Original Advertisement
With an influx in media as a major form of communication, our consumerist society utilizes the sexualization of women and their bodies in advertisements in order to sell products. The above ad is an advertisement for Bacardi rum, blatantly depicting a woman in a sexual manner. This provocative depiction of women and their bodies dominates the entirety of the ad, despite being an advertisement to sell alcohol, not women. While alcohol should be desexualized as it is frequently associated with sexual assault, branding does the opposite. The message in this advertisement simply communicates that purchasing a woman is as simple as purchasing alcohol. There is a narrative of male dominance and the notion that alcohol leads to sex.
This advertisement is a part of a set published by Bacardi depicting daytime as work related, Bacardi at night. This ad in particular depicts a woman as sexually open, insinuating that night time and Bacardi rum will lead to sex. To break the photo down simply, it is an objectified woman, who’s body is being utilized to sell alcohol. The women’s face is not featured, further demonstrating how women are perceived as objects. Irony lies in the contrast between her highly esteemed career as a veterinarian, and the depiction of the women undressing herself to leopard lingerie, which is seen as a promiscuous print in itself. The notion of women as a “sex object” has been normalized through advertisements like these. This sexualized nature of this advertisement demonstrates objectification, dominance and patriarchy.
Jammed Advertisement
When jamming my photo, my intentions were to bring major attention to the male gaze that influences advertisements. The idea that alcohol gets sex and lower’s women’s inhibitions is widely known, so the sexualizing nature of many advertisements does not come as a surprise. However, instead of perpetuating this culture, companies should be desexualizing alcohol altogether. My editing to the photo attempts to explain the realistic nature of this Bacardi advertisement. Bacardi attempts to sell their projects to men, depicting an objectified women undressing because of their product. My alteration changed her mundane career to the word “BORING”, bringing attention to how the advertisement depicts daytime as disinteresting. Contrarily, I changed the word Bacardi to “OPEN”. This was altered to demonstrated what the brand is genuinely using in order to sell their products. By adding a price tag with the word “$EX” further expanding what I am attempting to communicate.
While the advertisement attempts to display a woman at the disposal to the viewer, my attempt in jamming this advertisement was to bring the clear intentions of how Bacardi was intending to sell their products. I added “MAKES IT HAPPEN” to the right of the Bacardi logo, exposing the misogynistic and objectifying manner the alcohol brand utilizes in order to sell their products. This deep-rooted attempt to sell sex should not exist in the modern day. Objectifying women is unhealthy for women, men, and society as a whole, and I am hoping to challenge it through my jammed advertisement.