Stability of Exploitation

Bruce Bassi
English 110-39
December 10, 2002

The Stability of Exploitation

Using Our Weaknesses as a Marketing Strategy

“I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner. That is what I truly want to be. Cause if I was an Oscar Meyer Weiner, everyone would be in love with me.” Transforming into a hotdog for the sake of love is quite irrational. But this irrational idea makes sense: if people love food and you become a Weiner then everyone should love you. The upbeat Oscar Meyer jingle captures not only our attention but also a theme of food advertisements. They point out our main concern: our love for tasty food. As a deep pitted hunger feeds on our stomachs we will take any measure to destroy it. Food nourishes, satisfies and is proven to release endorphins to put us in a state of happiness. While eating has so many positive outcomes, we hardly consider what harm it may have on our body. Marketers are aware of our crusade to eat regardless of the consequences and they feed on our weaknesses which are also reflected in advertisements.

Exploitation is a recurring trend in advertising. As very image-dependent people, Americans naturally judge based on first impressions. An advertisement must be meaningful and visually appealing. If marketers can quickly attract attention with the use of an attractive female, then they will use her body to do just that. The techniques the advertisers use are a byproduct of the era and the audience. The consumer has varying interests over time. A advertisement must agree with a particular audience and it’s desires. An ad for lollipops in a muscle magazine will not be very effective since this audience wants rock-hard muscles, not rock-hard candy.

Themes in advertising show common trends over time. Susan Bordo proves in her essay, “Hunger as Ideology” that food advertisements in the mid 1990’s overwhelm with temptation and push the stable, hungry person into a realm of uncontrollable indulgence. Women teeter in a delicate balance of eating habits and marketers are “aware of the well-publicized prevalence of compulsive eating and binge behaviors among women” (147-148). Therefore the context of a woman eating a portion of food may be to “insist on dessert” or to “dive in” (151, 153). To an audience of hungry, unsatisfied women, this message may be very appealing. The subliminal images suggest that “women may be encouraged to dive in’ ” since other women are indulging, it justifies your right to indulge (150). The advertisement becomes the norm—the ideal. The advertisement industry reinforces women’s weaknesses and makes them seem normal; thus making the weakness even weaker in an endless, downward spiral.

A few women have very dark, tied-up secrets about their eating problems. Advertisers, aware of these grim disorders, take advantage of women’s depressive attitudes by making ads that are easily understood. If women can quickly relate to an ad, they will think the product is right for them. In essence, advertisers exploit their attitudes by “frequently incorporating the theme of food obsession into their pitch” (144). In one example Bordo cites, “The sugar free Jell-O Pudding campaign exemplifies a typical commercial strategy for exploiting women’s eating problems while obscuring their dark realities” (144). The woman in the Jell-O ad (146) seems very content eating a small portion of Jell-O, so women looking for a small snack may find this ad appealing. But while the ad satisfies women’s goal to buy a small snack, the lady in the ad she may have an inner restlessness (a dark reality) regarding her eating habits such as bulimia or anorexia. Her problems are hidden by a face of happiness. For marketers to make an ad appealing they must not show the ignored, repressed truths of women’s eating disorders—the truths we call reality.

The typical person is in a rush: marketers exploit our hurriedness by making, quick to eat snacks. Even Bordo has experienced such a rush; “Those periods in my life when I have found myself too busy […] to find the time and energy to prepare special meals for the people that I love […]” (160). Bordo need not worry, there is always a box of Wheat Thins [Fig 1] to eat during these hurried times. Now Bordo may still be able to “receive [their] gratification through nourishing others, either in the old-fashioned way (taste and emotional pleasure) or in the health conscious mode” (159). Wheat Thins reinforce the old ideology of a good tasting food, but now it is quick to eat and nutritious. The main goal today is to be happy with a quick snack. The lady in figure one is thoroughly enjoying herself with Wheat Thins, and so would you if you had some. The feel-good food has become the ideal food to eat. Wheat thins are bite sized and easy to eat so they will make you happy. Wheat Thins want us to “feel good about saying ‘yes’” (150). Indulge in your deepest temptations, and feel good about yourself—this is the modern way—normal way.

Inside: 50 Ways to Meeting the Perfect Woman

An advertisement creates an ideology for the gender. As the same theme (that women may eat dessert and still stay skinny) is repeated it becomes the audience’s ideal. Men expect women to not eat much, sporadically indulge and stay lightweight therefore “Men […] are likely to view long, slim legs, a flat stomach, and a firm rear end as essentials of female beauty” (142). Men may judge a woman to another woman in a commercial. Women think that urges to indulge in a heaping portion is abnormal, as is being something other than skinny. These images have become the “ideology of gender” which defined, and constructed “femininity” (155). The femininity during the Victorian Era “had not only a significant moral and sexual aspect […] but a class dimension” (155). As men and women mentally configured the ideal female image, measuring and comparing these standards to the reality had a societal impact and gave way to the “old dualities.” Men struggled to marry the woman of “frail frame and lack of appetite” and women struggled to reach this ideal; “The closest he could come was to posses a wife whose ethereal body became a sort of fashion statement of his aristocratic tastes” (155). The ideal female figure created a double standard of simultaneous struggles, known as “old dualities.” Women wanted the perfect body and men wanted women who possessed the perfect body.

Images and concerns of modern Americans have changed from the traditional dualities of the Victorian Era. Representations have not completely averted from the ideal lack of appetite and petite feminine figure, “they almost always display a complicated and bewitching tangle of new possibilities and old patterns of representation” (166-167). In a typical line of advertisements, most portray the common stereotypes, but there are few that show a new image not corresponding to the ideal, common trend. Modern food advertisements have a new theme of justified pleasure yet still have a tinge of old dualities by maintaining meager portions of food—maintaining the frail image ideology of the past.

The Victorian Era has standardized modern women’s portion of food. Since “Victorian women were told that it was vulgar to load their plates” they will not have to worry because there is the three-bite sized Kudos bar [Fig 2] which comes nowhere near a plateful (166). The Kudos bar still has Victorian portions but now has more nutritious content for the modern healthy eaters. The Kudos bar has “just 3 grams of fat and an excellent source of calcium.” Now the nutritious angelic side of your personality is happy while you feed the “indulgence devil.” The angel and the devil pictured on the woman’s shoulder represent the two faces of personality. How else would this woman have such slim arms and a content smile? You could still you’re your ideal Victorian figure and still eat the meager modern moderations of the Kudos Bar. You could too just by eating the meager Kudos Bar. The bar fulfills the basic desires of the modern woman: nutritious and tasty, small, and quick to eat. Now you’ll supposedly stay skinny like the woman in the ad. Now everybody’s happy.

Exploitation of the female body to attract attention has appeared in advertising and will continue in the future. One may consider the female image to be denigrated and used to attract attention. In order to attract attention, marketers have inevitably established an ideal female image. Women strive for the ideal as portrayed by the reproduced images. As a consumerist society we may or may not be aware that advertisements do not reflect society, but merely disseminate stereotypes. Advertisements are often a distorted reflection; advertisements are not a true mirror of the public. Occasionally a new image is reflected back to the public and it begins a new trend. Just as other trends in advertising become norms in the population, we hope that the trend of denigration does not become the norm of humanity.

Denigration as Normalcy

No longer are only women represented in advertising’s demoralization. What was once a trend of denigration of female the body image has now expanded into humiliation of men. Traditional advertisements would not dare humiliate the male figure, but it is becoming a popular style. Men are sometimes believed to be confused about their role in society and this stereotype appears in the media. When Dad makes his cooking debut, Bordo claims it is a special instance not following the normal trend, and therefore “destabilizes cultural stereotypes” (157). The male’s occasional cooking makes him look confused as to what he should be doing. One would expect men to just eat and have “women prepare” (166). However, as one man begins to defy expectations, the image of the “normal” dad also changes. Many ads are exaggerating this male confusion, portraying the male as silly around food.

Stereotype: men cannot cook, they can only eat food prepared by women, men cooking or shopping for food is a joke. John Cleese, “writer, actor, statesman” and clown is the subject in the Melba Snacks advertisement. Not only does he not know how to hold a box upright but his facial expressions make us not take him seriously. Understandably, Cleese is dressed up in professional attire, business suit and tie; the traditional working businessman is represented. But he is the traditional businessman at most—the ideal (stereotypical) businessman neither acts foolish nor advertises food. One would expect him to just work his job, return home and eat his wife’s meal. Cleese destabilizes the trend of men’s taboo with food with two ridiculous photographs. Cooking is regarded as too complicated for men so they will never understand it. They become a completely humiliated around food. Perhaps men are not as good at cooking as women, but marketers have become stuck on using men for solely the sake of degradation to make a comical advertisement.

Perhaps John Cleese did not have to resemble a fool to get his point across. Figure three can be taken as a humorous joke of a man around food, but I have discovered some ads that mar the male image not in the context of cooking food. Dannon’s method of attraction [Fig 4] is a simple catch line. The line seemingly intended for women reads “Last time you were this satisfied you married him.” The advertisement, directed toward middle-aged married women, appeared in a magazine for a neutral audience. The women who see the ad can easily relate to it’s meaning, so it yields a sympathetic appeal. Dannon’s suggestion that women’s sexual satisfaction is on the same level as eating yogurt reads very disparagingly to the male audience. Do they really want to be compared sexually to yogurt? Dannon makes a rash, pessimistic generalization that men are sexually in adequate. The message stabilizes the exploitative trend of advertising—now men are being used for humiliation and women are used for their body image. But just as women who appear in ads create an ideological goal, men in ads create a standard for other men.

Inside: 25 Ways to Be the Perfect Man

During my research for advertisements, I read an article in a young women’s magazine entitled “How Does Your Man Measure Up to The Man?” Women are encouraged to take a survey to compare her boyfriend to the ideal man. Just as women may have an ideal image, men have an image to fulfill as well. The traditional Victorian aged man image has changed dramatically. Instead of men being judged by the woman they marry, men are now being compared to the ideal man in the magazine. While women rate their man to other women’s experiences with men, men subconsciously compare themselves to the macho man in the advertisements.

Not every woman will be a size one and not every man will be able to bench press 250 pounds. The female body may be used to get male attention. The male body may not be used to get as much attention as the female image, but when a male model is used, it sets the standard for the male body just as the woman model sets the standard for the ideal woman’s body. Five men in the Preferred Stock cologne advertisement [Fig 5] take a deep breath, hold their chests out, and put a tough man’s grin on their faces as the camera man says, “smile.” Each man in the picture represents the typical male professions. We see (clockwise from left) the jock with his shirt off, the navy marine in dog tags, the engineer holding the hard hat, the surfer in sunglasses, and the businessman in a suit—not one traditional female profession is represented. Where are the male cooks, the male teachers, and the male secretaries? Advertisements like these define the traditional gender ideologies of the modern male.

Not Your Average Bear-Brawny Man

We are inundated with the “ripped” (extremely muscular) man with his shirt off, kissing a skinny woman in a wet, ripped shirt as in figure six. Ads like these appear so often that we think they are normal. It is quite ironic that the typical man is not so muscular, yet we think he is because there are so many advertisements portraying him this way. Then when we see an advertisement of a man cooking, reading to his child, or losing weight we think it is a strange destabilization of the normal trend. When in actuality men must cook for themselves more often because women today are more involved in their professional work. Men do read to their children (not all men come home, drink a beer and sit on the couch) and there are men who are overweight. These destabilizing images are destabilizing merely because they are fewer in quantity, while the more popular advertisements like figure six define the ideal male figure.

The Campbell’s Soup advertisement treads against the traditional current of women cooking. In their advertisement for Green Bean Casserole [Figure 7] two pictures are shown: Thanksgiving dinner when Mom cooked in 1978, and Thanksgiving dinner when Uncle Pete cooked in 2001. Apparently the tradition has been that Mom cooks the meal. About twenty years later, a man has adapted the typically female activity of cooking. Granted cooking Green Bean Casserole is only a three-step process, the task of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner requires more cooking expertise. Any image of a man cooking rather than eating food destabilizes our cultural trend. Women traditionally play the role of nurturer and cook while men eat and be pampered. The “division of labor” is such that “men eat and women prepare” (156). The stereotypical gender roles are changing every year.

We as a society are beginning to recognize that some men are over the recommended weight range. Obesity has traditionally been a “women’s problem” because men are biologically bigger than women. However as dieticians are determining healthy weight limits for both genders, more weight loss formulas are being directed toward men. Shapely men are shown in new “weight-loss formula” advertisements [Fig 8] to inspire men to become the prized, muscular “macho man.” The Ephedrine Free advertisement destabilizes the stereotype that obesity is solely a women’s issue, but it enforces the ideal image of a man. Men may think that taking Ephedrine Free may give him abdominal and pectoral muscles like the faceless man shown flexing his muscles in the advertisement. Advertisements exploit the consumer’s notion that they will get the same results as the man in the advertisement has gotten. The audience becomes focused on the advertisement—it becomes their inspiration and they think for a moment that with that product, they can look like that too.

Marketers are aware of the familiarity appeal: if one can easily relate to the advertisement, he will be more likely to buy the product. A new Nissan advertisement [Figure 9] not only has this appeal but it destabilizes the traditional stereotypes of men and reinforces others. The man spending time with his baby cuddled up in a bed may appear as cute to mothers. A man reading to his children in bed clashes with the traditional image of the workingman too busy to spend time with his children. Women typically read children’s books to their children, but in this instance a man is reading a Nissan Manual to his child. The typical “family man” is not often represented in advertisements. But this family dad is common trend in a way. He is raising the child to become the stereotypical “macho” man interested in cars. The ad reinforces our generalization that all of men love cars but destabilizes our judgment that only women raise their children.

Most advertisements are not extreme because then they would not appeal to a large audience. Therefore most advertisements either correspond with our typical stereotypes or have a tinge of an unusual new image that destabilizes the common trend. The Victorian Era has set the trend that women shall eat small rations of food and advertisements have morphed the ideal female image into a pretty slim girl eating snacks, too busy to cook. As a new destabilizing image appears, it is gradually accepted by the audience and over time becomes the norm. Our current trends have been a product of all the destabilizing images and the stabilizing images of the past. We have seen new advertisements for men’s weight loss, men cooking, and men showing affection to their children—all traditionally female interests. The interests of men and women are becoming obscure. Men and women are starting to share many experiences making them more equal with time. They have both been exploited in advertisements, and now they are both taking on the same daily activities. Men and women have been becoming gradually equal, maybe we can hope for complete equality in the futures.

Works Cited
Bordo, Susan. “Hunger as Ideology.” Ways of Reading. Ed. Bartholomae and Petrasky. Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2002. 139-170.