Marketing Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing Communication - Essay Example It cannot be forgotten that such restrictions are also placed in order to prevent the degradation of women and to discourage materialism. Furthermore, the rationale for these restrictions could be health reasons and to prevent politicians from misusing electoral advertising. Firstly, restrictions are put in place to prevent advertisers from misleading consumers. This means that advertisements are restricted from containing false statements, descriptions, illustrations or claims regarding material facts or characteristics. Furthermore, there are bodies that are charged with acting as a 'controller' to ensure that the restrictions are upheld. For example, the Advertising Standards Authority of the United Kingdom dealt with almost 1,200 cases regarding health, beauty, and slimming products in 2003 alone. This clearly indicates the number of cases regarding false claims will continue to increase if restrictions are not placed on the advertising of slimming products. As such, it is appare nt that restrictions are placed on advertisements in order to prevent advertisements from deluding consumers. Advertisements are also regulated to prevent the degradation of females. Often, the female is used as a mere sex symbol to entice and titillate the male into purchasing a product. Hence, restrictions are placed to control the extent to which a female is used and how she is used. If this is not done, it is likely that the image of the purer sex will be degraded as the people will lose the respect of them due to indecent advertising. In advertisements contained within fashion magazines such as the Vogue, there are at least 20 pictures focused directly on the barely covered breast or cleavage. Not only are these suggestions demeaning to women insinuating that they all just want to wear as little as they can get away with, but they are blatantly unrealistic. Thus, restrictions are placed on advertisements to prevent the extent of such degradation from escalating further. In addi tion to that, advertisements portray women as frivolous creatures that seemingly spend 99% of their time and space dwelling on beauty, sensuality, sex, health and attracting a man. One example is a lipstick advertisement for Revlon. The theme is one of "choices, choices, and choices", how will one ever be able to choose a shade of red that is just right, as if this is the biggest problem confronting a female in a day. Another example is an advertisement by Savvy, a jewelry company whose slogan is "Be Brilliant", depicting unclothed female bodies with an example of their jewelry draped on them. Not only does it remove the humanity in the picture, it gives the impression of women's brilliance radiating only from the stones that they must wear. This clearly impresses upon the public that women are no more than sex symbols. Therefore, such degradation and debasement of females must be kept in check through the various restrictions placed on advertisements. In addition, restrictions are placed on advertisements to discourage materialism.