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Original Advertisement

Fitness and adopting a healthy lifestyle has become a prominent component in today’s culture. This is magnified by the fact that “the $30 billion health and fitness industry in the U.S. has been growing by at least 3 – 4% annually for the last ten years and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon” (Midgley, 2018). With this, more and more individuals are purchasing memberships for fitness clubs in hopes of embodying the “perfect lifestyle” that many of these centers promise to provide. In order to gain popularity among individuals, these fitness centers have increasingly relied on advertisements to raise awareness and differentiate themselves from competitors. A recurrent key theme is the objectification of women through hyper-sexualized advertisements.

Equinox, a luxury fitness club tries to capitalize on this motivation with its motto “it’s not fitness, its life”. In doing so they depict this image of what a “perfect life” looks like in the realm of fitness and body types with the use of hyper-sexualized images of women. The power that these images have in relation to the construction of one’s identity is concerning. Despite the growing awareness about the issue the mindset that “sex sells” is still clearly prevalent in today’s advertising. The Equinox ad presents women as these objects of lust and desire and in doing so reinforce sexism and gender stereotypes. The woman in this advertisement has a thin body and her positioning places her underneath or below the male. The nuance of positioning the men on top is a clear assertion of dominance and evokes the idea that these women are merely submissive objects. Furthering this, the type of clothing worn is extremely unfitting for the fitness business that is being promoted. The one woman is seen in a low-cut black dress and stilettos which are evidently not proper attire to work out in. All of these elements perpetuate the misogynistic culture that still exists today.

These ads become increasingly critical as “[n]ot only are the models used in the ads a misrepresentation of real American women, but they encourage us to transform into the women being presented” (Perez, 2013). By using these images not only does Equinox reinforce the objectification of women, but it pressures them to live up to these unrealistic and demeaning body standards. 

Jammed Advertisement

In the jammed version of the advertisement, I have attempted to magnify the hyper-sexualization and objectification of women and how this is utilized as a means to attract customers. The first component I changed was the slogan “flex appeal by Equinox” to “sex appeal by Equinox”. In doing so, the clear portrayal of women as merely something to be looked at is heightened. This is extremely harmful to society as it perpetuates an extremely misogynistic mindset and normalizes this way of thinking. Not only does this wording use the women’s looks as a means to attract customers but creates a sense that this is an ideal lifestyle and something to be sought after. Using sex appeal as a key point in the advertisement  “also promotes the treatment of them as inhuman playthings” (Berberick, 2010). In changing the wording I wanted to amplify the unequal positioning and treatment of the man and women in the advertisement. This objectification results in violence and abuse towards many women because it creates the idea that women’s bodies are rewards of consumption. 

As a fitness center that prides itself on its luxury and exclusivity its target demographic is younger working millennials who seek to associate themselves with groups that reinforce their values. The toxic culture that is prevalent in today’s society surrounding the ideals of beauty motivates these individuals to go to extreme lengths in order to fit this image. The second change that I made to the original advertisement was the addition of “Price of perfection: $300/monthly”. This statement in a way tries to justify the extremely high price point of Equinox fitness center and essentially states that you can pay to be perfect. This places increasing pressure on individuals to transform their bodies in order to fit with society’s definition of perfect, an impossible and unhealthy feat. As a result, it promotes eating disorders and extreme measures such as plastic surgery to attain this and “reveal how mediated images of the ideal woman effect female self-image” (Berberick, 2010). 

From a study conducted by researcher Viren Swami and colleagues, it was “found that sexism exists where beauty ideals and practices are rigidly consumed and followed” (Swami et al., 2010). This is evident in the Equinox ad and continues to be an issue in today’s culture that requires immediate action. With this culture jam, I hope to raise awareness about the hyper-sexualization of objectification of women in the media and how this creates a toxic culture promoting violence, unhealthy lifestyles, and eating disorders. It is apparent that changes must be made in order to create a more inclusive and productive society. 

References

Berberick, S. (2010). 1 The Objectification of Women in Mass Media: Female Self-Image in Misogynist Culture. Retrieved 28 February 2020, from https://core.ac.uk/display/103382665

Midgley, B. (2018). The Six Reasons The Fitness Industry Is Booming. Retrieved 28 February 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/benmidgley/2018/09/26/the-six-reasons-the-fitness-industry-is-booming/#484b8ff7506d

Perez, N (2010). Roles of Women in Advertising: The Objectification of Women and the Shift to an Empowering Ad Frame. Retrieved 28 February 2020, from https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/22407/PEREZ-MASTERSREPORT-2013.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Swami, V., Coles, R., Wyrozumska, K., Wilson, E., Salem, N., & Furnham, A. (2010). Oppressive Beliefs at Play: Associations among Beauty Ideals and Practices and Individual Differences in Sexism, Objectification of Others, and Media Exposure. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 34(3), 365-379. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01582.x