What Impact Does the Advertising Industry Have on Our Society Essay Example

Advertising is the making known of something for the sole purpose of selling it. Today, advertisements are brought to our attention via a multitude of media, like the TV, magazines, Internet, billboards, newspapers, as well as amateurish flyers stuffed into mailboxes. Just what impact does this have on our society? To begin with, the way men and women are being portrayed in advertisements is often not fair, as it has consequently led to sexism in our society. Women are presented as sex objects in the media nowadays. It is common to see that they are partly clothed or naked in provocative poses in different advertisements. Women’s bodies are often broken up into different body parts, implicating that women are objects but not complete human beings. Statistics have shown that women in the United States were paid 76 cents for every dollar men received for comparable work in 2004. Clearly, women are seen as the weaker sex, which are less capable to do the same job comparing to men, as a result of these advertisements. In terms of men, they are also victims of reverse sexism. They are constantly presented as sex objects, stupid and insensitive, or “Himbos”. By presenting men as domestically incapable, gender stereotypes are reinforced. There is a large support for ‘Himbo’ programmes such as ‘Man O’Man’, this indicates that women enjoy seeing men being humiliated. The advertising industry bombards women and men with perfect and unattainable bodies and this can consequently result in men and women having low self esteem due to the feelings of inadequacy, unconfident and insecurity. Additionally, the advertising industry is likely a contributing factor for eating disorders. Advertisements present an extremely thin body type as it were the most ordinary and most wanted body type. The unnatural level of preoccupation with slim weight promoted by advertising images is reflected in the fact that eighty percent of ten-year-old girls report having dieted