Ethical Sexuality and Objectivity
In the United States today more and more advertisements are shown with a sexual appeal. Products like clothing and liqueur have always used sexuality to sell their product, but now things like candy, fast food and even cleaning supplies are used as highly sexualized objects. Along with sex, women’s bodies are being used as objects to sell products.
PHOTO: BurgerKingAd. Photograph. Http://creativebits.org/inspiration/does_sex_advertising_sells.
The questions that come from all the sex in advertising is if the sex appeal being used in these ads is ethical? Another question that should be addressed is if using women’s bodies to sell products is ethical? When sex is used to sell products like hamburgers and sports drinks is it effecting people in negative ways or simply just selling a product? I believe that in the wrong context, using sexuality to sell products could be extremely unethical. Psychology Today says that, "men tend to prefer sexually explicit ads, while women usually respond negatively," which is the general idea that I have seen in my research on sexual ads.
I find myself wondering after seeing so much sex in advertising if it is morally right for women who are normally the sexual object in the advertising to be portrayed as such. Some ads depict women as objects being used to sell products instead of being seen as human beings. This use of woman's bodies seems to be doing more harm then good. Products are being sold because of these advertisements, but the people seeing these ads seem to gain a false sense of what the female body should be in the process.
Some advertisement firms claim that they are empowering women by showing them in masculine possess or controlling a man. Where that claim fails is the fact that most of the time the women are almost naked so the notion of empowerment is lost. Showing women as sexual objects and not as humans just to sell a product makes the product look unethical itself. "Most people respond negatively to advertising in which the sexual image has little relevance to the advertised product," and if that is true then advertisement agencies should not want to use sex in their advertising (Psychology Today).
For Men...
Most ads that depict women as objects are target to men, which is very well known. When these advertisements are seen through some form of media is where the issue of being ethical comes in. Men are constantly seeing images of beautiful women as objects they can use or things that they can buy and do what they want with. This can make men think that all women are like that. There have been countless studies about the effect of sexual advertising and objectivity over many different geographical groups and the findings have all been different in their outcome. Most of the studies suggest that men who frequently see advertising containing women being used feel that it is okay for them to do the same.
For Women...
When it comes to women seeing the advertisements of these sexual images many feel like it gives them a false sense of needing to be perfect. This is especially true for teenage girl who see more ads containing women as sexual objects than any other age group. Although many things go into the make-up of a person’s perceptions of what they want to be like none seem to be more prominent than the one of fitting in by acting cool. Since cool is seen as acting like people seen on television, commercials and magazine covers it is no wonder why there has been an increase in depression, eating disorder, and low self-esteem in teenage girls. A study done by Howard Lavine, a professor at University of New York, stated that when a group of people where shown various sex-content ads were more likely to have a larger discrepancy in their ideal body weight then people who were shown non-sex-content ads. This study helps prove that some ads can be unethical because they can teach a population to feel inadequate. Family values, life experience, and beliefs are crucial factors that help to shape how a person sees themselves, but advertisements also can be considered one of the crucial factors as well.
PHOTO:Change. 2006. Photograph. Http://creativebits.org/inspiration/does_sex_advertising_sells.
With all of the evidence that has been compiled over the years to suggest that this form of sexual objectification is bad for society how has there not been a decision made on if it is or is not ethical? I believe that the answer is that every advertisement is different. I do not believe that it is possible to live in a world with no advertisements that depict a person being sexual or used as an object. I do believe how ever that more should be done to prescreen advertisements and decide if it is ethical to show.
With advertising I have seen that in every ad that is shown, someone will find it unethical and offensive. The question now becomes where do we draw the line and if stricter guidelines should be made for sexual content and objectivity in advertising?
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REFERENCE:
Baranski, T. "Take It Off: Sex in Advertising." BGSU :: University Home Page :: Bowling Green State University Home Page. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/sp2003/gp1/Article1.html>.
"Depicting Women as Sex Objects In Television Advertising: Effects On Body Dissatisfaction." People - Eastern Kentucky University. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://people.eku.edu/winslowm/psy300/tygart.htm>.
Hawes, Daniel. "Care for Some Sexy Toilet Paper? - Sex in Advertising | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a Therapist. 15 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolved-primate/201001/care-some-sexy-toilet-paper-sex-in-advertising>.
Lavine, Howard. "Depicting Women as Sex Objects in Television Advertising: Effects on Body Dissatisfaction." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://psp.sagepub.com/content/25/8/1049.abstract>.
Lavine, Howard. "Depicting Women as Sex Objects in Television Advertising: Effects on Body Dissatisfaction." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://psp.sagepub.com/content/25/8/1049.abstract>.
"33 Inappropriately Sexy Ads | Bored Panda." Bored Panda - the Only Magazine for Pandas. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.boredpanda.com/sexy-ads/>.
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