COMMODITISING FEMALE BODY THROUGH ELECTRONICMEDIA

COMMODITIZING FEMALE BODY THROUGH ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN

THE ADVERTISEMENTS

B.A. PART-II HONOURS

Registration Number- 544-1221-0165-11 Roll Number-

PREFACE

Female is the most beautiful creation of god after nature . But the men don’t leave any chance to nurture, rather exploit this beautiful creation of god. Women are made a thing of pleasure in each and every way. And the list topper in exploitation are the advertisements. Advertisements shamelessly use women to showcase her body and sell their products. This trend is going on from the early days and it doesn’t seems to stop at all as we have now more and more women in the men oriented advertisements. The eagle eyed males lure the women to the showbiz in most of the cases and then force them for the skin show business. Advertisement is the one of places where a women can’t cry gender bias as she is given even the minute chance to feature in an advertisement in which she is not even needed. Advertisement is a female dominated business.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have to admit that without the help of some people, I couldn’t have made this interesting project. I would like to thank them all.

Dr. Arnab Kr. Banerjee- Head Of The Department Sumana Saha Das- Teacher Amrita Basu Roy Chowdhury- Teacher And last but not the least, I would thank Google for providing me

with required information.

CONTENT PAGE NUMBER

1.INTRODUCTION 2.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.OBJECTIVE4.AREA OF RESEARCH5.SUBJECT VIEW6.INTRODUCTION OF THE SUBJECT7.CASE STUDY8.CONCLUSION 9.REFERENCE10.ANNEXURE

INTRODUCTION

Women In Advertisements Why are women and womanhood such a universal theme in

advertising?Women have a huge hold in the media with a large number of advertisements being based around women. With the power that these woman have in the advertisements, they are trying to change and shape the nation. Though these images could be potentially damaging to the female and younger female children growing up with these images of women being portrayed as perfection and how every woman should be. Is this media influencing women by controlling the image of what beauty should be in out society which is controlled by media? On the other hand women are being used as a sex symbol to fulfill male fantasy, maybe so its a well known fact that sex sells. Are the so called 'perfect' women aimed to women or men? Is it what all women dream to be mould themselves into these women or is it what men want to transform women into?

Not only could these images damage the minds of young girls and make them think they should be striving for that fake perfection, it could also narrow the minds of younger boys and lead them to believe if the women and girls don't look like the media's idea of perfection then maybe they are not good enough.

The women used in these advertisements are not what many people would class as 'normal' these women are always very attractive, fabulous complexion, pearly white teeth and have a very slim physique. Out of all the advertisement we have looked at we have not seen any with a slightly overweight person in or with women who was not completely gorgeous. What does this say about our nation and even our world? That we are not interested in reality and we just want to pollute our brains with these airbrushed images of perfection. What the public will achieve by buying the product? Women are just used to expose her body in the meaningless advertisements.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.I have applied Blake Haroldsen’s method of research which includes-

a. The Historical Critical Method b. The Descriptive Analytical Method c. Case Studies d. Field Experimental Studies The Post-Facto method and controlled experiment are not applied. 2.Primary Source Of Information- I have collected the primary data

by questioning and gathering information from my teachers regarding this topic.

3.Secondary Source Of Information- I have gathered information by watching the advertisements on YouTube to analyze how women are used in each and every kind of advertisement.

OBJECTIVE

This project aims to unfold the way in which female body is used in different ways to advertise certain commodities. As a female myself, I object seeing a women commoditizing the products in which her presence is not at all necessary.

I also object to the on screen nudity and racy nature of some advertisements of the women which is useless to showcase and can be done in a modest manner too. In fact the established actresses also do a huge amount of skin show while advertising to help selling the product.

My main objective is to explore this trend of women being in each and every advertisements from a feminist point of view.

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AREA OF RESEARCH

My area of research is on electronic media which includes -1. Television. 2. Internet. Though

radio also falls under the electronic media, I have not included it in my project as I have put more emphasis on visuals. And I also don’t find anything obscene regarding the advertisements in the radio.

Television advertisements are the list topper in showing women in a wrongful way and which also affects the women in some ways. From my point of view it hurts the sentiment of a woman to see herself portrayed in such manner.

On the other hand, I have selected internet because of the way in which the women are treated as hangers in the online shopping sites such as Jabong.com and Myntra.com.

These two mediums use the body of the women to the extent that’s why I have done my research upon selected electronic advertisements of the year 2012.

SUBJECT VIEW

Women's Exploitation Through Advertisements and Entertainment

Women's body images are exposed, exploited and used as commodities to enrich a society built on advertisements and entertainment. Social issues such as the misuse of women's bodies are delivered to us through media sources. The media manipulates the images of women; women are portrayed in misleading images and as a result, lead us to make uninformed decisions.

One may ask, how are women's images exposed, exploited and used as commodities? Certain body parts such as the lips, eyes, stomach, butt, or breasts are shown on advertisements, movies, and magazines to convey unrealistic and degrading messages about women. Most messages that advertisers try to inject into consumers have nothing to do with the importance and the functions of women's body parts. Provocative images of women sell and attract consumers to buy products that will probably not result in the same pleasures as advertised. Magazines, movies and billboards, to mention a few, are forms of media that use women's body images to reflect our popular culture.

Priyanka Chopra , for example advertises for Garnier fairness cream. Here she wears a yellow revealing tank top and a white hot pant exposing her perfectly toned legs. She suddenly starts dancing and the camera focuses more on her legs rather than her face for which the product is made. What’s the use of showing the legs in a fairness cream advertisement? Another example is Britney Spears, a popular pop star who advertises for Pepsi. Not only is Britney Spears an icon for many young girls, her body image and life style convey messages to the consumers that have nothing to do with Pepsi. In the advertisement for Pepsi, Britney Spears wears a revealing outfit showing her flat stomach, shiny legs, cleavage and her make-up and hair is perfectly made up. She dances, builds up thirst and then drinks Pepsi to satisfy her thirst. This is not to say that the body parts that are shown are incorrect or wrong. However, it is how these body parts are used to convey misleading information about the product being advertised.

SUBJECT INTRODUCTION

Commoditizing Female Body

There is something about the female form that screams beauty. For thousand of years this beauty has been expressed through poetry, painting and sculpture.

This form which still inspires poetry, painting and sculpture is now used for another art: The art of advertising.

Every year, companies pour large amount of money into advertising their products. To make sure the ads do their job, they grab the consumers attention by displaying a female and through her to make the public believe that they need the product. Companies know their target audiences and use this knowledge to help in deciding their plan for advertisement. But be it a soap ad or a body spray ad, it will be a women only exhibiting sexy behavior to sell the products.

The only message she sends to the viewer is sent through her body languages.

To no one’s surprise, this growing theme has brought out some very upset women. In many women’s eyes , this is a shameful matter that women are forced to wear skimpy clad clothes and show her body to the whole world only because of money. Others see it differently. It is the woman’s own decision to play the sex symbol. But mostly feel the usage of female body in a sexy manner to sell a product is not only a illegitimate practice, it is also demeaning or degrading to women.

Women are wrongly represented as sexual objects, glamour dolls, skimpily dressed, villains etc. In this context advertisement is massively projected as a effective role of depicting and distorting women in the fold of commoditization of her body parts which is the biggest violation of human rights which is a growing trend.

CASE STUDY

I have selected certain products for the case study of my project as selecting all will make the project very vast. The selected products are-

1. Soaps 2. Deodorants 3. Lifestyle Products 4. Drinks 5. Contraception I have also shown how the brands are using the actresses to sell

their product with the help of female body. Again, I have not included all the actresses as it will drag this portion. There are too many actresses used for commoditizing the products that’s why I have selected the top actresses who are seen in frequent ads and are huge brand names.

1.Soaps Soaps are the best thing to explore

the female body. Most of the soap ads show women bathing semi nude. Soap companies like Liril, Cinthol, Axe shows women bathing shamelessly anywhere. On the other hand Santoor portrays a mother as a confident young working women whom even Saif Ali Khan thinks as a new model.

Pears soap explains the sweet relation between the mother-daughter. Good to see at least somebody isn’t misusing.

. 2.Deodorants

This ads which are highly vulgar symbolizes the women as a desperate creature who can change their loyalty and go mad with the smell of the deodorant. So much attractive is the smell that even the angels in bare essentials will fall from the sky or the next door neighbor will show her bare back and ultimately land up in the house of the guy who wore the perfume.

3. Lifestyle Products The style of showing the

lifestyle products in these ads are very much disturbing as well as very much silly. Wonder why the girl advertising a Fastrack wristwatch need to go topless or a girl advertising a bag is shown sleeping with a guy? And also why will a couple have to stand nude with a snake hanging around their neck to advertise tuff footwear? Well the answer is just for showcasing the female body which will sell the product.

4.Drinks

Drink like you are drinking female body. Maybe that is the basic motto of the companies manufacturing many kind of drinks. It’s a shame to see that drinking water major “Bisleri” inserted sex in their ad to sell the product. Kingfisher beer shows a girl pouring the whole can of beer on her and the coke bottle replicates the shape of a women body. The slice ad is worth mentioning as Katrina Kaif runs around the mango tree revealing every curve of her body. So much for an “aam”.

5.Contraceptions

In the case of contraception a fair comparison can be drawn between the government and private ads. Government ads have a social worker called “Bula di” who spreads awareness about AIDS and unprotected sex in a decent manner.

Private ads on contraception are all about enjoying rather than making people aware of the aftermath. Private ads focus on new range of flavors and advertise them in a uber-brazen manner.

Some of the popular brand ambassadors(read body ambassadors)

1.Katrina Kaif Katrina Kaif is one of the most

wanted body to sell any product. She may not be popular for her acting skills but when it comes to squeezing the mango and licking it for “Slice” or showing her polished legs and hands for “Veet” and “Lux” or almost romancing the wall for “Berger” paints, she surely stands out. She is the perfect example of the female body usage.

2.Priyanka Chopra Apart from the “Why should the boys have all the fun” ad of Pleasure scooty, every ad of Priyanka Chopra fingers towards the wrong usage of female body. In all the ads, she is seen wearing inappropriate dresses which is unnecessary for the ad. And the worse one has to be the “Garnier” fairness cream ad where she dances with a spotted puppy. What’s the use of showing legs in a fairness cream ad? Only the ad maker can tell.

3.Anushka Sharma

Among the other actresses mentioned here Anushka Sharma does the most irritating ads. From showing almost her whole body in the products of “Nivea” to dancing in the shortest ever dress during her periods in the advertisement of “Sofy”. Even the scooty ad done by her somehow shows disrespect to the Indian dress up when her teacher agrees of letting girls wear shorts when they come to college riding scooty in saris.

History Of Women In Advertisements The role of gender in advertising has been an issue in society since the

advent of modern media and advertising methods. Modern media uses methods that concentrate on sex and the stereotypical images and ideas of the parts men and women play as consumers. These methods construct a female social problem that began in the 1960s with the portrayal of stereotypical housewives. Earlier women were shown washing dishes and cloths and singing jingles of the respective ads. There were only few ads in which women were shown in a sexy manner, like the ad featuring Dimple Kapadia of Lux or the Nirma rose ad in which three girls were shown dancing in provocative dresses. But mostly the ads featuring women had a homely feeling and the female playing the role of a mother. Today, this image has evolved into a new wave for the women. New advertisements are exposing women in ways different from ever before. She has turned into the USP of any advertisement.

Interview For the interview, I have chosen a common girl rather than any

professional in this field to analyze what a common girl thinks about this trend.

An interview with Romia Nath , Senior Cabin Attendant of Indigo Airlines-

Question- As a female what are your views about females used in

each and every kind of advertisements? Miss Romia- Though I don’t get enough time to watch television ads, I

am aware of this trend. I have seen women in certain ads in which they are not needed. For example, a girl’s special appearance at the end of “Gillette’ ad is totally lame.

Question- As a consumer, do you buy the products by seeing the actor/actresses advertising it?

Miss Romia- Yes, most of the time. Famous actors advertising the products brings a sense of confidence while buying the product.

According to you which ads are not using the body for the sake of selling the product?

Miss Romia- Well what I think is that products like the sanitary napkins, hair removal creams are not using female body as this products are made for us only. If females won’t advertise it then who else will do?

But don’t you think they show too much skin? Miss Romia- I think that’s where the problem is because they take

the girl advertising it for granted and use her anyhow. It is totally the girl’s decision to stop from the point she feels uncomfortable.

What is the thing that you like about the recent advertisements? Miss Romia- I personally feel that the scooty ads are quite good as

it uplifts the independent image of the modern girl.

LIMITATIONS

There are certain photos and certain writings which I haven’t used as it is not appropriate to use it in a university project as a student.

I also have not got any dates from the professionals regarding this topic that’s why I chose a common girl to interview.

These are the only limitation I had while preparing this project.

SURVEY

A survey has been done between the age group of 18-30 years old to observe what they think about this trend.

Question 1-Do you like the trend of women being in each and every advertisement?

Answers given by people shown with the help of a pie chart.

Percentage of the people

30% said yes

70% said no

0% said don’t Know

Question 2- Females are imposed in the ads of certain commodities which are meant for the men. Is it justified?

Following is the pie chart-


20% said yes70% said no10% said don’t know

Question 3-Do you feel comfortable to watch these advertisements with your family?



50% said yes50% said no0% said don’t'know

Question 4- Are these advertisements giving rise to vulgarity? Following is the pie chart-


60% said yes30% said no10% said don't know

Question 5- Are the actor/actresses responsible for this type of vulgarity?




Question 6- Do you feel that the advertisements are somewhat encouraging the crimes on the girls?




Question 7- Are these advertisements affecting the minds of the children?


Percentage of people


Question 8- Do you think these ads are a sign of modernization? Following is the pie chart-



Question 9- Is this somewhat affecting the culture of India? The following is the pie chart-



Question 10- Do you buy the products by seeing the women advertising it in the TV?




CONCLUSION

After the whole process of the research which includes interview and survey I have gathered that the common public don’t like to see women’s body commoditized in this way. It is also seen that many don’t feel comfortable to watch these advertisements infront of their family and it is also giving rise to vulgarity.

The most shocking thing which I have learnt from the survey is that all the people I have surveyed feels that the advertisements are affecting the minds of the children. And they also feel that these kind of racy advertisements are polluting the culture of India.

Lastly, I would like to suggest that if the usage of the female are minimized to some extent from the advertisements then they will look much sober.

REFERENCE

1. Sumana Saha Das- Teacher 2. Google 3. YouTube

Documents

COMMODITISING FEMALE BODY THROUGH ELECTRONICMEDIA