Women and Advertising

As surprising and completely offensive this ad was to me, not only is it real, but it's also current, and aimed towards women, in some sort of ironic, throwback "let's market to women through essentialist stereotypes" kind of way. While the text is extremely off-putting, the pin-up, Edward D'Ancona aesthetic is something I find really beautiful when done tastefully, so it is eye-catching, before being so overtly crude as to completely dispel my interest. The woman appears happy, but judging from the accompanying text, her happiness seems to be predicated on the common lie that women must objectify themselves in order to gain approval from society, or fulfillment on a personal level. The ad is selling vodka, in an age where the martini is extremely en vogue for the single lady (think Sex and the City), while assuming that throwing back to Helen Gurley Brown-esque attitudes about female sexuality is a relevant way of catching the attention of the young social climber. Note also that the young social climber represented is thin and white, as is the case with all media catering to this genre of persons. Apparently, only white women drink martinis. "Van Gogh" implies a level of cultural appreciation and glamour that people tend to look for in their beverages of choice, yet the implicit message of the text in the ad is decidedly more lowbrow, catching attention with cheap humor and a calculatedly loose lifestyle. I must, of course, clarify that I am in no way puritanical about women owning their sexuality in whatever manner they see fit, but I do experience considerable internal opposition to the empty-headedness that this caption encourages. It makes me wonder why these female stereotypes are being reinforced by the focus groups as being accurate, and why despite its blatant manner of pontificating on the same worn out stereotypes, the ad campaign is still being hailed as "edgy," not only by the advertising company, but also by the New York Times. Of course, women becoming complicit sexual objects is nothing new, as they are now more risk averse because of contraception and can actively pursue their autonomous sexuality (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 151), and perhaps it's not even my place to say that this is an inappropriate manner of expressing that sexuality, but in reducing young, white, female professionals seeking an after work outlet to their most unflattering common denominator (a parodic sorority girl, essentially), this ad implies that women only value themselves when they play into their own "objectification, commodification... and dismemberment" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208), a set of legs and a mind that will never consider the implications long enough to see that they're not really "in" on the joke. Wouldn't want to risk getting our panties in a bunch, right?

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Elliott, Stuart. "Vodka Brand Goes Edgy as It Reaches Out to Women." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/business/media/09adnewsletter1.html_r=1&pagewanted=2>.

Oh, and p.s. as an added bonus, here's my favorite ad from this campaign:

Service Learning Proposal.

Service Learning Proposal for Voices of Planned Parenthood

By: Patricia P.

September 22, 2010

Meredith Tweed

WST 3015-0001

Community Partner Profile:

Community Partner: Voices of Planned Parenthood

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Orlando, FL 32816

Contact: Cristina Caldruccio; ccruz1017@yahoo.com

Community Partner Mission Statement: “Being pro-choice, we believe that every man and woman have the right to make choices pertaining to their own bodies. In short, every individual should have the fundamental right to manage his or her fertility. VOX supports full access to comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings that preserve and protect the essential privacy of and rights of each individual.” (VOX)

Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: VOX acts as liaison between the university and the reproductive health centers and promotes safer sex practices through education and organizing events for the advocation of public policies that guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services. (VOX)

The Proposal

Memorandum

TO: Meredith L. Tweed

FROM: Patricia P.

DATE: September 22, 2010

RE: Proposal to Write a Feasibility Report for a Service Learning Project

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit VOX: Voices of Planned Parenthood. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a VOX project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the Service Learning project and the community partner.

The Need For Increased Awareness Regarding Reproductive Health

In our current polarizing political climate, the need for substantive information about reproductive health is at an all-time high. Anti-choice activism threatens public policy and opinion, abstinence only education has proven ineffective, but is still employed in many areas, including our neighboring counties, and unsafe sexual practices are commonplace, often with little regard to the implications of STI/STDs. With the support of student volunteers, VOX provides a link between Planned Parenthood and the university, enabling students who have been put into compromising positions with their reproductive health to have peer advocates. Beyond that, education is paramount to the prevention of such situations, as evidenced by VOX’s other goals. 


Plan Proposal:
To that end, in addition to participating in the yet developing event concerning awareness about men and HPV and assisting in providing the vaccinations, Kara and I are planning an off campus movie night, centering on reproductive health for the purpose of consciousness raising by creating a dialogue about the implications of choice, as well as donation-based fundraising for VOX's other events. Because we're using off-campus facilities, most likely a privately owned business, such as Natura or Austin's, the subject matter will not be as dark as it possibly could be (we're debating between Juno and a documentary called Speak Out: I Had An Abortion, if we're able to procure the latter, as it would be preferable), but the goal is geared more the opportunity for analysis and dialogue than offending anyone, of course.

Rationale for Women's Studies:
While we've yet to cover sexuality in relation to feminism in this class, theorizing sexuality and its identitarian implications is central to the mission of women's studies. As an organization, Planned Parenthood's central goal is to educate about the execution of safe sex practices, and beyond that, to allow women in all socioeconomic situations a way out of reproductive situations which would threaten their education, livelihood, and/or emotional and physical wellbeing. An unwanted pregnancy is an incredibly difficult situation for any woman (and her partner, assuming they're involved) to go through, and the attempts of anti-choice activists, most problematically politicians, to shame women for grappling with these issues is deplorable. Because Women's Studies provides a safe place to grow from the perspectives of uniquely female experiences, abortion is central to our understanding of our history (the fight for choice in the second wave), and we must continue to be vigilant in its defense, especially in the wake of the "growing gap between legality and access" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 214). Furthermore, "sexually transmitted infections affect some 19 million people each year, half of them aged 15-24" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 215), and despite this alarming statistic, education is not nearly pervasive enough. Most men are unaware that the HPV vaccination is now available them. While they may live with this STI for years asymptomatically, they can transmit it to female partners who can have their fertility threatened by cervical cancer if it goes undetected. For all of these reasons, VOX is an perfect example of valuable activism pertaining to Women's Studies.

Action:

I have spoken with the vice president of VOX, Rachel, about the organization's plans for the semester, and expressed my interest in assisting her with the HPV event, also mentioning that Kara and I want to plan our own event under the VOX banner, and she is very open to it, as long as our dates don't conflict with other events. I'm going to email Cristina with my plan and when they work out all of their dates, I'll have a better grasp on my own.

Timeline:

Movie Night - some weekend day in November, most likely
HPV Awareness - TBA, contingent on Rachel
Write Preliminary Draft - November 22
Final SL Reflection Paper - December 1

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

Word Count: 884