Media Stereotypes

            Arguably, the award for most controversial ad this year goes to Subway. The franchise’ Halloween ad for 2014 succeeded in polarizing their audience. It featured a young lady wishing to keep her waist slim to fit into her various costumes, all of which were portrayed as sultry in nature. She accomplished this goal all by eating Subway. This, of course, is meant to show that if young women eat subway they will be slim and seductive in their costumes as well. Many people loved this ad simply for its holiday themed nature. Many others though condemned it for what they viewed as sexist connotations. Images like this bombard us every time we turn on our televisions. Products continually convey the idea that by using whatever it is, women will become more beautiful and feminine and men will become more handsome and manly.

Freeze Frame of Subway's Halloween Commercial.
http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-blog/blogs/subway-halloween-eat-light-hed-2014.png

            For the last century women have had to live up to the expectations put upon them by the media. Throughout history when we think about women in society we think of small and thin. Today's current portrayal of women stereotypes the feminine sex as being everything that most women are not. Because of this depiction, the mentality of women today is to be thin and to look a certain way. There are many challenges with women wanting to be a certain size, one of them being mental unrest when they cannot meet society’s expectations. Female stereotypes in the media tend to undervalue women as a whole, and diminish them to sexual objects and passive human beings. Magazine ads show a dismembered female body, with parts, instead of the whole which turns women into objects. Many classic movies that we show to our children depict slender, unrealistically curvaceous, and quite vulnerable young women, who are dependent on male figures for strength and survival, not their own sense of empowerment. Media stereotyping of women as objects and helpless beings creates very low expectations for society's girls. When a woman is in a position of power, such as the rare female boss portrayed in the media, she tends to be a cold-harted , detached career woman with sociopathic tendencies. This sends the message that a powerful woman sacrifices a healthy relationship, family, and possibly even her sanity to be extremely successful at her career. For the young girl who dreams to run a company, or become a famous journalist, astronaut, or scientist, the media does not provide enough models for her to look to for encouragement and inspiration.

One "sexy" girl being submissive to the group of "manly" men that dominate the image.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZRv-5yJpokoQfod5YYhR3_224yHRMATdtHdeutIec3BNdWXsmJNdCxksITbAePbnJfYAK6oyqTCc5QDEXqBw55XeRzyBTEv-2wkc-LhR1Qu6RgoBz26I1rFMl-VIQmvnOuabJLiHldpo/s320/Dolce-Gabbana-Ad-Sexist.jpg

A cologne ad for men, with a skinny naked women.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_DPiUviYhBIInCkqYxbQ4mKKq01QDR72uCL0arPcivWflTkFJUq3G-pd7vt-z7KhmCGxeYQX9jS6uOa_EK2U3YzAOIwduBs47mLafhEY4dHv160WCM1all1W1z1KLSxjGv1aePBdQ80/s1600/Kate-Moss-Obsession.jpg

            Men are often the forgotten gender when it comes to stereotypes but they are no less affected. The commercials of today show many different products that give the male consumer the image of being more attractive to the opposite sex should they be purchased and used. The iconic male stereotype is the provider and strong backbone of the family. The image of strength has not changed much in the thousands of years since its formation. There is always going to be pressure put on a man to provide for his family, but media has not done anything to ease the struggle. Images pollute the stations that scream out “real” men drive this car, dress in these clothes, or make this much money. Just like the pressure women feel to measure up to the impossible ideal form shown to them, men feel pressure to have the bulging muscles and fit physique of the male models that women everywhere fawn over. The pressure put upon the male gender is not given the attention it deserves in the media, but it is no less detrimental to the mental health of our society than the images of a stick thin woman modeling in a bathing suit.

Extremely skinny women in a "I Love My Body" ad
http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/garycope/426196222/1/tumblr_kyqmv7DT831qzqfg2

            Although people are aware of the danger of these grossly in-achievable stereotypes, they tend to be conformists and would rather submit to the dominant patterns than oppose them and risk the backlash from others in reaction to these opinions. Though there is hope to change the current standards of the world. If we become aware of the stereotypes and teach our children to recognize such depictions, perhaps we can change the population into informed viewers instead of manipulated and mechanical consumers. Moreover, the commercials evolve along with the development of a society and are the answer to many social and political changes. If we as a society stand up and require the media to change their portrayal of both men and women they will, their bottom line will require it. However, in order for this change to take place the world must be ready for it. In recent years there has been more and more social unrest over the what is shown to us by the media. Conversely, the negative images have also gotten more extreme with each commercial shown and each magazine issue released. The world is polarized with one side calling for a change and the other enabling the spread of false expectations. It is time for the public to pick one of these sides.

Beautiful but a bit more naturalistic looking woman.
http://rachellljordan.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/1782_pov_s_un_dove_gofresh.jpg

Depicting women that are not idealistic but actually love their body and are not afraid to show it.
http://luckyattitude.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/dove-daring-branding.jpg

More empowering
http://blogs.uoregon.edu/j350campaignforrealbeauty/files/2013/06/dove_1-1rifawb.jpg