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Gender in Media
Advertising captures people's minds, imposing false standards of beauty that are
impossible to achieve. It produces a devastating effect on women's self-esteem making them
feel flawed. The media industry is gaining more and more power dictating people how they
should look and even who they should be. This tendency can have dramatic consequences for
the whole nation.
Advertising creates an ideal image of a man and a woman causing a desire to look like
them while losing one's own personality (Zayer and Coleman 3). People in advertising are not
even seen as people, their bodies are dismembered and only serve to draw attention to the
advertised product. While it is offensive for both men and women, the latter suffer most, as
there are many criteria by which a woman and her body are evaluated. If there is at least one
defect, then she cannot be considered a woman. Moreover, a female body is often turned into
objects, and this, in its turn, depreciates the human person, making irreparable damage to
female self-esteem. Besides, turning people's bodies into inanimate objects contributes to the
spread of violence.
The advertising industry not only imposes the beauty standards but also the standards
of behaviour. This is especially true about gender relations, when a woman looks weak,
defenseless, and vulnerable, while a man looks confident, brutal and aggressive. As a result, it
forces society to follow false patterns of behaviour, rejecting the fact that both man and
woman has a part of male and female traits. Thus, the image of girls is sexualised from an
early age whereas boys are learned to be tough and insensitive. According to the research of
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the American Psychological Association, this results in the most common mental health
problems, including low self-esteem.
Thus, advertising is a powerful tool that influences nearly all aspects of a human's
life. It imposes false and artificial standards of perfect beauty, making women feel
unattractive. Trying to follow this beauty standard, women acquire plenty of illnesses such as
eating disorder, depression, and low self-esteem. The problem lies even deeper: turning
people's images into objects, devalues a human's personality and encourages violence
committed specifically against women.
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Works Cited
"Killing Us Softly 4 Advertising's Image of Women." YouTube, 7 Feb. 2018,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnAY6S4_m5I.
Tuncay Zayer, Linda, and Catherine A. Coleman (2015). Advertising Professionals’
Perceptions of the Impact of Gender Portrayals on Men and Women: A Question of
Ethics? Journal of Advertising, vol. 44, (3), 2014, pp. 1-12.