Jim Wright
English 101
Sexual content is used in advertisements, but the way that it is
presented depends on the target audience. In advertisements directed at
men, the women are shown wearing little or nothing at all. When people look
at a man in an advertisement directed at men, the man tends to have a
strong masculine physique. When women are presented in advertisements
directed towards women, they are shown conducting theirself in a respectful
way. In advertisements targeting female consumers, the man tends to have a
masculine attitude with a nice body, but at the same time they are
sensitive and in touch with their feminine side. Advertisements are full
of sexual content, but the manner in which it is presented all depends on
which gender is looking at it.
The first type of advertisement that will be talked about are the
advertisements targeted at men depicting a beautiful woman. When a man is
flipping through a magazine and passes by a page that has an attractive
woman on it, of course he is going to take a second and look. When he
stops to look at the woman he will see what is advertised and when he does
this the advertisers have accomplished what they set out to do. The man
sees this woman in the advertisement and believes that by buying this
product perhaps he will attract a women like this. For example, in a
Bacardi Rum advertisement from a recent men's sports magazine, there is a
picture of a women's waistline and she is holding a glass of rum along with
a lime. This is a woman with perfect, stereotypical curves. She also has
a belly button ring for added sexual tone. When a man looks at this
advertisement and sees this perfect body, he thinks, 'if I had a bottle of
this Bacardi Rum, I could have a women that looks like this.' Bacardi is
trying to get the consumer to think that all women who are as physically
gifted as this woman drink Bacardi and if they drink it a woman of this
nature will want them. This is merely a marketing scheme. There are very
few, if any, women who will want to be with a man because he is drinking a
certain kind of alcohol. This will sell so much because a man will see
this and the next time he goes out to a bar, for example, he will order a
Bacardi with a twist of lime because of what he has seen and it will give
him added confidence to approach a beautiful women.
In advertisements depicting men and targeted to a male audience
usually shows a bold, egotistical man. This advertisement says that if
the consumer uses this product, he will be as big and strong as this man.
It also says that the buyer will have the man's attitude and it will make
him more of a man than he could ever be if he did not use this product.
This type of advertisement will catch a man's eye just about as fast as a
good looking woman would, but in a different way. When a man sees another
man who is incredibly big, he thinks to himself, what could I do to achieve
something that nature? Men always wants to be ...