Advertising or Sadvertising

Advertising or Sadvertising:

By depicting beautiful and successful women as white, thin, and flirtatious,

the advertisement industries promote unrealistic expectations for women to live up to. An ad for Tab Energy featured in the recent June/July issue of Jane magazine is a perfect example. A women‘s interests magazine (Ulrich), Jane’s target audience is young, heterosexual women between the ages of twenty two and thirty five.

In this ad, a young, attractive, thin white woman with blonde hair is dancing at a club while a man stares at her intently. Her expression gives off an air of happiness, while maintaining her aloof quality. Regardless of the attention she is getting, her blank stare gazes down at the consumer and generates a sense of oblivion to her surroundings. The movement portrayed, as well as the many shades of pink color in the ad, create a mood that is both lively and light-hearted.

When we think of clubs we think of dancing, drinking, and loud music. Clubs are considered by most to be fun and laid back, thus the perfect setting for an Energy Drink targeted at women. Dancing is seen as feminine in our culture, and this ad did a perfect job of depicting femininity through dance. Not only is the woman enjoying her femininity, but so is the man dancing beside her. He stares at her adoringly, and appears mesmerized by her swishing hemline.

Pink is the sign for a baby girl, the pink ribbon represents breast cancer, and when we think of rosy cheeks we think of feminism. In our society pink is symbolic with girly ideologies. The color pink reminds us of our womanhood, and this ad succeeds in doing the same. There is so much pink in this ad that I cannot

help but think about bubble-gum. The woman’s shoes and dress are pink, and she is wearing pink nail polish and lipstick. The ad depicts traditional ideologies associated with the color pink while at the same time pushing the envelope with modern atire. Although the woman is wearing pink shoes, they appear to be strappy stilettos, and the dress also is pink, but is very short. The use of a traditional color like pink shown modernized allows women to feel fearless and feminine at the same time. They feel like they can rebel and still be feminine.

The advertiser gives the woman a larger than life quality by showing her body from head to toe, and by photographing her from a lower angle so the consumer appears to be looking up at the subject. The angle the photographer used gives the woman a manner of superiority and grandeur. The consumer sees this and subconsciously expects to achieve similar results from buying the product. In addition a subtle spotlight is shone on the women representing the need to achieve and also to dominate (Fowles)

In the ad copy the consumers emotional heart strings are tugged by need for