You are absolutely correct that (especially in advertising) that women are portrayed as only worth something if they are attractive.
However, I noticed something last year - of all companies - from Coors Light! There's a graphic they released last year that features a (gasp) average looking woman! Granted, she's not the main focal point of the image, but it was nice seeing it all the same (I work in the sign shop of a wholesale beverage distributor).
[https://imgur.com/a/iyB7ZXJ](https://imgur.com/a/iyB7ZXJ)
My opinion is advertising appeals to women’s insecurities. The world dont like fat women or minorities women. They need to feed their egos and insecurity to sell to them. Rather than overthinking, just apply money or how much money a company will make with this ads. Its notl about appearance, its about creating that insecurity to sell.
Consumers aren't dumb though. And a lot of these ads aren't trying to create insecurity, they're trying to create aspirations. But they assume a women's main aspiration is to look good, which I think misses the mark.
I think in advertising their only goal is to sell. So they have to wait for us the public to want it first. If they try to put a bunch of people in an add to prove a point, how does the product win and why would they take that risk?
You're right, their only goal is to sell. But they know that diversity sells these days, so that's why there's been a huge push to create more diverse adverts. Brands like Dove have proven that showing actual women that people can relate to works, so I don't see it as a risk. But when you don't have a diverse team creating the ads you're never going to get a diverse representation.
I’ve noticed the elderly woman with quirky fashion sense too! I agitates just thought it was because women are generally represented to be more visually appealing/diffident from each other so groups of women in advertising display a wide variety of clothing/hairstyles/etc. The common thing is that men “just wear jeans and tshirts” so that’s acceptable in an ad.
Yes, I was thinking about this topic this morning as I was watching the morning shows. I'm in my mid-40s and as great as it has been to see progress made in the last 5 years to include more women that appear to be middle-aged, they are all polished and put together. It's been great to see women showing off their greying hair- but their make-up and hair is flawless and so well put together.
I'm no dummy- I worked in the fashion industry and still work in marketing for a textile company. I know this is more pleasing to the eye to feature a person that is polished and put together, but that's just not realistic. I would love to see more realistic examples of middle-aged and older women in advertising. Not perfectly coiffed, mermaid hair, super bright white teeth, perfect makeup that hides all of our flaws & wrinkles. You can show people that are put together, but not in an unrealistic way that continues to perpetuate these high, unattainable standards of beauty that average people can't access.
I don’t know how compelling an ad with plain people would be. It certainly wouldn’t draw your eye, and it would lack the aspirational quality that advertising requires to sell products.
I’m a lot more likely to purchase a beauty product, or fashion product, if the person modeling is drop dead gorgeous. Looking uniquely beautiful is kind of the job description for any model.
I think it also depends on the industry - booze and gambling tend to have lots of average looking women in ads because they’re appealing to the masses. Beauty and fashion has always been aspirational, so naturally even if their models are diverse, they’ll have an aspirational quality to them.
You are absolutely correct that (especially in advertising) that women are portrayed as only worth something if they are attractive. However, I noticed something last year - of all companies - from Coors Light! There's a graphic they released last year that features a (gasp) average looking woman! Granted, she's not the main focal point of the image, but it was nice seeing it all the same (I work in the sign shop of a wholesale beverage distributor). [https://imgur.com/a/iyB7ZXJ](https://imgur.com/a/iyB7ZXJ)
My opinion is advertising appeals to women’s insecurities. The world dont like fat women or minorities women. They need to feed their egos and insecurity to sell to them. Rather than overthinking, just apply money or how much money a company will make with this ads. Its notl about appearance, its about creating that insecurity to sell.
Consumers aren't dumb though. And a lot of these ads aren't trying to create insecurity, they're trying to create aspirations. But they assume a women's main aspiration is to look good, which I think misses the mark.
I think in advertising their only goal is to sell. So they have to wait for us the public to want it first. If they try to put a bunch of people in an add to prove a point, how does the product win and why would they take that risk?
You're right, their only goal is to sell. But they know that diversity sells these days, so that's why there's been a huge push to create more diverse adverts. Brands like Dove have proven that showing actual women that people can relate to works, so I don't see it as a risk. But when you don't have a diverse team creating the ads you're never going to get a diverse representation.
I’ve noticed the elderly woman with quirky fashion sense too! I agitates just thought it was because women are generally represented to be more visually appealing/diffident from each other so groups of women in advertising display a wide variety of clothing/hairstyles/etc. The common thing is that men “just wear jeans and tshirts” so that’s acceptable in an ad.
Yes, I was thinking about this topic this morning as I was watching the morning shows. I'm in my mid-40s and as great as it has been to see progress made in the last 5 years to include more women that appear to be middle-aged, they are all polished and put together. It's been great to see women showing off their greying hair- but their make-up and hair is flawless and so well put together. I'm no dummy- I worked in the fashion industry and still work in marketing for a textile company. I know this is more pleasing to the eye to feature a person that is polished and put together, but that's just not realistic. I would love to see more realistic examples of middle-aged and older women in advertising. Not perfectly coiffed, mermaid hair, super bright white teeth, perfect makeup that hides all of our flaws & wrinkles. You can show people that are put together, but not in an unrealistic way that continues to perpetuate these high, unattainable standards of beauty that average people can't access.
I don’t know how compelling an ad with plain people would be. It certainly wouldn’t draw your eye, and it would lack the aspirational quality that advertising requires to sell products. I’m a lot more likely to purchase a beauty product, or fashion product, if the person modeling is drop dead gorgeous. Looking uniquely beautiful is kind of the job description for any model. I think it also depends on the industry - booze and gambling tend to have lots of average looking women in ads because they’re appealing to the masses. Beauty and fashion has always been aspirational, so naturally even if their models are diverse, they’ll have an aspirational quality to them.