Going Wild With Family Values in Marketing

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Description or product or service
Ethical implications
Managerial advice for changes
Should the product remain on the market?
Conclusion
References

Abstract

Advertisements have a stated purpose of attempting to sell a product or service, but they also function either to reinforce or challenge fundamental cultural ideals. The product advertised as Girls Gone Wild videos sends highly damaging messages regarding gender role expectations. The product should not be offered in the general marketplace or a much more responsible approach should be adopted toward the marketing campaign.

Introduction

Advertisements can convey a sense of culture and values to viewers that are not necessarily intended to benefit the public. The messages they send can be blatant or subtle, conveyed in the actions, words and images used to promote a product or service. Although they will argue that they are just trying to advertise a service or product and nothing else, the truth is that any advertisement is inherently associated with culturally understood messages that either question or reinforce ingrained understandings. An example of a product that should not be advertised on TV because of the cultural messages it sends is the Girls Gone Wild videos.

Description or product or service

The Girls Gone Wild videos are video programs that feature a series of different mostly young, mostly slim girls who engage in a number of sexually explicit activities. Some girls do little more than just lift their shirts with teasing little sayings like Heres my boobs or flash other parts of their anatomy. Other girls occasionally engage in more intimate contact with other girls featuring other elements of their anatomy. In each instance, they are seen to be doing anything the male voice on the other side of the camera asks them to do. While the scenes used for the advertisements feature discreet bubbled-out areas for the more explicit parts, it is entirely clear throughout the advertisements what these girls are doing. Although the advertisements are generally only shown in the later evening hours, they are often shown during popular programs and the product is easily accessible, with highly suggestive content available on the home page on the internet.

Ethical implications

Throughout these advertisements, none of the girls seem to have even the smallest thought in their head. This product and approach reinforces the concept that the ideal woman is only as valuable as her ability to entertain, particularly sexually, the men around her through her behavior as well as through her ability to conform to a specific ideal image. Cortese (2007) claims that the way in which women are used in advertising exposes the ideological beliefs in dominance and control that remain a strong feature of contemporary modern Western culture despite feminist efforts. Iris & Linda define culture as &the coherent, learned, shared view of a group of people about lifes concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behaviour (2005: 5). Moreover, Iris et al (2005) found that culture is not something one is born with but is learned through the natural responses to the environment in which an individual is raised. People tend to carry certain patterns of thinking, feeling and acting, which are learned throughout their lifetime. This programming starts within the family; it continues within the neighbourhood, at school, in youth groups, at the work place, and in the living community. With agreement to Iris et al (2005), Hofstede (1991) states that culture is something which is learned through life and can be changed by the environment that one is surrounded by. The product itself creates a false sense that the only value of girls, at least girls who look like a specific type, should be nothing more than cheap sexual toys for boys. Advertisements for the product bring this message down to the younger generations by their explicit nature and blatant exploitation of girls.

Managerial advice for changes

If the product were to remain on the market, a more responsible approach to advertising should be adopted. The current campaign offers no warning that the advertisement is about to air and immediately presents the viewer, regardless of age or interest, with the image of a slender young girl, presumably of college age, with very blonde hair energetically lifting her shirt to expose her breasts to the camera. There is no time for parents to send children out of the room even on modified advertisements that give a five-second warning statement about the upcoming explicit content. One possible solution is to offer the brief warning at the beginning of the commercial break and then allowing another commercial to air before playing the Girls Gone Wild advertisement. The intervening commercial would give viewers a chance to screen younger viewers from seeing the ad while also serving to entice the curiosity of the target audience.

Should the product remain on the market?

It is considered that the product itself should not be offered within its present venue and perhaps should not even be offered on the market. The product does nothing to encourage strong values or morals and does much to convey a very limited view of female potential. Through the marketing of the product alone, the male population gains a sense that women exist merely to please the male senses and have little or no needs, desires or dreams of their own. The female population gains a sense that this is the role they are expected to play in life and begin limiting themselves by these definitions. Those women who are unable to achieve a similar external appearance to these girls also have a strong tendency to develop numerous physical and psychological issues that can be life-long and life-threatening.

Conclusion

The Girls Gone Wild videos are an inappropriate product for the marketplace at large. The nature of the industry is harmful to both genders in a number of ways and the way in which the product is currently marketed prevents attempts to screen viewing from younger, more susceptible viewers. If the product is to be kept on the market, a more responsible, ethical approach should be adopted.

References

Cortese, A. J. (2007). Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Iris. & Linda (2005), Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace, 4th ed., McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G. (1991), Culture and Organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival, Mc Graw-Hill, [i.p. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]

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