Post Classifieds
Media exploits women to sell products
By Sade McKenzie
On April 21, 2012
Call me oblivious, but I never used to notice the subliminal sexual content that companies try to
slide under our brains.
Subconsciously, these subliminal images have authority over the way we think, act and treat
people. The next time you watch a commercial featuring sexy women, ask yourself, "What is the
hidden message this company is trying to tell me?"
Why must companies, that want to attract male audiences to their product, exploit women's
bodies in their commercials? Often times, the product has nothing to do with the woman in
the commercial, yet she is the main attraction. Ads for beer and liquor consistently portray
submissive women as the "result" of using their product.
Even in commercials that want to attract female audiences, women are still portrayed as sexual
objects.
I understand the marketing scheme of "sex sells," but what's most disconcerting is that sex is
selling false representations of what it means to be "a woman" to young female audiences.
Female teens and preteens view women that appear on advertisements and television as desired
sex goddesses - and what person doesn't want to be desired?
In one way the media can be thought of as a woman's "pimp" and her audiences are
her "clients."
It's hard for many female adolescents to picture themselves as ambassadors, astronauts,
presidents or judges, when most of the women in ads in every magazine are portrayed as either
housewives that can't wait to use their new cleaning products or sex objects that can't wait to be
used.
Female adolescents are prone to experience feelings of self-hatred, depression and addictions
because they are unable to live up to the expectations that the media sets for them.
The media accentuates every curve on a woman's body that has been deemed desirable, from her
hair to her legs. Did they forget about our brains? By doing this, it makes it seem ok for women
to appear useful in strip clubs and music videos, but never at conferences or senate meetings.
This causes men to view women like museum objects that can be seen, touched if granted
permission, but never heard.
Sadly, females are victim to this form of dehumanization, making it harder for them to focus on
the their mind as an object of beauty, rather than their seductive bodies.
As women, we need to realize how powerful and intelligent we are instead of basing our worth
and indulging in actions that promote the limiting and degrading images of women we have seen
portrayed in the media.
I speak of this issue, not to pretend that I was never once blind to this form of prostitution in the
media, but instead to inform others about the manipulation of the media, hoping for a change in
the way other women view themselves.
Sade McKenzie can be reached by email at mckenzie.record@live.com.
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