Gender Exploitation in Alcohol Advertising

Media and popular culture has one of the biggest influences on our society.  Media essentially provides us with actual models of behavior and creates ideas or “norms” for society through social constructs.  The messages and models we see within society can reinforce an individual's or society as a whole's existing beliefs and/or attitude about a particular topic.  One of the biggest ways in which the media molds our views as a society is through advertising and currently there has been a noticeable increase in the use of sexual appeal within alcohol advertisements.  According to a study by S.C. Jones from the University of Wollongong called “Beer, Boats, and Breasts: Responses to a controversial alcohol advertising campaign” the increasing portrayals of sexuality in advertising began in the 1980s and has continued through the '90's into to today.  Women are over-sexualized and often found to be partially dressed or even nude within these advertisements.  Ultimately these advertisements are degrading and demeaning to women because these women are being used as objects.  Their bodies are being used to sell products for the specific pleasure of men focusing solely around the sexual appeal of women often  insinuating to society that females are only worthy of their sexuality.  Through the use of alcohol advertisements that objectify women it only aims the appeal toward the opposite gender along with giving a negative portrayal of women toward the younger generations expected to mold our society in the future.