Abstract
Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the modern consumer world. Organizations rely heavily on advertising to draw consumer attention to their market offering. Besides being a profit making gizmo at the hands of marketers, advertising also plays an important role in influencing social attitudes and moral standards. However, today’s ad world has been less sensitive towards health of the moral fabric of society and has been accused by many for objectifying women. Unfortunately, women have been transformed into commodities to be marketed. Commodification of women has been happening at a subliminal level. This paper examines how advertising transforms manifold attitudes towards women turning them into mere objects to be looked at. The paper also aims to highlight the arguments ethicists have given against using a woman’s body and desirability to sell various products. They also warn that this kind of portrayal can have serious repercussions for the society, as it strongly influences how women are being viewed.
Highlights
Advertising is an essential requisite of the marketing strategy of any product or service
It is an elementary part of a capitalist society and has become part and parcel of our daily life
President of the marketing firm Yankelovich, Jay Walker-Smith says, “Everywhere we turn, we're saturated with advertising messages trying to get our attention
Summary
Advertising is an essential requisite of the marketing strategy of any product or service. It is an elementary part of a capitalist society and has become part and parcel of our daily life. According to Advertising Age, a global source of news, intelligence and conversation for marketing and media communities; 36 companies in the US alone, spend more than $1 billion a year on ads. Companies desperate to make a buck, ignore the price society pays when marketers cross the moral limits. This effect is pronounced when ads portray women as fetish models. To identify the major social costs associated with objectifying women through ads
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