Ad Analysis: The Objectification And Sexism In Original Red

If you were to observe the world around you one would notice that advertisements are everywhere. They surround us in our day to day lives on billboards, phones, media, television, radios, etc. making up a vast majority of our ever-circulating culture. No two are exactly the same, but one thing continually noticed and played upon is gender representation. The main purpose of advertising is to market a specific product (i.e. makeup, alcohol, or cars) to appear more attractive for possible consumers, as a way to increase the products sales (Infanger, Bosak, & Sczesny, 2011, pg. 220).

The advertisement I chose depicts Original Red beer from a foreign country (I believe to be Poland via the text), showing a Caucasian male’s hand holding a beer bottle that is made out to look like an uncharacteristic depiction of a female’s hourglass figure as the focal point of the neck of the bottle. Both men and women tend to endorse the use of ambivalent sexism towards women to a somewhat alike to a degree, even though their sexist attitudes towards women is different (Infanger, Bosak, & Sczesny, 2011, pg. 220). Ambivalent sexism encompasses both hostile sexism and benevolent sexism, both implying that women are weak and best suited for their traditional gender roles (Etaugh & Bridges, 2018, p. 29). Intending the initial target of Original Red beer to be predominantly the male population, possibly Caucasian polish men ages eighteen and older. Due to the way they personify the beer via objectification of the female body, most likely playing it towards the outcome sexual perspective or ideation. However, this advertisement happened to cause a slight reaction from me due to the way the woman is presented and how she could be viewed as more of an object rather than a normal human being.

The constant usage of sexism and objectification of is both a misrepresentation and inaccurate amplification of women in todays culture. Advertisers still continue to misinterpret and misunderstand gender by converging sex, gender, and sexuality via outdated and unrealistic stereotypes of unattainable body standards (Zayer & Coleman, 2014, pg. 266). This is shown through research that explains that media is not only reflects or transmits these ongoing stereotypes but implicate that they have an increasing social effect (Etaugh & Bridges, 2018, p. 38). Thereby playing a monumental role in the shaping construct of people’s genders and expectations by providing society portrayals of how males and females should be like and look like. Women are seen depicted as sexual objects in over 60% (2/3) of ads within both women’s fashion magazines and magazines for young teens (Etaugh & Bridges, 2018, p. 37).Which in retrospect is preying on women’s insecurities to either get them to buy/invest in products or influence them to change to the unrealistic societal norms being broadcasted. But the recognition that some gender portrayals may be problematic is greatly due to the strategic considerations (Zayer & Coleman, 2014, pg. 269) which can be seen within even the Original Red beer ad mentioned earlier. When in reality no one person is the same in anyway regardless of size, race, gender, sexuality, etc. and should be free to embrace who they are for all they are, without being down casted by the media or society.

References

Etaugh, C., & Bridges, J. S. (2018). Womens lives: a psychological exploration. New York, NY: Routledge.

Infanger, M., Bosak, J., & Sczesny, S. (2012). Communality sells: The impact of perceivers' sexism on the evaluation of women's portrayals in advertisements. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(2), 219-226.

Tuncay Zayer, L., & Coleman, C. (2015). Advertising Professionals' Perceptions of the Impact of Gender Portrayals on Men and Women: A Question of Ethics? Journal of Advertising, 44(3), 1-12.