Objectifying Ads

Even after I wrote the post from two weeks ago, I did some more research on ads that were just practically obscene and very damaging to women and everyone in America. Just the fact that young women and girls have access to view these ads is appalling and it is strange that there is nothing stopping these ad agencies. I believe, like i have said before, it is up to the consumer to inform other consumers and extend the disillusionment from these photo processed ads. Hopefully with more education from adults young women can find these ads to be filthy and non representative of anything they are supposed or will ever be.

The Black Press

The black press film really opened my eyes to a part of history that I was not aware of, and seems to be a dark time for the rights and liberties of free speech and a failure of the government. Regardless of the segregation that was happening, there is no excuse for the federal government not to intervene and deal with the corruption of lynchings, burning down the presses, and other atrocities.

The struggle of the individuals that were involved in the printing and circulation of these papers are heroes, both to their race and to their nation. I am baffled at some of the evils of the State and local governments of the south.

How are we going to keep this from happening in the future? If not African Americans what if it is Arab-Americans or Muslims or homosexuals? We might be more technologically advanced than the 19th and early 20th centuries but I still see no evidence of being "smarter" as some people would believe. How are we going to stop the discrimination that is happening now, and keep it from turning into another dark period for America?

Does this sound like we have progressed any,

"We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion." - Jake Knotts, South Carolina state senator



More from South Carolina:

South Carolina Senate President Glenn McConnell

Is anyone going to do something about it? This is the federal and local governments. Robert Byrd, the longest running senator ending in 2010, ran on the segregationist ticket in the 50's.

It might sound radical, perhaps a little naive but, I feel like the news is so censored, sometimes to get real stories, you have to turn to satirical news shows such as The Daily Show. You must dig through some heavy sarcasm but they are telling facts that other news agencies don't touch, all with no other agenda by ad agencies or networks most likely due to their large fan base. Sometimes they will show big stories that no other news channel even touched on!(while of course making fun of them and exposing their downfalls). How can comedy central have some of the most watched news programs? Ridiculous times we are living in.

Wake Up

Nothing about the men and women in Advertisements is genuine. Nothing is even remotely accurate to what we experience in real life. If we could expose these false sense of identities we could save young men and women from so many terrible disorders, depression and unhealthy lifestyles.



Did they really feel the need to make her blond?


In the ad world every single thing that can be remotely linked to any sexual content, is. It's common knowledge and everyone knows that sex sells, but the ones who feel objectified, I feel, may be looking at the wrong culprits of these ad campaigns, and the feelings of seeing sickly skinny and blonde as the perfect woman. I feel like in America, women are putting the most pressures on themselves to fit into these insane stereotypes of what women are "supposed" to look like, when in fact,(while I can only speak for myself and a few that I have heard share the same opinion), this tiny blonde woman is not what men look for. I feel like girls who fall victim to the crude images of women don't realize that it is all fake. No woman in any ad is real, it might as well be a 3D rendering. The amount of photoshopping and airbrushing that goes into these pictures could make myself into a cover model, and I am, in fact, a male. I wouldn't want any young women to feel the pressures that cause eating disorders, depression, and sometimes worse, if we could just expose all the false realities surrounding us it would make many of the insecurities go away.



Madonna is looking gooood.

It is not just females that feel this way. While I might not have ever felt the pressure of needing to have my shirt off at all times to constantly reinforce my masculinity, I can see where some men might feel the need to embody this sense of "macho". But, like in the case with women, I feel like men put the most pressures on themselves. I have been in gyms were men are in competition with each other, falsely stating that they are developing this body because women find it most attractive. I think all but the shallowest of women can agree that that is not the first thing that makes them attracted to a man, just like men are not as obsessed by a womans appearance as she is. It is all a grand illusion that makes us act in this funny sort of way, and it is true that the media perpetuates it.



I didn't realize someone could ever be too skinny in the ad world.

It's all fake, it's all terrible, and it is a sad fact that the ad agencies have such a vice grip on media outlets. How can it change? Is it up to watchdog groups and individual journalists to expose the relationship between Companies that own ads and networks? I believe the sad truth is that money drives this: the media, the ad agencies, the journalists, and there is always enough to keep anyone's mouth shut.

Marketing Discrimination/Native Americans in the news

In the last class when we were broken off into groups, my group got into a discussion, which was later shared with the class about the marketing of Daisy brand sour cream and cottage cheese. Most shared the opinion that it was discrimination to only market those products to only white women in a certain age group while in fact it is just common practice among basically every company in our society. Companies, like Daisy, are solely around on the principal to make money. While the Marketing representative couldn't answer why they don't market to minorities, it is simple business strategy. Companies supply their products to people who are going to buy it. What she should have said is that after all of the market research that I am positive daisy came up with to find out who was actually buying their product, they started advertising in a way to target specific audiences. Just like how BET or the Oxygen network doesn't run commercials on SPIKE tv channels, they are all just in it to make money and to make the most you need to market to the demographic that is going to buy. Nothing is racist about that because it is not excluding people from buying their products, companies would love for anyone to buy their products, they just market to the people that research has shown buys their products the most. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to touch on the topic of native Americans in the news, but i can only assume there are two reasons they are not in the news very often. One they are simply a small demographic and are virtual non-existent in many areas in the U.S. and two; it was the American people that made it that way. The genocide of Native American, especially in Texas, but around the rest of the U.S., is not taught in History Classes, spoken about casually, or even known by the majority of the public, but remains of bounty posters for every Indian scalp can be found in Native American Cultural centers, and other Museums that are not being censored. Usually the only Native American stories I hear are when a group of Native American would like for a sports team to stop using them as their mascot because it is degrading and their children grow up with a false stereotype of their own heritage. I am disgusted when I see people arguing for keeping the Mascots such as Redskins, Braves, Indians, Tomahawks, and others when it is explained to them that the tribe or the nation of Native American does not like their culture exploited like that. This is a big issue for me, even though I am not but traces of Native American. It is a wrong that has not been righted yet and I see no continuing efforts to do so.