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Advertising promotes more than mere products in our popular culture. Because images used in advertising are often idealized, they eventually set the standard which we in turn feel we must live up to. Advertisements serve to show us what the ideal image is, and further tell us how to obtain it. Advertisers essentially have the power to promote positive images or negative images. Unfortunately, most of the roles portrayed by women tend to fit the latter description. The irony lies therein since it is these negative images which have been most successful in selling products. It is easy to understand the appeal which these ads hold for men, as they place women in an inferior role; one characterized by helplessness, fragility and vulnerability. Certainly one can not deny that visual images serve to create the ideal female beauty within the material realm of consumer culture. The problem is that if one strays from this ideal, there's the risk of
Unfortunately, the body of Kate Moss is an unrealistic and unattainable ideal for most women. Women can never be happy with themselves until their representation in advertising become more reflective of reality. Advertisers, by setting ideals, not only sell their products, but in fact reaffirm traditional gender roles in mainstream America. Again, women see these images as attractive to men and subsequently feel the need to embody them. Women portrayed in sexual ads are depicted as objects and commodities, to be consumed by men for visual pleasure and by women for self-definition. Perhaps one of the most recent, successful, and controversial ad campaigns of the nineties is that of Calvin Klein. Moss' breast is exposed in this image, but instead of appearing voluptuous, Moss appears to be almost prepubescent. Studies show that advertisements will concentrate primarily on a woman's body parts rather than her facial expressions. Ironically, in contrast to the normal, objectifying advertisements that deface women altogether, Klein focuses on his model's expressions. Any depiction of a woman in scant clothing ultimately makes her look vulnerable and powerless, especially when placed next to a physically stronger man. This distorted "ideal body image" is one of the leading causes for the recent rise of anorexia in young girls. Here, in this ad Kate Moss is depicted as an innocent scared child. Her fingers touch her lips as if she is not permitted to speak, while her eyes look as if they are bruised. The "waif" woman image is causing extreme low self-esteem for women in the nineties.
Common topics in this essay:
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Kate Moss,
America Women,
Calvin Klein's,
Klein Ironically,
Calvin Klein,
kate moss,
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scared child,
women tend,
negative images,
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Acceptance Essays
