A Critical Feminist Theory of Advertising Art Free Essay Example, 3500 words

This theory is based on the assumption that women tend to compete intrasexually with other women in the search for a superior long-term mate. Because of this, women would do anything, including enhance their physical appearance, to be attractive to men. As such, women patronize products and services meant to take care of their face and body to have better chances at mate selection. Thus, intrasexual competition should be one of the feminist theory’s major considerations in trying to propose strategies for the woman’s well-being. It is possible that women themselves have placed too much importance on their physique that they have been labeled vain or â€Å"brainless† by some critics. In this case, feminists should advocate that the woman is not all about the looks but the emotional intelligence as well. III. THE WOMAN UNDER THE ADVERTISING SPOTLIGHT A. Images of the Woman in Advertising Art Works It is indeed very interesting how advertising art reflects the woman at different times of the era. The one above is a 1930’s Lucky Strike cigarette ads from Art Deco Blog. We will write a custom essay sample on A Critical Feminist Theory of Advertising Art or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now It is apparently encouraging women to smoke the cigarette to maintain a slender figure. I believe that this ad expresses a woman’s desire to have a slimmer body while advertisers aim to reach the vast female market. However, this also shows the woman in a very negative light as if women in general wouldn’t care about the adverse health effects of smoking as long as they will look good and sexy. This ad reinforces the subjective ideal that slim is beautiful and fat is ugly. These further results in women thinking, that if they ever have a little bit of flab, they are already undesirable. In fact, Bordo has identified that â€Å"the central contradiction of the system inscribes itself on our bodies, and bulimia emerges as a characteristic modern personality construction (qtd. in Littlewood 115). This means that instead of encouraging women to stay fit and healthy, it only pushes for attaining and maintaining slimness through means that may not even be psychologically sound. On the other hand, it is in this light that Dove launched the campaign for real beauty online (Altstiel and Grow 62). Its goal is to clarify issues about what real beauty is and to direct consumers to develop a higher self-esteem. This Dove ad in particular shows a teenager with an average body size who may be thinking she is fat. It is quite effective as a work of art as it displays the feminist reality that young women hold incorrect beliefs and perception about themselves.