Images and Learning

           There is a general understanding of human development that postulates that individuals formulate their overall psychology on a basis of innate qualities as well as through their personal socialized experiences. When societal norms are constructed, and perpetuate only specific stereotypes and/or images, through social learning, individuals begin to formulate distinctive perspectives on their place within the society. Berger argues that “publicity is not just advertising but all means by which information and ideas are made public” (Mykes & Gunter, 268). Although it is true that all means of information can curate ways of understanding, as discussed in the last class, there is no media without advertising.

In order to continue creating progressive feminist 
media, Ms Magazine had to take sponsorship
largely from Alcohol and Cigarette 
Companies

Advertisements, as a means of capital, mobilize other forms of media. In Sex, Lies and Advertising, Gloria Steinem discusses the magazine Ms. and its need based relationship with advertisements, while trying to be a progressive form of feminist media.  Even in forms of media that wish to work outside of the stereotyped images within advertisements, there is still a tug and pull effect. In a world of media that needs advertisements to exist, it is thus crucial to have a critical perspective of how ads perpetuate power structures for the “interests of those who sponsor their publication” (Wolf, 64).

            Advertisements, and the overly ideal images portrayed within them, play a huge role in the development of personal, internalized narratives. Within advertisements, young boys and girls absorb standards for femininity and masculinity. These roles are presented as pre-determined models of how to act, look and present oneself. It is definitely important to discuss misrepresentations of the male as an object, by depicting the ideal male as tough, strong, and outside of emotion. As Bell Hook’s states in Understanding Patriarchy, we “indoctrinate boys into the rule of patriarchy, we force them to feel pain and to deny their feelings” (22). Although “men receive more rewards from [the] system” of patriarchy, it is important to understand they ways they are hurt by it (Hooks, 24). With that said, it can still be argued that images within the media have a tendency to be more flexible and inclusive when depicting varying types of men. Women, to a much larger extent, as maintained by Butler in Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire, are “either misrepresented or not represented at all” (2). Resent readings have specifically focused on representations of women, especially highlighted through femininity and the body.

            The article, Culture, was definitely interesting in the way in which it described the transitions within the advertising industry, especially and specifically within women’s magazines. The continuous tactic within advertising focuses on targeting insecurities within women. In the 1950’s, women’s magazines focused on illustrating to women “how to make contact with her ideal self.” Women, and the products being sold to them in ads, focused on how she could enhance her role as a good mother, efficient homemaker, and wife (Wolf, 64). As time passed, women started entering the workplace, focusing less on traditional ideals of what it meant to be a women. With women’s magazine sales declining, Wolf comments on how advertisements shifted focus on the women’s

To Be Feminine Is Preferred to Young,
Slender, Sexual, & White

Advertisements Show Young Girls
Early On What They Should Focus On
Sexualization and Materialism For Young Girls
on Young Girls
(Photo From Vogue)

body. “In a stunning move, an entire replacement culture was developed by naming a “problem” where it had scarcely existed before, centering it on women’s natural state, and elevating it to the existential female dilemma” (Wolf, 67). Advertisements chose to play on the women’s insecurities pertaining to her body to sell product. Standards for beauty and femininity are established so that women will continuously spent money on clothes, cosmetics, surgery, and more in order to transform herself into the ideal. As emphasized in Kilbourne’s reading, The More You Subtract, The More You Add, girls and women are taught “to adopt a false self… to become feminine, [and] to compete with other girls for the attention of boys, and to value romantic relationships… above all else” (130). Thus, with the help of products, women can beautify themselves in order to attain a husband. As noted by Mykes & Gunter, this “preferred look is younger, slender, sexual and white” (266). Mykes & Gunter go on to argue a point, highlighted by Berger, that “capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible” (268). Mass media and advertisements choose to exploit the insecurities of the white women, to define her needs, and tell her that with money and purchasing power she can better herself. These same advertisements thus leave stories of women of color untold. Women of color, feeling insecure that their images are not there, will thus try to also better themselves to fit the ideal. Unless of course they are able to develop an oppositional gaze. 

Advertisements play on the insecurities of women
of color by devaluing darkness.
"Life is More Fun" when you buy product
to make yourself feel better. 

          I definitely feel that some of the best alternatives to these mainstream images of submissive, feminine women seeking to better themselves on the outside with products, is images of women in sports.

Serena William - Gatorade Commercial 

"If you were a tennis player who would you want to be like?

Well I would like other people to be like me"

"Win From Within" 

Ronda Rousey/Holly Holm - UFC Promo Video 

"Every Revolution Starts With a Fight"

The two advisement videos I inserted, I believe, show a fresh image depicting women and strength. Both videos show the transition from the women as girls, to the star athletes they are today. It depicts their struggles, maybe against a world that didn’t think that they could get there. The women are able to develop inspiration from the sports themselves instead of relying on people before them. I think that this message is important to women who cannot find concrete role models. It is important to be able to know that one can look within oneself for that inspiration. 

Gatorade and UFC are benefiting from these female athletes. Gatorade wants to draw a connection between success and their brand. UFC wants to draw attention to the Rousey/Holm fight in November. In a way I don't care as much though. I still think that images of strong, successful women are important images to perpetuate. If Rousey/Holm or Serena can spark attention to strength and determination within women and thus be featured in advertisements outside of the sports realm, that that is a step away from showing the ideal submissive, young, 'beautiful' white women. Girls, instead can have a healthy, more realistic role model to look up to.

Works Cited 

Bell Hooks: Understanding Patriarchy

Jean Kilbourne: The More You Subtract The More You Add

Judith Butler: Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire

Gloria Steinem: Sex, Lies, and Advertising

Naomi Wolf: Culture

Maggie Wykes & Barrie Gunter: The Media and Body Image