OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN THE WESTERN MEDIA AND HOW IT HAS GAINED SIGNIFICANCE IN PAKISTAN

As described earlier this essay is based on the secondary sources and deep observation along with critical analysis of the TV commercials broadcasted during different time frames, hence the “coca cola” commercial released in 1961 starring actress Connie Clausen can be regarded as commercial objectifying women. Here the lady takes a break from her busy schedule and is proud by the fact that her waistline size has not changed since last five years. That is all because she drinks coke rather than having any other thing that adds on extra pounds in her body. This is sending out a message that a woman who is thing and has a slender figure is a happy women, and that is how one should be. It makes the concept of being bulky, chubby or fat as odd. Similarly Xeorox commercial released in the same era shows the lady to be extremely stupid in the ad She proudly admits that she is good for nothing, cannot do even the simplest of tasks, all she can do I push the buttons and make a copy of the work easily using “Xeorox 914”. This subliminally conditions that women are dependent upon man o do the tasks, furthermore, it’s ok if women are dumb as far as they are pretty, thin and have a fair complexion ( as the model in the commercial look like). On the other hand entering the 80’s era, one of the “Milk” commercials shows a girl in the swimsuit showing off her perfect body who does not age with time and the people who want her are getting old and developing their muscular bodies to attract her so they drink milk. Again, if we notice, the message being conveyed is that if a woman has a perfect body and looks forever young she has more chances of getting a good looking and a handsome life partner. Another advertisement of the famous clothing brand “Calvin Klein” in featuring Brooke Shields in 1980 shows how having ‘perfect figure’ will help you choose and wear the perfect pair of jeans. Another commercial of “Tilburg Beer” from roughly around the same era though was banned, but show how if you rink that beer you can easily transform women who are not attractive and appealing into very different smart, sexy and attractive beings, the main idea being “beer makes women beautiful”. Entering the 1990’s and observing the texts of the “Dove” soap commercial it reveals that the model is talking about her age, that is she currently 42 years old but she wants to look young. Here we are being conditioned in a way that it is better to be younger and the younger a woman is the better it is as she looks pretty. Ageing is something that the society does not like and despite of having no control over this factor females do not want to age as it makes your skin dry, rough and one does not remain pretty anymore. Furthermore, observing the “Cover girl” foundation commercial, two models from different races are shown with flawless skin tone and perfect skin texture as they use the mentioned makeup brand and that is what gives them “ the natural look” despite of wearing tones of layers of foundation and powder. Similarly another commercial from the same era of “Pantene Pro V” shampoo shows women with fair skin tones, blonde hair, tall and thin bodies as models and how it fulfills all their requirements to keep their hair ‘shiny, bouncy, luscious and perfect all day’. This advert depicts how having such hair texture and look can be regarded as one of the most important asset a women can hold, again ending up giving importance o looks only rather than ones intellect, success an educational background. Coming to the present day the objectification has gone to the extreme heights. The recent commercial of “Kazam smartphone” has shown a naked woman being dressed with ‘extremely thin’, ‘zero size figure’ with ‘bleached white skin tone’ and that is how there are comparing the smart phone’s thin and sleek body to that of the model’s. Observing the recent commercial by a cosmetic brand “boots” it shows some statistics of how a certain percentage of women want to change their beauty look more and using boots products help them gain greater satisfaction of how they look with defined brows and other products enhancing their features.

After a detailed analysis of the adverts in the West, we shall now turn to the TV adverts that were and are broadcasted in the Pakistan since the time TV was introduced s the medium of communication. The transmission in Pakistan roughly started in the 1960’s before which the industry was limited t a few print ads only. However after 1964 electronic advertising gained importance and new techniques began to emerge. Visual messaging did exist before 1978 but colored, bright and better TV adverts started after 1978. One of them are discussed as we follow. Observing some of the old adverts from the era of 1980, an assertion can be made where the mostly cereal packet happy families were shown, with a husband wife and two children. Here omen were shown in limited roles as a housewife, wife, mother, daughter. Moreover, models are dressed modestly in the national dress. The ads observed were of “state life insurance”, “jam e shireen” (drink)” and “Luminar” however that one mentioned did show females striking poses with the television sets. Even these models were slim and skinny with the latest trends of that time. Coming to the era of 90’s. “Bonanza sweater” released an ad where there were white women with blonde hair too along with the Asian women, dressed a bit modern according to that time, wearing western clothes but covered with cardigans and mufflers. Entering the 20^th century era the industry became more advanced as now the ads clearly showed ‘pretty, thin, fair, tall models to advertise their brands as clearly seen from any soap adverts over the decade. They all tend to show that if one uses that specific soap the fragrance will attract the god looking men around you and would make your skin fairer, smoother and much more softer than before and that a an should be attracted by the ‘looks’ of a woman only. (Lux commercials) . Similarly observing the recent “Q mobile” ads we have come to a conclusion that this brand has mostly used female models even from across the border, in very glamorous dressing style, perfectly styled up figures, conveying the message that their phones will help them take better pictures in which they would look their best. The latest “coca cola” commercial in Pakistan shows how a female model drinking it with complete satisfaction as the drink contains ‘zero calories’ and that will help her maintain the perfect slim figure as the ‘society’ wishes to see. This concept is seen in another advert where a Bollywood celebrity is shown in the commercial of “Tropicana drink” and here she attracts the person guarding the fruit farm with her seductive poses and expressions, and steals the fruits.

This explains how the adverts in electronic media in Pakistan experienced slow transition from the cultural values to the adoption of the western culture.