Feminism and TV Commercials Essay -- essays papers

Feminism and TV Commercials Television commercials to the average person are a form of entertainment. They are also a way for people to see what is being sold out there in the real world. To a critic television commercials are much more than that. Depending what critical approach the critic uses he or she will analyze the television commercials differently. I decided to challenge myself and instead of using an approach that I knew about I used one that I knew little about. In my discussion of television commercials I focused on using the Feminist critical approach. I will discuss what Feminism is made up of. Then I will discuss and analyze six television commercials. Feminism has at least four different parts to it. There are the radical feminists, which argue â€Å"that women’s oppression is the result of the system of patriarchy, a system of domination in which men as a group have power over women as a group,† (Storey 135). The Marxist feminists who argue that women’s oppression is due to capitalism. The third is the liberal feminism, which does not believe a system like patriarchy or capitalism oppresses women, but that males are prejudice against women. The fourth is the dual systems theory, â€Å"women’s oppression derives from their situation within an autonomous system of sex divisions of labor and male supremacy† (Vogel 128). The first TV commercial is about a woman who is walking out of Taco Bell with a burrito in her hand. It is no ordinary woman she looks skinny and beautiful. Two young men look at her as she comes out of Taco Bell and they comment on how good she looks. This commercial might look harmless to someone who does not care, but to a critic it is not. This commercial shows a very skinny woman walking out of a Taco Bell with a burrito. A woman who sees this and has a low self-esteem could become anorexic or bulimic. Since she might go eat a taco or something at Taco Bell and then when she does not look like the model she might decide to hurt herself to look like the model. This commercial gives women a false perception and could be harmful. Women and men believe that the way the model looks is the norm and if they are not like that they will not be taken serious. In the next commercial there is a man and a woman taking pictures of their surroundings. The man’s film finishes so the woman grabs a camera and takes the ... ...on women, particularly women’s bodies, as sales bait is in universal evidence† (Gallagher 75). To know that the stereotyping is not only in the United States, but that it is universal is disturbing because it shows that we are in a male dominated world. Despite the mixed perception of women as models, mothers, sex objects, and so on in these commercials the bottom line is that Feminists want the best for the women in this society and around the world. I learned by using the Feminist approach that women in general have it hard. I feel everyone grows up being taught about gender stereotyping since a very early age without really noticing it. We all have to have an open mind and not label people because of their gender. But if we must label or judge someone let it be because of what they have accomplished in life. Bibliography: Gallagher, Margaret. Unequal opportunities The case of women and the media. France: Offset Aubin, Poiters, 1981. Storey, John. An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. 2nd ed. Georgia: The University of Georgia, 1998. Vogel, Lisa. Marxism and The Oppression of Women. New Jersey: Rutgers, The State University, 1983.