Advertisement, media, and society have socially constructed
how the “perfect” body should look. It
is not uncommon for marketing and advertising companies to use this perception
of a perfect body to sell their product.
The term “sex sells” is a well known custom in the business, but where
should the line be drawn? What is acceptable? When does it become sexist? When
does it become degrading?
Many have seen some of Direct TV’s commercials featuring Rob Lowe. In each commercial Rob Lowe represents Direct TV users, and an unflattering inferior version of Rob Lowe represents cable users. The commercial’s goal is to display Direct TV’s superiority, by mocking cable to infer mediocrity. In my opinion, these series of commercials have worked really well for the Direct TV brand.
Here is a 30 second Direct TV Rob Lowe commercial.
Now,
let’s use the same concept but insert Sports Illustrated Models
instead.
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| Ronda Rousey (UFC Athlete) |
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| Caroline Wozniacki (Pro Tennis Athlete) |
DirecTV is standing by their ads, telling ABC News: "The ads were specifically created to run in the 2015 Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and were meant to work within the context of the editorial of the magazine, which is beautiful women in swimsuits. The intention of the ads was to show a fun, tongue-in-cheek example of how DirecTV is superior to cable." (Weisman, 2015, para. 8 )
Chrissy Teigen is one of the models featured in the print ad. "We had fun. We had a good time. We didn't mean to be demeaning or degrading or hurt anybody's feelings," Teigen said. "It is a funny ad; it's supposed to be funny, take it for what it is." (Weisman, 2015, para. 8)
Here are some questions to guide your response. What is your opinion on the print ad? Is this ad degrading to women? Is the ad humorous? Is this ad a positive or negative for Direct TV? How do you think the Sport Illustrated swimsuit edition as a whole affects women’s sport? What are your opinions of the pictures of female athletes published by SI? How do you feel women athletes are portrayed by the media? Is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition a positive or negative for women's sport? What part do the women athletes who chose to participate in “sexy” printed material play in this? Is there a different standard for men and women athletes when it comes to posing "sexy"? Why or why not?
-David Sims
References:
Weisman, A. (2015, February 11). DirecTV ads with Sports Illustrated swimsuit models causing controversy - Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/directv-ads-with-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-models-causing-controversy-2015-2
David,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not too familiar with it, this seems like a very interesting situation in my opinion. As you mentioned at the beginning of your post that DirectTV uses an admired version of Rob Lowe, and an extremely less desired version of Rob Lowe. From what I have viewed, they have put out a few different commercials demonstrating this. Why has there been little backlash from these, but an extreme amount from the SI edition ad? In Rob Lowe’s situation, the commercial makes fun of paranoia, socially awkward people, people with scrawny physics, and many more. In the SI ad, they make fun of the dreaded cat lady who lives alone with all of her cats. I think people are reading way too much into this, just as Chrissy Teigen pointed out.
-Alexx Klein
I agree with Alexx on this. The ad is in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and anyone who is willing to flip through the pages of that should not be offended by the ad. I think the ad is funny and more attention-getting than it is degrading. I think it is positive for DirectTV because it now gives us a female comparison to the male version with Rob Lowe. I think the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition similar to the ESPN the magazine Body issue is very positive to females and female athletes alike. I know there are always people who are up in arms about models and saying that it sets a bad example for women with body issues. For me, I think featuring athletes is the safest/healthiest way to portray sexiness in women. These women are in peak physical shape doing so in a healthy manner and look beautiful in a swimsuit. If a female wants to get in-shape and gets the motivation from images of models, I can only hope it would be of female athletes who have worked hard for it doing things the right way rather than a model that is blessed with a tremendous physical makeup who may not maintain it in the healthiest manner.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think ultimately the print ads are a positive for DirectTV.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, I am of the opinion that most people will view the ads within their intended context and find them humorous. Also, DirectTV is a well-established company and not in an industry where a small pocket of the public objecting to their advertising campaign will drastically effect business. While I don’t necessarily subscribe to the motto that “any publicity is good publicity” in this case I think the small amount of negative attention drawn by the ads will overall only increase the campaign's success by bringing the ad to the attention of an even larger audience.
I don’t think these are facts that escaped DirectTV’s marketing team either. As David said, this has been a really well-run, successful campaign.
In my opinion, I think this ad is quite interesting. This ad designer is brilliant to come up with such an idea. Furthermore, I do not think this ad is degrading to women, because a female athlete has her right to be a model to show her body shape in public. It is a personal behavior. If she says yes to the magazine, it illustrates that she feels confidence with her body. In addition to female athletes willing to show their good body figure, commercial companies could use models to attract customers to purchase products. I think it is a win-win strategy; it is more positive than negative.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, some athletes overexpose their good figure in public. This overexposure may attract too much of people’s attention to their “sexy” aspect, and push them far away from athlete aspect. I think moderate exposure is very important to athletes, no matter female or male, that is no difference.
-- Veeco Zheng
I also believe that people are reading too much into the SI ads. I think that the Rob Lowe commercials have been a bigger hit and received better than the SI model ads. Were these SI model ads apart of the swim suit edition magazine? If so then I think that it is very clever. I feel that somebody is going to feel degrading whenever women, or men, pose for pictures that are categorized as “sex sells”. If these athletes or models want to put their bodies out there then I do not see an issue with it. People know what they are getting if they buy the SI Swimsuit edition or the ESPN Body Magazine. It is a way to reach out to different viewers who may not read your normal SI or ESPN magazine.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Notley
ReplyDeleteI feel as if this commercial has not done any harm to anyone, especially women with body issues. First of all, all of these women chose to do this ad, I would understand if people thought it was sexist if the women had been forced to do it. I believe that many people take the whole objectifying women a little too far. If female athletes want to show of their bodies and are getting paid than go for it, they have worked so hard for what they have so who are we too say that what they are doing is wrong. It is their choice. The commercials have been increasingly popular with Rob Lowe and tying in the SI women is giving it even more popularity. If these commercials were this popular with shirtless men sitting in all of them would there be this much controversy or would it just be ignored? Personally I think it would be so I really do not understand why there is always such a big uproar wit women in ads.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that this ad is degrading towards women. It is in line with the Rob Lowe theme that Direct TV already markets, which makes the photos humorous. The sports illustrated swimsuit edition is a great way for female athletes to market themselves. If these athletes are proud of their bodies and want to show them off and receive money for doing so then that is their prerogative. People are going to take notice to these athletes, which may in tern increase viewers/spectators in their sporting events and possibly draw sponsorships. I think that there may be a different standard for men and women who pose in these articles, only for the fact that there is only controversy surrounding the women. I have never heard anyone speak negatively towards the men who pose half naked in these articles. The bottom line is that sex appeal applies to both men and women, and I think that the athletes who pose in these articles receive a major benefit from doing so.
Matthias E. Reiber
I do not think the ads are offensive, especially if the ads were part of the SI swimsuit edition. Sport Illustrated models have a reputation in society of being beautiful women, just as “cat lady” is a term often used to describe a single woman. They are both societal norms and I don’t think making a joke about is offensive to anyone.
ReplyDeleteAs far as female athletes posing in Sports Illustrated, I agree with Veeco. It is their personal right and decision to model however and wherever they please (or wherever they are offered a job). I think in some ways it brings more attention to them, which could potentially promote their athleticism or sport. I know this is not always true and not an ideal way to encourage enthusiasm to women’s sports but as Veeco pointed out, it shows these women are confident and proud of their figures. This could allow female athletes to use their popularity to improve support of their sport.
Allie McDavitt
This sports illustrated article seems to be harmless to me. As I glanced through the pictures I took each picture differently but none of them I saw were in a negative light. These pictures seemed like they were taken to show the woman from two different sides of life. The pose was away to show the reader that this position can be used in many different ways. I feel like the models had fun with it. Of course they had a chance to pose in warm weather which would be nice right now in Bowling Green but, they also took a picture in something different and people are not use to this obviously because this debate have come up. If I had to say anything about this article I would say look and laugh because the models seem to poke fun at things, plus don’t take everything so serious, the models didn’t.
ReplyDeleteVincent Marshall
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