Introduction
Advertisers faced with challenges of a hard marketing environment sometimes shock the world by the way the process is done. Though their aim is to be noticed by their clientele, recent incidences of violence, especially towards women, have called for a change in advertising policies aimed at reducing attacks on women. It is estimated that one in every five women in the United States has been a victim of sexual assault. These statistics are even more astonishing in other parts of the world. However, instead of advertisers acknowledging that their content might be one of the contributors towards the violence, disguise it as artistic expression, humor, and innuendo while hoping that it would work the promotional magic that will market their products. Sex especially where there is no romance from time immemorial has been a subject that is surrounded by fantasies. One of these fantasies is dominance where the male figure is seen as the dominant figure and the female is considered as the submissive subject.
The Dominant and Submissive Subjects in Advertising
Looking back at the history of advertising one can notice that there has been a growing trend of displaying this message of the dominant and the submissive subjects. The one area that has received less attention is to what extent do the media contribute to violence not necessarily towards women but towards each other may it be among different races, ages, or even countries. In this discussion, we explore two articles that have tried demystifying this concept. It shall also compare and contrast how the authors present their research and the effect final thereof of the overall analysis. The articles are "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity" by Jackson Katz and "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence" by Jean Kilbourne.
Comparison of Presentations
Both Katz and Kilbourne in their presentation agree that violence against women is male gendered. However, the difference arises in how each has presented his or her argument. Katz seems to be more of a wordy person choosing to concentrate more on words while Kilbourne has gone the extra mile to include graphics maybe in an effort to show the absurdities that some advertisements will go to in the quest of clientele. This is not to say that Katz argument is less convincing but by Kilbourne choosing to include pictures of real advertisements, one can agree that the message is passed on better and clearly gets more attention. For instance, Katz to demonstrate violence towards women uses a Norwegian Cruise Line advertisement that ran in the 1990s which consisted of a colorful painting of a scene in the ship's deck where men with swords drawn appear to be enjoined in a fight while other men are seen to be carrying women. The headline of the advert ran as "First cruise line whose entertainment does not revolve around the bar" (Katz, 1993, p354). On the other hand, Kilbourne in her analysis of violence towards women uses a visual advertisement that ran in the Czech version to promote jeans. The advert showed a vicious image of a woman being attacked by three men who presumably wanted to take away her jeans. Katz illustration requires one to develop a mental image of the advertisement while Kilbourne does not need that. However, even though both adverts depending on one point of view are meant to be compelling or even attractive, the subtle message that plays in one mind or fantasy is that of domination or even gang rape.
The Importance of Statistics
The issue of violence towards women cannot be complete without the inclusion of statistics. This is one aspect where Katz and Kilbourne differ. They both talk of violence but comparing the two narratives only Kilbourne has gone the extra mile again to provide us with statistics borrowed from other sources that show how serious sexual assault towards women and girls is. Without numbers, violence towards women can be taken like a passing crowd that will diminish after a short time but with numbers, one's attention towards the subject is enhanced and the gravity of the matter realized. She notes that sexual assault in the United States ranks the highest in any industrialized nation in the world. According to a survey by the federal government, one in every five women has been a victim of attempted rape or rape mostly before the age of seventeen. It also noted that men close to them have physically assaulted more than half of the women, in fact, the study noted from the respondents that rape is often perpetrated by current or former husbands, a date or a cohabiting partner. The irony of the matter is that this research instead of attracting the front page of a newspaper was overtaken by a story about New England football team. By pointing out the statistics, Kilbourne is able to identify the weaknesses not just in the media but also in the structures of government that are meant to safeguard its citizens. Consider the case in Canada in 1990 where a babysitter molested a three-year-old girl. The judge in his ruling found that the girl was to blame for what befell her because she was "sexually aggressive," and suspended the sentence of her molester who returned to his job as a babysitter (Kilbourne, 1999, p435). It is like a case where a farmer invites back the wolf that ate his sheep, very unbelievable. It is astonishing how the media and society have turned the blame on the victims because women have been turned to sexual objects.
Violence Against Different Communities
Unlike Kilbourne whose main theme is media-driven violence towards women, Katz, on the other hand, explores violence against other communities or races. In one of the illustrations, he mentions an advert that was run by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a renowned financial institution. The advert replicates a battle sometime in history where muscled toy figures are accompanied by ironically skeleton-like men preparing for a sword fight. The text of the advert read "How the Masters of the Universe Overcame the attack of the Deutschemarks." In yet another advert that Dell computers ran in the 1990s showed a painting of white cowboys on their horses shooting at Indians. The line of the advert ran "Being able to run faster could come in real handy" (Katz, 1993, p354). While these two adverts were meant to attract attention, they tend to open up old or healing wounds. The first advert speaks of disgust against the Deutschmark, read Germany, and while it might be true, smearing it on the face of Germans would not go very well. The second advert opens up old or cured wounds because it reminds people, Red Indians specifically, of the atrocities they underwent under the hand of the white man. History, especially bad history, should not be used to remind people of things they had better forget to co-exist better in the modern-day society.
The Role of Media and the Call for Responsibility
Freedom comes with responsibility so as much as the media enjoys the freedom it has today, it should also take responsibility for its actions. This is something that both authors of the narratives discussed could agree. Each has used a different way of bringing out the seriousness of the issue. For Katz, he has presented it in a somewhat humorous way but still one can sense that our media is overdoing it. For Kilbourne, it is a cry, a plea for attention that something has to be done quickly before the situation runs out of hand. One thing that they both agree on is that media, to a large extent, is a major contributor to violence mostly so against women. Repeated and widespread use of graphics that portray women as objects can seriously disturb how we view and understand women. Women deserve to be portrayed in a manner that respects their safety and for this to happen, legislation, media, and social marketing campaigns are needed. If advertisers are to profit from their role as intermediaries, they must as well shoulder their responsibilities. Public policy efforts and consumer activism are also measures needed to bring sanity to the advertising practice.
References
Katz, J. (1993).Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity.
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Kilbourne, J. (1999). Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence.
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