Advertisements Questions

1. What is the purpose of advertising?

 

Advertisements are generally meant to sell an idea or get people on board with an idea/person. Advertisements may intend to sell a product like potato chips or shampoo. Other ads can be political, trying to get you to vote for a certain party.

 

2. What do you notice about the advertisements? How do the models in them look? Do they have anything in common?

 

Models in advertisements generally look seductive and oddly proportioned. Many advertisements feature a model slowly walking towards the camera using the produce they’re trying to sell or laughing/flipping their hair(especially shampoo commercials).

 

3. Do the models look like everyday people you would see on the street? Why or why not?

 

No, many models in ads are heavily photoshopped/airbrushed to make them more attractive. Their proportions are extremely unrealistic and in many cases, impossible.  

 

4. Look at their expressions. Describe what you see.

 

They look content/happy using the product. In the old spice and fashion ones, the models look all smoky/mysterious/interesting. They just look handsome. In the female one, the model has a weird unrealistic contour that makes her face look really defined.

 

5. What messages do magazine, TV, and Internet advertisements send to people about body image?

 

Many of them send messages about unrealistic proportions being ideal. Many fitness magazines have oddly proportioned bodybuilders who do not have ideal bodies themselves. Many others models are malnourished and unhealthy. They generally promote unhealthy goals.

 

6. Do you believe there really is an ideal body type?

 

No. I’m not really an expert but it seems to me like everyone has a different type of body. Some people can put on more weight and still be as healthy as other people. Take Fedor Emelianenko for example, he’s not cut like many other fighters, but he was still able to perform at an extremely high level. It’s all about the person.

 

7. Is it realistic for everyone to try to achieve the look of advertising models?

 

No. Many advertising models are perfectly proportioned and their images are heavily altered before being published. They are usually either extremely difficult to achieve or impossible/unhealthy.

8. Why do you think ads & models are portrayed in such a manner? How does it make you feel when looking at them?

 

Ads want to promote the idea that their product will make consumers look like the models in them. I don’t really feel a certain way looking at them. I understand that many of these images are heavily altered so I don’t think too much of them.