Women in Media

In class this week we were given the task of finding an ad that objectified women and analyzing it, then writing how it would affect people. I Google searched many types of ads that would fit, but soon came across two ads that were opposite but still objectified women. Below is the first ad that I came across.

 The first ad is one for men’s accessories, though by looking at it you would think it was for a human table. The woman in the ad is being portrayed as a piece of furniture to place things on. I believe that the ad shows women in only one light as objects not humans, simply pieces to hold or store items. It also doesn’t slip past me that the woman is seemingly nude and very slim. This represent to the audience that all women should look like that and act as objects.

The second ad is one that is unlike the first but still objectifies women. This was a billboard created by PETA to endorse vegetarianism, but the ad was soon spotlighted for its objectification. The main idea behind the ad is that people who eat meat are fat, and that being a vegetarian will make you skinny. The main issue I have is that they only represent a woman as a whale. Why didn’t they show a man? PETA’s ad is very much hypocritical, they say that animals deserve respect, but they show no respect for women. Once I found this ad I looked for more information about it and found another ad.

This ad was also created by PETA to endorse vegetarianism, this ad also objectifies women. The billboard uses a woman’s body to comment on weight, and then they use another woman’s body to show what you would look like if you didn’t eat meat. What they advertise is that you should stop eating meat and you will then look like a playboy model. People then get the idea that by taking meat out of their diets that they will look like the model, and if they don’t they will be whales. Men also take these ads as references to what women should look like. In all of the ads I have presented they show that women are supposed to be slim and scantily clad. That anything else is not the norm and is undesirable. What isn’t told is that women rarely look like models; even the models themselves often don’t look like that. The media projects an image of women that distorts what they really are, and changes them into objects. This in turn shapes how we see ourselves and how others see us.