Pregnancy in the media has become more popular than ever. With America’s obsession with celebrities, we are always on “baby watch” for the latest celebrity birth. Whether it be Kim Kardashian’s baby or Kate Middleton’s newborn, new fashionable mothers stay in the media. Companies have banked on the obsession with newborns and it shows in their advertisements. Advertisements for pregnant women are everywhere in magazines, internet sites, television, and social media sites. Advertising is something that is very important to a company’s success and it is how they tell to their target audience.
For my critical analysis, I chose the topic of companies' advertisements towards pregnant women. I'm not focusing on one advertisement but several advertisements for different companies. These advertisements are normally geared towards pregnant women who according to the company should be dressed in tight maternity clothing and looking fantastic and glowing at 8 months. The companies influence its customers to buy a certain product and look a certain way while they are pregnant.
I chose this topic because my older sister recently gave birth to a baby girl over Thanksgiving break. I had never paid such close attention to advertisements involving pregnant women than I have the past 9 months. I noticed almost the same identical white, beautiful, tall, thin pregnant model in every advertisement for a company. I also noticed how celebrity moms are being used more and more in the media to advertise products for pregnant women.
Discussion questions:
1)How do advertisements for pregnant women play into gender roles we discussed in class?
2) How do advertisements making pregnant women feel they need to look and feel a certain way tie into the point Dubriwny is trying to make in The Vulnerable Empowered Woman ?
Chelsea Anderson
I think recent advertisements targeting pregnant women show the effects of post-feminism in our culture. Many post-feminists would believe that it is a woman's duty to stay as glamorous, active, and cheerful as she was before becoming pregnant. Post-feminists would think that mostly everything in life is equal in regards to gender equality. These advertisements reflect this ideology because they show this false vision of a "perfect" pregnant woman. I think these advertisements are also creating this cultural phenomenon of "pregnant bullying." With celebrities such as Jessica Simpson and Kim Kardashian who were attacked in the media for gaining "too much weight" during their pregnancies, the term "pregnant bullying" came to be. These advertisements show people this false and fabricated image of what every pregnant woman "should be." With ads like these, the media is creating a new gender role for women: to be even MORE perfect.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media's pressure on women (especially when they are pregnant) has caused a huge shift in our society and how we view women going through a pregnancy. Kim Kardashian is an important figure to mention: she received much scrutiny over her weight gain during her particular pregnancy. Media puts this pressure that women should be a certain way during their pregnancy. This idea of normation comes into being. Society believes that there is a particular way to be during pregnancy. Every person is different as well as every pregnancy. Some women are active and still gain a significant amount of weight and some women don't gain a lot of weight. The media scrutinizes women that don't embody the "ideal pregnant woman."
ReplyDeleteSo in discussing the first question, women have to play into particular gender roles created by the media. Women are required to look fit and be beautiful during there pregnancy. Anything that steers away from this idea is considered bad or worth scrutinizing.
This particular advertisement as well as most pregnancy ads in general go back to stereotypical gender roles by reinforcing the way our society believes all women should act. These ads show pregnant women as glowing, with their hair and makeup done and their entire bodies thin and in shape besides their stomachs. This plays into the idea that women should always portray themselves in the best light in terms of appearance, that having a day with your hair in a ponytail with no makeup on isn't "womanly" even when you're pregnant. I agree with Catherine that this demonstrates post-feminism. These advertisements almost make it seem like these women are empowered because they look "perfect" despite being pregnant. While not allowing pregnancy to take over and not change who you are as a person may seem empowering, it's the stereotype and the idea of what women should look like that's embedded in our society that makes this seem empowering in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThese ads for pregnant women are serving to encourage society's belief that women should strive to be ultra feminine and physically attractive at all times. Despite the significant changes, physical and otherwise, that occur during pregnancy, these ads suggest that it is still easy (and expected) for a woman to maintain a flawless appearance. Not only should her appearance be blemish-free, but so should her attitude. Jennifer Love Hewitt is glowing and smiling happily, enjoying a day in the sun, as if she has no worries in the world and is experiencing no discomfort whatsoever. Pregnant viewers of this image will most likely believe that they, too, should be able to look and feel as radiant as Jennifer Love Hewitt, no matter how unrealistic that may be.
ReplyDeleteThe expectation and encouragement of feminine beauty is not limited to just pregnancy. I did my paper on breast cancer culture and found similar expectations are set for breast cancer patients. In the article we read by Barbara Ehrenreich called "Welcome to Cancerland," she discusses her experience with breast cancer culture and the lack of negativity she was allowed to feel when diagnosed with cancer. Just as pregnant women are expected to continue to have radiant personalities despite hormonal changes, so too are breast cancer patients. Ehrenreich was criticized when she expressed her anger and frustration with her situation. Even though she had a life threatening disease, her negativity was dismissed and she was labeled as having a "bad attitude." In addition, she was informed of benefits for her appearance in regard to cancer. Chemotherapy apparently makes your skin smoother and tighter and helps you lose weight, never mind the fact that it also makes you extremely sick. The American Cancer Society's "Look Good...Feel Better" program works to help women restore their physical beauty and improve their self-image while they are suffering from the disease. Who cares if you are dying of cancer so long as you look good, right? These ideas are just more examples of society's emphasis on women's physical appearance and femininity as their most important aspect.
I think advertisements targeting pregnant women use the traditional patriarchal gender roles and values as a persuasive technique. The pregnant women are almost always in the setting of their home or the outdoors. Communicating that a woman sphere is in the home and pregnancy is a natural thing, its expected. There is also a great emphasis on the appearance of the pregnant woman, she looks both beautiful and happy. Communicating that a woman's only assets are her physical attributes, the way she looks is all she has to offer. We as society view pregnancy through terministic screens. We view pregnancy as this beautiful and natural process that a woman has the joy to experience. We expect all women to want to have children, so being pregnant should evoke no other feeling than happiness and gratitude. Advertisements never put the pregnant woman in the workforce, or portray that pregnancy is not always beautiful. Pregnancy is different for all woman, showing only a certain view of pregnancy is misleading to it's target audience. It gives women the impression that if they aren't happy, thin, and beautiful throughout their pregnancy that they are some way wrong and unhealthy.
ReplyDeleteI think that these advertisements are geared towards a certain crowd. Why else would they have models or celebrity stars acting bubbly and happy to be pregnant? From what I can remember when my sister-in-law was pregnant, she didn’t want to be seen in the public eye. She mostly felt pain from my nephew’s kicks and she was always hungry and moody. These advertisements play roles that pregnancy is a great feeling but what about the pain behind the picture. Like Catherine stated in her response, post feminists believe in the glamorous woman but in actuality, its not like that. Bullying would be the perfect word because there are women out that are pregnant and do believe that there is a certain image to uphold but they have the stresses of not being able to uphold those images.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't an advertisement but I was watching an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians a few weeks ago and it was the one where Kim was preparing to give birth to her baby. She was due to give birth any day, but she had not make a reservation at the hospital or figured out how she was getting there, however, she had already scheduled her make up artist to be on call for when she went into labor. She was saying in the episode how she wanted to have full make and hair done on the day she went into labor so that when people took pictures of her delivering she would look good in them. When I was watching this I thought, "this is the craziest thing I have ever heard". I can't believe that women these days are becoming more concerned with how they look while delivering their baby, than the actual logistics of delivering the baby.
ReplyDeleteI think that advertisements in this change of how women view pregnancy and how they think they should look while pregnant and while giving birth. The advertisements usually make pregnancy look like a breeze, and even fun and while I have never been pregnant, i'm pretty sure that's not how being pregnant is in reality.
I think these advertisements play into traditional gender norms by upholding the socially constructed idea that women should be pretty all of the time. It shows that society is concerned with looking pretty even when the natural process of gaining weight and having a lot of stress due to being pregnant entail. The media also plays a part in making this idea gain influence because they make it seem like it's the norm to look the way Jennifer Love Hewitt looks in this advertisement. Most of these advertisements are not realistic and make women try to reach an essentially unattainable goal.
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