Thinking
Visually? You are now!
Advertising
is all around us, all day, everyday. We soak in every bit of persuasion that
any ad may have to offer whether subconsciously or consciously choosing to do
so. Each month as technology advances and people come up with more and more
abstract ideas, advertisements, whether printed or televised, are becoming what
I would consider ridiculous. Long story short, advertisers of companies,
products, and foods worldwide are making people believe that what they have to
offer can bring you perfect happiness in unheard of ways. One of the most
widely used advertisement methods is sexuality and is being mostly found in
fast food ads. Advertisers are objectifying women more and more each day and by
doing so they are showing people that this is how women can be regarded and
viewed as. To me, objectification
is regarding a person as an object for use so in these cases; women are being
used to sell products by being viewed as object in which one would desire and
for men this would mean sex.
This Arby’s ad has countless hidden
messages behind it other than saying, “We have good burgers; come and eat them.”
This image is directly objectifying women to attract men to the burgers so that
they can make more money. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this ad
and had to do a double take to make sure I wasn’t just thinking in a, what some
would say, “dirty way!” But then I realized that what I thought it might be, it
actually was. Yes. Arby’s is comparing their newest burgers to a female’s
breasts! Shocking, I know, but what exactly is the “hidden message” behind
this?
The image displayed in this ad is implying that the feeling a
man gets by seeing a naked female body should be how they feel when they see an
Arby’s burger because that is how delicious it is. When you think about it,
this ad doesn’t even really elaborate on what makes their product so great.
They don’t refer to what’s on it or what makes it so delicious and worth
spending your money on. One could say the main hidden message is “Arby’s, its
better than boobs!” It may then be obvious to you that Arby’s is more focused
on their male customers, therefore choosing to compare its products to a naked
woman.
This ad has the “halo effect” present as well. What is the halo
effect you might wonder? According to Jean Kilbourne’s article “Jesus is a
Brand of Jeans”, “products such
as jewelry shining in a store window are often displayed as if they were sacred
objects (Kilbourne).” The halo effect gives us this almost religious connection
to what we are viewing by making it seem sacred or holly. The hamburgers are
enlightened, with the “ahh” moment provided by the halo, the whitened glow
surrounding the burgers, just as if a piece of jewelry were being lit up by
lights. It’s the feeling you get when you have something extremely tasty and
you think it is just the best thing in the world at that moment. This is
exactly what Arby’s is trying to tell people, that their burgers will give you
that “ahh” moment, just like the feeling men apparently get when they see a
naked female holding their breasts.
In a blog that directly criticizes this advertisement from Arby’s, and
another from Burger King both which tie their products to sex and women,
written by Jesse B, shows a very interesting point of view, “I feel like advertisements such as these may actually deter
women from buying from these restaurants, feeling possibly disrespected. If you
read the fine print in the Arby's ad, it starts with the sentence "What a
tease." They use this double meaning phrase because not only are they not
showing you the entire burger, but it also was not released yet at the time of
publication. Also, this makes the argument that women that cover up their
breasts are teases... hmmmm (B, Jesse).”
I
believe that Jesse pointed out one of the deepest hidden meanings in this
advertisement. What better way to tell the world that this burger has not yet
been released by teasing men with a literal visual tease! Why try to find a
naked woman when you can just have Arby’s new burger! This is a perfect example
in which advertisers have objectified women into being burgers. Of course women
might turn away from places that advertise like this. It is because of this
that men treat women so badly because women are hardly viewed as actual human
beings but instead as food and objects that can be used. It really is amazing
how far these advertisers stretch reality to make people feel the need to want
certain things. It seems you can compare just about any product to sex,
happiness, or sacredness to get people to want it. As Kilbourne also said in his article, “Advertising encourages us not only to objectify
each other but to feel passion for products rather than our partners
(Kilbourne).”
This is another one of Arby’s ads that they have
decided to compare to female breasts. This one isn’t as suggestive as the other
one in a sense that men will not want their chicken like they want a female’s
breast. But, this ad does suggest that their chicken compared to other fast
food places is real instead of fake. In other words, the chicken has “real
breasts” instead of implants like a woman may have. Now women aren’t being
looked at as burgers but as “real chicken.”
All of these hidden messages are necessary, in the eyes of
advertisers, to make people want to buy their food. According to an article
titled “The New Subliminal Advertising” by Seth Fiegerman, “Companies are reaching a point where conventional
advertising no longer works, our attention is just gone. People don’t look at a
full TV ad anymore, so companies need to find other avenues to stand out…It
remains to be seen how this will influence marketing agencies down the road,
but one thing seems clear: We are in many ways witnessing a new and slightly
more acceptable version of subliminal advertising (Fiegerman).” This is why
advertisers have gone to the extremes that they have, such as making these
sexual references to women and playing jokes out of words that can mean two or
more things. Advertisers are seeing that the objectification of women is
working to sell, so why would they change to anything else? We really shouldn’t
be looking at this as something that is sociable acceptable because it is
really disturbing that it has come down to this. Advertisers can find other
ways to stand out other then comparing every single thing to naked women and
sex.
So what is it
exactly that we learned from these two advertisements? We could say that simply
Arby’s has amazing food but I think now we all know that it goes much deeper
then that. These ads made us believe that the new Arby’s burgers are so
mouthwatering that men see them as females breast and that they use 100% real
breast meat. These two ads show how company’s advertisments have several hidden
meanings behind them that make us want to buy what ever it is that they are
selling by using the objectification of women. Kilbourne notes in his article, “Advertising creates a world view that is based
upon cynicism, dissatisfaction and craving…they are just doing their job, which
is to sell a product; but the consequences, usually unintended, are often
destructive. The story that advertising tells is that the way to be happy, to
find satisfaction is through the consumption of material objects. And the major
motivating force for social change throughout the world today is this belief
that happiness comes from the market (Kilbourne).”
It’s quite remarkable how advertisers come up with all these abstract
and ridiculous ideas to make us want and crave companies’ products. These ways
of advertising are destructive and in this case to women specifically. With
women being objectified in several different ways, men are viewing them as
something that can be used and even replaced by food. We have learned to find
happiness through buying food and material objects instead of through human
interactions because these things are replacing people. The effect
visually reduces a woman to just a body, or in some instances, to parts of her
body, as if she is not a real, whole person. This causes people to portray women in ways that suggest that women are
objects to be looked at, touched, or used, as well as merchandise to be
purchased. This is certainly not treating women as full human beings and once
people have learned to see women as objects, it becomes much easier to use them
as one would an object. As we are exposed to this sort of advertisement daily,
the direct negative effects on women are negative self-images and shame. Why
would anyone want to live in this type of world, who knows, men could be next!
Works Cited
B,
Jesse. "Thinking Visually at UNL: Arby's! It's Better Than Boobs!
(Response to Blog 3)." Thinking Visually at UNL: Arby's! It's Better
Than Boobs! (Response to Blog 3). Blogger, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
<http://thinkingvisuallyatunl.blogspot.com/2011/02/arbys-its-better-than-boobs-response-to.html>.
Fiegerman,
Seth. "The New Subliminal Advertising." MainStreet. N.p., 17
Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.mainstreet.com/article/small-business/marketing/new-subliminal-advertising?page=1>.
Kilbourne, Jean. "Jesus Is a Brand
Of Jeans." New Internationalist Magazine. Creative
Commons,
1 Sept. 2006. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.newint.org/features/2006/09/01/culture/>.
Picture 1: Found on this blog
Megginson, Tom. "The Ethical Adman: Arby's Embraces the
Sandwich on Social
Media." The Ethical Adman: Arby's Embraces the
Sandwich on Social Media.
N.p., 1 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
<http://workthatmatters.blogspot.com/2012/03/arbys-embraces-
sandwich-on-social-media.html>.
Picture 2: found on this website
"SWIMSUIT ISSUE." - Arby's Chicken Naturals
Range Print Ad. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct.
2012.
<http://www.advertolog.com/arbys/print-outdoor/swimsuit-issue-
8082205/>.
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