Foundations of Global Marketing and Advertising

Question: Discuss about the Foundations of Global Marketing and Advertising. Answer: Introduction Advertisement is something which an individual come across, in one form or the other, on a daily basis, no matter what one does, or where they are. It is the audio visual form of marketing used by the organizations, in order to promote and sell a product, idea or any services. Advertising helps the companies in increasing the consumption of their products by creating a brand and an image in the minds of its customers. Advertisement is the best way of making the public aware about the product, and it is also the best way available to the public, to know more about the product, without purchasing it (Green, 2011). Often, in order to attract more customers, the ethical lines are crossed in the advertisements. Sometimes the facts are omitted, or they are exaggerated, and at times even lied upon. Advertisements are used by the companies in order to persuade the customers into buying their product and for this various persuasive techniques are used (Zotos Grau, 2016). One of such techniques is the sexualization of women in the advertisements, and this has been increasing throughout the years. When anything is given the sexual character or the quality, it becomes sexualization. Sexualization has been used by a range of companies to grasp the attention of consumers, and specifically when the focus in on a specific targeted audience (Blair et al., 2006). In the following parts, the ethical issues relating to the sexualization, especially of women in advertisements, have been researched upon. There has been an increase in the sexualization of females in advertisements to promote a product, and such sexualization is not ethical. Test To See If This Hypothesis Is Correct In order to determine if the stated hypothesis is right or wrong, the use of women in the advertisements would be analyzed. The type of advertisements in which the women are used, and how their sexualization helps in the promotion of the product would be examined to determine if the hypothesis is actually correct. Moreover, the theories associated with objectification and sexualization would also be elucidated to affirm the hypothesis. Lastly, the consequences of such sexualization have also been determined to show that such ads are unethical. Methodology In order to carry out this research, a deductive approach has been used, as this study determines that its premises as true. And secondary data has been used, in form of news articles, journals and books to analyze the presence of sexualization in advertisements. The use of this form of data will help in establishing the unethical point of view of such ads. A case study is also undertaken to prove the hypothesis. This case study taken here is of the advertisement of The Axe Effect, where it can be easily seen that the women are treated as merely an object and are sexualized to sell the product. By examining the type of ads in which women are being sexualized, it can be determined that the women are objectified just to attract the attention of the consumers. By using the theory of sex sells the makers of the advertisements often objectify the women, as they view that this would garner the attention and help in the sale of the product (Attwood, 2014). The theories of objectification have highlighted that women are treated as an object and such an object can be used in any form. The theories of sexual objectification highlight that a person is treated as an instrument of sexual pleasure. Even though men are also objectified, but such numbers are quite less (Adams, 2015). The sexualization of the women, on the other hand, has been present since generations and is also expected to continue. These theories highlight the unethical aspect of such advertisements. A huge brand which is involved in the sexualization in their ads, so as to sell their product is AXE. AXE is one of the famous international brands of the male grooming products, and their product range includes deodorants, shower gels, styling products, fragrance sprays, antiperspirants, and shampoos (Unilever, 2016). AXE was first introduced in the 1983 in France by Unilever, which is a multi-billion dollar consumer goods company. After the success of AXE in Europe and Latin America, it was introduced in USA in 2002. The sale of AXE brand is done by making the males believe in the notion that by using their products, all the women would come running towards them, and this is known as The AXE Effect (Unilever USA, 2016). In one of the ads of AXE, titled Billions, a number of women running in an animalistic manner through the forest or are swimming madly across the ocean, so as to reach a man who is shown as bathing himself in the AXE deodorant (Luzakain, 2010). The ad shows the desperation of women that they exist solely for the purpose of pleasing the men. Moreover, the ad uses the clichd performance, which is used not only in the advertisements but also in music videos also, just to sell the product. This performance includes the camera angles, wet bodies, provocative clothing, and the fragmentation to sexualize, as well as, objectify the women. The derogatory imagination is the main appeal behind such ads and these dehumanize the women (Mooij, 2013). In another ad, where the chocolate ice cream fragrance was to be promoted, the women was shown as licking a man after using that particular scented body spray (Pride Ferrell, 2016). Findings The target audience of such products of AXE is young men, who are focused upon girls. The psychological features include masculinity, seductiveness and desirability. The advertisements of AXE are aimed at connecting the action of attracting a woman to the AXE products. By creating a notion of attracting the women by use of this product, the men are attracted towards these products (Pride Ferrell, 2016). But these ads are wrong on ethical grounds. The ads are only aimed at attracting more targeted audience, and forget about the ethical implications of it. By sexualizing and objectifying the women, the profits are achieved. The women are depicted as a sexually object which is a bad example to be set for the already patriarchal society, as well as, demoralizing (BBC, 2007). The over-sexualization and objectification of women in the advertisements of AXE is very common. Apart from this, the ads also use the beautiful version of a woman as per the societys view, where the woman is flawless, tall and slim. Even though such ads are often exaggerated and mostly contain the element of sexual humor, they are disrespectful, as well as, degrading to all the women across the globe (Aleman, 2013). With the passage of times, the sexuality in the ads of AXE has increased manifolds. Even though these are merely ads meant to sell the products of the company, but such ads have a huge impact over the society as a whole. The view that is being sold here is that the sole objective of the women of this earth is to be with and please a man, along with, the standard and image of beauty (Krayer, Ingledew Iphofen, 2008). The image created in the eyes of society is one where the women have flawless features and are simply the object of mans sexual satisfaction. The view of society is not the only view that has been changed regarding a beautiful woman; the view of the women towards themselves has also changed throughout the years. Incidents of body shamming, due to the negative body image have increased manifolds, and this is a recurrent topic of the present age. Women feel shameful due to their shape and size and develop the feelings of awkwardness, shame and even anxiety (Brown University, 2015). The analysis of the AXE advertisement depicts the sexualization of women as the ad emphasizes over the excessive sexuality of women, in addition to how it attracts all men. The ad here clearly suggests that the men are attracted towards sexually appealing women, in comparison to the casually or ordinarily dressed women. By showing all the women in bikini suits, who run towards the man in an animalistic manner, they are shown as the sex objects as per the societal norms, which is clearly a negative connotation of women (Wang, 2016). These ads also engage in the stereotyping of the men (Adams, 2015). The men are depicted as having the only aim of getting more and more girls, and quenching their sexual desires. They are depicted in such manner as the makers believe that the targeted audience would do anything to get a girl, and that by showing such ads, the targeted consumer would rush to buy their product (Pride Ferrell, 2016). And this makes these advertisements wrong on ethical grounds again, as this is misleading for the audience. Even though these ads have been successful for the company, but the society has not seen the positivity of them. The view that has been created through such ads is quite specific. So, not only the women are sexualized in such ads, but also create the image of a beautiful woman. The image of women that is portrayed through such ads is that women are brainless object, and their sole aim is to please men. This is completely unethical as women are given no respect or morality (Grogan, 2008). Conclusion From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the hypothesis of this research paper is correct. Indeed, there has been a rise in the sexualization of females in advertisements to promote a product. Moreover, such sexualization and objectification of women is both immoral and unethical. The women, in the advertisements these days are treated as a sexual object, just so that the sale of the product can increase (Kilbourne, 2012). Moreover, an image of beautiful woman being flawless, slim and fit, has been embedded in the minds of the society, which has resulted in the negative body image of the women. The case study further highlighted how the women are objectified in the ads. The Billions ad showed the women running crazily after a man using the AXE product, in a provocative manner. The only aim of this ad was to garner targeted audiences attention and the ethical implications were simply ignored. And this has been done constantly by AXE in all of its advertisements. This sexualization is not only present in the ads of this product, but also in the ads of various products. As highlighted above, such sexualization is also present in music videos, where the women are objectified and shown in a derogatory manner (Mischner et al., 2013). There are people who view this objectification as liberalization of women, but this paper does not hold that view. The reasons for the rejection of this view are simple, the objectification results in a negative image of women, where they have no respect and are portrayed as a product, and this dehumanizes them (Infanger Sczesny, 2014). To conclude, the sexualization of women in the ads is detrimental and unethical. References Adams, R. (2015). Sexualizing Women In Ads May Hurt Men's Self-Esteem, Too. 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