Ads targeted at women

In previous blogs we have see how women are shown in the advertisements. Most often these ads are targeted towards the male audience.
To sell to a woman, advertising relies on that modern idea (only a few hundred years old) about how men and women relate -- romance. Romance fits into the woman's intellectual view of relationships since its major element, courtship, the process by which men apply to be and women select mates, is the discovery of how the male does or does not satisfy her societal criteria for a suitable sexual partner. Rarely does the romantic appeal contain the blatant sexual messages that appear in ads aimed at men since such messages would counter the intellectual view. Although an ad may use a man's body as an attention getting device, he is usually shown in a romantic rather than sexual context.
For ads aimed at women, they can achieve the romance approach through using stereotypical images: roses, soft light and music, a doting man (often a bit bumbling and thus endearing). The ad sells the product on the basis that its purchase will give the woman this feeling of romance in her life.
For example, diamond advertisements use a romantic approach. Although men buy most diamonds, they buy them for women; in general, she makes the purchase decision. Thus, it makes sense to aim the ads at the woman. The images are of soft lighting, elegant surroundings, and an obviously well-to-do man (who is also sometimes a supportive and nurturing parent) offering the gift of diamonds. These images satisfy a woman's societal criteria for a desirable man: money, status, taste, and sensitivity to her wants and needs. If there are any sexual undertones, they are extremely subdued and non-threatening.
Thus, it is clear that sex is a strong appeal to use in advertising. However, it is a gender linked appeal. Sex easily sells to men; it is an adjunct to women.

Restriction in Ads

In India “Indecent Representation of Women Act” governs the way women are shown in the ads. This act was enacted in 1987, supposedly in response to demands from the women's movement to tackle the derogatory depiction of women in the media.
It defines “indecent representation of women' as the “depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent or of being derogatory or denigrating women or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals of any person or persons of any class or group”.
However it is not without its shortcomings. It is said to be curtailing the right to freedom of speech and expression. It also is sometimes used to camouflage the discomfort with woman’s sexuality. It is also supposed to be sexist in nature because of the representation of terms of women’s shame and honour.
The controversy over the banning of the Amul Macho and Lux Cosy underwear advertisements, under the Cable Television Network Act, in July 2007, is a prime example of how the portrayal of women's sexuality can be censored under the guise of obscenity and indecency.
At the same time the law does not clearly deal with the stereotypical representation of women in the ads and seems to focus more on the sexual representation of the women
So rather than expanding its scope on the sexual representation side, it should also look at the way the women are represented in the ads in a restricted role

Fashion Industry

Fashion industry is one of the industries which are dynamic in nature and in order to make your collection successful, it should be advertised properly and through right channels.
Usually any clothing can be shown as effectively on a mannequin as that on a living person. However high profile fashion designers prefer to show their collections on models rather on mannequins. Most of the collections are on display at any of the various fashion shows take place.
Though both men and women generally model for these fashion shows, more often than not, women form a majority.

At these fashion shows women act as walking mannequins who just walk on the ramp doing the catwalk and display the dresses.
Here the women are not represented completely in a role of a beauty or a sex symbol, but rather a statue on which your dresses are displayed.
Also often the “designer” dresses reveal more than they hide. These models appear as sex symbols in these dresses. But still it’s not a stereotypical sex symbol role for these models as the product they are selling is relevant to the way they are shown, unlike in sexy symbols where the product has no relation
Also the models in the fashion industry create the false impressions of beauty like many other ads.

Dove Self Esteem Fund

As part of Dove campaign for real beauty, in 2006, Dove started the Dove Self-Esteem Fund that claims to change the Western concept of beauty from ultra-thin models with perfect features to making every girl feel positive about her looks, no matter what they are. In an effort to promote the Fund, Dove ordered a series of highly-successful online-based short films promoting the self-esteem concept

Dove Self Esteem fund has reached 2 million young girls till now .It is committed to reaching 5 million young women by the end of 2010. The fund defines “reaching” a girl when she has gone through an educational program that lasts at least an hour of her life. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund invites girls to play a role in supporting and promoting a wider definition of beauty.
It is a global project, which consists of network of local country initiatives linked in strategy and direction by a global steering group. In each country, the fund supports a specific charitable organization to help foster self-esteem
On its website the Dove self esteem fund provides various online resources for young girls as well moms and mentors so that they become aware of the real beauty. The online resources include articles and videos on self esteem and various facts about the beauty industry.

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

“We see beauty all around us” is the tag line of the dove campaign for real beauty.
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched in 2004 that includes advertisements, video, workshops, sleepover events and even the publication of a book and the production of a play. The principle behind the campaign is to celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with their own body.
For the launch of the campaign normal women of different shapes and sizes were featured in the promotions. The ordinary looking women featured in the ads for the campaign.
The campaign was shot by the British portrait/fashion photographer Rankin. Rankin was chosen because he brings out the character and personality of his subjects and he likes working with non-professional models. Dove wanted to celebrate women by using a photographer who also shoots supermodels, giving them the same star treatment.


As part of this campaign, in 2006, Dove started the Dove Self-Esteem Fund that claims to change the Western concept of beauty from ultra-thin models with perfect features to making every girl feel positive about her looks, no matter what they are.

Anorexia

The women who model for ads these days are extremely slim. These often makes young girls believe that only if you are slim you are beautiful and will be able to succeed in life. As a result many girls try very hard to maintain a slim figure.
Many girls become obsessed with the idea of achieving this slim figure and take great pains to achieve it. This obsession towards slimness is known as anorexia.



Girls suffering from anorexia often starve themselves so that they don’t get fat. Often they don’t even eat food which is necessary for survival. They are always short on confidence and feel they will be rejected in the society just because they are not thin.
Often treatment for anorexia includes compulsory feeding for these girls. At the same time effort is made to increase the self confidence in these girls so that they do not become obsessed with looking slim.

Many of the critics blame the companies for propagating the idea that thin is beautiful and employing only thin models in their advertisements. As a result the attitude of some companies towards this is changing e.g. Univlever has launched the Dove Self Esteem campaign which portrays that everybody is beautiful in their own way

The Beauty

Many of the advertisements targeted at women are the beauty products. These beauty products may not be targeted only at young college going girls but former consumers across age group of 16-30.
The themes of such commercials are such that they implore other women to look like the women shown in the advertisement. The women who are shown in these advertisement are said to be beautiful looking.
A concept of beauty is propagated through advertisements. These advertisements show that in order to be beautiful you need to be thin, you need to be fair. The women in these advertisements are hence generally very slim or fair looking.

This sort of advertisements may not be restricted to just beauty or any women oriented products. Often these models are part of commercials for other products too. When initially Phillips launched its flat TV, a slim model was shown in the advertisement comparing her beauty with that of TV.

Often this concept of beauty leads to low self esteem among women who feel they are too fat or dark to be beautiful. The outcome of this can go much beyond just low self esteem. Often girls looking at the slim models try to become like them. This syndrome is known as anorexia