Women and Advertising Assignment

                Starting in the 1990’s and increasing in today’s day and age hip-hop music is often criticized for objectifying women as sex symbols and having a misogynist attitude.  “Video Vixen’s”, scantily clad models who appear in music videos often as a sex symbol, are a part of music videos in all genres of music.   However the use of females as a symbol for sex and power is in almost every hip hop video produced these days.  In a recent class discussion we talked about how women are objectified in advertising and used as a means to sell a product.  In the text I read that, “the advertising industry uses women’s bodies to sell shampoo, soft drinks, beer, tires, cars, fax machines, chain saws, and gun holsters as well as concepts of womanliness, manliness, and hereronormativity”(Kirk & Okazawa, p. 208).  This made me start to think about how this is done in the Hip-Hop industry with the lyrics and music videos as well.  I began looking at lyrics from one of my own favorite hip-hop artist, Lil’ Wayne.  A line from one of his songs stuck out to me in particular, “I don’t think you’re beautiful, I think you’re beyond it”.  I thought at first I could spin this in a positive light, but reading more of his well known lyrics outside of the context of the song, I couldn’t

Hey girl,

even find joy in the quote.  All of the other lyrics even some from the very same song were speaking about woman in a manner than was only speaking about them as a sex symbol.

                The picture I chose was from a recent ad campaign run by the clothing line Ed Hardy.  This photo was accompanied by one other photo featuring Lil’ Wayne’s mentor and “father” in the Hip-Hop business standing beside him while he sits on a throne.  There are two scantily clad females in the photo with them, just as this photo neither male is paying much attention to the beautiful woman that are hanging all over them.  I think advertisements such as this one along with the persona and lyrics of the male icon whose the center of the advertisement are portraying women as an object designed to be submissive too and sexually pleasing to men.  The male icon in this photo is dead center, he is sitting down without a shirt wearing only the clothing companies pants and hat, neither of which you can see.  The women are slender, physically fit, in small tank tops and bathing suits that clearly state the clothing line’s brand name.  They are the ones who are wearing and clearly representing the purpose of the ad, to sell this companies brand and clothing, yet there faces aren’t even shown……just their bodies.  This sends a message that these women are a symbol of beauty.  These woman who are in reality carrying the quintessential purpose of an advertisement, to showcase a brands name and logo, are placed of to the side with a man in the center and don’t even have their faces shown.  But ladies not to worry the main star of the ad “doesn’t think you’re beautiful”, he thinks “you’re beyond it”. 

Work Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspective. Fifth ed. New York:    McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print

Photo:

http://highbridnation.com/2008/01/17/first-look-lil-wayne-babys-ed-hardy-ads/

I think your body’s beautiful but I don’t see much be.

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Service Learning Proposal

Proposal

1. Contact information:

Title: “Sisters Supporting Sisters”

Community Service Partner: UCF Victims Services and Panhellenic counsel.

Group Members: Sarah C. and Chelsea L.

2. Community Partner Profile:

For our Service Learning project Sarah and I have chosen to work with the Victim Services Center and the Panhellenic Council on the campus of the University of Central Florida.

The mission statement of UCF Victim Services is, “To collaborate with and empower organizations and individuals to eliminate violence in our communities through advocacy, education and training.”  The goals of the Victims Services Center are to educate students about relationship violence, inform victims of their right, and advocate on behalf of victims.  Their website is, http://victimservices.ucf.edu/Services.html, they also have information on their Facebook page entitled UCF Victim Services.

The mission statement of the UCF Panhellenic Council is “To provide a positive environment for the Panhellenic community and to better communications between Panhellenic and its chapters.”  Their goal or vision is, “To promote a unified and knowledgeable Greek community while providing opportunities for growth and development among Panhellenic women within their fraternity and campus.”  They have a website where all of this information can be located.  The web address is, http://www.panhellenicucf.com. 

3. The Proposal

Define the problem:

            The problem we are focusing on that is specific to this University is the lack of communication between the Victim Services Center and the Panhellenic Council on this campus.  All of the information and topics that Victim Services educates students on is all relevant to the women involved in the Greek organizations on campus.  As the woman who hold positions change each year and more often than not are graduating soon after they finish their time in office it is hard to keep the relationship going year after year. The solution to this problem is to establish a line of communication between not only Victim Services and the Panhellenic Officers but also their advising staff which will continue to be working with Panhellenic woman after the current officers finish their terms and graduate from the University.  Victim Services is often in need of volunteers and students to help them spread information about the center and the events they hold, by working with Panhellenic the center will have a larger volunteer base and can market to and give information to hundreds of woman. 

            The larger problem is that many women are not often exposed to important information on topics such as and that surround relationship violence.  More specifically in today’s day and age with so many forms of communication via technology and social media it is much harder for young people to establish and maintain necessary boundaries in their relationships.  More often than not young people in my age group including myself don’t realize the need to set boundaries in our relationships, not just romantic relationships but also friendships/roommates/etc., which can cause problems in the future.  It is important for students to be educated on how to establish boundaries in their relationships and how to handle the situation safely and appropriately if they are crossed.

            Something that stood out to me in our text, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives was this line referring to woman and their experiences with domestic violence.  It reads, “Most women –heterosexual, queer, lesbian, or transgender—experience a certain amount of what could be defined as secual violence as part of daily life.  We experience hassles on the street, in parks, on public transit, or in cafes and bars. We put up with sexists comments from bosses or coworkers.  We sometimes make compromises as part of maintain intimate relationships” (p. 257) This being said I think that it is vitally important for the woman on this campus to be provided with information regarding domestic and relationship violence, how to prevent it, and what to do once it has occurred.

Propose a plan that addresses the problem or need:

For our service learning experience we have chosen to bring together the victims services center with the Greek community on campus. Both of the organizations have already been well established, therefore working together would be beneficial to both parties.  The problem of domestic violence does not exist only in certain realms, it is prevalent in the lives of all women.  We will provide the Panhellenic community with the opportunity to have Victim Services come into their chapters to give informative presentations.  We feel that since we ourselves are active members of the Panhellenic community that if we express how we found the information pertinent and important in our lives the woman we are speaking to will be interested to learn more.  By creating an open line of communication between Victim Services and Panhellenic we will be provided the Panhellenic community with information and resources as well as provided Victim Services a much larger volunteer base.

Action steps:

         Establish a relationship with victim services

         Meet with pan executives to see what they are open to

         Create an open line of communications between the Victim Services Center and Panhellenic Council.

·         Create a competition and prize incentive for which sorority donates the most underwear for “Underawareness”.

         Speak at a PAN meeting market the opportunity to have Victim Services speak to their chapters and the “Underawareness” Fundraiser.  Inform chapters about the volunteer and community service opportunities with Victim Services.

         Visit chapters with Victim Services speaker.

Timeline:

·          WEDNESDAY 2/15 3:00 PM: meeting with Christine Mouton

o   5:00 PM: call PAN risk management chair to explain our project

·         MONDAY      2/20

o   12pm: Meeting with PAN Risk Management Chair to give proposal and further explain our timeline.

o   11:00pm: Receive feedback from PAN officers and Advisors.

·         WEDNESDAY 2/29

o   3:00pm: Present opportunity for speaker and our the “Underawareness” fundraising competition.

·         SUNDAYS March and April (Dates scheduled due to chapters availability)

o   7:00 PM:  Victim Services give presentation on boundaries.  Remind chapters about the “Underawareness” Fundraiser.

·         WEDNESDAY 4/18 3:00 PM: Collect for “Underawareness” Fundraiser.

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