When industrialization grew rapidly in America, so did advertising, after all what is the point of having a booming company if nobody knows to buy your products, right? Advertising is meant to show a community what is available to them – a movie, a toothbrush, a computer, anything that someone may want or need. The general idea of an advertisement seems like an all right idea, as well as a giant moneymaker. What makes advertisements unappealing to the public today is not seeing someone who can truthfully “speak” to them. A white woman who is 70lbs and a 1970’s picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger does not speak to the diverse America of 2011.
What we mainly see in fashion magazines are size 0 or 00 models who have been technologically “fixed” after their photo shoot to make themselves look either skinnier or more beautiful for the public. These magazines try to tell us what beauty is, and rarely is it ever a black or Hispanic woman who is a size 4, or even a 2 today. These are also in television ads, we see people we cannot relate to and feel lower than them. Rarely do we ever see a mix of races in an advertisement also. If we do, it’s the token minority surrounded by the majority of whites.
Men are also subjected to sexist and racist advertising. Since the turn of the 20th century the muscle man invaded American society and made men self conscious about their manliness. Muscles and height are the equivalent of skinny and no wrinkles for women. Got Milk? advertisements are good examples, for men and women really. Many athletes are used to show young boys that they too can be as big or as good as Mark McGwire if they drink milk…. until they realize McGuire used steroids and milk was never part of it. The point is those advertisements sell their product by making men feel inferior to the Greek godlike specimens shoved in their face. Companies draw on people’s weaknesses, unfortunately a little too well, which becomes dangerous mentally and physically especially for youth.
When it comes to hierarchy and power, men always have power whether they are in the ad or not. Ads in GQ & other men’s magazines always have the products they like – beer, cars, wrestling – with women in bikinis or naked but covering themselves in some scandalous way. When men are in commercials they are usually in family photos where everyone adores the father, or the head of the family. Positioning is key in these ads, usually women are sitting or are shorter in some way so that the man can be taller and therefore more powerful. No matter what, men will always be more powerful than women in ads, and usually white too.
It is difficult to pinpoint just one ad that combines sexism, power hierarchy, & racism. Ads today are not as bad as they were in the 1950’s, but sexism & racism are still prevalent, just hidden a little better. I am not sure how to "fix" this problem, nor do I think I have an idea for changing particular advertisements. To me, most of them should not exist. But, supply & demand applies to this conundrum. We all say we want to see more races, more body types, more women, more children etc in advertisements, but not enough of us are saying anything. The demand is still for unattainable beauty, but is that was advertisements are telling us we want? There needs to be more strong will in the consumer, for if ads are trying to sell us muscles or deathly skinny we should ignore them. But, that would be in a perfect world.
http://sixbillionproud.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mark_mcgwire.jpg
http://venusvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ralph-lauren-polo-ad.jpg
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/2009/downloads/p_spf_kids_bi_view.jpg
http://www.adsora.com/files/imagecache/medium/media-front/AWtech-ads-01.jpg
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