Advertisement by ProActiv Solutions
The image above is a beauty advertisement, produced by ProActiv Solutions, targeting female individuals. This ad says “Got Acne? Just ask your boyfriend what to do. Oh, that’s right, you don’t have a boyfriend”. The advertisement provides a significant example of the objectification of women. It gives the impression that women are only appreciated for their looks and nothing more. Advertisements like the one above, not only decreases a female’s self-confidence but also creates self-hatred. It conveys the idea that if a woman does not meet the ideal appearance, she is deemed unattractive and therefore, no one will want her.
The ad’s short and subtle statement creates a strong and negative connotation towards mental health issues. Advertisements like these tend to deteriorate one’s self-confidence, create self-hatred, lower self-esteem, create insecurity, and cause depression. Because the media dares to advertise these type of ads, many women resort to makeup and skin care products in hopes to cover and hide their natural beauty, which they view as blemishes. They believe that by doing what the ad wants them to do, they will be viewed beautiful and worthy whilst, hiding their insecurity and who they really want to be.
The ad emphasizes the phrase, “you don’t have a boyfriend” in pink letters. This shows the gender inequality among this advertisement. The advertisement’s target mainly focuses on female individuals, which conveys the idea that women are inferior to men. The ad provides a perception that women are only good for their appearance whereas, men are beneficial for many other aspects. It brings the objectification of women in reference that women are to objects as men are to human beings. The ad may brainwash the individuals and speak to the females in terms that if their appearance was not good enough, THEY were not good enough as well.
Culture Jam of ProActiv Solution’s advertisement
This is my jammed version of ProActiv Solution’s advertisement. Although the advertisement already provides significant, evident, and obvious implications towards females and their appearance, I decided to change the phrases to make the meaning more direct and conspicuous. I deleted the phrase about the correlation between women, with acne, and not having a boyfriend. In exchange, I changed the phrase to show more emphasis towards the importance of a woman’s appearance. I wanted the phrase to emphasize that there would not be any man who would want an individual with blemishes. Furthermore, I wanted to input the word, “man” into the phrase to show the gender inequality of the advertisement based on archaical and patriarchal views. The phrase, “No man will want you” was added onto the advertisement to show that male individuals were viewed to be dominant, and had control and choices whereas, women were seen as accessories and objects for the men.
I kept the colour pink in the text but, only placed that font color on the word, “you”. I changed the font colour of the word, “you” to pink, in order to express that the ad was targeting solely on female individuals, based on the stereotype that pink represents females only. Prior to jamming the advertisement, the ad has already implicated that women were nothing but broken women, if their appearance were not ideal and approved by media and society. Therefore, I decided to type the phrase, “you’re NOT good enough” into the advertisement to enforce and place the ads pure implication in the spotlight. Advertisements like these reveal the nasty insight not only towards the absurdity of beauty expectations, based on media and society standard, but the gender inequality, objectification and lack of value towards women.
Source:
The Packaging Girl. “Proactiv Ad Telling Girls that their Acne is the Reason They Don’t Have a Boyfriend” Found, Pinterest, 30 June 2017, www.pinterest.com/.