Raunch Culture free essay sample

It will also identify the role and responsibilities of marketers in relation to the stakeholders involved. Subsequently, followed by our reflection on raunch culture. Raunch culture is defined as the ‘hyper-sexualisation of youth and in particular, female youth culture’ (Phillips, 2006, 17). Kent (2005) suggests that raunch culture is a ‘market driven’ approach developed during the 1970s and 1980s when pornographic conventions crossed over to women magazines, refelcting the producers’ aims, values and consumers desires. He also highlights that women were portrayed as assertive, even aggressive sexual animals, in active and dominant roles in advertising throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Therefore, implicating as of the 21st century, raunch culture has evolved as a cultural norm, especially when ‘women are sexually liberated and personally empowered’ (Levy, 2005, 197). As Kent states, this post-modernistic culture has ‘enabled taboos to be transgressed through pleasing erotic imagery packaged as fashion not pornography’ (435). Thus, just like any other cultures (like hip-hop and rock-and-roll), it is simply just another subculture, which certainly does not represent the new feminism. Under this culture, women gain freedom to do whatever they deem fit, based on their own decisions. They need not worry about misogyny or objectification. Via Levy’s (2005) interview with women (from teens to baby boomers), states that the new raunch culture is evident in achieving feminist projects rather than indicating the death of feminism. She also mentions that women are actively engaging in reproducing this culture’s mentality (Levy, 2005, cited in Swygart-Hobaugh, 2007). With the rise of films containing female super heroes, such as The Charlie’s Angels, who are usually scantily clad (Levy, 2005). It suggests that to a certain extent, women’s sexuality can be celebrated in a healthy and empowering manner. Furthermore, women may interpret this empowerment as a reason to wear whatever they like. Another example is Dolce and Gabbana’s billboard advertisement (appendix 1), featuring a women and a man in a sexual position, even though they have clothes on. It portrays the woman, as being totally powerless, as she stays in that very position. On the contrary, it depicts women who are willing to be the weaker gender once again. Women are being objectified and degraded, and this is not what the new feminism is about because it is unnecessary to show more flesh or be the skimpy superhero just to be empowering. On the contrary, young women are indeed falling prey to marketing’s misogynistic and exploitative image of the good life through media, as these young and possibly naive women, are simply finding a shortcut to fame (Levy, 2005). There are real-life examples, supporting the statement above, such as, Paris Hilton, who was seen as the embodiment of raunch culture by Levy (2005; Bradely, 2007). Paris Hilton’s sex tape shot her to fame. Despite whatever means she took to not have the tape leaked, it sent the message that her way of shooting to fame was legit. Additionally, Paris’ fame is prevalent, with exception to the sex tape; she is marketed as ‘the’ party animal and socialite of Hollywood. The effects of Hilton’s fame brought raunch culture to the next level. It indicated that by being raunchy, it was the surest route to fame. Hence, not seen as a positive influence on the young women who are exposed to her celebrity image. Criticism of using sexuality in advertising has also noted that it promotes the objectification of women and them in a disrespectful environment (Boddewyn, 1991). Hence, at this point when Hilton is famous, marketers should take responsibility, as they further marketed her with an image of a ‘bimbotic’ girl (Bradely, 2007). Moreover, as Richins (1991) reports, women always make social comparisons between the advertising models and themselves. As a result, advertising images create negative affect and increases women’s dissatisfaction with their own appearance. Since those images are edited through the consistent usage of digital technology, these idealized images do not portray women in a healthy manner. Indeed, these enhanced images would give these young girls the impression that they need to be ‘perfect’, just like these ‘fake’ images. According to Reist in ABC’s Gruen Session (2010), ‘young women get the message that they need to be thin, hot and sexy just to be acceptable’ in this society. Therefore, by generating the wrong perception of real beauty, the responsibility is pushed to the marketers, as they portray women with this stereotypical body type as acceptable. In addition, as the brand, Dove’s tagline in its advertisement What happened to the ‘real beauty’? (Reist, 2010), marketers need not market their products in manners portraying women as airheads. Consequently, marketers gave most consumers viewing the advertisement, the wrong impression that they need to be stick thin in order to be beautiful and attract men. From a legal perspective, if the target market is over 18, it is legally right to use raunchy images (Brooke, 2010). With these images, Gould (1994, 76) claims that sexuality in advertising are said to be male-oriented ‘either are put for men to look at or for women to â€Å"look at being looked at† to see how they would or should desire to appear to men. ’ In looking at the negative consequences of using sexuality in advertising, these images have demeaning representations of women and deliver the wrong messages to the consumers. For instance, Lynx’s ‘Spray more, get more’ deodorant advertisement depicts many sexy women chasing after this man after he had the deodorant on. It may be a successful advertisement to attract attention and create an entertainment value. However, according to the Gruen session (2010), Jane Caro interpreted it as featuring the women as â€Å"airheads†. Women were being attracted to the guy because of how he smells and not his intelligence. Subsequently, raising questions of why women must be represented as out-of-control sex maniacs who attack any man who has sprayed himself with Lynx (Reist, 2010). In addition, Kent (2005) states that sexualised looking were now permitted, as women were no longer victims of the male gaze. In McNair’s research (2002), television expanded the range of images of women to a mass audience through programs including Sex in the City and Bad Girls. Since Kent suggests that media forms of sexualization is commercial and states that sex sells, the proliferation of porno-chic has led to the ‘pornographication of the mainstream’ (McNair, 2002). In other words, entrepreneurs take this mentality (which includes pornographic books, films and popular culture) and brought their products and advertisements through this transformation of desire. Therefore, marketers have the responsibilities in considering whether their marketing strategy can expose its messages appropriately without distorting society’s perception of women. On the issue of raunch culture in advertising, research indicates that marketers play an important role in exploiting this issue (LaTour Henthome, 1994; Gould, 1994). Different studies indicate that the moral and ethical considerations of society changes overtime. Therefore, the issue of raunchy concepts would be perceived as morally right due to marketers’ consideration of what is acceptable and appropriate has also changed. Moreover, Foucault (1998, cited in Kent, 2005) and Levy (2005) claim that being part of the raunch culture depends on individual choices and, the ethics of sex and sexuality are determined by social contexts, knowledge and relations of power. Accordingly, the issues of the raunch media will be subjected to different perceptions and interpretations depending on the individual. It is crucial to identify the key stakeholders who are affected by the raunch culture. From the internal perspective, key stakeholders include the company itself, their shareholders and employees. From the external perspective, stakeholders involve the regulators such as Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), advertising industries and the society as a whole. By identifying the stakeholders, the marketers’ role here is to focus on how they should respond to such issues in relation to each key stakeholder. According to the analysis above, the discussion on the marketers’ specific role and responsibilities will focus on two specific parties, society and advertising industries, directly affected by this culture. Generally, brands, which use sexualized images to highlight the benefits of the products aim to attract the opposite sex (Petty, Cacioppo Schumann, 1983, cited in Gould, 1994). Hence, the society, who view the advertisements are affected immediately. To be responsible, marketers have o be aware that young people are also exposed to these sexualised items screened in their television advertisements at such a young age, even though their target market is over 18. An important implication of LaTour Henthome (1994) research is it is essential for marketers to recognize the importance of the moral complexity that has to do with the strong use of sexual appeals whilst incorporating this within their marketing strategies. Furthermore, Phillips (2006) also states that raunch cul ture exposed women to sex at a younger age, leaving them dissatisfied and insecure with their body shape and appearance. To be more specific, marketers must carefully examine the possible social impact on the target market and the society at large with their advertisements. To consider the impact in the advertising industries, some might argue that use of sex appeal is a creative way to capture consumer’s attention in response to competitive pressures (Ford LaTour, 1993, cited in LaTour Henthome, 1994). Hence, if marketers see that such advertisements are popular, they would follow suite and there will be more of such advertisements circulating, which is not beneficial to people who should not be exposed to such content. To speak impartially, the role of a marketer is to sell their products using whatever means possible that includes advertising. However, such promiscuous advertorials might have negative impacts on young women, as it glorifies raunch culture. It is certainly unnecessary for marketers to incorporate raunchy images into their music videos and advertisements, though raunch culture seems to be a new phenomenon and well accepted by the society. These raunchy images of not only women but also men send a wrong message to their consumers. The wrong messages may act as a catalyst to ‘suck’ more young people (both male and female) into the ‘sex’ business such as Lad magazines, raunchy photo shoots, background dancers of hip hop music videos, maybe even pornography. Marketers must have good intentions when using sex appeal instead of using them in an exploitative and degrading way to appeal to consumers’ ‘base instincts’ (Gould, 1994, 97). There is no need for them to further boost raunch culture, as it already has adverse effects on young women who view music videos with sexual references. There is also no need to incorporate aunchiness into their products just to persuade their consumers. Marketers should self-regulate to decide what to use in the various media forms and know what is good or bad for society and whoever who might be affected. AANA (2010) encourages marketers to be aware of the potential risks and to take appropriate steps to address raunch culture issue, eve n though they might have the best intention. Young people and children may be exploited and become the victims of abuse. Thus, as Reist (2010) states, ‘the self-regulatory system has been inadequate to the task of dealing with increasingly pornified imagery in the public spaces. This suggests that despite the interference of AANA, it is still not enough to regulate these advertisements and marketers. Hence, we feel that regulators should review the Code of Ethics in order to reinforce the marketers’ responsibilities in relation to issue including the portrayal of sex, sexuality and nudity in advertising. In conclusion, raunch culture might be a new culture that has given females today the confidence to do whatever they deem fit, as they feel that they are no longer the inferior gender. However, by portraying themselves in highly sexualized images, they are not justifying why they should be respected. Marketers sure play roles in encouraging such highly sexualized images, as it is proven that sex sells, and marketers would make use of this element to sell their products. However, as one who is exposed to a lot of such advertorials, sometimes we do find them overly sexualized, and would wonder if so much sexualized images are necessary or not. These marketers are only concerned about selling their products, and they sure did not consider the aftermath they have could cause once these images become a norm in society. We feel that women these days should not be easily influenced by the marketers, as they should also know how to differentiate themselves. They should have the basic cognitive ability to look up to the right role models, and not simply deem sexy and thin ladies as ones that they should follow. Most importantly, the marketers should take responsibility for sometimes over-publicizing good-looking women as role models. Finally, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. It does not mean that pretty you will be liked. Raunch culture is just, in our opinion, a fad, as it would be slowly ousted by the next new upcoming culture.