Sexist Thought and Oppression in Advertising
- Submitted by: Sardaukar857
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- Category: Politics: Moral Issues
- Date Submitted: 12/12/2010 06:12 PM
- Pages: 7
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Pictures discussed in essay are at http://thecurvature.com/2008/10/17/rape-culture-in-unexpected-places-new-pepsi-ad/
and http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=4209
Sexist Thought and Oppression in Advertising
Advertising has become a common venue to showcase and further sexist thought and oppression towards women. This is usually done in a manner which can easily be defended by citing differing interpretations of the media. Furthermore, responsibility for creating it can also easily be allocated to other parties. This is exactly what happened when a series of three advertisements, with Pepsi branding present, were discovered.
The advertisements were originally posted on, The Curvature, a feminist blog run by Cara Kulwicki. (Kulwicki 2007) The main advertisement is a scene of a beach with dark storm clouds converging overhead. A young boy is handing a Pepsi to a lifeguard, supposedly in exchange for his T-shirt. The lifeguard is looking away suspiciously, as if he were conducting an illicit deal. He is tall, muscular, toned, tanned, masculine, and in his prime years. There is a tall, thin, toned, tanned, busty, and unconscious blonde woman in a revealing bikini laying on the sand. Both her and the lifeguard are shiny from being in the water, making the qualities of their bodies more noticeable. Both of their bodies are clear representations of what society believes to be perfect. The lifeguard's SUV is behind him, and a rescue flotation device is halfway off of the picture, to his right. The woman was dragged from the ocean and left two trails in the sand with her feet. Curiously, there are no footprints within the trail or around the woman. The young boy is looking directly down at her breasts with a look of malicious fascination. The boy clearly wants to sexually assault the woman in some way.
All three advertisements depict an exchange of an “item” for a can of Pepsi. The main advertisement depicts the “item” as the lifeguard T-shirt....
and http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=4209
Sexist Thought and Oppression in Advertising
Advertising has become a common venue to showcase and further sexist thought and oppression towards women. This is usually done in a manner which can easily be defended by citing differing interpretations of the media. Furthermore, responsibility for creating it can also easily be allocated to other parties. This is exactly what happened when a series of three advertisements, with Pepsi branding present, were discovered.
The advertisements were originally posted on, The Curvature, a feminist blog run by Cara Kulwicki. (Kulwicki 2007) The main advertisement is a scene of a beach with dark storm clouds converging overhead. A young boy is handing a Pepsi to a lifeguard, supposedly in exchange for his T-shirt. The lifeguard is looking away suspiciously, as if he were conducting an illicit deal. He is tall, muscular, toned, tanned, masculine, and in his prime years. There is a tall, thin, toned, tanned, busty, and unconscious blonde woman in a revealing bikini laying on the sand. Both her and the lifeguard are shiny from being in the water, making the qualities of their bodies more noticeable. Both of their bodies are clear representations of what society believes to be perfect. The lifeguard's SUV is behind him, and a rescue flotation device is halfway off of the picture, to his right. The woman was dragged from the ocean and left two trails in the sand with her feet. Curiously, there are no footprints within the trail or around the woman. The young boy is looking directly down at her breasts with a look of malicious fascination. The boy clearly wants to sexually assault the woman in some way.
All three advertisements depict an exchange of an “item” for a can of Pepsi. The main advertisement depicts the “item” as the lifeguard T-shirt....