Hi there Sean here, this is my first blog... ever, so please bare with me. What I chose to talk about this week (an hour before it's due) is commercials on the Lifetime channel. One thing that I always notice when watching Lifetime (with my fiancee) is that there is about two or three different types of commercials on the entire network.
First commercial consists of telling the viewer that they are too fat and that you should go out and purchase Dexatrim MAX after showing the viewer a picture of video of a slim beautiful woman all happy and smiling. She lost her weight in no time at all! (results not typical. with a healthy balanced diet and exercise).
The second commercial is for the make up that removes age instantly. Remove blemishes and age spots and wrinkles instantly. So if you weren't worried about how your skin already looked this ad was sure to remind you. It is ads like this that put pressure on women about age and how they look at their current age.
Third and strangest is the Sinupret commercial. The ad begins with a little girl laying with her mother in the grass telling her mother that she loves her and then the mother says she loves her more only with the snooty girl to respond with she loves her more and the mom says (again) she loves her daughter more because she bought her Sinupret. What is Sinupret? It's an allergy medication! Why'd they use the kid? I'll tell you. It's because who better to send messages of fear of allergens to than a mother watching Lifetime. The fear stricken mother then goes out to purchase the medication to protect their little one.
The media puts these ads on the air for money obviously but at the same time they target the audience, or at least who they think is watching their channel. According to this a fat, old and wrinkly, person who is allergic to the world watches Lifetime, or at least their children are allergic to everything and need protecting. They hope that at least one of the self-conscious people watching the channel will go out and purchase their product.
4 comments:
Sean, I also posted my blog about Lifetime, but did not talk about the commercials but the shows. I think that Lifetime, "the network for women" is downgrading women with the kind of programming that they air. The commercials mirror the shows greatly, as do they most of the time on any network you watch. I totally agree with you about the three types of commercials that are aired on the network, and I also have noticed this when doing research for my blog. I do not agree that women should be told they are fat, or old or sold drugs because they care for their children's well being. I believe that the people who watch this network are not at all being helped, but in turned told that they need to be "perfect" by the commercials and the actresses. They are told they need to be saved by a man during the show, and who does that all lead back to, the Walt Disney Company, the owner of Lifetime Network.
I agree with the fact that the commercials and the programming on the Lifetime Network is degrading to women. It even further disturbs me that these commercials work. Do women buy these products and watch this lame crap, I don’t. Someone must be buying into this or the network would not be watched and advertisers would not purchase ad time. Why aren’t there more commercials and shows that empower women, not just offer them a “Simple Solution” through a pill or demand they jump on the Bandwagon because “everyone else does it”. Why do we stand for it? Why aren’t there groups pointing this out in the media and calling for boycotts of Networks and Advertisers that degrade women. I just don’t think we use the power of numbers to make our voice heard. Let’s stop watching, ask our friends to do the same and not buy products with degrading commercials. Thousands of emails to the company’s that profit from degrading women would not hurt either!
The way Sean puts it makes the whole commerical thing seem funny. In reality i'm sure that its the same for men. They are going to have some kinda of body spray AXE commerical and a car commercial. they are waiting for a insecure, bad smelling, poor guy who can not even afford the kinds of cars they are selling. Thats what commericals in our society are made for. They put us down in order for us to buy their products to make us feel better about our selves.
The way this is written is funny because it is so true. I have definitely noticed how the commercials on a channel that is meant to be positive for women is actually insulting them by saying that they need to lose weight and make sure that they are not wrinkly. Obviously this is not a very nice thing to do but the media and society has socialized us to think that this is ok.
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