Bibliography

Evony:

http://www.bruceongames.com/2009/08/25/evony-want-to-sue-me-for-telling-the-truth/
http://www.sodahead.com/fun/evony-advertisements-your-opinion/question-1075085/?link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001075085/Evony8_xlarge.jpeg
http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/posts/evony
http://www.pcgamereviewsandnews.com/2009/06/evony-daftest-advert-yet.html
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=119996

Gossip Girl:

http://www.vaughanpl.info/vortex/?tag=gossip-girl
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397442/
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/topwddingbridal/20120822/1345619059
http://gawker.com/5048119/5-of-gossip-girls-product-placement+iest-moments

Dove:

http://www.adverbox.com/ads/dove/
http://wikicubbuster.wikispaces.com/Media-Visual+Literacy+Assignment
http://www.inkdandbeyond.org/dovecampaign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty

A little post on Tumblr

On a somewhat serious note today because of a conversation the other day:

I am sure every girl can recall, at least once as a child,  coming home and telling their parents, uncle, aunt or grandparent about a boy who had pulled her hair, hit her, teased her, pushed her or committed some other playground crime.  I will bet money that most of those, if not all, will tell you that they were told “Oh, that just means he likes you”.  I never really thought much about it before having a daughter of my own.  I find it appalling that this line of bullshit is still being fed to young children.  Look, if you want to tell your child that being verbally and/or physically abused is an acceptable sign of affection, i urge you to rethink your parenting strategy.  If you try and feed MY daughter that crap, you better bring protective gear because I am going to shower you with the brand of “affection” you are endorsing.

When the f**k was it decided that we should start teaching our daughters to accept being belittled, disrespected and abused as endearing treatment?  And we have the audacity to wonder why women stay in abusive relationships?  How did society become so oblivious to the fact that we were conditioning our daughters to endure abusive treatment, much less view it as romantic overtures? Is this where the phrase “hitting on girls” comes from? Well, here is a tip: Save the “it’s so cute when he gets hateful/physical with her because it means he loves her” asshattery  for your own kids, not mine. While you’re at it, keep them away from my kids until you decide to teach them respect and boundaries.

My daughter is `10 years old and has come home on more than one occasion recounting an incident at school in which she was teased or harassed by a male classmate.  There has been several times when someone that she was retelling the story to responded with the old, “that just means he likes you” line.  Wrong.  I want my daughter to know that being disrespected is NEVER acceptable.  I want my daughter to know that if someone likes her and respects her, much less LOVES her, they don’t hurt her and they don’t put her down.  I want my daughter to know that the  boy called her ugly or pushed her or pulled her hair didn’t do it because he admires her, it is because he is a little asshole and assholes are an occurrence of society that  will have to be dealt with for the rest of her life.  I want my daughter to know how to deal with assholes she will encounter throughout her life. For now, I want my daughter to know that if someone is verbally harassing her, she should tell the teacher and if the teacher does nothing, she should  tell me.  If someone physically touches her, tell the teacher then,  if it continues, to yell, “STOP TOUCHING/PUNCHING/PUSHING ME” in the middle of class or the hallway, then tell me.  Last year, one little boy stole her silly bandz from her.  He just grabbed her and yanked a handful of them off of her wrist.  When I went to the school to address the incident, the teacher smiled and explained it away to her, in front of me, “he probably has a crush on you”. Okay, the boy walked up to my daughter, grabbed and held her by the arm  and forcibly removed her bracelets from her as she struggled and you want to convince her that she should be flattered?  F**k off.  I am going to punch you in the face but I hope you realize it is just my way of thanking you for the great advice you gave my daughter.  If these same advice givers’ sons came home crying because another male classmate was pushing them, pulling their hair, hitting them or calling them names, I would bet dollars to donuts they would tell him to defend themselves and kick the kid’s ass, if necessary.  They sure as shit wouldn’t say, “he probably just wants a play date”.

I will teach my daughter to accept nothing less than respect.  Anyone who hurts her physically or emotionally doesn’t deserve her respect, friendship or love.  I will teach my boys the same thing as well as the fact that hitting on girls doesn’t involve hitting girls.  I can’t teach my daughter to respect herself if I am teaching her that no one else has to respect her.  I can’t raise sons that respect women, if I teach them that bullying is a valid expression of affection.

The next time that someone offers up that little “secret” to my daughter, I am going to slap the person across the face and yell, “I LOVE YOU”.

Sourced from: http://viewsfromthecouch.com/2012/02/12/you-didnt-thank-me-for-punching-you-in-the-fac/

What a Girl Can't Get- Finished

Sexualisation.



Parents use the word when it comes to protecting their precious daughters from it.

Teachers use the word as a warning in class.

 The media uses the word as a weapon.

Sexualisation is out of control- especially when it comes to girls. They are being encouraged to put on more makeup, wear less clothes, and are constantly reminded that if they don't conform, they won't be good enough. A quick search on google can give you everything from an anorexic 12 year old to a women of 30 used to sell age-defying makeup- to get rid of all those ugly wrinkles!


1. Sexual progression- Evony

For those that don't know, Evony is an RST- A Real-Time-Strategy game. The aim is to build your cities and then attack and band with others to gain prestige and honour. The game looks like this:

But the ads look like this:



Sex sells?

Confused?
The game hit the web late 2008 and is still running to this day. During it's maiden year, the advertising campaign swiftly descended from a knight (relevant) to a kidnapped queen (relelvant?) to.... this. (???????)

It's a perfect example of how the media, in this case advertising, resorts to clear sex in order to sell their products. It doesn't even have to relate to the product anymore- Evony makes no mention anywhere within the game of these lovers that you're supposed to save! But still, you have these ads.

"Play Now, my Lord."

"Your lover awaits!"

The message is clear- play evony- get sex.

This text portrays girls as helpless, attractive and sexual, and completely reliant on men. (hence the saving part) It's aimed at the men who the game moderators wish to play, and the ads can be seen everywhere across the internet- including websites often used by young children, such as I Can Has Cheezburger. And there-in is where the danger lies!

I have no problem with adult men clicking these links. They can sink as much money into a game as they want.

But the children? The young girls logging on to look at cute pictures of kittens with adorably misspelt language? That's wrong. They're getting an eyeful of the idea that this is acceptable and this is how you should act and dress- in nothing at all. The ads get through screening because they're advertising a game, rather than an adult site where these ads would be accepted.

The implications of this is that you have these young girls witnessing these ads in a family friendly sight, and therefore that this is okay, and this is what they should model themselves after.

These ads must be that ridiculous for a reason. Look a little further, and you'll find that Evony is commonly referred to a 'gold sinker' that encourages players to level up quickly by putting often thousands of dollars into buying mark-up items and assistance form the game. It works fast on every level- and the ads are here to pull in as many customers as fast as possible, without being lost among the dozens of other game advertisements out there. You can't deny that the Evony ads stand out, and that is also almost a microcosm of the progression of sexualisation- the media tested the waters, found it worked, and everything went downhill fast. We've gone from heroic knights to girls with boobs. There's a problem with that, and it's growing.

Consequentially, this is just going to keep happening. More ads will spring up, because it was proven that it worked, and more ads will start emerging. More and more will slip through family friendly sites in order to get the parents of the young girls. And more girls will be exposed to these sites and will be given the idea that This is okay. 

Evony is only one among many companies that use the mantra 'sex sells.' The only thing that makes it special in a consumers age is that it doesn't try to be subtle about it.





Another way that girls are represented are as socialites- elitists with nothing better to do with their lives than to gain and lose boyfriends... and drink.



2. It's cool to be bad- Gossip Girl

From left to right: Nate, Dan, Serena, Jenny, Blair, Chuck

The second text I'd like to discuss is one extremely popular among the audience in question- the hit TV series Gossip Girl.

Gossip Girl is based off a series of books that follows the lives of the elite teenagers living in Upper East Side of Manhattan- a bunch of wealthy, rather irresponsible friends that drop in and out of trouble. It tells the young, impressionable girls that watch the show that this is what the absolute perfection of teenagedom is.

The key element that makes Gossip Girl so successful is the stereotypical yet entertaining band of characters. Serena Van Der Woodsen is the main protagonist, along with her elite friends, Blair, Nate, Chuck, Dan, Jenny and Vanessa, to name a few.

Some of their favourite past times involve getting drunk, 'hooking up' with each other (and the fallout that follows,) going to parties, paying people off and generally very little homework occurs. None of the teenagers are stupid- in fact, they're all intelligent and most of them fairly manipulative. Instead, the main stereotype here is 'rich.'

It's cool to be rich. Being rich lets you do things no one else does.

What this tells it's audience is that unless you have access to huge amounts of money supplied by your parents, you're not likely to enjoy yourself as much. Or, to put it another way, it's probably a good idea to be able to change your clothes for every occasion and drink expensive alcohol when you're bored, because there's obviously nothing better to do. For teenaged girls who don't have clear complexions or perfect bodies and perfect lives, this show isn't recommended for self-esteem kicks.

Because that's what it does. Gossip Girl promotes what the 'ordinary' girl can't have in terms of looks, money, and friends. It has a large audience of envious girls who wish they could wear a uniform like Serena's, or have boys fawning over them the way Chuck and Nate fawn over Blair.

The reason this show is even around is- surprise surprise- to pull in money. Just like almost every bit of media these days. The clothes worn by Serena, Blair and Jenny are coveted items, and the product placement in the show is huge, and makes millions off the young girls who just want to be as pretty as the girls represetned in their tv shows.

The more expensive, stylish accessories and clothes the producers can push (including the characters' cell phones, school books and furniture) the better. The stereotypical characters allow them to specifically target such glorified commercialism at the open-minded, impressionable young girls glued to their tv screens and seeking their favourite characters. Those little girls take that in, and they take money out of their parents under-developed bank accounts to go out and buy the dresses and makeup. The money from the product placement within the shows goes into the directors and producers pockets (the actors alone make over a million per year, and the directors are paid far more) encouraging them to create more and more elaborate episodes. The product placement itself brings in money from teenaged buying the proven-to-be-fashionable accessories- and it brings in a lot of money. Most of the products in the show are designer, such as the labels gucci and marc jacobs seen above. These labels get huge amounts of notice from being in Gossip Girl, and because of it they only get richer, giving them more room to manouvere when it comes to their advertising- because it works, they make it bigger and better.

The consequences of this is just what the director could have hoped for. The show is a huge money maker, for both the TV show and for the labels that advertise on it, and these girls grow up with the 'it' fashions, and the 'it' alcohol. They'll also grow up finding it comfortable to backstab friends and involve themselves in idle gossip. (get it?) This can be harmful to people around them, with self-confidence easily destroyed among young girls, and reputations ruined for no good reason. Also, teenagers in real life will find it difficult to get away with what the characters on Gossip Girl pull. Illicit parties in the school grounds often leads to trespassing charges, and running away from home will often put you on the street, out of pocket and a victim for abuse. Gossip Girl should really consider a warning at the start of each episode: The events that occur should not be tried at home






With the way girls are represented- sexually and socially, it was bound to upset a few people and shake a few heads. Because the idolisation of women has grown to ridiculous standards, it only made sense for the ridicule of the media to grow, and for a few enterprising companies to start pushing the opposite message.


3. The fight back- Dove "Real Beauty"


The Dove 'Real Beauty' campaign looks at just that. It was started after a poll in the UK introduced the idea to the company that 83% of women no longer believe what the media is saying- that they can be stick thin and sexual while eating a burger or having a shower.

So Dove took the results and ran with them, starting the Real Beauty advertising campaign that looks at how much work goes into making the models that everyone sees that pretty, and how the only girls represented are from a single body type- size 0. It looks at how the people that producers would blanch at using are still beautiful- the old, the scarred and the 'marginalised.'


The ads are hugely successful. Everyone wants to be told they are beautiful and the one thing the media rarely does is tell the modern woman that they are beautiful, so Dove is picking up the slack.

It's worth noting that although new, different and on the whole positive, Dove still favours a stereotype when it comes to their models- median.

The women, although ethnically diverse, are all of a mostly middling height and are all the same weight. None of them have body scars- with the exception of the one woman with a leg tattoo. Dove especially favours the 'typical' women, and is still, even accidentally, promoting the idea that you probably shouldn't be too skinny or too fat. Or too tall. Too short? Too outrageous wouldn't be good.

Don't get me wrong- I think the Real Beauty campaign is a great idea. It promotes self-esteem among women and is a loud voice fighting against the idea of the sexualised model- and the sexualised women. In terms of what it sells through it's ads, Dove is on the whole affordable as well, acknowledging the fact that the women they target don't always have massive budgets. Because of these two combined factors, Dove's sales have soared since the campaign came out. They are unable to release specifics, but the ads increased their profits by over 700%. Some might call it good karma.

It's especially good to note that these ads are promoting a healthy body awareness in teenaged girls, who, in a stage of life where it's hard to be confident, are seeing older women in their prime embracing and enjoying their bodies.

This is sending a really positive for the grounded women. The ads may not promote you to be out there and to be individual, but it encourages you to be satisfied with life. Through this, you could expect to see a change in the way women approach themselves and the media. Now that the pioneer of 'Real Beauty' is out there and fighting back, it is possible that more companies will start to embrace the trend, bringing out a new age of self respect in the media.



You can already see this coming about in New Zealand, with the focus on sportswomen and successful women rather than actresses or models. The Ever-Swindell twins promote healthy eating, and a spree of young sports players are always visible when it comes to Nutri-Grain, Weet-Bix and many other powerful  New Zealand advertisers.





The media is not going to change their mindsets overnight. Sex sells (over 90% of ads use some form of sexualisation), self-esteem hits work, and all in all it makes money. All that can be helped is for more companies to pick up the growing trend of promoting the opposite, and being the forebringers of change.

or

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde (2001) is a comedy starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods- a sorority queen who had everything that she wanted- a perfect boyfriend, a perfect set of adoring friends and perfect looks. However, her world falls apart when she is dumped by said boyfriend 'Warner Hunnington III' because she is 'too blonde' and therefore would not make a good wife.

Traumatised, Elle discovers that Warner's older brother dates a law student who goes to his college (Harvard Law) and comes to the conclusion that in order to win Warner back, she must become a law student and go to college.

She succeeds in her acceptance, and once at college gets off to a rocky start, being dismissed as a blonde, unprepared air head. However, through the course of the movie Elle, who is far more gifted than anyone thought, eventually looks past her infatuation and realises she has real worth and a real talent- through her extraordinary knowledge of fashion and beaty- for being a lawyer. She gains acceptance amongst her peers, teachers and more importantly her client, and eventually graduates top of the year after solving a high end murder case.

This movie is a surprising change from the normal representation of girls- who go from nerdy, intelligent and self worthy to items of beauty who lower themselves for their boyfriends. Instead, Legally Blonde, although it plays of many stereotypes, flips that idea on it's head and instead has the airhead become smart, and lose her infatuation with her man for her own worthy talent.

It allows the audience to take the message that you can change who you are. For teenaged girls, this is important- even though they may think that they have to be a pretty, fashionable airhead to be popular, they don't have to stay that way. It shows girls that some people will appreciate you more for your talents than for your looks- shown by the way the students mock Elle when she first arrives at Harvard.

'Hey Barbie, where's the beach?'



However, it is of worth to remember that the is also slightly degrading in it's acknowledgement of girls who work hard for a living through it's implications that Elle is special. To quote the father figure of the movie,

'Darling, only girls who are boring and hopeless and have no chance at a better life go to law school.'

 

Overall, Legally Blonde does well to acknowledge the potential for self-fulfillment and turning your back on what people think you should be to instead become someone that you want to be. It's an important message for girls of the modern time, where they are becoming increasingly sexualised and itemised.

Con Brio- Positive Imagery

Thanks to the constant reinforcement, it's easy to think that the representation of girls in the media is ALL bad or ALL negative- this is not necessarily true.

Newspapers, one of the more reserved forms of media, is generally known for promoting a selection of 'newsworthy' articles about everyday New Zealanders or events. In the local, or sometimes general news sections, they often have articles that show young New Zealanders in a positive light- including girls.

'Hitting The High Notes' is an article that was run in the Dominion Post of Wellington about a week ago. It looks briefly at the all-girls choir Con Brio and how they were positively affected by their part in the National Choir Competition 'The Big Sing.'

"It's amazing. We all love performing. It's electric really."

Although newspapers are only a tiny portion of the big wide world of the media, it was nice to see something positively representing girls. The effect of this article, and others like it is that it will empower girls to know that they can achieve without having to 'slut themselves down' in order to do so. 

Easy A

 

A good example of the way the media affects teenage girls is portrayed in the comedy movie 'Easy A' starring Emma Stone.

In this movie, Olive Penderghast (Emma) is an 'invisible' teenaged girl who just wants to increase her standing within the school. Her opportunity comes when an overheard miscommunication between her and her best friend lead to the rest of the school believing she 'got it on' with a college student. Olive, enjoying the popularity, goes along with the lie, but it soon balloons out of control as she starts being approached by the out-and-down of the school, who pay her to say she had sex with them in order to make themselves look better.

This movie is a perfect example of the give-and-take when it comes to sexualisation and interpretation of girls in the media, in this case, the media being the students of Ojai High School. The students give off the impression that it's admirable that Olive 'had sex.' Believing it, Olive increases the amount of activity and references based towards this, dressing provocatively and selling rumours for money. In return, the school puts more heat on her to be sexual and to be the slut they think she is.

This is the same way that the media draws girls in to buying their products- they convince them that it's cool and attractive to be sexual and act sexually, and in return the girls start dressing and acting that way. The media then increases pressure until they are swamped in the idea that if you are not slutty, you're obviously not good enough.

The movie is also a warning on the effects this has on young girls. Olive, daunted and disenchanted by her attention, realises that although everyone wants to be known to be with her, no one actually wants to date her, or be her friend. She seeks an escape from the advances, but it culminates with a boy trying to force himself on her.

Again, this is what can happen through the sexualisation of young girls. They end up getting into trouble because they are pushed to be adult before their time.

"I wish it could go back to being normal"

Dove Beauty Campaign- Pros and Cons



A picture began to circle the internet not long after the 'Dove- Real Beauty'- skincare campaign came out that drew comparisons between Dove and the famous Victoria's Secret's 'Love my Body.' The picture gained online fame thanks to the differences between the stick-thin, airbrushed models and the 'real women,' and begged the long-unanswered question, 'what is beauty?'

 

Consumers were outraged. Clearly, the models in the top image are beautiful. They are sexy, confident, and give off the image of absolute perfection. But are the Dove women not equally beautiful? These women look like they have character, after all.

 

 

Well, the campaigns, all though giving off completely different messages, are more alike than you may think at a first glance.

 

After all. They're both made with the same goal in mind...

 

First of all, lets break this down. We have in the blue corner, Victoria's Secret: the not-so-hidden fantasy of your stereotypical lusting male. The company sells underwear (as well as a few other related products), and is famous for the absurdly beautiful 'Secret Angels,' which is the nickname of the team of models that work for the company. Their 'Love Your Body' campaign is one of many meant to make girls buy lingerie- because they could be as sexy as an Angel if they wore this. The ad targets insecurities and pushes the message 'be perfect.'

 



In the red, we have Dove. A multi-billion dollar company that encourages the everyday woman to enjoy their large range of hair and skin-care products. The strongest punch Dove has to pull is their targeted advertising that looks at all things of 'real beauty'- everyday women who use everyday Dove products. It calls out the rest of the media's ideas of beauty and sends out the message 'you don't have to be skinny to be beautiful- just be yourself.'

But don't be fooled- for Dove, beauty is still skin deep, isn't it? Otherwise they wouldn't sell anything. And that's what they really want- at the end of the day, does Dove really care about womens' self-esteem, or do they care about how much their sales will sky rocket if everyone thinks that they care?

 

Take another look at the picture up the top.

 

You have the Angels, staring confidently at the camera. They're all about the same height, the same body weight/type, and politically, ethnically diverse. Everyone is content in just their underwear, because everyone in that picture is beautiful.

 

You have the Dove models, staring confidently at the camera. They're all about the same height, the same body weight/type, and politically, ethnically diverse. Everyone is content in just their underwear, because everyone in that picture is beautiful.

 

As superficially diverse as it seems, Dove is still branding a specific image of beauty into the minds of consumers. This is their 'real' beauty- not skinny, but not overly fat, either. Not too tall, not too short. Not one of the women in this particular image are obviously scarred.

 

So what's the difference?

 

And what effect does this have on their audience? Can we argue that Dove is any more realistic than the Secret Angels?

 

What's happening, is that instead of growing up feeling the need to be perfect and to stand out as a goddess, teenage girls are encouraged to be beautiful and fit in. Don't stand out at all. Be comfortable with the ordinary.

 

I'm not saying this is a bad thing. For people suffering from self-esteem issues (thanks, advertising,) this campaign could be great. It's selling point is that it promotes self-esteem, after all. Everyone can be ordinary!

But that's just what all these women look like- ordinary. There's no diversity in the Dove ads, any more than there is in the Victoria's Secret's. Be healthy, that's good- but not too healthy, you might get too thin. Then you wouldn't be as realistically beautiful as these women are.

The danger of these ads is that teenaged girls growing up with these ads are encouraged not to be individual- not to stand up and stand out.

Personally, I think the ads are fine in theory. I'd just rather they show more diversity- and explored even more how the everyday women can be empowered by being different.

 

 

http://marketingchannel.blogspot.co.nz/2011/03/victorias-secret-angel-wings-strategic.html

http://www.xdreamwizard.com/xlab/?p=69

http://bynstrainingblog.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/doves-real-beauty-campagin-closer-look.html