I feel like I have become acutely aware of the true messages ingrained in advertisements, especially towards women. As I was reading Abby’s article on advertising and women, I was thinking about a segment I saw on Rachael Ray.. I know… annoyingly perky, but I find her somewhat entertaining. She was showing a study done with kindergarten girls where they were shown two graphics. Each portrayed a woman, but one was fat and the other was thin. Other than that, they were exactly the same. The interviewer asked questions such as who would be more fun, who would be smarter, who would be cooler, who they would rather be friends with, etc. Each and every time, the little girls chose the skinny girl. I know that doesn’t all come from advertising, but I think a lot of it does. Is selling a product really worth this? I was most shocked when the interviewer asked each girl if she would rather be fat or dumb. Each girl thought about it carefully and then settled on being dumb. Even at 5 years old, they knew that society values beauty over brains in women. The problem is that advertisers would not employ these methods if they didn’t work. At some level, we’re buying into it and reinforcing it… scary thought!
The article also made me think of the Dove ad campaign on “real beauty”. I really enjoy those ads and the company has some really great educational material on their website that I’ve used with middle school aged girls. I have wondered a couple time, however, if this is really as altruistic as it sounds. Am I being fooled? Is this just as shallow and meaningless as other advertising? Are they simply giving us what they think we want, just like all the other advertisers out there? What do you think…
