Women and Advertising

     Advertising has come a very long way over the years. Advertisements effectively appeal to viewers in many different ways, some of which include humor, famous celebrities or athletes, and gorgeous women. Almost everybody hears the saying "sex sells" at some point during his or her life. This is definitely one of the most effective tactics for advertising, however, this tactic can have drastic effects on females of all ages. Advertisements featuring beautiful women plant the idea in every female's head that they must look that way to be considered "normal" in today's world. Susie Orbach strongly opposes these sort of advertisements because of the negative effects they have on women. Working together, Dove and Susie Orbach successfully help to change the idea that not all women have to look like the ones pictured in advertisements in everyday life.

     In order to change society's view on women, Dove called in Susie Orbach to help them promote a new line of advertising. They used many techniques in order to get their point across. One of the effective techniques they used was the video of the daughters of the executives. These young girls talked about the things that they wish they could change about their bodies. The people watching that video easily could see how today's society molded these girls' thinking of how to be accepted. This strongly targeted the emotions of the people viewing the video because of how sad it is that girls so young felt the need to change their appearance to feel accepted. It is very mentally unhealthy for these young girls to be thinking this way. Many of them are still young and naive and should not be worried about how they look, but they cannot help but to do so because of all the advertisements they come across every day.
     Not only is it mentally unhealthy for females to constantly worry about their appearance, but it can also be physically unhealthy too. Many women believe the only way to look thinner is to not eat much food, which causes many to develop bad eating disorders. These eating disorders can, and most likely will, cause these females to start suffering with many health problems. Reducing the amount of advertisements containing all the beautiful women would most likely reduce the number of women that get involved in these eating disorders. There would be much less pressure on them to look like the women in the advertisements.
     Susie Orbach and Dove definitely made a significant change in the advertising industry of the world today but much more can still be done. By making advertisements that include women that are more like typical women in today's society definitely helps to improve self esteem of women everywhere. They would feel more comfortable with the way they look rather than being forced into thinking they need to have the perfect body to be considered beautiful. Dove's advertisements also got many more people involved in this issue. The more people to get involved, the better chance they will have at effectively changing advertising that we know today to picture more realistic and everyday people. This will not only help women out, but it will help improve society as a whole.