"Gender Issues in Advertising"--Jeanne Munger Artz and Warren Pundy Blog #15

After reading this article, I realized that I haven't noticed gender bias in advertising so much when it comes to language. I haven't considered the bias that exists most likely because I am so used to hearing things that way. The article did mention the issue of "objectification"--this is something that I have noticed and that continues to bother me. To say it plainly, I really can't stand the fact that women are used purely as sexual objects and are devalued for advertising purposes. Reading this article reminded me of a specific television commercial. A few years ago, Carl's Jr. released two separate ads for some product. One had Hugh Hefner and the other had Paris Hilton with almost no clothes on. Both commercials completely objectified women in very different ways. Those ads completely soured my opinion of that company as a whole, and my father actually wrote a complaint and has altogether boycotted the restaurant chain because of them (which I am very proud of). It is a shame that, while there has been so much advocacy to change language, advertising companies and the media continue to treat women purely as objects.