FREEZEEEEE EVERYONE CHANNING TATTUM IS FOLLOWING ME ON TWTTER! .... I wish :(... Okay, now that I got your attention, let's stop and think. Think about what you ask? Well think about a time where you seen an advertisement with a famous celebrity or even normal individuals advertising a product. Now when you think about that advertisement, think about how that ad is being advertised.Lets see two examples of ads. First examine ads with males. In ads, males are shown or told to be more masculine and tough. They would be shown to be less of a man if they don't act this way. They most definitely wouldn't be in the advertisement if they didn't meet the criteria of being masculine. When choosing to place a man in an ad, he should be handsome, fit, and basically be a "dream" man. Okay now let's think what these good looking men are advertising. He probably would be advertising sport related issues, cologne, male clothing and etc.
Okay, now lets examine ads with females. When you see ads with females, the females in those ads are beautiful, fit, have flawless skin. The ads that these females are in, promote makeup, cleaning,certain types of clothes, and etc. Some skin of the females are exposed to even promote the product.
Overall, my point is that from examining these two type of ads, advertised by males and females, we see that we are placed into boxes. For example, when someone says a perfume was being advertised we quickly think that a female would be in the ad. On the other hand, when someone says a cologne we quickly think that a male would be in it. however both are the same thing right?
Questions:
1. Do you think that if a female played a male role in an ad, the product would have the same output as the male?
2. How do you feel about the bias in the ads that are being put out?
3. When you see advertisements, what comes to your head?
If a female played the role of a male in an Ad, would i buy it?, the answer to the question is "depends". An advertisement for chocolate bars isn't exactly an Ad for tampons, i mean if you were a woman and you saw an Ad for tampons with a man you would either laugh in amusement or scratch your head in confusion. Advertisements are not meant for a general audience, they are always targeted towards a certain group therefore the dominant discourses that are shows are necessary. Mad Men work hard to make you buy products you don't need, and the techniques they use work. Just look at Coca Cola, it did not become what it is because of its taste it became what it is because the marketing for the product was genius.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Waleed. You made some really strong points there. here's a question for you, by having some dominant discourses in the ads shown, is putting down males or females?
ReplyDeleteNice post Dharshi! To answer your first question, it would honestly depend. I mean if you were to see a man advertising bras then I'm sure most people would see it as a joke just as if women were to advertise boxers. There are certain advertisements where the situation could be split, such as health care, a new cell phone product or even a certain fast food restaurant. To answer your second question, I feel like some ads are very stereotypical. If you're advertising baby stuff, almost all of the ads have women in them and not men. A new video game console would most likely have a guy in the advertisement just like make-up products would probably have only girls. Finally for your third question. certain advertisements make me laugh while others I find very offensive. It depends on the advertisement.
ReplyDeleteI think products have a general audience and like Waleed said it would not make any sense for female and male roles to be reversed. That being said, i think most ads do not advertise the product but what the product is supposed to be. What is the point of putting an extremely attractive girl in a commercial for a gaming console meant for men. The advertisers just assume that men would buy something because there is a hot girl in it. And the worst part about this is that it actually works, in events like E3 and Gamescom companies hire girls to stand in booths and look pretty. They would not do something like that every year if it had no effect on the sales of the product.
ReplyDeleteThat is true Dharshiga. Anytime I think of a lingerie advertisement, I automatically think of a beautiful thin female model posing in it, While with a cologne advertisement, I think of a hunky, buff, half naked (top half) male to be promoting the product. It sucks because the media has portrayed that any guy who would to wear that cologne are automatically considered to be handsome and muscular, but that is not true. I wear cologne and yet I am not handsome or muscular (tear face :' () and it just makes me feel bad about myself because I do not be like that guy in the advertisement.
ReplyDeleteVery good post Dharshiga! I would like to answer your third question. Whenever I see an ad that shows women trying to advertize beauty products or fashion desighn I always get drawn in and can't help noticing how beautiful the women in the ad are. Almosy all ads portray women as really good looking in order to pleade an audience and it is a media techniwue that gets the watcher's attention and makes them want to purchase the product.
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