Realities of Our Social Constructs Due to Mass Advertisement

I was well versed in how women are portrayed in advertising reading the books such as Bachelor Girl and Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Uneasy lessons. I also had seen it in one of my first classes in college, Introduction to Human Services, when we had to watch a video on it. It suggests what this could do to women's empowerment, and how it also contributes to the image obsessed people who are bulimics or anorexic. It also questions who is in control here, the consumer or the advertisers? The freedom to be self actualized is compromised by these pernicious influences. One thing from that video was that I didn't realize before that was that advertisers actually covered body parts such as mouths, to indicate that a woman has no voice. Also my dose of Ms. Magazine column of "no comment", has been around since I since had prep reading to demonstrate in March for Women's Lives in 2004.

What I like about this website is that it is archival resource on how women are presented in advertising, and nicely places them into categories. It also shows how men are objectified as well. When both are objectified in an advertisement, it is called dually objectified. I am not convinced that advertisers convince to tell us how we ought to be by selling their products, thus giving them a voice or a say in our lives. What they do is play on the heuristics that are already there, that we already subject ourselves to in society. These cognitive shortcuts are enforced by the seconds we see in a commercial or a magazine ad, but haunt us the rest of our day.

I had personally requested things when I was growing up reviewing ads in the newspaper for clothes shopping for clothes that were flattering on the models, to attract people and make people like me. My grandmother, who was my care taker, worried constantly on how clothes shopping would have an impact on running the household. I wasn't really challenged to express my individuality or take interest in taking charge of my education. Advertising enforces the double standard that women must be sexual yet not a slut, look like they are made of money, but need a man with money to support them. Advertising also had a big role in my attitudes on my menstrual cycle. There was a lot of marketing in teen magazines that I read that it was important to buy their product because it was discreet and could be well hidden. That we were monsters and weak because of pain due to our periods. That our own body odor had to be a "secret" and we had to be sure when we raise our arms. You also would see ads on information how to achieve the man of my dreams. If I focused all my energy in gettting the romantic partner that I can bring to the prom, I probably could've raised funds with a few of my just as eager friends to take our prom to Kyoto.

I don't know when the last product that came out was actually a life saving device, or made my life more interesting. However, I am a very practical person. With advertising pushing consumerism, and consumerism is the patriotic thing to do, what are we as patriots? The matter of materialism and how one sees it is a matter of taste. I am just offering, this might not affect our core character and who we are in life, other than we perceive our priorities different. Also, have we noticed who asked us to do the patriotic act of shopping, but why is he our leader? Think before we buy folks, don't let others think for you.