Women & Media

Women in Media!!! Which part of women body they are selling?

Uses of female models in advertising are now very common. Nowadays we can found that, almost all products using female models, even for products that do not related to the women’s needs. Starting from a Razor ad, Electronic instruments, After- shave, to Car, Shampoo wearing women models. And all the models shown in the ads, have the same physical type: Beautiful- Slim- Sexy.

Sex and Nudity have always sold well. Sexuality, sexual suggestiveness, over sexuality or sensuality raises curiosity of the audience and can result in strong feelings about advertisement. It can also result in the product appearing interesting. It is a powerful tool for selling products, especially when selling to the male viewers. It has a strong psychological appeal.

Today the advertising industry is one among the fastest growing industries not only in our country but across the world. Almost every company, institution and services take the help of advertisements or ads to make people aware of their products and services. Advertisements not only inform people about the new brands available in the market or about the upcoming ones but also help in creating a need for the product in the mind of the viewers. They also help in building a brand’s image and creating a niche for the same in the market.

On one hand where these ads/advertisements help in the sale of products on the other hand the same ads are hampering the image of a woman. Most of the advertisements shown on television today make use of women in order to enhance/increase the sale of the products.

Women are being portrayed as mere sex objects in most of the ads. They have been shown as weaker sections of the society who can be easily get carried away by men. In ads like that of perfumes and bikes the products are compared with that of a woman’s body. For example the AXE effect (perfumes/deodorant’s) advertisement, wherein after the usage of the perfume all young girls try to jump on the man, who has applied it. Moreover, the girls/women used for the different kinds of ads are shown to be fair and exceptionally thin. This has created a negative image of women in society, and high expectations amongst families and peers.

These advertisements leave an impression on a common man’s mind that a woman is just an object, which can exploited easily as she is weak by nature and always needs a man for her protection. This type of projection of women is termed as stereotyping.

Provocative images of women's partly clothed or naked bodies are especially prevalent in advertising. Shari Graydon, former president of Canada’s Media Action Média, argues that women’s bodies are sexualized in ads in order to grab the viewer’s attention. Women become sexual objects when their bodies and their sexuality are linked to products that are bought and sold. Women’s bodies are often dismembered into legs, breasts or thighs, reinforcing the message that women are objects rather than whole human beings.

Although women’s sexuality is no longer a taboo subject, many researchers question whether or not the blatant sexualization of women’s bodies in the media is liberating. The presence of misinformation and media stereotypes is disturbing, given research that indicates young people often turn to media for information about sex and sexuality.