A Stereotypical Media

A detailed Summary of A Stereotypical Media

The media of today's society plays the peddler to the stereotypes that plague our country. However, the media is not solely to blame. Susan Sontag states in her essay "The Image World":

"Through being photographed, something becomes part of a system of information, fitted into schemes of classification and storage"(Sontag 196).

Through our own demand as consumers, the use of advertising in television, newspapers, and especially magazines relays to the public an erratic system of stereotypical information. The system of information relayed through photographic imagery in advertising directly affects the thoughts of society, on how a woman should look and feel. Thus, mixing the stereotypical woman of delicacy, and grandeur with sex and sexuality.

The vast amount of stereotypical advertising today is directed at the middle-class, American worker. This specification in advertising is due to the fact that the middle class workers are the main consumers. This idea is represented in the magazine, Newsweek. Printed on April 3, 2000, Newsweek prints numerous articles of news that are not so focused and in-depth, but still contains valid consistency. The magazine is

The appearances of stereotypes in this serene ad are hard to find, but are found deep in the text of the image. The apparent purpose of the ad is to sell items such as a handbag, and ivy plants. However, the apparent does not relay the reality. The use of a woman's stereotypical sexuality covers up the real with the fantasy. A stereotype as defined by the Module, "Images of Women and Men", "is viewed today as a process that distorts reality"(Unger & Crawford 219). So in essence this is what the image, or the advertisement has done. Advertising takes the process of photography, and distorts its reality by applying such methods as stereotyping. This creates a desired and common appearance of the perfect, beautiful, fantasy woman. The posture of this image relays a sense of refinement, such

supposed unconscious effects such as stereotyping and classifying, we as a society have fallen victim to media's ploys in advertising. For years the common belief that a woman's only power is her sexuality has been instilled into our society by media propaganda, in advertising. The media is seen as playing to the crowd. The common notion that sex sells is directly represented in such ploys of advertising and more over in this ad. As Robert L. Heilbroner states, "advertising is not only a bearer of messages; it is the message"(Heilbroner 99). The message that advertising carries is the underlying faction of stereotypes. The stereotypical ploys that will attract the consumer to the product, the selling feature. In this ad, the woman and her fantasy image are not only selling common stereotypes but selling the very woman herself. Placing the woman in the ivy makes the statement that woman is the ivy. She is the very object that is for sale. The ad is also, selling the very ploys that have been conflicting with the struggle to pursue equality and not the pr

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Approximate Word count = 1248
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics