Key Concepts in Advertising: Objectification

Abstract

Abstract: Key Concepts in Advertising articles provide short lectures on an important concept to help understand advertising’s place in society, culture, history, and the economy. This article focuses on the concept of objectification. This term is addressed within the disciplines of women’s studies, sociology, philosophy, visual culture, and advertising; in the latter field, feminist Jean Kilbourne has used the term for decades in her critique of modern advertising and its use of sexuality. Other scholars have also used the work of sociologist Erving Goffman, especially Gender Advertisements (1979), to discuss the ways that objectification works within ads through gendered and racialized depictions of models. A series of short videos define objectification and provide background information about Kilbourne’s and Goffman’s work, among other theorists. After several ads are deconstructed, viewers are encouraged to analyze an ad, using these terms to unpack the meaning within advertising in the ways it treats women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Two media scholars join the authors to help with these analyses. The last video in the series looks ahead at challenges for the industry, in terms of self-objectification, depictions of transgender people, and the use of Big Data. A recommended reading list provides other sources for learning more about objectification, self-objectification in the age of selfies, and sexuality in advertising.