Week 8: Chapter 18

I'm glad that advertisers and fashion magazines are including homoeroticism in commercials and advertisements. In this time, many of the people in the fashion business are in fact homosexual and it would not be fair to them if they were not included in advertising. While reading articles sent to me through PRSA, companies and advertisers are trying to include their homosexual clients by having "gay vague." Many advertisements hold different meanings depending on who is looking at it. For example, for Abercombie and Fitch, girls looking a the scantly clad male models will droll and pine over their pictures and at the same time, the homosexual audience might do the same thing. Even while watching America's Next Top Model, they praise the girls who have androgynous features and even cut their hair as short as boys. Also, the challenges include taking pictures that appeal to both the female and male audience by being sexually appealing to men while not being too sexy that women are put off, but that they want to be like the models.

Week 7: Chapters 10 and 16

Chapter 10:

With alcohol and beer commercials, sex and women are used the most to attract attention. I was too young to remember the Swedish Bikini Team, but I did grow up in the "cutesy animals" commercials. To me, the advertisers might have been trying to grab kids attention with those commercials to steer them towards their brand. I remember my brother and I or my friends and I at elementary school would imitate the frogs and would laugh as we would go around in a circle saying "Bud-wie-ser." At the Superbowl, while the adults would be actually watching the game, we would wait for commercials to see the latest frog, lizard or the famous four horses pulling the sellers and dalmatian puppy. Kids could care less about scantly clad blond women bouncing around, but give us computer animated frogs, and we will remember the commercials even 10 years later.

I can understand why Coors Light got away with their commercials because they were in the right environment. If someone complained about the commercials, they would have to complain about football and any sport for that matter with the cheerleader's uniforms and suggestive dancing. The advertisers were smart because people would be hypocrites if they denounce the commercials, but still watched football and other sports. With Miller Lite, I'm a bit surprised they got away with their commercials. Yes, television and radio shows turned back to looking at women as objects with big hair, butt and boobs, but that doesn't give excuses to advertisers. I understand that they were "making fun" of the stereotypical beer commercials, but those commercials hadn't been on television for about 10 years with an exception of the Coors Lite Twins.

I guess the advertiser's job is just to toe the line. How far will the line be pushed? Now we have women shown as robots to serve men their beer. Well, if we have robots doing that job, maybe now the women of the advertiser's world have more time to cook, clean and anything else the men want us to do. Oh boy.


Chapter 16

Ok, I'm going to be bias and focus on the Mexican side of me. I find it very amusing as reading the chapter while trying to work on my project. Latinos are the largest minority at 12.5% and the majority in Texas, yet they are hardly represented on television or in print. While watching 7 hours of news during the Thanksgiving break, all I got was a mention of immigration issues being fought between candidates and two Latino reporters. I was so discouraged that I tried to watch the news this week and I got a story: Miss Puerto Rico Scandal. Let me tell you how excited I am: ...... Seriously. Another bad press. Latino women adding to the stereotype that we are all super skinny, super sexy and super dramatic. Apparently, the winner's makeup and evening gowns were doused with pepper spray because the other contestants were jealous that she was a judge last year, so she knows how the vote. Seriously? Way to show how great we Latinas are.

But anyway, back to the chapter. Not only are we only in less than 1% of national nightly news on ABC and NBC, but we are also less than 1% in commercials and advertisements. Yes, for the most part, we are very short and don't make the 5'10'' super model requirement, but we do have some women who are tall enough, yet they're still rarely photographed in high fashioned magazines. Also, the only Latino commercial I can think off the top of my head were the few that McDonald's did in Spanish that targeted the Latino community--Finally! But fast food that will make our population even fatter? Darn... As of what the commercials that Latinas are in, they are just skinny and ooze sexuality. A great movie that just got a little press when it was released is "Real Women Have Curves" starring "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera. In this movie, she proves that she doesn't have to be a size 0, but that she is gorgeous just as she is, curves and all! Also, in her television show, "Ugly Betty," although she is the "ugliest" worker at Mode Fashion Magazine, she's the one with the biggest heart who is always more beautiful than her model-like co-workers.

To me, this is sad that the other minority groups such as Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans haven't raised as much noise as the blacks. The Civil Rights movement wasn't just for them. We all should take a stand against stereotypes in the media and become more represented in commercials. Minorities are soon becoming majorities in many areas of the United States, but watching television and movies, no one would know it. Minorities need to take part in the giant mixing bowl that is America and show that we are Americans too and what we contribute to American culture.

(Sidenote: I don't have that great of an excuse for not writing in over a month except that I've been beyond swamped with huge group projects in my other classes. I'm sorry I haven't kept up with blogging and I will do better!)

Week 6: Chapters 12 and 8

Chapter 12:
Fashion magazines take the cliche phrase "sex sells" to a whole new level as evident to the advertising within the pages. In this chapter, Debra Merskin discusses how there are pornographic themes in the ads. These ads are available everywhere for anyone to see, which is in a way bringing forms of pornography to the newsstand and into homes. Most of the time, it is never debated unless the scantly clad models happen to being wearing real fur. These images instead of looked at with a close eye are considered art, high fashion and culture. In these ads, models stare out from the ads to the readers and try to convey sexuality just by making eye contact.

I really like Merskin's quote that "Today, through the use of branding, advertising is expected to do more than sell a product....Modern advertising 'thus teaches us to consume, not the product, but its sign. What the product stands for is more important than what it is." To me, most fashion ads have double meaning. Yes, the models are wearing the designer clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc, but their position, gaze, lighting, background are telling a whole different story in the ad. It's not enough just to have a model wear your product, but to have a sexual double meaning to grab the reader's attention from the ad on the next page. The more race-y and controversial the ad is, the more likely the reader is going to remember it. For example, Dolche and Cabana always have very sexualized ads such as the last one I saw where women in chains and corsets with locks were in power and performing violent acts against naked men. The ad fits all the categories: hierarchy (women in power), objectification (naked men and reveling parts on the women), submission (the men for once submitting to the women) and violence (the women violently in control of the men). Sure, that image is extremely pornographic in nature, but I remembered the ad and the designer, right? Then the advertiser and photographer has done his/her job.


Chapter 8:
When the infamous Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake scandal happened, I was with a group of my girlfriends watching the game as it was tradition to mock the guys and have a Girls' Superbowl Party. Anyway, we were watching the halftime show as we had a crush on JT (come on, you expect anything less from juniors in high school? haha). For us, we were shocked, but we figured it was just part of the act as MTV keeps pushing the line further and further with performances. Now, all the commercials and television shows have some sort of sexual content. Even while writing this, I'm watching re-runs of "Full House," and in this episode, Michelle is a Madonna-wannabe to try to get her dad's girlfriend away from her family. Meanwhile, the girls are wearing the 90's style of midrift shirts and Uncle Jesse has back-up dancers shaking what their momma gave them while wearing sequin bras with a mesh shirt.

Most of these shows in Pardun and Forde's study I wasn't even allowed to watch as a kid. It was usually Cartoon Network, Nick, Disney or Fox/ABC Family only. I wasn't allowed to watch "Friends" or "Simpsons" until I was in high school. Plus, my family never had HBO until I was a senior because my parents knew that there were adults-only shows and rated-R movies.
What they mention in the conclusion is not only is sexual content in these shows and commercials, but also body image. In the 90's, shows such as "Family Matters," "Boy Meets World," and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," the girls were thin, but they had tone and looked healthy. Now, in shows on Nick and Disney channel, the girls are super skinny such as "Hannah Montana." Plus, now the stars that kids and pre-teens look up too are giving into what Hollywood holds as standards, and instead of being healthy size 6, they are size 2 or lower. Studies have come out recently about how girls younger and younger are being affected by these images and having body image problems.

I can't believe that I'm saying this, but kids these days are being exposed to much more sexual content than I remember. Even though it was only 10 years ago, I feel that the shows are different in barely talking about consequences, but only showing the good in choices. The only show around that still brings up the issues is "7th Heaven." No matter how much you will hear me talk about how bad the acting is in the show and how silly it is how some problems are solved, at least they've explored a ton of issues that kids and pre-teens never hear about. The show explores the different sides and makes people realize the fact that problems exist and they shouldn't be pushed under the rug or dealt with only when you are personally involved.