Objectification of Women in Advertisements
The following link consists of a You Tube video that I found that ultimately sets the tone of what this specific page will be about. Women are quite often, if not all the time, portrayed as sex objects to sell specific products. Some of the ads highlighted in this video can be quite controversial and shocking and degrade women in many ways. For example, many of the advertisements in the video show women's breasts, butt-ox, and legs to sell things that are on the completely other end of the spectrum such as video games, perfume, hand bags, etc. We are often bombarded with these advertisements on a daily basis but and do not realize the images and messages being portrayed until we look at them a second time and really think about them.
The link to the video can be accessed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxi1e-VGC8&feature=related
Group Exercise #2
"Aristocratic Fashion"
Do you ever ask yourself why you chose to buy a particular piece of clothing over another? As consumers, we often tend to buy particular products over others to show off wealth and elevate our social status. We choose particular brands over others because they have particular labels attached to them. For example, we associate an individual to be a punk, a rocker, or even a goth if he or she dresses in black attire and chains. What we choose to wear usually symbolizes who we are and defines us as human beings in our society today.
D&G is a high-end fashion company that sells a wide range of products that range from handbags, perfume, sunglasses, watches, and most importantly; clothes. D&G launched a new fall-winter campaign in 2009/2010 with an "aristocratic vibe" The luxurious setting and wealthy family portrait style was used to showcase the new higher-end pieces. The idea behind the particular setting chosen for this specific campaign is to emphasize the idea of wealth and high social status in D&G's clothing. The models in the ad look like what we would call vampires in our society today; pale in color with bright lip stick and slicked back hair. However, this was the ideal image for women of wealth back in history. If one took away the D&G logo in the ad, the ad would look like an old contemporary portrait or painting from the medieval times and nothing like a fashion advertisement. The advertisement gives people the message that with this type of clothing, they can look like those of wealth just as the models do in the advertisement. Moreover, the ad also gives us the impression that although we cannot go back to medieval times where kings, queens, nobles, and castles existed, we can still buy into high-end pieces of clothing that allow us to look like those of power did in the past. The term "aristocratic" used to describe the campaign by the photographer himself means nothing less than a class of persons with rank and privileges especially the hereditary nobility. Reality is, we probably aren't related to anyone with noble power, however, D&G promises that image with their 2009/2010 campaign.
As discussed in our Cultural Studies course, one way higher status is obtained is through the objects we consume. For example, if two separate individuals both wear D&G, but more has more wealth than the other, we would not know that one is of higher status than the other if we based it solely on their clothing attire and image. The objects we purchase also come with cultural capital: objects that show off wealth and elevate our social status. However, not everyone can afford a pair of D&G jeans therefore only those with the means have the ability to differentiate themselves from others with the objects they buy. People no longer rely on their family name for example to show others that they come from a wealthy family. Instead, they rely on material objects such as those of D&G to emphasize their consumption habits and set themselves apart from others.
In my opinion, none of the clothes shown in this advertisement by D&G appeal to me in any way. As mentioned previously, I would not know that this was a fashion advertisement if the D&G logo wasn't present. To me, this advertisement looks like a painting or a a cover of a book rather than an ad advertising high-end fashion. Even if I was able to afford the clothes the models are wearing in the advertisement, I would not buy them just to differentiate myself from others. I know many people who buy particular name brand products that they do not even like just to portray a higher status image and say that they have a vintage piece of shoes for example versus a pair of shoes from Wal-Mart. I would never go out of my way to buy a particular product that I barely even like no matter what the cost was. I only consume things that I actually like and not because they elevate my status as an individual in society. I think that there much more traditional ways for people to separate themselves from others. For example, what ever happened to religion, culture, and family? Our biological roots no longer differentiate ourselves from others as much as they did in the past. We rely on things such as fashion to set boundaries among others in order to show off wealth and power that we may not necessarily have. Only those with the means have the ability and power to purchase clothes by D&G for example, which ultimately leaves those who cannot afford such products as outsiders who do not fit within the boundaries those "wealth" have created.
Hanan
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