I have been watching TV ever since I can remember, but have I really been watching it? In my COM 303 class a group presented an analysis on the portrayal of men in advertising specifically men in Axe commercials. While the group was analyzing this text about how men can just put on Axe and be considered masculine and strong or how men need to be strong and masculine in order to be considered a men; I was analyzing how women were objectified in this text.
The Axe commercial that I have posted above is a perfect example of male gaze, and how women are expected to look, and act in order to be "desirable" in society. Until I took this class this semester commercials like this never really bothered me, I actually thought they were funny and a form of mindless entertainment. Now, looking at a text like this text I think it is sad that advertising agencies think it is ok to objectify women in such as way where only there looks matter. This advertisement also implies that women only care about what men "smell" like, or there physical appearance, when in fact much more matters to women.
A woman is not going to "fall" for a guy that smells good, and this is exactly what this text is implying. The female actress in this text is sexualized by what she wears, how she appears to be the stereotypical "dumb blonde" (even though she isn't blonde). Throughout the text the camera zeros in on the female body parts as well as her action at the end of the clip when she is seducing the homeless man.
I don't know about any of you, but I never really critiqued the advertisements that were proposed to me on a day to day basis until I took this class. I believe it is because advertisements like these are a social norm. What do you ladies think?
I was actually observing the same thing in that class yesterday. I found my self very frustrated at the fact of how women are depicted in these advertisements especially. It appalls me that our society widely accepts these types of ads as a form of entertainment. The stereotypes of women these days is what is causing so many problems in female adolescents. From eating disorders to bullying to the way one must look in order to be accepted within their school or community is astonishing and saddens me to think this is the level our world is coming to. In my opinion it is because of the media that we have so many struggling teens in the world. The point that i want to make is we need to understand the concept that these "struggling teens" today are the future of our world tomorrow. It is because of the inaccurate stereotypes we shove in their faces today, we will have a plethora of problems to deal with in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jordan. Ever since taking this class, I find myself analyzing EVERYTHING! Being a girl, the male gaze was especially interesting to me and I have truly never noticed how often it occurs in any type of text. This commercial in particular gives women such a bad rep. In additional to Chelsi's comment, these types of stereotypes are exactly why society is the way it is today, yet we still find doctors trying to figure out why suicide rates are increasing, when ironically enough, the answer is right in front of our face: MEDIA PORTRAYL
ReplyDeleteeven though I can't attest to this personally, as I am not a female, I actually have three nieces, and I constantly think about the world they are growing up in where sexualization of men and women are introduced to kids at such a young age. If you are around kids much, it's amazing how advanced they seem in comparison to when I was their age. I suppose we seemed advanced to other people back then in relation to their childhoods, but its sped up to an astronomical speed. My 5 year old niece was obsessed with fashion and make up and the idea of what a princess is when she was 2. As cute as that might be its also very revealing to just how much this materialistic, ideal driven world is influencing her.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking this class i do seem to look at these commercials with a different eye. She literally cannot stop herself from seducing a man who smells good and only because he smells good. Are we really that easy to get if you put on some cologne and are within 20 feet? Its pitiful that advertisers use these types of ads to get men to think we can be easily attained and seduced by cheap body spray. Also i feel like the only people attracted to dudes who wear axe, are 12 year olds on their way to a grade school dance.
ReplyDelete