For my analysis, I have chosen an
artifact by Equinox Fitness. For those of you who have never heard of Equinox,
they are a fitness club that has been known for their provocative ad campaigns.
I chose this particular ad from their campaign mostly because of how outrageous
I think it is that this ad was displayed as a billboard out in the public of a
community. In today’s desensitized society, I can easily see this being on
countless numbers of websites and television programs, like sports and fashion, that are targeting
young adults, but the fact that it was in a community for all the kids to see
and snicker at on their way to school kind of blew my mind.
After
looking more into this ad, it started to remind me of several discussions that
we had in class:
1. The underlying theme of gender inequality that lies
hidden in our society. I immediately thought back to the discussion about how
biology/anatomy textbooks portray the process of reproduction and
fertilization. Although the majority of the themes were of the passive helpless
female and the active heroic-like male, but we also mentioned the aggressive
“femme fatale,” the seductive female that lures men into her trap. The image of
the naked, vulnerable male in the image with a clothed and relaxed woman being
carried on his back, and the simple word “Dominance” printed on the bottom
explains it all.
2. The idea brought up by Segal that “our identities are
becoming health identities.” Although their slogan is “It’s not fitness. It’s
life”, this ad is in no way screaming health and fitness. In my mind it is
actually going against Segal. This
ad doesn’t promote health and fitness; it promotes sex and aesthetic appeal,
which some may say is becoming an unhealthy trend among those trying to become
“healthy.”
I also learned while analyzing and researching for this
project, that studies show that while ads like this one are affective in
causing women to become more anxious and stressed about their fitness and image
(Yay for taking advantage of women’s emotions and insecurities! SARCASM), it is
also counterproductive because it causes the women to feel too out of place to
go into these gyms because they think they wont fit in and will be
self-conscience.
+ Has our society become so engulfed in our body image that
we are slipping away from understanding/knowing what being healthy really is?
+ Although there is still evidence of gender inequality
themes all around us, have we grown as a society and culture that we no longer
even realize they are there or does it still subconsciously have a hold on us?
I think that society has become engulfed in our body image that we are slipping away from understanding what healthy really is. Now a days I see more advertisements for diet pills or surgeries than for actual gyms. I agree that this artifact has nothing to do with working out because they are not wearing running clothes or shoes. If I were to just look at this advertisement I would think it was for a perfume or women related ad because the female in the ad is taking control of the man she is on top of. However, they both look muscular and skinny, so people are believing that Equinox Fitness is the gym to go to so they can eventually look like that and become dominant as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw this ad, my mind went to optimization and a neoliberal society. Despite the fact that these two people aren't in gym clothing nor do they look like they've recently been on a treadmill, they still embody what society would classify as near perfect physiques, which is the primary focus of the image. This ad ultimately insinuates that this type of figure can be attained if you simply workout often enough, namely through Equinox Fitness. As fitness is considered an aspect of health, attaining this level of "health" becomes the goal. Even individuals who have an average fitness level will feel the need to continue striving for this ultimate perfection, despite its intangibility. This ad encourages individuals to keep trying to accumulate more and more "health," supporting an entrepreneurial rationale. The slogan "It's not fitness. It's life" encourages the fact that health needs to be constantly engrained in our lives and attained at every opportunity.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, I would definitely say that society is becoming so focused on body image that we neglect what health really is. Based on this ad, the lines between the two concepts have clearly become blurred. This unattainable "fit" physique is the level of "health" that most people feel they need to continuously strive to acquire.
Culture and body image most certainly seem to go hand in hand with one another now. It is something our culture has grown to follow. Unfortunately, using pictures like the one used in this ad are a way for this company to gain attention. One major expense, however, is that placing an image like this on a billboard makes it viewable for all generations rather than just those that understand its underlying meaning.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second question, gender inequality is still hidden or embedded in our culture. While many could rightfully argue that our culture has come a long way in the past 40 years or so, there are still ads like these out there that keep gender inequality alive for the time being. Just the use of the word 'dominance' alone is enough to show that gender inequality is something our culture is still dealing with every day.
+ Has our society become so engulfed in our body image that we are slipping away from understanding/knowing what being healthy really is?
ReplyDelete-- I think that society has become so engulfed in our body image lately. Advertisements every where are photo shopping the females in the ads to make them look perfect and flawless, which every other women feels is ideal. But little do they know how much work has been done behind the scenes to make these models look like they do. Since we see these skinny models and perfectly cut men, people feel as if they need to go to extremes themselves in order to get the perfect body. This is extremely harmful to peoples health, but it is amazing how many people will go to such extents to get the body featured in these ads.
+ Although there is still evidence of gender inequality themes all around us, have we grown as a society and culture that we no longer even realize they are there or does it still subconsciously have a hold on us?
-- I feel like over the years society has gotten better about gender equality, but I still feel as if it is all around us. I feel like it still has a hold on us and effects us in different aspects of our lives. There will always be some what of a gender divide, regardless of if we will be able to see it as easily as we have in the past or not.
I believe that our society realizes that gender inequality themes are around us. How a person views gender inequality in our society depends on a person's terministic screen. For example, I don't think about gender inequality everyday or participate in strikes for it. However, I do pay attention to do when I am in a work environment and I see the difference in how a male employee gets treated verse a female. To answer you question, I believe that gender inequality themes do exist but also that depending on a person's terministic screen and kairos determines how our society views gender inequality.
ReplyDelete1. I don’t necessarily think that our society has begun “slipping away” from understanding what being healthy really is. Rather, I think that the parameters of what is considered to be healthy have simply changed. Body image has become a part of what we consider to be “health.” This can be seen by comparing models and actresses 50 years ago to those that exist today; it becomes clear that what society considers to be beautiful (and thus, healthy) today varies significantly from prior norms. This notion is also highly reflected in this Equinox advertisement, as the two models appear extremely trim, confident, and therefore, healthy. The slogan that appears at the bottom of the advertisement further solidifies this claim. “It’s not fitness. It’s life.” Obtaining a perfect physique is a necessity in order to be healthy. And unfortunately, in today’s society, it’s a message that we’re forced to constantly receive.
ReplyDelete2. Gender inequality definitely still exists, whether we realize it or not. Truthfully, I don’t think it is possible to group all of society together to respond to this question. Some people are aware of gender inequality, while others subconsciously (or not) keep the issue in existence. This advertisement, and the media in general, more closely fall into the latter group. By portraying this women as “healthy” and “dominant” through sex appeal alone, Equinox is simply reiterating a message that is all too prominent in society today.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe society is becoming engulfed in body image. You never see average Americans on television advertising anything. You see toned, fit, great lifestyle living people and that alone is a far cry. The perception is that everyone is an average Joe unless you live the “healthy” lifestyle, whatever that means. American advertisements try to appeal to healthy Americans. So of course that’s the “image”. There seems to not be a realistic view of what healthy is. Because for some healthy might be in health like sickliness , for others healthy might be in image. It all depends on what end of the spectrum you look through.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first question, I do feel that society has placed to much emphasis on body image and more specifically "sex appeal" than actually being healthy. I think that the media has played a large role in this belief surfacing and becoming popular. Our society is too focused on the here and now as opposed to how their actions will affect them in the future. This advertisement clearly shows that society prefers to be sexy over being healthy.
ReplyDeleteI think our society does realize gender inequality themes around us, and in a weird way, this advertisement seems like they are oddly trying to tackle this issue. Although I do not support the way they are advertising, The very idea of this dominance with the woman clearly on top shows a sort of reversal of gender inequality. It seems as a society we are trying to fix the problems that have plagued us for so long, but are not quite figuring out a proper way to go about it.
I think society still has a good idea of what healthy is but we cannot help but want to look and be like what we see in advertisements. People are affected by ads like these every day whether they realize it or not. Being sexy and showing skin is something that has become normal in our culture. Although I feel society realizes what is healthy, it also thinks showing skin like in this ad is more important.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think gender inequality still exists and we see it every day in advertisements. This particular ad shows a woman on top of a man with the word "dominance" underneath the picture. Equinox fitness should be mainly advertising people working out at a gym in order to stay healthy but instead they have chosen to advertise "dominance" by a half naked woman on top of a naked man in what looks to be a house. This is gender inequality and it definitely still exists today.