Has advertising changed us? (Decoding/Deconstructing Advertising)

Sitting in my room, I pick up my four magazines that are always placed on the edge of my desk. Normally, I flip right to the horoscope page, but instead, I analyze the front cover. When I choose a magazine at the corner store, I tend to pick out either a Cosmopolitan, Seventeen or People, I look for a brightly coloured cover with someone photographed who I can in some way relate to or would like to anyway.
Now as I look at the words and articles contained in these magazines I begin to think... Could it be possible that I was subliminally attracted to these magazines because they can tell me a “Sneaky way to get Flat Abs!” or the tips and tricks to have “Amazing Hair everyday”? Could it be possible that media and in particular, advertising have influenced me to want to change who I am?
The short answer would be yes!

Advertising has in some way made me who I am and influenced me in ways that I may not even recognize right now. Growing up in an age where I am inundated with media the amount of advertisements that have had an impact on me is unimaginable. Recently, I saw a Dove commercial on television, it is a fine example of how advertising has effected me.

I have chosen to analyze a Dove commercial from the Campaign for Real Beauty. Men and women today are bombarded with unreal expectations for sexy bodies, flawless faces and perfect personalities. Dove has recognized this perfection competition and has made this it’s mission to “help free ourselves and the next generation from beauty stereotypes. It’s this message that’s at the heart of [their] Campaign for Real Beauty and Self-Esteem Fund, and it’s why [they] continue to create thought-provoking ads, confidence-building programs and messages that embrace all definitions of beauty.” (Dove).

The children of today have seen so many ads about changing their appearance that they can easy fall into believing a very twisted perception of what is beautiful or cool.

The commercial shows a little girl looking at an ad posted up on a bus stop shelter. Within seconds the image changes to several flashes of pictures that have to do with changing the way one looks in order to become a more beautiful person.

The women in the advertisements are usually baring skin and offering themselves sexually or persuasively to the viewer. In most cases these women are trying to impress men by baring it all. Surprisingly, this is related back to oil paintings from years ago. Men would paint women naked on a canvas, in order to show them giving themselves to men. John Berger author of Ways of Seeing draws upon these ideas by discussing how men would paint women nude years ago in order to show their inferiority compared to men and to amplify the idea that women are can be objects to men. This is directly related to today because magazines and commercials with women scantily dressed for the appreciation of men is the oil painting canvas of our generation. It makes me question who has made the commercials with these women bouncing around nearly nude?
We see these images and relate them directly with words like “sexy”, “hot”, and “beautiful”. There are several images of super skinny girls wearing skimpy outfits, some images of plastic surgery are flashed quickly and then words are used to emphasize how we should want our bodies to look and perhaps how men want women’s bodies to look.
We are digesting all of these images and words in the perspective of this innocent little girl, this point of view makes the ad incredibly strong because we see first hand what this little girl can be influenced by. Much like what women in previous years would have felt by looking at the bodies of these nude women in oil paintings. Berger states that a woman “has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life.” (Berger, 46.) Females are continuously comparing themselves with each other and this all has a negative impact on our culture because more women are being sucked in by the media telling them that there is a certain type of beautiful that can be achieved by changing your body or dressing sleazily.

The statement at the end of the commercial captures the idea that women are being scrutinized by each other and the opposite sex and that the images we encounter everyday are seriously effecting us negatively as a society.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=321Kb8pBu5s

Works Cited:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: The British Broadcasting Corporation., 2008

"We see beauty all around us". Unilever Canada Inc.. October 9, 2009 .