Advertising 072229257

Advertising
Name
Date
Institution
“How Advertisement Promotes Sexuality”
Introduction
Advertising refers to promoting your products through means, such as billboards, magazines and newspapers whereas sales promotion is relatively short term and includes sales offers such as discounts, vouchers and buy one get one free offers (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2010, p. 5). With the advent of technology, mass media became one of the most powerful institutions that influence the human way of thought and knowledge. The media does not only limit its power to disseminate information through print (example newspapers and magazines), television or radio. Media has also conquered the virtual space by means of internet. Information travels as fast as the wind in just a single click of mouse. In as much media widely spread its influence, different flaws of media also come into existence. In an instance, women’s bodies were used to successfully market a lot of things through advertising. These advertisements have negatively contributed to these women’s unrealistic impression of themselves; over the years, advertising has instilled insecurity and anxiety in women. By creating this effect, advertisements profitably imply that buying their products can fix these women’s imperfections (Jacobson & Mazur, 1995, p. 74).
Analyzing Go Daddy’s Advertisement
There are many advertisements in the internet, which covers how we should perceive women. For example, the advertisement of Go Daddy, “Perfect Match”, portrayed a man and woman kissing.

This type of advertisement used TV commercial (also posted in YouTube) to market their product. The woman was identified Victoria’s Secret model Bar Refaeli and an American actor Jesse Heiman. The advertisement was shown during the Super Bowl 2013. Bar Refaeli was portrayed very sexy on her pink dress; barely showing off her breast. On the other hand, Jesse Heiman was portrayed a computer geek with messy hair, plump body and wearing eye glasses. There is one narrator who introduces the characters and claimed that “they’re perfect” match. Afterwards, the audience see how the beautiful woman kisses the nerd fat guy.
There are two types of reference groups in advertising: the primary and secondary groups. Primary groups are the people potential consumers interact with everyday. This group includes friends, family members, relatives, and co workers. These groups influence buying decisions in two ways. They used the product or brand themselves or they have influence because of their knowledge of the products (MSG Team, 2013, p. 6). Secondary groups such as political parties, associations and clubs are groups that have an indirect relationship with the consumer. These groups are more formal and individuals do not interact with them on a regular basis (Keefe, 2002, p. 14). The potential consumers of the advertisement under study belong to the primary group. The target audiences of the commercial are women, men, and potential business organizations.
Go Daddy commercial is a form of advertisement that promotes sexuality. In the ad, we see a woman pressing her naked body against a man; a woman bursting her breast out of a loose. By stating those things, one may actually think of a porn magazine or advertisement, but they are not. These are the usual images created from advertisements of some perfumes, sportswear and jeans, and now even internet domain registrar! These images are too mainstream that people are used to seeing them posted in shopping malls, subways and televisions. Not only does it reinforce sexist notions on ideal women but also abuse sexuality.
Advertising can take the form of news paper advertising, signboards among others. This mood of promotion is expressive and unreliable. They are in most cases affected by the observer’s perception as well as been affected by weather and physical damagers from the people passing by (Cockrum, 2011. P. 66). Holding all factors constant, they pass the message but only to those who see it and have interest to the subject. Oftentimes, sex is viewed as commodity, and women’s bodies are gradually perceived as sex objects because of the sexual imagery that advertising has created for them which sometimes borders on pornography. Consumers are exposed to sexually exploitive images in their daily lives which relate to their personal needs, and marketers have found a way to exaggerate what these advertisements really mean through the different depictions of women.
Perchance, the most sexually exploitive advertisements are those that expose women’s body in order to introduce products as seen from Go Daddy Perfect Match commercial. As an audience, there is no connection between Go Daddy, a web domain registrar, and a sexy woman. Definitely, the sexy woman has nothing to do with the company rather it is a strategy used by many marketers in order to attract larger size of consumers. Using women’s bodies is a cheap yet essentially effective trick used my marketers. This strategy could be stopped only if people would stop patronizing them. But over the years, these kinds of approach have proved to be effective that marketers find a way to further explore women’s body and use them in more liberated marketing strategies.
The advertisement Go Daddy also used both rational and emotional appeals in order to convince their target audiences to market their product. The firms try and use catchy images or sensible information on their products (Boone, 2012, p. 2). These should send indicators to different consumers about the products. In the advertisement under study, what caught one’s attention is the portrayal of Go Daddy’s “sexy” and “beautiful” woman in the person of Bar Refaeli. Advertising strategies made people try so hard to make themselves look perfect. An average person sees thousands of advertisements through posters and billboards displaying images of thin, beautiful and long-legged women with porcelain skin that trigger inferiority to those who do not have such physical attributes.
It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who really feeds the beholder’s perception of beauty and desirability in the first place? The message of this advertising creates a sense of insecurity for women and weakens their sense of personality. Women started to hate themselves for not being able to wear fitted jeans and not being able to show off their bodies in sexy bikinis. Women who used to be happy with their looks suddenly want more. A women’s sexuality may have been use out of a good intention, but exposing too much of her body caused exaggeration to the original message it wanted to convey. Perhaps the most saddening part of it is that many were affected but few are willing to stand up for it. These images have been part of our culture that we tend to overlook the possibilities of anorexia, self-destruction and less self-respect that bring. Having said these, I personally view this commercial “sexist”.
Advertisements leave an effect that women unconsciously absorb. It exposes women to self-conscious perspective that makes them view themselves as merely “physical” and everything about their imperfect bodies will be criticized by the censorious eyes of the society (Fuligni, 2007, p. 24). Since the beginning of modern visual culture and advertising, marketers have consistently sought ways to instil insecurity to its consumers, making the viewers self-conscious and keep them dissatisfied. Advertisements have also introduced new paradigm of perfection on women (Boyd & Ellison, 2007, p. 11). In the past years, advertisements tell us that slender waist, wide hips and big breasts define sexiness. Companies do not use plump women in advertising their clothes, not unless a woman is intended to represent products for the “plus-size”. More anti-aging products for women are introduced while very few are designed for men.
Advertisements show different kinds of remedy for women’s fine lines and wrinkles; this somehow suggests that imperfection comes with ageing, and that is probably why they usually use young women to represent their products. This has deliberately implied that a woman has to be young-looking and always beautiful in order to be loved. It is important for them to maintain the fear that forms in the heart of every woman, thinking that if she does not give these products a try, her partner may replace her with younger, more beautiful women – otherwise these advertisements will be useless. Not only does the fear of ageing make cosmetic companies more profitable, it also helps in booming cosmetic surgeries. Advertisements have such a compelling impact that some women are even willing to go under the knife in order to preserve her beauty.
Conclusion
A product might exist for decades within the market without the people actually knowing what the product is, what it is meant for and whom it is meant for. This is where advertising comes into play – it gives voice to the product itself and hence businesses nowadays are finding newer, better means of advertising and promoting their products. Advertising is the platform through which companies can effectively and efficiently communicate with their target audience and respond to their needs. It is the only means of connection between the company and people all across the world. Through the help of different media platforms, companies are able to advertise their products.
Advertising strategies made people try so hard to make themselves look perfect. An average person sees thousands of advertisements through posters and billboards displaying images of thin, beautiful and long-legged women with porcelain skin that trigger inferiority to those who do not have such physical attributes. It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who really feeds the beholder’s perception of beauty and desirability in the first place?
The message of advertising creates a sense of insecurity for women and weakens their sense of personality. Women started to hate themselves for not being able to wear fitted jeans and not being able to show off their bodies in sexy bikinis. Women who used to be happy with their looks suddenly want more. A women’s sexuality may have been use out of a good intention, but exposing too much of her body caused exaggeration to the original message it wanted to convey. Perhaps the most saddening part of it is that many were affected but few are willing to stand up for it. These images have been part of our culture that we tend to overlook the possibilities of anorexia, self-destruction and less self-respect that bring. Everyone is beautiful in her own ways. Just because other women have slender bodies does not mean you do not have much of what they have got. There is no such thing as perfection. It is not about the clothes you wear or how much you weigh; it is about how you carry yourself and how much you love your body that real beauty is measured.
References
Boone, L. (2012). Contemporary marketing. Cengage Learning.
Boyd, D. M. and Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 11-21.
Fuligni, A. J. (2007). Contesting stereotypes and creating identities: Social categories, social identities, and educational participation. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Jacobson, M. & Mazur, L. (1995). Sexism and Sexuality in Advertisement. In M.F. Jacobson & L. A. Mazur (Eds.), Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society, pp. 74-87. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Keefe, S. (2002). Complete guide to Internet publicity creating and launching successful online campaigns. New York: John Wiley.
Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2010). MKTG4 2010. USA: Cengage Learning.
Management Study Guide (2008).Levels of Management.MSG Publications.
Electronic Source
Social Dump (4 February 2013). Official 2013 Super Bowl Commercial: Go Daddy Perfect Match. YouTube. Retrieved < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-SH9a_Cdcs> 16 April 2015.