audience and readership. The woman on the
left gets chucked with another male holding a
bizarre phallic object nearby. On the right, the
woman waits expectantly for whatever violation is
in store for her. Read the copy (text) on that
ad.
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More disturbing ads that use sex in a way that
dehumanizes women. What are the products here?
Read the copy.
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What are we telling the women of our culture?
What do men think of the women in these ads?
What do women think of themselves when they see
these ads?
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Violence against WomenIn addition to using sex,
advertisers now will often use violence against
women to sell products. Notice how the product
itself is no longer the focus of the ad. These
ads are for jeans.
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One woman here holds on to the back of a car in a
pun on bass yourself. On the right, it is
clearly cool to wear wife beater tee shirts-the
products name itself is offensive yet this
couple wears their team tees with pride.
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Sex and Violence Together-How niceSome ads
combine sex and violence. Here is an ad for a
popular fashion line that is very disturbing.
What seems to be happening in this scene?
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Here, a woman seems to be ripped apart in a
perfume ad while the woman on the right is bound
to serve the customer as mercilessly as the web
server does.
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Still InsecureJust like those ads from the past,
ads today still target womens insecurities.
Women can be easily replaced by a mistress or at
least a younger version of herself.
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The Shallow WomanHowever, now there are some new
roles for women to fill. There is the shallow
woman, who cares only for her mans money, car,
jewelry
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The dumb nymphomaniacWomen are also portrayed as
brainless bimbos who really just want guys to
have sex with them, as seen in these ads. Read
the copy.
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Imagine these ads with men or male parts in them.
How would your perception or reaction change if
two scantily dressed men, one holding an obvious
phallic symbol, were in the left ad? What male
body part would be pressed together to sell a car
in the right ad? Would male versions of these
kinds of ads ever exist?
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Disposable WomenWomen can also be replaced by
objects such as dolls that, apparently, can give
men what they really want. The ad on the left
is for jeans while the ad on the right is for an
energy pill-consider the message there! What is
suggested here?
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How far is too Far?
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What would a sexist ad that objectifies men look
like?

• Since I could not actually find ANY ads that
  degrade and dehumanize men in a sexual way, these
  ads were created for effect.

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Here are some superheroes who are clearly
objectified-again these pictures were
created-they are not real ads.
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What would be the focus of such ads, if they
existed?

• Notice that when we do see mens bodies
  objectified in ads today, they are rarely
  dismembered, beaten, humiliated, gang raped, or
  emaciated.

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Rather, they look like this. Compare the way GQ
presents two issue covers, one with a female on
the front and one with a male. Notice the
headlines as well
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This underwear ad is a typical example of a mans
body being used to sell a product. This ad does
not objectify Mark Wahlberg in any dehumanizing
or violent way.

• Rather, this ad shows the model using the product
  in a way that appears natural and comfortable.
  The male model here is happy-not emaciated,
  bruised, drugged out, or frightened like we see
  in so many ads with female models. This is sexy.

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This ad is one the most suggestive,
sexualizedmale ads I could find. This ad
objectifies the model more than most male ads do,
but notice he is not threatened or dehumanized in
any way.

• Compare this to the perfume and jeans ads we saw
  with women. Why does our society violate our
  women and worship our men?

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Equal Rights?Rather than objectify both the
sexes through advertising, ideally corporations
should use their media power to equalize the
sexes. However, what we more often see is a
distorted view of equal rights. This ad claims
to support womens rights, but the ad copy
suggests just the opposite.
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This ad is for a professional womans journal.
What is the message here?
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Equal Power or White Power? When minorities are
in ads, they are often positioned beneath that of
the white person. Here a sexualized white woman
is shown above a black male. Reflect on the
image and text.
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The truly bizarre

• Can the media dehumanize, dismember, or degrade
  women anymore than it already has? The magic of
  technology now allows advertisers to manipulate
  photos into women who do not exist.

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Get Wired!This ad is for a cyber server which
claims to double your power. Notice where a
womans power is.
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If it is so disturbing to see men in sexual,
violent, or even manipulated images such as this
one

• Then why do we continue to allow such disturbing
  images of women?
• Like the ad here, it should not be any less
  disturbing when the person in the picture is a
  female

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or an African-Americanor an Asianor any other
nationality.
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Would any newspaper allow this personal ad to run
in its paper?

• WANTED SWF. Dead or alive. Body parts ok, no
  brains. Must be Big Breasted, long-legged bone
  jarringly thin. Shallow good. Seeking nymphos
  who love SM, bondage, whips, chains, and other
  devices. The younger the better. Over 30 need
  not apply.

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So why is it acceptable to imply that very same
message without all the text? Here, this woman
is beautifully executed.
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What are we saying to the women of our society?

• What are we saying to the women we love?
• What do we say to ourselves?

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What should I say to these girls when they ask
what it means to be a woman today?
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Whats Normal?Can we change our cultures ideal
of sexy?

• This ad spurred so much controversy a few years
  ago that it was actually pulled from some shows
  and magazines. All it shows is normal women in
  their underwear-un-photoshopped, un-
  airbrushed. Why was this ad so upsetting? Are
  normal women considered freakish while ads with
  four-breasted women are totally acceptable?

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Can we take the dismembered images we have of our
women and reshape our interpretation of it
through the copy? Zoom in to read the text.
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• Or can we start celebrating the women we are, the
  women we were, and the women we want to be?

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Well never know until we try.

• Being a feminist means wanting these things for
  women. It means demanding that women and men are
  accepted and treated equally in all areas
  politically, socially, financially

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It does not mean being anti-male.

• Are you a feminist? If people were to ask if you
  were a feminist,
• what would you say?

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• When we study civilizations of the past, we
  consider not only the written texts and the
  unearthed artifacts, but we study the art, the
  images, the reflections the
• people had of themselves.

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What will future generations say about us?
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New additions from students
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New additions from students