Gayle Smith
How have representations of men in advertising since the 1980's mirrored that of the representation of women since 1950's?
Sexualisation is when a person's values comes from only his or her sexual appeal or behaviour, this excludes all other characteristics and makes this person into an object. Sex in advertising is "words and images calculated to arouse sexual desire"
(Sylvia Plachy and James Ridgeway. 1996. Red Light: Inside The Sex Industry Page 42)
Right from the start of advertising, women have been viewed and depicted as sexualised objects due to the ways in which the media has represented them. The images vary from overtly sexualised and erotic to subtle and suggestive.
Across many forms of media it appears evident that we live in a world that is sexualised. Magazines, television adverts, video games, adverts on the internet and even music videos are shown in a sexual way in which women are usually the objects of sexualisation in the advert.
For centuries the media has sexualised women and portrayed them as objects that belong to men.
With overtly sexualised images in the media it has become increasingly hard for women to be happy with the way they look without comparing themselves to the images shown in the media.
Increasingly this is similar to men as the use of men in advertising has become more prominent and is slowly catching up with how women are being portrayed.
"Although the sex business is often portrayed as antisocial, it in fact functions as an agent of social control. It takes the human hunger for sex and power and objectifies it, splitting it up and repackaging it as a commercial product-a product that incorporates the worn-out fantasies of a pre feminist world view, where men are in control, and women are idealised objects of desire."
(Sylvia Plachy and James Ridgeway. 1996. Red Light: Inside The Sex Industry Page 20)
Some women feel that they should treat there bodies as sexual objects as that is how they are being portrayed. With woman treating there bodies in this way, this leads to women believe that is all that is important. With all adverts showing women as sexualised objects men begin to think that the sexual image of a female is important and makes them attractive.
Although overtly sexualised adverts contain women, men are now creeping into the lime light and are being used a sexual objects, I have found four main artefacts that are perfect examples and similarities to how women where depicted and sexualised. Two of which are clothing brands, one an aftershave advert and one an electrical appliance advert for a vacuum company.
In my opinion the sexualisation of men has flipped the advertising world. I think there are direct links and references to the past to how women were, and have been portrayed.
Men are predominately the ones who are being targeted by the advertisers and it has been this way for many years, "For those who might argue that this is a resolutely sexist justification, sex appeal was never solely designed to titillate men. Women were also targeted for arousal as consumers. Somewhere within the paradigm of objectification, women were exposed to their own secret fantasies as well. Much mainstream advertising for products and services that employed (and exploited) sensual females were aimed at women consumers. Sure, men savor bra ads in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, but the buyers of intimate apparel are women. Fashion and cosmetic ads routinely propagate the ideal woman and promote the ingredients for making her more attractive to both men and herself. Sex appeal is as much about creating a standard for American women as it is about stimulating American men. Of corse, today men are also props. Sweaty muscular bodies covered only by tight-fitting workout clothes have been proven to excite women as the pinup does heterosexual men. And now that homosexuality and lesbianism are tolerated in mainstream media, sex appeal is aimed at even wider, more diverse audiences."
(Steven Heller. 2000. Sex Appeal Intro section xiv)
The advert I found first was a clothing advert for Emporio Armani with celebrity icon David Beckham. The images is in black and white which suggests its taken on an old fashioned camera. He is photographed with his legs slightly spread apart and arms to the side; this enables the viewer to see the torso clearly.
This sort of imagery is a direct link to how women used to be portrayed in paintings: such as The Venus of Urbino painted in 1538 by Italian painter Titian she is led on a bed looking directly at the viewer, her body is exposed however her private area is covered as is the Armani advert where small briefs are being worn/advertised.
Another example of clothing adverts is Abercrombie and Fitch. The adverts are overtly sexualised not just the images of women used in there advertisements but also the images of men are similar in the way they look. The image I found is one in which the torso is really the only part of the body present. It would seem that the photographer has cut the photograph from the neck up suggesting that this person does not have a head and the images goes no lower that the waist. This use of sexualisation is suggestive that this person is purely an object to be gazed at. The company has caused great controversies over how they advertise and how overtly sexual there images in advertising really are. "Abercrombie & Fitch, one of the most successful and trendy US clothing manufacturers, now puts its catalogues (which are geared to college students) in plastic bags to prevent them from being opened casually, because of controversy over the sexualized images of young people contained in them."
(Sexualised Images in Advertising by Jane Tallim, Media Awarenss Network, May 2003. eJournal)
I then found an image that used men in an overtly sexual way being dominated by a female, this is very clearly the best example of sexualisation and domination. As an advert for an vacuum company the imagery is simply unbelievable, it is totally relying on sex to sell the product.The vacuum is in the corner of the image with the main focus on the male with his hand tied behind his back by the cord of the vacuum, this is a direct connection to sex used to sell a fantasy.
My last artefact is an aftershave advert for Dolce & Gabbana- Light Blue. The male is led with his arm behind his head looking seductive and sexual lead in a position which women are seen to be often positioned. This advert has all the classic aspects of males being used in advertising as I seemed to have found a trend with how the male models 'should look'. Women, I think have a certain look that they need to fulfil to give off the sexual ora in advertising. "Women's open, moist and lipstick-red lips, half closed eyelids or hands suggestively placed on a bare bosom or stomach are staple elements in pornography,"
(Susanna Paasonen, Kaarina Nikunen and Laura Saarenmaa. 2007. Pornification Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture. Page 1)
Although women are seen as sex objects the women viewer is seeing the brand behind the advertising however the male audience is only able to see the gorgeous women present in the advert. But could this be the same for the way in which some women look at the adverts containing men.
All these adverts of males I have come across surprised me, they all seem to have very similar looks. I think this proves that when advertisers consider using sex in advertising they all have the same idea of 'what people want to see'. This is also reflective in the use of women in advertising.
In todays society, looks and beauty is a major concern. Young children exposed to overtly sexualised advertising and images can be harmful and corrupt childhood. It can trigger eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. This is often spoken about with connection to young woman but not as well known in young men. Perhaps with this recent slide of males now being used as sex objects this could affect young boys which would lead to them being body conscious. Christina Hoff Sommers and Naomi Wolf are feminist authors who say that women have been led to a role reverse because of women's sexual liberations, in which women are viewing the male as the object of the gaze, in a similar way to how they criticise the male's treatment to women.
The objectification of men can lead to negative body image among men in which is similar to women; research has suggested these psychological effects.
Although men "have dropped their guard and admitted they care what women think of their looks." (Paco Underhill and Ed Shirley. 2010. All Is Vanity: Grooming Brands Target Men With Ads Using Sex, Humour. eJournal)
is it this going to seriously affect young boys as the sexualisation does to young girls, I think this will come more clear the more males are sexualised in advertising.
In conclusion I don't necessarily think that the use of males in advertising has caught up with how women are used, however I do think they are being overtly sexualised as women always have been. I think men being used in advertising is a problem as this would trigger issues for young boys and have the stress that young girls already are burdened with.
I think overtly sexualised images are not good for society as people are only aware and only consider how people look, making people only consider others beauty and making people conscious.
This subject is very large and after my research I have realised I have only just touched the sides of this large issue.
1542 word count
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