Based upon Pranab's minutes gift, posted here, I'd like us to consider the following question:
How does advertising create insecurity and in turn, persuade more consumers to purchase "beauty" products?
Watch the video and participate in the discussion. Be sure to read others' comments and respond in an appropriate and mature manner.
Enjoy.
Many advertisements set an unrealistic goal for beauty. People are very insecure about the way they look because they fear others judgement. Advertisements use this insecurity to promote their product. People see the ad, and compare themselves to the person in the ad. They think that getting that beauty product will help them rise in the eyes of their peers, when in fact the person in the picture doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emlyn. As a girl, I understand the insecurity that others may feel about how people will judge them. (This is usually why it takes me so long to choose my clothes in the morning.) Billboards and advertisements add to people's insecurity because they may feel intimidated by beautiful models depicted on them. These beauty products advertised may not even be related to the person that is in the ad. Despite all this though, many people usually look at the model and the product and immediately associate them together, therefore urging them to buy the product.
ReplyDeleteexpanding on what emlyn said, these advertisements are trying to reveal the insecurities you have about yourself by showing how u compare to someone who is more beautiful deemed by society. This can be related to the pecking party in the one flew over the cuckoos nest. However its ironic that they are setting a an "ugly" person to play the role as a role model for everyone else. So all in all by these ads pecking at your flaws they are making u feel worse about yourself compared to others causing you to purchase these beuty products.
ReplyDeleteThey set an "ugly" person to play that role because it is trying to convey to the people who watch those ads, that a person as "ugly" as that can become beautiful if they use that product thus the people watching decides that if those people on the ad can do it then so can they. That how advertisements manage to get so many people interested. Also adding on to the topic about insecurity of how others may feel about you because most people will only met you once in their life and most of their opinions and judgements about you will be based on that moment, and since its such a short time period, theres no way they can know anything about you except your appearance and the way you dress and sometimes just those observations can in fact tell a person alot about you. For example, if a person decides to wear extremely fancy then 1) they are heading to an important event or 2) They are insecure about their appearance and they wish to look nice in front of others.
DeleteI feel that ads only apply to people who cannot see past the glimmering aspect of the advertisement itself, and that the ad only has one goal, to get "you" to buy or defect to their side. Undoubtedly, educated people realize this, and do not fall for this tricks and schemes. Commercials do not affect me as I only watch commercial-free TV. I hate YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI agree that commercials use our insecurity of gaining bad impressions from others to their advantage to prove that by using what they're selling, people will think we look beautiful like the model they use. With Dove creating this type of commercial, though, it displays a different perspective of what we believe is beautiful. We want to buy a product because we believe we will become as beautiful as was advertised, but in a way, we are aspiring to be something that is not humanly real, but was created through long hours of makeup and major changes of the face using computer programs (Photoshop?). Despite knowing that the face on the billboard is not the actual human face of the model used, we use the products because we want give our peers, or any complete stranger, a good impression of ourselves. From students to teachers to employers or high-profile executives, we want to give the best first impression so we won't have to live through the fear of being judged badly.
ReplyDelete-Tiffany (4)
All commercials present 'standards' for how one is supposed to look, and through these standards people decide what is considered beautiful and what is not. I agree with Konrad in the fact that only truly insecure people fall for these commercials; if one understands that they cannot change their appearance based on others because that would make you 'them' and not yourself, then that person would realize how evil these commercials are. I actually saw the video before and it shows how not only do people use make up for physical appearance, but then they use PHOTOSHOP. You look 'good' on a computer, but that is not who you really are in real life; you are basically holding a computer monitor in front of your face. All im really saying is that without these commercials people would most likely not have to think about transforming themselves into a image that is 'fit' for society and they would except have they looked as themselves.
ReplyDeleteWonderful comments. A couple questions I'd like to pose.
ReplyDeleteKonrad and Daniel seem to suggest that only "truly insecure" individuals "fall for" commercials. And I think they raise a really great point. When we see a commercial attempting to expose our insecurities, we tend to find the effort revolting and offensive. But considering how many advertisements one sees in a day's time. Is it possible that somehow these "insecure" commercials are finding a way to penetrate our unconscious mind?
Also, Tiffany raises a great point in her comments that commercials are trying to sell you a product that will transfer beauty to you. But with this video that you've watched by Dove, it does indeed provide a different perspective, that perhaps we should attempt to rethink our perception of beauty (what we call "aesthetics").
BUT!!!! We need to remember that Dove's prime object is to SELL SOAP, not make people feel better about their appearances. Is it possible that Dove is using these commercials to appeal to our progressive, open-mindedness to sell soap? I'm instantly reminded of old Sprite commercials and a rather recent Dr. Pepper commercial. Sprite proclaims that "image is nothing...thirst is everything. drink sprite." And Dr. Pepper presents individuals wearing Dr. Pepper shirts with a song playing over the commercial in which a man sings "I gotta be me." How can one be an individual by conforming and buying the same product that everyone else buys? Aren't these commercials, especially the Dove commercial, speaking out of both sides of their mouths?
I think that this finally gives girls a true insight to what they're striving for. Most girls don't have hours a day to do makeup or have high end lighting technology. We all saw what the woman looked like before all this work, and then after. Before she looks like the average woman. But after somehow she ends up looking like a high-end model. I think this gives a false hope to girls if they try hard enough they will become models. But on the flip side, it shows that even if you're not the most "attractive" person, neither are the models that are shown to you. It gives a sense of reality is what this video does.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pranab because although these advertisements are trying to negatively impact people's self-esteem, they can accidentally boost it. When people see a picture of a model/celebrity without make-up, they are most likely to get happy because they are constantly comparing themselves to these people who they can not be. This makes them feel that they don't need to be that beautiful. But, some people are more urged to go out and buy beauty products because they feel that they have a chance to look like what these stars don't look like. I kind of feel that people in marketing post how the models look without on make up purpose. Also, with the sprite commercial, they're telling their customers that they shouldn't care about others people's opinions or their own health and just drink because they're living now, not in the future. I think that's wrong, because we should worry about ourselves, but there is a limit.
ReplyDeleteThe commercials show insecurities by showing all the flaws a person can have(the before picture) and then show how the product can change them into someone beautiful. It's just Photoshop and makeup it's not the product. Dove is a soap brand and people use soap to clean themselves. Dove is exaggerating that if someone cleans themselves with Dove, they can become this gorgeous model. For the Sprite commercial, when you compare drinking to image, it's drinking because it's a necessity. So I think Sprite is saying everyone has to drink, it doesn't matter what you look like just drink our product! Dr. pepper is saying the same thing that no matter your image, you can drink our product.
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ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, as others have said, the use of programs like Photoshop has created a new standard for beauty that is simply impossible to achieve in real life. It drives people insane, contributing to the rate of anorexics and bulimics. Even if you don't pay much attention (or at least think you don't) to the advertisements, the fact is that you can't avoid seeing modified pictures of people plastered everywhere - it might affect you subconsciously.
ReplyDeleteThe messages of the commercials like the ones for Dr. Pepper and Sprite, upon further thought, seem to be contradictory. Like Mr. Ferencz pointed out, they are telling everyone to be themselves, but to do that they must buy their product first. The same commercial is being watched by many people, so if people really did purchase their product they would not become any more unique. This reminds me of doublethink from 1984 - somehow, companies are able to tie two contradictory things (Everyone drinking Dr. Pepper vs. being unique) together into a way that works for them. The human mind is capable of being tricked like this.
Here's a relevant video that I mentioned in Period 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_vVUIYOmJM
It's a parody of how Photoshop is essentially being used as a beauty product by actually depicting it as a beauty product; they even make the name look foreign and change the accent on Adobe to make it sound French/Italian, just like a lot of beauty products out there today.
(last comment deleted because I saw a typo)
Advertising creates insecurity because in order to market a product successfully, people need to be attracted to the advertisement. One way this is done is photoshop. Like Elvin said, photoshop has completely changed our perception of beauty. It sets a new and unrealistic standard for people. Photoshop makes a person "perfect" or at least on screen. The audience that views these advertisements are awed by the beauty of the actors. This brings out and shows the insecurities people have; the idea that people think that their beauty isn't enough. Our perception of beauty is distorted from these commercials. Commercials also tie in the beauty of the actors with the product; this is their way of enticing the viewer to buy it so that they'll be as beautiful as the actor.
ReplyDeleteErik I think what advertisement are doing is extremely smart. They pick at a person's own self confidence. They will show them what they look like right now and how people view them, then the commercials will show how they can make a person look like and see the improvement on how people will treat them. By depicting the "improvement", people will begin to doubt themselves and therefore sought to buy these products in order to "improve" themselves.
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