Today's Advertisements in Reference to Way's of Seeing

Today's advertisements in reference to "Ways of seeing"

Are women beautified in advertisements for the world to see or are they just blindly belittle? Let me explain. An essay in Reading Culture which we read for class call "Ways of seeing" by John Berger introduced the idea of degrading women by advertising. His essay was targeted towards early popular European oil paintings that portray women only in the nude as if they were subduing the viewer. He argues that women were painted this way because the viewers of those paintings were male. In all essence I agree because 500 years later we have evolved from classic oil paintings to high definition cameras and computerized alterations that create the same degrading and disrespectful image that eventually turn into advertisements. He was correct with his observations considering the most successful female companies are run by men that constantly advertise the ideal women causing everyday women to seek perfection. Inevitably advertising the beautiful women get all the attention, praises and the best treatment.

A well-known company that is notorious for advertising the "perfect women" is Victoria's Secret. Victoria's secret is a women's company created by a man that is globally renowned. They became so eminent that they have their own runway pageant. Their popularity and recognition came by displaying the ideal women in their advertisements which are borderline nudity. The girls appear to have the classic coke bottle shape that most men wish their women to have. Behind the scenes the pictured have been altered to make the women breast look full and her hips huge while giving her an abnormal thin waist. In his essay on pg 209 John wrote "Men act and women appear." This short statement is indeed powerful because it summaries the theme of his whole essay and tides in with the purpose of this paper. A man Victor created a company that feeds of the insecurities of women and exploits their insecurities by creating an image with their models of how the perfect women should looked. The real woman as well her man compared her with that advertised image. Failing to realize perfection cannot be attain she's constantly on her toes to appear perfect, therefore being comfortable is not a norm for her anymore but being sexy is.

Seeking perfection leaves no room for flaw, so the woman has to be on top of her game at all times. Looking perfect is the objective, and even though the popular saying dictates that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, society statues its own beauty. Every culture or society has their own version of beauty and their women in that culture are judged by how close they match that image. In the United States women are encouraged to look like Catharine zeta Jones or Beyonce but if you look like Rosanne you find yourself having a tougher time