More Than an Image: How Advertisements Objectify Women and Make a Statement About Sexuality, Beauty, and Thinness

An advertiser’s main goal is to make money by any means necessary. Therefore, it is no surprise that advertisements in the media today are preying upon young women’s insecurities and producing more and more advertisements that show how sex sells in the media. Throughout virtually any magazine or image in the media, a reader will find more women than men shown in the advertisements. Some of these advertisements include women interacting with men in a sexual manner, women wearing the slightest bit of clothing, if any, and women posing in provocative ways to sell a certain product. Virtually all of these advertisements and media images portray women who are extremely thin, sexy, and seductive in order to sell the products to either male or female consumers. Interestingly, the male consumer products that are advertised include women either being promiscuous with other women, or with men, while female consumer products only sometimes include men, yet nevertheless portray women seductively, beautifully, and in a way that appeals to men. The above collage helps showcase how advertisers use the idea that “sex sells” as a way to objectify women and hold them to the highest standards of beauty, thinness, and attractiveness to men, while simultaneously suggesting that in order for products to sell, women must sell the products in a sexual manner.

Every image in the collage includes one or more women. This says something in itself considering that some of the products advertised are solely meant to be bought by men. For instance, the image of the cologne strategically placed between the woman’s breasts is meant to appeal to the male consumer; however, in order for that product to be marketable, the advertisement must contain a topless woman. Similarly, the image of the three men surrounding the slender and attractive woman while another man gets on top of her, is an advertisement meant to attract men to shop at Dolce and Gabbana; however, in order to initially attract the men, a woman must appear in the advertisement. In Sut Jhally’s essay entitled “Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture”, Jhally discusses gender identity and images in the media: “many commercial messages use images and representations of men and women as central components of their strategy to both get attention and persuade” (253). Jhally’s analysis can be applied to advertisements, as well, and it shows the ways in which the advertisers prey upon their consumers and appeal to them through sexual images and thoughts. Women, in particular, are represented in a specific way: “in advertising, gender (especially for women) is defined almost exclusively along the lines of sexuality” (Jhally 253). Jhally’s depiction of women being represented based on their sexuality is supported throughout the collage. One of the advertisements shown is meant to persuade people to neuter their pets; however, the image used to represent the advertisement shows a woman dressed in lingerie and heels while holding a cat. This advertisement is therefore an example of the ways in which women are portrayed solely based on their sex appeal and sexuality. Thus, women provocatively displayed in advertisements clearly help sell the product and show that sex really does sell.

In addition to women appearing in advertisements based on their sexuality for both men’s and women’s products, they are also represented as beautiful, attractive, and most importantly, thin. The images in the collage show a variety of women, and regardless of the women’s ages or breast sizes, they are all thin. For instance, the image of the middle-aged women from Desperate Housewives shows the women to be as thin as the young girls in the Budweiser advertisement. In Jean Kilbourne’s essay entitled “The More You Subtract, The More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size”, Jean discusses how women and young girls feel the need to be thin in order to feel beautiful and appeal to men, and she discusses the reasons why these thin women are continuously shown in advertisements: “the obsession with thinness is most deeply about cutting girls and women down to size” (262). Thus, if women are thin, or frail, men will still be more powerful. One of the images displayed in the collage shows a thin woman lying down while a man stands above her with alcohol and glasses in his hands. This advertisement for Skyy Vodka helps support the idea that women should be thin in order to attract men and that this thin woman has less power than the man standing above her. Kilbourne goes on to discuss how advertisements in the media continue to influence women: “a great deal of it [advertisements] is based on research and is intended to arouse anxiety and affect women’s self-esteem” (262). The image involving the woman whispering into the man’s ear is supposed to be an advertisement for men’s cologne; however, it is showing women and young girls that if they are as beautiful and thin as the woman in the advertisement, they will also attract men. Both Jhally and Kilbourne examine the ways in which advertisers use advertisements to attract consumers by selling sex. The collage also represents the ways in which women are objectified for the sole purpose of making money. Therefore, advertisements include images of sexuality, beauty, thinness, and attractiveness in order to sell the products and show that, at any cost, sex does sell in the media.

Works Cited

Jhally, Sut. “Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2003. 249-257.

Kilbourne, Jean. "The More You Subtract, The More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size." Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2003. 258-267.

Images Used in Collage from Magazines/Websites

Cosmopolitan April 2006.

Maxim May 2006.

Maxim girls cover:
tesladownunder.com/MaximHungaryCover1000.jpg
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/blog/6883-sexy-women-make-everyone-feel-bad-17742.html


BEBE ad:
https:/.../mediasurvey06/images/bebead.jpg
https:/.../~defouwkr/mediasurvey06/cosmoads.htm


Skyy Vodka ad:
contexts.org/.../Media-Version-Cosmopolitan.jpg
contexts.org/socimages/2007/07/


Dolce and Gabbana ad:
z.hubpages.com/u/115240_f520.jpg
hubpages.com/hub/Pathetic-Advertising


Organ donation ad:
thecurvature.com/.../2008/11/organ-donation.jpg
thecurvature.com/2008/11/page/2/


Skyy Vodka ad:
www.usask.ca/art/a31701/site/britski/skyy.jpg
sincitysiren.wordpress.com/.../


Woman covered in shoes/clothes ad:
i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk34/feministing/...
tsetsiarchives.blogspot.com/2009/02/dehumaniz...



Sexy car ad:
pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/jpg/200605/sexy-wom...
http://www.topspeed.com/cars/auto-shows/car-babes-gallery/sexy-womensexy-cars-ar8900/picture63018.html


Cologne ad:
kywomen.typepad.com/.../08/21/fordisadouche.jpg
kywomen.typepad.com/.../women/


Paris Hilton burger ad:
bp1.blogger.com/.../s400/Sex-Sells-5.jpg
thenicole.info/.../


Shoes ad:
hoaxblog.s3.amazonaws.com/puma_ad.jpg
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/archive/2006/01/


Desperate Housewives game:
images.amazon.com/images/P/B000G6IP5A.01._SCL...
http://www.desperateblog.com/desperate-housewives-the-game-release-oct-5/


Gossip girl ad:
janedark.com/gossip_girl_promos_jpg.jpg
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=68465


Budweiser ad:
i79.photobucket.com/albums/j123/jameswheeler7...
http://www.lanaslines.com/com4/blogs/entry/You-Needn-t-Worry-Your-Enjoyment-Of-Sports-ll-Be-Here-Tomorrow-


Dolce and Gabbana ad:
i162.photobucket.com/.../t279/rocketrend/dg.jpg
rockthetrend.com/2007/06/


PETA ad:
blog.peta2.com/Princess_Superstar.jpg
blog.peta2.com/2007/11/who_is_princess_supers...


Miller Lite ad:
i36.photobucket.com/.../miller_Lite2.jpg
www.myspace.com/combs1973


PETA with Carrie Ann Inaba ad:
www.blogcdn.com/www.greendaily.com/media/2008...
http://www.greendaily.com/2008/10/09/carrie-ann-inaba-says-yes-to-animal-birth-control/