From: Megan
In this picture a teenage girl is looking at a selection of Victoria’s Secret push-up bras. This shows the image that young girls see on a regular basis and are told they need to aspire to be. These advertisements tell young girls that a bigger bust is what is desirable and if they have it, to flaunt it, and if they don’t they are to push it up to give the illusion of a larger bust. In this photo only the girl and the advertisement itself are in color while everything else is in black and white. The girl and the sign are in color because this is the true focus of the photo. The color helps to draw your eye to the real, “cause and effect”. The cause of this desired image is the sign showing a busty woman wearing this bra and showing her sex appeal. The effect is the young girl buying into this image and looking at the product. Also the girl and the sign are in color to portray that the girl is looking at the bra and in her mind is seeing herself wearing it and looking like the woman on the sign. The rest of the photo is in black and white because it is just background, however, although not the main focus the things in black and white still add to the message in this photo. In black and white we see a manikin wearing the same bra and this shows the type of figure that is presented to woman/girls as the desired body image for this type of apparel. It is showing that those who are expected to look attractive in the bra and purchase it must fit this “impossible standard of beauty”. In black and white are also the push-up bras themselves, and this again is because they are not really what the girl is attracted to. She would not be drawn to these bras if the sign shown in color were not there to advertise them in such a sexually desirable manner. The edges of the photo are also slightly blurred to bring your attention to the center of the photo where the color is located. The blurring effect is used to show that everything else is just fluff, and that it is not the central focus. This photo shows the images of women that plague our society today. The image and idea that women are sexual objects and that this is the only body image that is seen as desirable. This photo also shows the unfortunate reality of the situation being that even young teenage girls are affected by this body image and aspire to be sexually desirable even at their young age.
5 comments:
This photo was a good choice to demonstrate what some advertising actually says to women. At a casual glance, many people might dismiss the advertisement as a relatively harmless ad, merely a picture of a photo-shopped model on display to sell women's undergarments. Yet because the ad is made in such an overtly sexual way, it implies that the bras aren't for the women themselves but for the men who view them (as you noted in the picture's description), making the women things to be gawked at, not people to be accepted as they are.
The use of contrast between the background in black and white and the girl and nearby sign in color really serves to highlight the impact the sign has on women. If the entire photo had been either in color or in black and white, it wouldn't have been nearly as effective in emphasizing that in the ad women see the image of what they ought to be.
Having the woman who holds the catalog in the photo appear in color helps draw attention to her. Her expression and body language effectively communicate her subtle but definite uneasiness. Looking at the catalog seems to bring out a discontentment that is conveyed by her slight frown and barely drawn together eyebrows. It's as if she's thinking, “I really don't want to wear this, but what other choice do I have?” Her straight back and tight posture indicate a sense of being uncomfortable, but the fact that she is studying the catalog indicates that even if she does not want to think of herself as having to look like the photo-shopped model, the ad still affects her. In that way, the ad is not so different from the other commercials, advertisements and billboards women see everyday, is it?
From Delight
This is a true representation of the evil that the society is doing to the women; women are regarded as highly sexualized objects for the pleasing of the masculine gender. The society also creates the image of a beautiful woman as one with a slim figure and a big burst. Since the slim figure and the big burst do not go together, the ad in this picture provides the girl with a “worthy?” alternative: the stuffed bra, to make the burst look bigger. Notice how it exposed the sexuality of the girl wearing it in the ad
This photo is a great example of the "poison" society puts upon young girls. Victoria's secret, as a store, is always trying to get adult women to recognize their "need" to buy the sexy and overpriced items sold there. It never even occurred to me how young girls nowadays are also being molded this way.
The young lady in the picture should not be concerned with buying a "push-up" bra. Yet, being female, she is most likely being force fed the sexist-society ideology that she "must" have big breasts, or at the very least accentuate the breasts she does have.
A very powerful picture that drives home the point that in our society, women are often seen as objects to be viewed, rather than human beings with hopes and dreams.
All of the elements in this photo really told a story about how a female is displayed in advertisements. Aside from the coloring added to the young girl & the ad, the positioning of the ad just behind the young girl gave meaning. It's almost as if it's a dream bubble in her head to show the image she wants by buying this push-up bra. Also, the fact that the store uses their own ads to remind their young customers what they should look like. Another element that added to the image of women was the way the mannequins are molded. They're in a sexy position & dismembered which is what Jean Kilbourne argued was common in the female ad world. Other elements I noticed in the ad & the store is that one of their lines of garments is titled "Very Sexy". There are other lines but since this one is being advertised, it shows that these products make you sexy, not your own image.
This way this photo was takin tell me alot. it show a dissatifying look on the girls face as if she wants to be on of the girls in the photo. this is also a very good capture of what our women studies textbook is trying to convey that print ads and the media has a very big impact on women lives.The black and white affect to the photo gives it a look that portrays "just another static" that this young women is just a another one that fell into the harsh images the media shows
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