Amanda Zimmerman and John Dahlberg’s article, The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective, attempts to find how young women today feel about being portrayed as sexual objects in advertising. The authors summarize how advertising has changed over time for women because of the dramatic increase in the sexual objectification of women in ads, magazines, television, and other types of media. They give some brief background information about Ford and Sciglimpaglia’s 1977 survey findings where they discovered that younger, wealthier, more educated women were the most critical or bothered when it came to women being represented sexually in the media. Zimmerman and Dahlberg also reference a second survey done in 1991 by Ford, Latour, and Lundstrom indicating that “women still thought that advertisements treated them as mainly as sex objects, showed them as fundamentally dependent on men and found the portrayal of women in advertising to be offensive.” Because Zimmerman and Dahlberg were interested in discovering how current women feel about these ideas, they conducted a survey using a small convenience sample of female college students. The surveys were similar to those of Ford, Latour, and Lundstrom 1991 survey in that they used female students from a co-educational private college. “Statements taken from Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom measures women’s attitudes toward advertising in general. All statements were measured on a 7-point Likert scale, and probed attitudes toward role portrayals of women in advertisements as well as the effects those attitudes had on company image and purchase intention.” In the end, the research concluded that “educated women’s attitudes toward advertising are significantly more accepting of sexual objectification over the past decade. Despite an increase in sexual objectification in advertising, young women have become less offended by their portrayal.” Their research showed women’s perspectives about being represented sexually changed over the years and that women actually accept this idea more than ever. In fact, the respondents viewed sexuality as power. “Sexual content dominates the media, and new feminists see female sexuality as power.”
I would have to agree that majority of women are not offended with the idea of women being portrayed as sexual objects. With sexuality all around us, it is sad, but many women have come to accept this idea. Sometimes, we don’t even notice that we are being sexually objectified. The only chance of an ad getting criticized is if it were extremely sexual, showing a lot of skin, or suggesting any sexual activity within any child’s boundaries. There are of course some women who choose not to let the media influence them, but overall we are influence by media somehow. I think many women try to dress and act like these sexual women that are being displayed in the media. I do think they look at it as power because it can make some men do certain things for them. That is why during Halloween, many women like to sexify their costumes.
Although this survey was helpful, because it was a convenience sample, the results are not as promising. Majority of the students who took this test were likely interested in media; what about those who hate media and want nothing to do with it? Their votes would not be counted in this survey at all. Not only that, but just because someone attends a private college, it doesn’t mean they are rich. Zimmerman and Dahlberg tried to recreate the same sample the prior researchers used; females who were wealthier and higher educated. However, I feel their sample may actually be quite different from Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom's sample . There was no way to detect Zimmerman and Dahlberg's sample’s income level or education level. What if some members of their sample were actually on academic probation? There were also only 94 students surveyed; that is not a large enough sample. In order to be more precise, there has to be a larger sample and the sample has to come from many different areas and not just one college. What if these students’ views were completely different from another region? This study is helpful for knowing how a small population feels about the sexual objectification of women, but it is not a good semblance of the overall population.
Bibliography
Zimmerman, A., & Dahlberg, J. (2008). The sexual objectification of women in advertising: A contemporary cultural perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 48(1), 71-79. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=31438910&site=ehost-live
I would have to say that I'm in the minority of women who are offended by the way advertisers sexually objectify my gender. I definitely notice that there are no average sized women on magazine covers, or in magazine advertisements. Their make-up is heavy, often to make them appear glamorous. Their nails are painted to match their lipstick color, their waist size is anorexic and their hair is more often blonde than brunette or black in color. Think of those Vodka ads. The women are often scantily dressed or appear naked around the Vodka bottle.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with your point about how the media influences us, whether we're conscious of it or not. And even if we are conscious of it and dislike how our female gender is being manipulated to sell a product, who do we complain to: Dear Abby? Advertisers don't care about their impact on women as consumers unless it decreases their sales revenue. Do I agree with the feminists who see sexuality in advertisements as power? I hate to admit it, but they do have a point. But when I see scantily clad, skinny models selling clothes or expensive makeup or handbags, do I want to be like them? Nooooo. Do I think they accurately reflect the typical American middle-class woman? Noooo. Do I think advertisers will ever be more respectful towards women? Not really. It's unfortunate but true. Advertisers have no respect for the female gender and I don't think they ever will.