Blog #7: Come on, come on the camera's on.

I think the images used in used in Calvin Klein’s campaign for jeans definitely pushed the boundaries of child pornography. The ads picture young looking models in a very suspicious looking room. In the commercials there is a man behind the camera asking them a variety of questions, at some points you feel almost awkward watching.

These images do qualify as pornography because they show boys and girls under the age of 16 portraying sexual characteristics. You could also say there is an essence of male dominance because in a few of the ads there are young women in front of the camera and the man you cannot see is giving them directions on what he wants them to do.

In my opinion, these commercials remind me of videos you would see in the news because they were confiscated from some child molester’s basement. Just watching them makes me uncomfortable, it feels like they were not filmed for people to see. Even the models themselves seem a little awkward in them and it gives that feeling to the whole commercial.

The ads were meant to draw attention to the product being sold and they definitely accomplished that. Whether good or bad, attention is still attention. There is no doubt that the ads and the controversy surrounding them made the jeans more popular than they would have been otherwise.

Klein does claim that the ads were intended to “convey the idea that glamour is an inner quality that can be found in regular people in the most ordinary setting; it is not something exclusive to movie stars and models” however, I think that message was lost in the way that it was presented. The way that that ad could be viewed was left way too open for negative interpretation. There were so many ways that this message could be conveyed in a way which would not be viewed as pornography.

I think it was a good thing that the ads were pulled. They sent across the wrong image to young people viewing the ads. The commercials crossed a line that isn’t meant to be crossed, especially when selling a simple pair of jeans.

Blog #6: Why don't you stand up? Be a man about it.

1. Attitude is Everything
-this ad suggests that power is what matters most.
2. The Caveman Mentality
-pirates have a reputation for being aggressive and masculine, and that is used to help sell the product in the ad.
3. The New Warriors
-this ad uses athletes to portray toughness and masculinity by saying that athletes "battle".
4. Muscles and the Ideal Man
-this ad suggests how every man should look or aspire to look like, even though it's an unrealistic body image.
5. Heroic Masculinity
-this ad portays the hero as someone who doesn't show a lot of emotion and uses violence to solve problems.

Blog #5:Campaign for Real Beauty

This was one of the commercials launched by Dove in their campaign for real beauty which began in 2004. These ads all featured real women, not models, to sell Dove's products. The whole goal of the campaign was to make real women feel beautiful by seeing people like themselves on tv instead of the thin, photoshopped images they are exposed to every day.

I think so much focussed is placed on body image because our culture has become so depedent on the media. We've all become addicted to the internet, tv and movies. We're also so focussed on what's popular and what isn't. We want everything to "look good". Everyone just wants to fit in and if the media says being stick thin is "good" then that is what the rest of society is going to believe because there really isn't anyone to tell them otherwise.

The media definitely tells us what is ideal and what isn't. We're exposed to almost all of the time and if the majority of what you're shown are these model-like girls then that is what you are going to think is normal, even though you rarely see a girl like that walking down the street. Because this is normal, we are led to believe that we should strive to look this way no matter how impossible that is in reality.

Women's bodies tend to become more like objects in our society. Even in the past women were put into big, fancy dresses with corsets to give them the ideal tiny waist. In other cultures women aren't even allowed to show off their body. I also remember reading an article on one culture where they actually find the female body more attractive as they age naturally. Of course, in a society like ours that seems so far fetched. Every day were are shown advertisements for products that will make us appear younger.

I think men are put under the same pressures, even though more attention is focussed on women and how they are portrayed in the media. They are supposed to be thin and muscular in order to be considered attractive. This is the ideal image and it is an image that some just cannot achieve no matter how badly they try.

Advertisers and other media outlets control the images that we see. One of the ways that advertisers sell their products is to get the buyer into thinking that "if I use this product, I'll look as good as they do". They are in complete control and even go as far as editting their already beautiful models into looking a certain way.

I think teenage girls and boys are at equal risk to feel this pressure. There are ideal female and male images in the media and there is no reason that both genders shouldn't feel pressured to look a certain way. Teens these days have so much access to so many images of what the rest of society deems "ideal" and they are faced with the pressure to fit in on a daily basis.

The reason I think that Dove chose to air their commercial during the Super Bowl is because those ads become seen by so many people. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched events on television and by playing their ad in front of so many people, it gives their message a chance to reach a larger audience than they would at any other time.

Some people may be critical of the Dove campaign because not all people are capable of dealing with change. The people who are in charge of advertising for other companies might worry about the competition from Dove. Also, the people who have spent time and money trying to achieve this ideal image might protest because they have put so much effort into trying to look the way that society has told them they should look.

I think it's wrong for advertisers to try to sell this idea of "ideal beauty" to people, especially teens and younger children. People deal with enough struggles in life, the least they should be able to do is be comfortable in their own skin without worrying whether or not they'll fit in with everyone else.