Sex Sells

            The Portrayal of Females in Society:.
            
             You have to wonder who exactly Pepsi is trying to sell to when they put Britney Spears in a half shirt with suspenders and low-slung, ripped jeans in a commercial with Bob Dole at the end staring lewdly at the television screen. Could Pepsi be targeting my mother, a married woman in her early 50's, to purchase this soft drink? Doubt it. Could it be my dad that they're targeting? Probably. But who are they really getting to purchase their drinks? Most likely 13 year old girls who are avid Britney Spears.
             wanna-bes! .
             But Pepsi is just one of many advertisers who think that sex, or women dancing around in slinky clothing, sells their product. And unfortunately, sometimes it does. And even more unfortunate is the fact that these same advertisers are the ones that are causing young girls today to have eating disorders at the age of ten -or- go to their proms in halter-tops and short skirts. It's amazing how much has changed since the days when Marilyn Monroe was the ideal shape and size of a woman. .
             So why do these advertisers use women and sex to sell their product? For the most part it's because the advertisements are created to conform to assumptions about the people who are purchasing the product or viewing the ad (whether it's on TV, in a magazine or on the radio.) The ads might appeal to a specific social class or to a specific sex. These ads are placed in different arenas in the hopes of getting in front of their ideal consumer. For instance, you'll probably never see an ad for power tools in Cosmo magazine and you'll probably never see a tampon commercial during the WWF! Advertisers are also looking for the best way to get your attention. Since you're bombarded with ads everywhere you turn, many advertisers want to get shock value by forcing you to look at what it is their selling. .
             These ads, however, are generally targeted toward men.