SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTS

There was a social media reaction to a certain company’s use of a naked woman to advertise their product, just the other day. Now, if you are not aware of the consequences and implications of such images on a public platform that has nothing to do with nudity, its easy to see the uproar as unnecessary noise, and  unwarranted. Let me break down what this really means and how it takes us 10 steps back in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV).

The objectification or sexualisation of women and girls in advertising reinforces harmful gender stereotypes that women are subordinate to men, contributing to the discrimination of women in many aspects of life. ‘Objectification’ means treating people as objects and reducing them to objects of sexual pleasure and gratification. It can lead to normalisation of sexual and other violence against women. When the Times of Eswatini facebook page reported about this commotion, one of the commenters said: ‘Please do not take down the advert. I look at it every night before I go to sleep’, further making the point that the billboard sexualises women in ways that are harmful to them.

Now, the commenter did not imply that he has been inspired to buy whatever product was being advertised, but instead is using the image for sexual gratification. That is what is wrong with this whole picture!Businesses should develop clear guidelines and policies and ensure employees receive training on appropriate use of marketing and social media platforms. In developing and implementing advertising or marketing campaigns, care should be taken to avoid the objectification of women and girls. Women are already faced with a lot of challenges that they do not need this added stress onto their list of problems.

Need

The primary goal of advertising is to create a need so that a company can provide a product or service to meet that need. For example, many of our parents buy medication because they see it being advertised on TV and are tricked into believing they need those arthritis pills, or the blue pill. What kind of need is the objectification of women creating in advertising household products, for example? Also, are we that backward that we honestly still feel only men are the primary target for building materials? We can’t be in 2024 and still believe such.
Imagine seeing a man advertising Handy-andy and posing in a manner usually seen on women - wearing boxers and standing over a kitchen counter in a sexually suggestive manner.

That mental image is awfully weird, right? This is an example of ‘normalisation’: Even though the actual pose is absurd, we see it so often on women that it seems normal. We have normalised seeing images of naked women everywhere, in music videos, in advertisements, on social media moving statuses. And when a brand displays shocking images, the assumption is that it is more memorable to the audience. Which is false.

Pictures

Advertisers link the images with desires of male’s emotion such as romance, love and sex. These pictures are suggesting to men that those desires can be satisfied through purchasing their products. However, these sexually suggestive images make women to be seen as sexual objects rather than as people in many advertisements. Which then translates to how men treat the women in their lives. This is where catcalling comes in, sexual harassment, and God forbid, rape.

This is because such images do not only sell products, but also sell a specific idea of the value and role of women as subordinate and submissive objects for the use of men. Sexual images of women have significant impact on their audience, and it is especially problematic among men. I was happy to hear that the company in question agreed to take down their billboard, I honeatly hope that they will find better ways to attract ther audience other than using harmful iages of women, and probably find more suitable names for their products too because the one in question also fed into the GBV issues we are already facing as women.

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