Violence in Advertising

The article I chose for this post, is not starkly against my argument that sex and advertising has come to an extremely dangerous boiling point, but it does promote the use of our own sex fueled brains to sell products.  The article I chose is actually a chapter out of the book Taking ADvantage You and Me, Babe: Sex and Advertising by Richard F. Taflinger. The chapter describes in detail the deep importance of using sexual imagery in advertising.  That it is one of the easiest ways to capture the human eye in a split second. Because after all advertising is all about the speed in which you draw the potential customer in. The author makes it clear that bringing the sexual aspect of the brain into advertising is a trick old as time and one that is certainly here to stay.

Though this chapter was not specifically promoting violence against women in advertising, I feel it’s quite a slippery slope. Once you begin to depict women as sexual objects, you are dehumanizing them. In turn this engrains in men, and women alike that women are ‘less than.’  The chapter on sex and advertising explains the different ways to appeal to men and women sexually.  It even reiterates that men need dynamic movement, obvious sexuality, to push boundaries.  Where as women prefer subtle images, often with the man portrayed as their ‘saviors.’  I find this concept disturbing, without realizing it, men are being shown images of women who are hyper sexualized, and open for male domination.  Where as women are becoming more and more infatuated with the image of six pack clad adonis’s swooping in to save them.  It seems we have take two steps foreword to be knocked three steps back.

In my paper I argue strongly that violent images in advertising are an extremely disturbing problem.  It is dishearteningly to see that there are entire chapters, in countless books about advertising promoting sexualizing women.  I know that cutting out sex in advertising completely would be impossible. Having said that though I thoroughly hope there will be more restrictions put on companies, forcing limitations on how raunchy ads can be in the future.