Instead of telling and showing women who they should
be, they would celebrate who they already are
Advertising has proven to be an
influential medium that uses language, images, and representation constructs to
persuasively reflect the audience’s aspirations and carefully shape their
perceived reality in an attempt to sway purchasing decisions. Physical look has
taken on a significant role in every aspect of living in a society where the
so-called "first impression" rules. It has grown to the point where
it is now a business worth about $500 billion. As the world develops, this
market's transformation has produced an unrealistic benchmark for breeding. The
ideal beauty rhetoric is not only unachievable, but it also has a significant
effect on the world.
The first thing that comes is colorism, The societal norm of fair
color presents a constant challenge to each person's distinct skin tone.
Profit-driven businessmen and beauty industry titans take advantage of this
chance. In China, South Asia, and some regions of Africa, the skin-lightening
business is a multibillion-dollar one. According to a 2011 World Health
Organization study, 40% of African women, including nearly 8 in 10 Nigerian
women, lighten their skin. There is a constant demand for beauty products and
the cycle continues, resulting in advertisements that create a void in women
that can only be filled by beauty products.
It is not uncommon to see men in
advertisements working, playing a sport, making a phone call, driving—some sort
of act that denotes a goal and a purpose. Meanwhile, women in the same
advertisement might be positioned as the object of such purpose or as the
prize—the gazer and the gazed. Pantene's “Labels Against Women” commercial
highlights double standards but fails to address unrealistic representations of
women.
Campaigns supporting the notion that
"dark is beautiful" have been used by activists in recent years to
try to undermine the fixation with fairness. femvertising campaigns: Dove’s
“Campaign for Real Beauty,” Always’ 's “Like a Girl” campaign, and Pantene’s
“Shine Strong” campaign. Although femvertising diversifies the
representation of women and girls in the media by challenging restrictive
beauty standards and damaging rhetoric.
In 2015, SheKnows Media, a digital
lifestyle media company focused on women, introduced the first-ever
#Femvertising Awards to highlight brands who, through creative advertising
campaigns, work to dismantle gender stereotypes and empower women and girls.
All this inspires a change and reduction in the over-sexualization of women in
advertisements.
"Beauty Begins at the moment when you decide to
be yourself" and believing in yourself is that weapon that
can make you a person of your terms, your rules.No matter who is commenting
what over your body, maybe society, relatives or sometimes parents, at the end
of the day it's you, your body, your life and you are the owner of that not
others. perfection is not something we should aspire for as it is synonymous with
god only, we as human beings need to get out of this vicious circle of
perfection or standards and try to live a life full of positivism and that
would be your life, not others.
So 'Just because you don't fit society's standards of beauty, doesn't mean you aren't beautiful'.
Written by Riya Sharma
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