Photovoice: Women as objects in the media

An overview:

The topic I chose to explore as part of my photovoice is one whose image speaks very powerfully. As you will see below, my images portray women as objects where they are used to sell products or ideas through ad campaigns and pictures. From perfumes to dolls, these images keep sending out the same degrading message towards women, which is my main concern. The message being sent out to the public is that women are simply good for pretty pictures, sex icons and fashion related jobs. One of the main reasons that this problem exists is due to the fact that that our culture is very sex and beauty oriented and we buy into these types of commercials and ads. Companies thrive off of this and use it a tool to sell almost any product through the use of sexually implicit images that attract the eyes of men and women of all ages, including the very young population as well. Another rather serious issue is that children are growing up with the idea that it is perfectly normal to see these types of ads where women resemble objects of beauty and desire. This gives children and young adults unrealistic objectives as well as a very corrupting view of themselves and of women in general, continuing this vicious cycle. It is hard to come up with and immediate solution to this problem, because we are all so used to seeing and producing these images and more specifically because they are huge money makers for our fashion oriented culture and economy. None the less, we as future teachers can do our best efforts to educate our future generation on this issue, and to see through the fact that media’s occasional powerful influence isn’t always a good influence.





Image 1:
This is an ad for a furniture store. As one can see, this company is attempting to sell a couch by comparing its curved shape to that of a woman’s body. In this case, we can see how easily women’s bodies can be turned into literal objects. Ads such as this one are constantly seen in the media for the reason that they sell. Many male consumers might be intrigued by the comparison and completely forget about the qualities of the couch itself when purchasing, and women might get tempted by it because of the idea that it’s just “So you”; a slogan written in small next to the picture.

Image 2:
This is a classic Dolce & Gabbana ad that is trying to sell its perfume by showing perfectly sculpted, half naked men crowding around a woman who is in some sort of sexual position, like hyenas to a steak. The media is portraying women as an object of sexual desire in order to make women feel as though if they buy this perfume, they will attract these men models. It is completely unrealistic, and highly unlikely, but it makes money. Male or female, sex sells. Period.

Image 3:
This Barbie ad depicts the way women can supposedly very closely and worryingly resemble dolls. It is almost hard to tell whether these girls are real or plastic. This most recent collection of Barbie’s, is called “Barbie loves MAC” referring to MAC cosmetics, a very popular and well known make-up brand for women. Barbie’s new profession now, is a make-up artist, and for only 35$ many young girls can look up to her materialistic profession and aspire to be like her and look just like her and her anatomically unattainable figure!

Image 4:
This picture is a recent ad for the “Axe” company which advertises it’s collection of scented body sprays and shower gels for men. Its campaign revolves around the idea that men who use it automatically attract all the women around them, to the point that they show up in a shower asking to be washed as a sexual reference to their slogan ‘Get Dirty’. In this ad, the media is objectifying women as dirty objects that need to be cleaned by men. The woman’s face isn’t even shown, as the ad focuses purely on her revealing body.