Infantilization of women in advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Infantilization of women in advertising - Essay Example This essay "Infantilization of women in advertising" outlines the reasons for infantilization of females in commercials and how it affect the perception of women id advertisement. Infantilization is not a new concept but has been in existence for quite a long time. Many advertisers edit or sexualize bodies of younger girls and use them for advertisements. An example of female infantilization is the assumptions that beauty entails getting younger. Most advertisements make this assumption when they use exaggerated pictures of young girls when advertising beauty products. They thus use images of young girls or those of women but with childish behaviors (Wade Web). The women are postured in childish ways with empty stares, hands in mouth, or adopting seductive postures. Additionally, the skin texture is exaggerated. The postures make women appear submissive and not in control of their lives. The advertisements appear to be creating children out of women. This is contrary to the upright w ay men are postured demonstrating adulthood and being in control (Carlson 2-4). The erroneous infantilization defines women as weak and unintelligent. This is a block to celebration of femininity. Instead of encouraging girls to grow into strong women, advertisement in magazines and other media inspire girls to develop into women with childishness. Some advertisements appear to be inspiring women to act like children to be considered feminine and sexy. The antifeminist image below from maxim is an example of such appeals.