Sexist_Thought_and_Oppression_in_Advertising

Pictures discussed in essay are at http://thecurvature.com/2008/10/17/rape-culture-in-unexpected-places-new-pepsi-ad/ and http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/'p=4209 Sexist Thought and Oppression in Advertising Advertising has become a common venue to showcase and further sexist thought and oppression towards women. This is usually done in a manner which can easily be defended by citing differing interpretations of the media. Furthermore, responsibility for creating it can also easily be allocated to other parties. This is exactly what happened when a series of three advertisements, with Pepsi branding present, were discovered. The advertisements were originally posted on, The Curvature, a feminist blog run by Cara Kulwicki. (Kulwicki 2007) The main advertisement is a scene of a beach with dark storm clouds converging overhead. A young boy is handing a Pepsi to a lifeguard, supposedly in exchange for his T-shirt. The lifeguard is looking away suspiciously, as if he were conducting an illicit deal. He is tall, muscular, toned, tanned, masculine, and in his prime years. There is a tall, thin, toned, tanned, busty, and unconscious blonde woman in a revealing bikini laying on the sand. Both her and the lifeguard are shiny from being in the water, making the qualities of their bodies more noticeable. Both of their bodies are clear representations of what society believes to be perfect. The lifeguard's SUV is behind him, and a rescue flotation device is halfway off of the picture, to his right. The woman was dragged from the ocean and left two trails in the sand with her feet. Curiously, there are no footprints within the trail or around the woman. The young boy is looking directly down at her breasts with a look of malicious fascination. The boy clearly wants to sexually assault the woman in some way. All three advertisements depict an exchange of an “item” for a can of Pepsi. The main advertisement depicts the “item” as the lifeguard T-shirt. The second advertisement depicts a monkey exchanging a can of Pepsi for the keys to a banana truck with a truck driver. The third advertisement depicts an astronaut giving his space suit to another young boy for a can of Pepsi. All three pictures depict this exchange in a fast and conspicuous fashion as the lifeguard, truck driver, and astronaut are looking away from the item they are exchanging. The first two pictures appear to be happening in remote places that are removed from society. What is it that makes these advertisements so offensive' For one, they negatively construct gender, gender roles, ability, and sexuality in many ways. The woman is portrayed as being unable to swim or unable to protect herself from whatever happened to her. This implies that she was too weak to fend for herself, which plays into the romanticized idea that women like or need the aid of men to get out of bad situations. Furthermore, she is seen as sexually available, even when unconscious. She is strategically positioned to be laying down in a sexually receptive position with males standing over her, implying that women's bodies exist to be traded, viewed, criticized, objectified, and ultimately used by men. The objectification of the woman in this advertisement is even more apparent when looking at the placement of the product, since advertisements usually put their product in the center of the picture to be more noticeable. The items being traded in all of the advertisements are the Pepsi cans, the lifeguard's shirt, the banana truck, and the space suit. She is also centered in the picture, directly below the other “items” that are being traded, implying that she too is an “item.” The Pepsi cans in the advertisements symbolizes many things. For example, it could be a representation of the boy's virginity that is about the be “cured,” which is being made possible by the lifeguard turning a blind eye to the situation. This idea is supported by the picture of the astronaut. The characters in this picture look astoundingly similar to the characters in the beach picture, to the point where I mistook them as the same characters at first glance. The astronaut picture depicts the boy's fascination and longing of having an astronaut's suit. This is mirrored by the lust present in the other boy's gaze in the beach picture. These pictures make a parallel between a young boy's dreams of being an astronaut with his fascination of having sex for the first time with an unconscious woman. This is disturbing as it implies that the boy's will for sex with a woman that clearly cannot consent is as innocent as his will for the space suit. This example shows the normalization of “rape culture” in society. Rape culture is defined by the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology as “a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women...a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality violent.” (Williams 3783) Since the lifeguard in the advertisement is looking away from the viewer, making a quick exchange with the boy, and not making any move to explain to him why he should not sexually assault the unconscious woman, he is effectively condoning the boy's intent to do so. This is further reinforced by the presence of the lifeguard's rescue jeep, which is already facing away from the woman, implying that he will leave as soon as he can with the Pepsi. Another shocking detail is that the boy and the lifeguard decided to trade before helping the woman, who is clearly in a life or death situation. This detail allowed many viewers to debase the advertisement's malicious nature in comments to the original post on the blog. (Kulwicki) They justified the advertisement by explaining that the boy wanted the lifeguard's shirt in order to be seen as “the hero” when the woman was resuscitated. However, this explanation can easily be proven wrong due the boy's gaze and the aforementioned observations. Even the justification itself suggests a common theme that men must seek to save women as they are helpless without them. The offensive nature of these advertisements did not go unnoticed, as it prompted many people to contact Pepsi with their concerns. Pepsi responded by making an official response which denounced their connection with the advertisements, which Kulwicki posted on the same blog. It stated: “After investigating this matter further, we learned that an advertising agency developed this print ad on “speculation” and it inadvertently made its way to the internet.” (Kulwicki) Kulwicki expressed her gratitude on her blog that Pepsi had looked into the matter. However, I believe Pepsi's statement did not go far enough. I think Pepsi should have named the advertising agency in question to prove to their consumers that they did have no part in the making of the advertisement. This being said, I do not fully trust Pepsi's response, as I believe it was too easy to blame an unknown entity for the offensive material. The societal views on female appearance, sexuality, roles, ability, and sexuality as well as views on male virginity and rape culture are all facets of oppression against women. “Oppression” is defined as “the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.” (Dictionary.com) However, as discussed in class, and from Marilyn Frye's viewpoint, this definition does not fully explain the extent to which women are oppressed. Frye offers many examples of what oppression is in her paper, Oppression. She states: “The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one's life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction. It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped. Cages. Consider a birdcage. If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires.” (Frye 4) These advertisements exemplify what Frye would define as oppression. Each one of them has many examples of the wires that cage women as a whole. As noted in class discussion, not one single wire oppresses someone, nor does one individual's suffering equal oppression. The power structures that divide men and women are continuously perpetuated by double-binds and following the status quo. The advertisements support the wires that oppress women, under the guise of marketing a product. These are all reasons why oppression is so difficult to identify, let alone combat. Citations: Kulwicki, Cara. "Rape Culture In Unexpected Places: New Pepsi Ad." The Curvature. Cara Kulwicki, 17 Oct 2008. Web. 9 Dec 2010. http://thecurvature.com/2008/10/17/rape-culture-in-unexpected-places-new-pepsi-ad/. Kulwicki, Cara. "Teen boy gives lifeguard a Pepsi in exchange for the opportunity to sexually assault an unconscious woman'." The Curvature. Feminist Law Professors, 16 Oct 2008. Web. 9 Dec 2010. http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/'p=4209 . Williams, Joyce. "Rape Culture." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. 1st ed. 3. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2007. Web. . "Oppression." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 10 Dec. 2010. . Frye, Marilyn. The Politics of Reality: essays in feminist theory. Berkeley, CA: The Crossing Press, 1983. 1-16. Print.