"While demeaning ads were more omnipresent in the '50s and '60s, their modern counterparts can give vintage ads a run for their money."(1) Sexism in advertising has always been an issue but it seems like nowadays instead of advertisements not portraying women as equal to men it is exploiting women in a sexual way. But nonetheless something that hasn't changed from the 50s' to present time is that advertising is still showing women in an non-serious manner.
Positive:
This advertisement is depicting women in a good way, because it is addressing how women are viewed in today's world and it doesn't show any form of sexual content. Women have always been seen as just a "trophy" and this ad is telling women everywhere that they do not have to stand for that, they can be more then the stereotype that has been around for years. Women can be intelligent, assertive, persuasive, strong, hard working, just as men have been viewed all this time.
Negative:
This is an American Apparel Advertisement that of course is less provocative then most of their ads but still in a sense depicts a women in a negative way. Most of American Apparels ads are far out there, shocking, and if I may say like a porn ad. Instead of putting the focus on the clothes they decided to catch people's eyes by having their models show sexual and nudity content. You probably wouldn't even realize that this advertisement above is actually an ad for shoes. They have pulled the attention towards the two models and what they are doing, instead of what the are actually selling, and that is how the present all of their advertisements. "The latest ads on the retailer’s [American Apparel] website show various women disrobed whilst donning the retailer’s staple garments, but disrobed to the point that instead of observing the clothes one is instead observing the model’s buttocks and breasts. Which brings the assertion that what the line has in essence done is to present these women as soft porn objects du jour."(2) In the 50s and 60s women were shown in the form of sexism, they were shown as being nothing else but good for cleaning, cooking, taking care of the children, and looking pretty. Now, fast forward to the present day, the advertising industry has taken it to a new level but still in a sense has kept that women are only good for looking pretty to sell products. "'As a professional working woman, I find this kind of ad focus very offensive,' said Roberta Shulman, president of Women in Advertising and Marketing, an industry group in the Washington, D.C., area. 'Women have worked very hard to be taken seriously. These kind of ads go back to denigrating women, making them sex-symbol objects. We're beyond that.'"(3)
Citations:
1) These Modern Ads are Even More Sexist than Their 'Mad Men' Era Counterparts. Retrieved on October 23, 2013 from http://www.businessinsider.com/these-modern-ads-are-even-more-sexist-than-their-mad-men-era-counterparts-2012-4
2) American Apparel back to Exploiting Women. Retrieved on October 23, 2013 from http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/04/american-apparel-back-to-exploiting-women/
3) The Media Business: Advertising; Gianni Versace raises eyebrows, and hackles, in The New Yorker. Retrieved on October 23, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/25/business/media-business-advertising-gianni-versace-raises-eyebrows-hackles-new-yorker.html
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