its values.
A decade ago, ads using women as sex objects were diminishing because of media attention to issues like sexual harassment and well mediacized incidents like the one involving Anita Hill. However, the babes are back. In full force, advertisers from Beer to Zodiac 900-lines are exploiting women as sexual objects or empowering them only as sexual objects in advertisements. Miller-Brewing, Anheuser-Busch and Heineken avoided the practice during the controversial time referred to above, but they now all use the practice of sexism in their media advertising.
In a Miller ad, two half-naked women pop into a deserted bar on a rainy day (i.e. wet t-shirt time) where three stranded guys fail to see them. In another ad, one guy who is picked as a designated driver is the butt of jokes of his half-drunk friends who insincerely thank him for driving and staying sober. In a twist of fate, he ends up with the beautiful girl because she needs a ride home. Heineken makes no mistake about its use of sex appeal in one recent ad “In one literally over-the-top TV spot, called “The Premature Pour,” a guy spies a beautiful woman across the room in a bar. She slowly and seductively pours Heineken into a tall glass. When he tries to do the same, he fumbles, pouring too fast and spilling foam all over the place” (McCarthy, 2000, 1).
The manufactures of products for women are often as guilty of sexism in advertising as are those who make products specifically aimed at men. Playtex and Gossard have both come under fire for their latest high-exposure advertising campaigns. The Playtex Wonderbra posters and billboards have created a stir among advertising agencies and activist groups about where to draw the line. There seems to be no line drawn in the firm’s poster featuring supermodel Eva Herzigova “The lingerie-clad supermodel is featured alongside one-liners such as: ‘Hello boys’, ‘Look me in the eyes and tell me...