Ji, Mary 8East, Humanities April 22, 2003 Final Paper

Xtremely ADdictive

Using advertisements that target how men, women and adolescents must look and behave in society shouldn't be promoting gender stereotypes.  The nutrition, fashion, tobacco, and alcohol ads all show how men, women and adolescents should act and behave in society. Advertising definitely perpetuate the idea that smoking tobacco and weight lost is not harmful to men, women and even children. Since advertisements contain different forms of mediums and media that trap you into their product. Un-cautioned audiences are positioned to fit into the stereotype box so that you won't be made fun of by their peers. Ideas are reinforced by the media, including ideas about how males are more powerful than females, how the white race is more dominant than any other race because in almost all ads, there is at least a white male or female holding up a stick of butter.

Advertisements shouldn't be influencing that weight lost is not effective and that it doesn't hurt to diet. The mass media controls what people would consume and what women should physically look like. Instead of preventing women to eat healthy and not caring about what others think, advertisements do the exact opposite. Television advertisements and Internet pop-ups don't tell the reality of dieting; they don't show you the consequences, all they show you is propaganda. Advertisements leave out the problems of dieting which are, you will get obesity, heart problems, and unhealthy eating habits. Men and women are convinced by society's gender stereotypes that they would do anything to fit in even if that means to not care about their health and only care about their appearance. Marketing Magazine (1996) suggest that, "Realistically, the ads probably won't convice women to resign contentedly from the diet game," is pointing out that advertisements don't tell women to diet and even if they tell them to not diet they won't listen. This is clearly targeting the women and how they won't listen when in reality, they do. The advertisement on the left shows you that women's weight is what the society look at and if they weigh a lot then, they won't be considered famine.

A person's body shouldn't be judged by what they have on it but by how it looks. Stereotypes make you want to change how your body should dress and look, the approval of your body is by how much people steer and like. Almost all careers require a slim female and a buff male which turns unhealthy because in order to look slim and buff, you have to diet, and sometimes even have surgery on your body. The Toronto Star Syndicate argues that, "Men are just starting to feel the same pressure. With men's health and fashion magazines proliferating, Calvin Klein producing more buff male ads, more movie stars pumping and liposucking and good looks becoming career requirements in the toughened-up job markets, men are being subjected to more and more impossible physical idea." The Toronto Star Syndicate's comment

agrees with my idea that almost all careers require a slim female and a buff male, and they mention that they would liposuck to be more physically appealing. This advertisement on the left shows you Travis Fimmel, a Calvin Klein model. He is not wearing anything then a pair of underwear that shows how buff he is, which probably mean that he had liposuction. Cox News Service (1993) indicates that, "The reigning Miss USA, Kenya Moore, a sophomore attending Wayne State University in Detroit, has discovered a source of self-esteem worth emulating. Everything comes from within me." she told Jet magazine recently. "Real beauty is within. Inner beauty comes from what the soul says and how you treat other people," disagrees with the idea that men and women have to follow the gender stereotypes because she explains that real beauty comes within you and by your attitude towards others.

Smoking advertisements shouldn't be targeting young adolescents. Tobacco industries deny that smoking isn't addictive and that they don't advertise to adolescents. Tobacco companies target adolescents to smoke, only because they are getting more trust and freedom to do whatever they wanted. Canadian Tobacco Industry documents implies that,

"Starters no longer disbelieve the dangers of smoking, but they almost universally assume these risks will not apply to themselves because they will not become addicted. Once addiction does take place, it becomes necessary for the smoker to make peace with the accepted hazards." The Canadian Tobacco Industry's (ND) comment suggests that when someone starts smoking, they won't become addicted, but then when they continue constantly, they accept being addicted. On your right shows you the famous Joe Camel with four kids smoking. Joe camel is a cartoon character and this is what makes kids addicted to smoking besides nicotine. This visual shows you that adolescents get drawn into smoking because their favorite cartoon is doing it.

Alcohol advertisements shouldn't use sexuality to promote their product. Using sexy females to promote a product especially alcohol is sickening because it shows how women are objects and aren't people. Captain Morgan's Rum advertisement, on the left shows you how females

are dressed when they do an alcohol advertisement, wearing the skimpy outfits and the perfect smile. On the right top corner of this advertisement, it says "Captain Morgan's Susanna." This statement clearly agrees with my point on how females are being treated as objects rather than people. Drinking's not only about desire, but it's also the cause of disasters. An article by Hilary Abramson, The Marin Institute for the prevention of alcohol and other drug problems states that, "A New York economist who specializes in alcohol research has established that alcohol advertising increases consumption and traffic crashes." This statement is definitely saying that alcohol causes deaths on the road leading to how there isn't any drinking and driving, and if you do, they you would get fined. Alcohol may be fun and relaxing at times but using sexuality to promote an alcoholic beverage is not right and shouldn't be used especially since the sexuality comes from females.

Why must we change our bodies, our health and our looks to fit into the gender stereotypes set for us? Why must you look a certain type of way? Gender stereotypes change how you look and change what you see yourself as. Stereotypes and advertisement control your looks and emotions while people judge you on your appearance and not what you really mean. Advertisers own the way you dress, act and eat while stereotypes own the way you are portrayed as. While the six big companies control our entertainment, it makes it hard for anyone to have movies albums, songs, and even books that state the truth. The society would be corrupted and unable to function. There would be no democracy or equal rights, and the people are getting only one side of the story.

Advertisements from fashion to nutrition, to tobacco, to alcohol relate the different ideas being spread around. If the world ran without advertisements then there wouldn't be new appliances for your kitchen, there wouldn't be new clothes, there wouldn't be new looks, but on the other hand, advertisements do help you judge yourself and make you believe that you need to be this person your not. From television to leaflets, advertisements are spread out differently, find and see any kind of ads and compare how they are leaving certain type of information out that affects the way you think, eat and act. You should speak out against the gender stereotypes in society and the propaganda spreading advertisements that target towards youths and adults which will change how people are being judged.

Bibliography:

"Food for Thought." Editorial. Marketing Magazine 21 Oct. 1996

Abamson, Hilary. "Research." The Marin Institute for the prevention of alcohol and other drug problems (ND)

Maxwell, Bill. "The beautiful, the bulemic and the dead." Cox News Service April. 1996 http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamedia/bulemic.htm

Pollay, Richard, "Targeting youth and concerned smokers: evidence from Canadian tobacco industry documents." Tobacco Control Outline, 2000, 9:136-147

Shakespeare, William. "Absolut Impotence." Adbusters. (ND) http://adbusters.org/creativeresistance/spoofads/alcohol/absolutimpotence/

Zerbislas, Anotonia. "Ideal-beauty" message now also aimed at men." The Toronto Star Syndicate.

"The War on Children." Tobacco 21. Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation. 2002. http://www.tobacco21.org/war/

Visual Credits:

http://www.queersouthbeach.com/modelgallery.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/advertising_marketing/special_k_ad_5.cfm

http://www.warpbreach.com/downloads/suz_640x480.jpg

http://www.tobacco21.org/war/