I stumbled upon these when I was looking for sports advertising.
When I look at the images separate from the words, they do not match. These women are beautiful, but beauty is not the first thing that comes to my mind; it's more like bringing sexy back. They also do not look ready to play sports and look like they were photoshoped with a racket.
On another note, strong is beautiful and by no means is that the image that my mind connotes.
What are we conveying as a society?!!!
Let me deconstruct this, using questions from page 553 -->
#1 & #2: These ads were made by the Women's Tennis Association to promote their sport and encourage people to watch and follow it.
#3 & #4: The ad is trying to attract people sexually to women's tennis. Whether you're a man or a women, if you like women, in more than a "just friends" way, you will be targeted by this ad. The women in the ad are incredibly sexually suggestive. Although the words state "strong is beautiful" that is not the first thing on people's minds as soon as they view the picture.
#6: This type of ad, where women are shown in only sexual way, create a culture of women who are striving for aesthetic beauty instead of something more internal. When ads like this persist in a society it becomes the norm. Everyone in the society, including men, women and children, begin to expect women to look like women portrayed in this advertisements. If you want proof, google "women".
This absolutely frightens me as an adult because as a young teen I would try to emulate stuff like this. Not exactly, but by being super thin and what I thought to be "sexy" all the time. I used to also think that being sexy meant showing a lot of skin.
To take it even a little bit further, as a child I would also think that this image of women is what it meant to be strong and beautiful. Although this ad shows women being strong and powerful in their sports it is never "ugly."
The repercussions go further and have a larger impact than we would think without some self-reflection. As a young woman I wouldn't let anyone see me sweaty because I thought I didn't look pretty or beautiful.
#8: Beautiful faces are the front of most advertising nowadays. Although I'm not sure, I would take a bet that these women are also celebrities amidst the world of tennis. That's all this ad has to use, beautiful celebrities and a great slogan: strong is beautiful.
#10: This encapsulates: sex sells. I would have never guessed that this advertisement was about the Women's Tennis Association. I totally looked up the ETA. The ETA is getting people to watch their sport through convincing the public that their players look like their advertisements.
If you are "sexy" people will watch you.
If you want to go even further, if you are "sexy" the world of commerce will pay you.
Here are some links referenced:
Language of persuasion from the New Mexico Media Literacy Project
Women's Tennis Association Website
Wow. Those ads are interesting. Seems really sad that we can't celebrate those women for being talented athletes, but rather we objectify them. But, sex sells, and Tennis isn't the most popular sport, so I guess they're just trying to get ratings?? Bummer.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the ad, I see that they were trying to show an image of a women looking beautiful and I completely agree that their goal was to sell the beauty of these women. Although the message is, " Strong is Sexy", it's a very visual ad making me think beyond the message and just look at the photo (which is where a majority of my attention was on, sadly).
ReplyDeleteI agree the pictures are a little much. I do see how it could be appealing to young women. Play sports, be healthy and you will look like this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kelly. Your passion is wonderfully strong in your writing voice.
ReplyDelete