In this week's class we discussed beauty and advertising. As a marketing major, these topics are directly related to my line of study. We learned in class that Victoria's Secret runs a multi-million dollar business by advertising to men. This seems strange when their target customers are women. The genius behind this marketing is that they play on women's assumptions that, to be attractive, they must look like the models on the ads. The message behind the marketing is that Victoria's Secret knows what a man desires, and if women purchase their product they will be desirable. Although Victoria's Secret is well known for their portrayal of physically perfect models, they are not the only company to use this marketing technique. Over the last 4 decades, several companies have attributed to society's change in view of the human body.
Another reading we did for class focused on how we, as a culture, have grown a resentment to the human body. The reasoning behind the authors arguments was that our bodies have resulted in constant disappointment. We could be eating too much or having too much sex. Either way, our bodies have become a source of dissatisfaction. It makes you wonder how much marketing is to blame.
We are obviously unhappy with our bodies, and with many reasons as to why. When it comes to sex, we seemed to have liked our bodies less due to diseases that were newly discovered. Do you think that the way our society introduces these diseases to us is considered marketing as well? Maybe we can consider it marketing in a health form? Or do you see it as informing? Because I don't see them necessairly trying to sell us anything, unless they are selling pills/medicine to help with diseases. Did our society take a health issue and turn it into a way of getting money like they did with obesity and weight loss plans?
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