Final Polish

December 9, 2012

English 1A

To: Whom May It Concern to

Dear Audience,

In this letter I will talk about my purpose of this argument towards both genders of the opposite sex having to go through the disrespectful ads and men treating women as objects. These ads can affect women, men, and girls at a very young age. These advertising ads can hurt women emotionally and physically whether they are just perfume ads, fast food ads, clothing ads, exec.  They can also give a big impact on female teenagers from being a girl to their beginnings of becoming a woman. The media portrays women as if they were available at the whim of men. It also portrays women as a commodity, or a valuable object or “thing”. As with men, they are not being portrayed respectfully. Men are mostly put as someone “though, powerful, and hot” in these kinds of ads.

Advertisement ads such as the modeling ads or fashion ads can be a big impact on teens. Teens start to think that it is okay to be extremely skinny in order to fit into a size pants zero or double zero. Due to these ads they believe they look beautiful and that that’s the way they should look like in order for a guy to like them. According to a film that the teacher Winnie bear from my English 100 class last semester showed in class “Killing Us Softly” by Jean Kilboune that women in magazine, and advertisement ads shows women with no wrinkles , lines, pimples, and etc. do not seem to look like that. Advertisers make up the person in the ads.  The person they take pictures of is not the 100% full image of that person. Advertisers grab parts of other images they have taken from other women and mix them up in one single ad. If a woman comes out a bit chubby than they imagined, they make her thinner in order to hide her real size. Ads show thin women with big breasts and a big behind. Such as the ad shown on the video “Does You Husband Wish You Had Bigger Breast”?  This ad was proving that men love women with big breast and that women who have small breast should change their appearance in order to look attractive to them.  This means that these ads are  sham. Teens at a very young age tend to spend time, energy and money in order to look “beautiful” just like the women on these ads. Advertisers do not realize that these kinds of ads can affect teens in a detrimental physical and emotional way (as attempting to lose weight rapidly can cause stress and various other health problems).

I rremember having a  friend in my elementary school, she was 11 years old with an eating disorder, She would not eat because she was afraid of gaining weight. She thought she would not be liked and because she would not look beautiful. She was extremely skinny to a point where she had fainted during class. Her parents would take her to the hospital but she would still not eat. Her parents would force her but she would just ignore them. She would starve herself almost every day, all day. I once asked her why she would not eat. She had replied to me “I want look just like a model just like in one of those magazine ads.”

Advertisement ads and violence can hurt women physically and mentally in every way.  Advertising ads with a man pulling the woman’s hair or a man surrounded by beautiful women, such as, those perfume ads for men can be a way of a women being hurt.  According to the text “Two Ways a Woman Can Get hurt” shows that advertisements such as an ad with a woman in just a bra and underwear is considered a “bitch or slut” to a man.  Also a woman just showing a little skin is also consider sexy, attractive but also bitches to men. In the text, an advertisement of this kind leads to women being raped and killed. Most women are killed by the bare hands of their partners due to these ads. It also shows that women are men’s bitches and that they have to listen to them and does not receives a “no” as an answer. This means that women don’t have a right to talk or do what they want. These kinds of ads also give a bad impression of women. This again, showing how women are seen as a commodity that is easy to attain and available for men, and that women are at men’s disposition.

Advertisement ads with men do not give a bad impression on them. In fact, in these ads they show men as being strong, handsome, sexy and skinny with abs.  The media portrays men as the rulers of society. Men are the providers. Men are the strong. Men are superior. And women? Women are dependents. Women are weak. Women are inferior. In advertisement ads, men are not judged about their appearance but how they should be like. Society believes the media, but yet it does not really know the full, true message that the media is trying to portray.

Advertisement ads of any kind are a bad influence on men, women, and teens. They also gives bad impressions towards the opposite sex. Advertisements can hurt physically and mentally. Women of all ages are being oppressed with constant propaganda and advertising ads on a regular basis. The ads in the media will affect both sexes negatively. The media will continue to express the message of superiority and inferiority, and it will continue to foster and mentor the oppressor to continue oppressing the oppressed.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Alvarez

Bibliography

Kilbourne.Jean.”Killing US softly 3.” You Tube.2006.Web.3 Dec.2012 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FpyGwP3yzE >

Kilbourne. Jean. “Two ways a woman can get hurt: Advertising and Violence.” Rereading America. Eighth Edition.