Women in Advertising Video

What signpost language and other guides to listening can you detect?
In the YouTube video about women in advertising, the woman giving the presentation guided her listeners through structure and organization in her argument. She started speaking about advertising in general, then transitioned into the portrayal of women in advertising. Each subtopic of her argument transitioned into the next so that her presentation flowed easily, and was very easy for her listeners to follow.

How well are any visuals integrated into the presentation?
The speaker provided visuals-charts, clips from commercials, images, etc.-to guide her listeners and emphasize her point. Her use of charts gave her listeners a visual to pair with the statistics she listed, such as the increase of money spent on advertising and the increase of eating disorders among teens. She used clips from commercials to emphasize her points. For example, she showed many clips in a row of commercials that showed women showing off their bottoms and their breasts to sell a variety of different products-from beer, to condoms, to fishing line. She also highlighted and zoomed in on quotations from them to emphasize the message.

What aspects of the speaker’s tone, dress, eye contact, and movement affect you understanding and appreciation (or lack of it)?
Throughout her presentation, the speaker had a very calm, confident tone, and I could tell she was passionate about her subject. She dressed appropriately, professional but comfortable (at least she looked comfortable). Her movement reflected her feeling of comfort in front of her audience, and held their attention. All these factors contributed to what I felt was a strong presentation. It held my attention, and I found it very interesting.

What’s most memorable about the presentation, and why?
For me, the most memorable part of the presentation was when the speaker showed images of women advertising products for hair and skin, and other beauty products. She was explaining how advertisements set the model for perfection, stating that they had no blemishes or wrinkles, and no pores. These ads use digital touchups to make the women look flawless. In reality, they don’t look like that, but the ads try to convince consumers that they must buy their products and look flawless. These ads set an unreachable model for beauty.

I found this video to be very effective. It opened my eyes to how much advertising is in the world today. I knew advertising was everywhere, but I was still shocked to hear that in twenty years the amount of money spent on advertising increased by $160 billion. I was also surprised to hear that the average American will spend 3 years of their life just watching television commercials. That’s only one form of advertising. We also see an average of 3000 ads per day. Just while writing this I count ten advertisements that I see from where I am sitting.

This presentation also really emphasized the importance of the issues and problems with today’s advertising. They not only sell products, but, as the speaker stated, they sell values, ideas, images, and concepts of life, love, sex, happiness, and normalcy. These ads convince us that certain looks or feelings are normal, when in reality they are lies and exaggerations. The women we see on commercials advertising skincare products don’t really have skin that flawless. They are wearing tons of makeup and their skin has been digitally touched up. Many of the women we see on television are uncommonly thin, but ads convince us that is normal. All of the images of perfect women shown in ads cause other women to feel guilty that they are not that perfect. This has led to an increase in eating disorders. The increase of sex and sexuality in ads has led to an increase in teen pregnancies. I really felt that the speaker ended the presentation very effectively by expressing how important it is to change the attitudes in society that emphasize perfection, and to live “freely chosen lives.”