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Fear
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 <Background:
In psychological, physical and metaphysical senses, advertising
teaches women to fear. This fear takes many forms. In its connection to
the foci of normalization, fear is manifested in advertising that stresses
defending the self against aggressors—in the case of beauty products and
cosmetics the aggressor is not looking good and the effects of age (cf.
Wolf 1991:114-15). Fear is also manifested in the unfortunate reality that
women are more commonly the victims of sexual violence and assault and
men. In a number of the ads women are portrayed as weak and fearful. Some
ads offer the sinister assumption that a woman is about to be the target
of a form of violence or assault, such as in the scenario in which the
woman is walking alone late at night on a deserted street.
The
Ads:
Ads 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13 are troubling as they present women in
situations of peril. Image 6/7 gained much attention in Internet
discussion as many critical viewers read it as a suggestion of a woman
about to be raped. Regardless of this or any other interpretation of these
ads, we can say that the women portrayed in the following ads have less
agency in a number of regards. Questions:
(1) How is fear constructed in the following ads? Are there specific
poses, situations or circumstances that illustrate fear? (2) How is female
oppression, including stalking, domestic violence and rape, referenced (in
some cases obliquely) in these ads? (3) Why do you believe that
advertisers rely on fear as a theme for their ads? >
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<presented by Scott A.
Lukas, Ph.D.>
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