AHA! Distortion in the Media, for Women AND Men

Of course I watched Killing Us Softly 3 for our Visual Literacy assignment last week, and I remembered some scenes that Magda had shown us when I took Ed Tech and Design in 2010. My reactions to the video centered around shock and disbelief that there were indeed so many examples of female objectification still in the media today. Maybe I was naive to think that in the 21st century, we would be moving beyond such degradation, but I guess I was wrong. Jean Kilbourn's video contained examples leading up to the new millennium, but I did a little searching and found even more examples of the objectification of women AND men from today's media. Here are some of the most unbelievable and shocking ads:

Ad for XXL Durex brand condoms. Those are band-aids. This is sick.

The "Super Seven Incher"? This ended up BANNED in the US 

This ad was actually banned in South Africa! Wonder why?

The Vampire Diaries is a book target at teens! WHAAA?

And men are being objectified too, and often are even more overlooked than the ads objectifying women. Usually those ads placing men in an objectified position have to do with women being the dominating force in the ad. For example, this:

These boys are whipped...

Clearly, this billboard (advertising "winter hosiery") is telling us that men are dogs, and women are their owners. 

I think the issues that Jean addressed in her video are applicable to both women and men. It is up to us as individuals being targeted by these advertisements to be responsible when assessing their messages.