Project

In researching how women are portrayed within the advertising portion of television, one source I have found to be very useful is Robin Peterson and Kent Byus’ analysis of precisely this subject. In their analysis titled, “An analysis of the portrayal of female models in television commercials by degree of slenderness”, prepared for the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, the positions women have played in television and the advertisements are viewed through the lens of weight, and the posturing of women. This analysis explains how over the past three decades it is quite noticeable that advertisements, specifically on television, use models that “are so slim that they depict unhealthy physical conditions” to present their products. Advertisers presenting new clothes like in Emporio Armani’s ad with Megan Fox, exploit the thinness of their models and their clearly visible bone structures. Another study by Paul Trowler in 1988 stated that 75% of advertisements that used women were in adverts presenting products used in the bathroom or kitchen, where more of the body is exposed. I was not surprised with my findings, because as I have witnessed myself, women in television programs and commercials represent figures that are too thin or are wearing extremely revealing clothing. It can be noticed, by anyone who watches a television program, that women in advertisements are generally made to look abnormally ideal, to the point where in Peterson and Byus’ words, women’s “poundage is less than is needed for a healthy existence. 

Peterson, Robin, and Kent Byus. "An Analysis of the Portrayal of Female Models in Television Commericals by Degree of Slenderness." Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 91.3 (1999): 83-91. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 28 Nov. 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1362131/Megan-Foxs-new-Armani-Code-ad-reveals-frame.html

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html