Shakespeare once wrote:
Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues - Love’s Labours Lost, 1588
After reading my peers blogs, I’ve come to recognize one very strong similarity, beauty. According to other students (the majority of which were female), Shakespeare is wrong, and beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but predominantly in the eyes of the media. Regardless of what the advertisement was selling, the image of ‘what is beautiful,’ was displayed on the page. Many girls wrote about how degrading the ads were, and yet we’re still captivated by them. Allie Espana wrote; “Despite being harmful to self-esteem, this ad still initially grabbed my attention and made me want to buy the product.” (http://societythroughmyeyes.wordpress.com) This statement made me truly think, has society really dropped that low, allowing companies to use harmful advertisements to promote themselves and their products?
Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues - Love’s Labours Lost, 1588
After reading my peers blogs, I’ve come to recognize one very strong similarity, beauty. According to other students (the majority of which were female), Shakespeare is wrong, and beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but predominantly in the eyes of the media. Regardless of what the advertisement was selling, the image of ‘what is beautiful,’ was displayed on the page. Many girls wrote about how degrading the ads were, and yet we’re still captivated by them. Allie Espana wrote; “Despite being harmful to self-esteem, this ad still initially grabbed my attention and made me want to buy the product.” (http://societythroughmyeyes.wordpress.com) This statement made me truly think, has society really dropped that low, allowing companies to use harmful advertisements to promote themselves and their products?
Kara Balsdon found an advertisement for Proactiv skin care that made my stomach turn. The ad she found read; “Got Acne? Just ask your boyfriend what to do. Oh, that’s right, you don’t have a boyfriend.” in which Kara responded by saying; “Personally I find this message offensive and degrading on so many levels.” (http://karabalsdon.wordpress.com) This truly makes me sick. It is hard to believe that is how our demographic is represented, that we allow companies to manipulate what is beautiful, and what we should want to look like. I can almost guarantee if you don’t use Proactiv you can still be loved by someone. You do not need to use a product in order to have a boyfriend, as this advertisement implies.
A few students were able to find advertisements that positively reflected our demographic. Victoria Ahle wrote about an advertisement she saw for Dove, as did I. Victoria agreed with me in saying “This ad is very successful in getting my attention because of how different it is and how positive the message is. I really value the message the ad is getting across that women are beautiful no matter what.” (http://youthnomore.wordpress.com) simply because it went against the typical style of advertising we see nowadays.
Allie Deyman wrote; “I believe that women should feel beautiful in their own skin, but when it comes to looking attractive, sometimes we cannot hold back and we fall into the pressure of society.” (http://alexandradeyman.wordpress.com) I feel this statement is entirely true, but this is unfortunately not how we are represented. The representations of our demographic is (for the majority) very negative. I feel if more companies used a more positive approach to their advertising - rather than telling consumers what they are not - girls would be more confident with their appearance.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.