Speech on advertisement essay

Good afternoon everyone.

First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tom Jensky and, as some of you may know, I am the author of Drowning Us Slowly and Industrial Needs. Today, I will be talking about advertisements and how they affect our lives. Advertisements are all around us and it is almost impossible for us to not know the latest items in stores. Most of these ads are about the product that the companies are selling, but there is more to it than just that; they are also about personal beliefs and feelings. Although we think that we do not give much importance to the values presented in ads, they actually do have a big impact on how we think and how we act. On average, an individual is exposed to 3000 advertisements every day.

We are then desensitized and unconsciously led to living the way publicity suggests we should. We need to be aware of this danger, as it can be a threat to a healthy conscience and lifestyle. The examples that we will see to explore this phenomenon are the “ flawless woman” and the “ clean bottled water”. The “ flawless woman”. Just now, as I said the words “ flawless woman”, what was the first image that popped into your head? Is it that of a young, thin lady with flawless skin? If it is so for some of you, I am not too surprised since it is what publicity displays the perfect woman as. But, what does this say about women in general? Do they all have to obtain these physical traits in order to be satisfied? What a lot of people forget is that most of these images have been modified with computer graphics. In addition, merely 5% of all women possess this body type, yet many young girls today strive to look like what they see on television. Media plays an important role in why so many adolescent girls have a low self-esteem and why one out of five girls has an eating disorder.

But the effects of ads don’t end here; in many ads, one part of the woman body is focused on, thus objectifying the woman altogether. Also, when we observe the body language of the models, it is passive, vulnerable yet sensual. When women are dehumanized this way, it encourages men to not consider them as human anymore and rather more like shallow sex objects, therefore excusing any violence against them. But, why would media want to do this you ask? Sex sells and fashion industries do not give a care for ethical values as long as they can make a profit out of it. Therefore, when we see ads like these, we need to ask ourselves if beauty is truly defined by sexiness and flawlessness.

These values, at times, have nothing to do with the sold products, so why should they have anything to do with us? Are advertisements really reliable enough to learn from? There needs to be a change; not only in media, but also in our mindset. This can start with education. Now, let’s move on to the “ clean bottled water”. If I asked whether bottled water or tap water was cleaner, what would you answer? Most people are inclined to think that bottled water is less dirty than the water we use to wash our hands because of the illusion created by advertisements.

Half a billion of water bottles are bought by Americans weekly despite bottled water being as clean as tap water. As a matter of fact, one out of three bottled water is provided from tap water! Did you know that its price is 2000 times more expensive than tap water? So, how did publicity do this? First, it started off by scaring us away from city tap water with ads that make us think that public tap water is dirty and polluted. Second, publicity seduced us by making us think that bottled water comes from nature’s mountain streams. Nestle even tried to make us believe that “ Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world”.

The production cycle of these plastic bottled are terribly harmful to the environment! Every year, it takes more than enough gas and energy to fuel a million cars, and once these bottles are used, 80% goes in landfills or incinerators. The rest is either really recycled, or down cycled until it ends up being in the dumps of other countries such as India. Again, this is because the companies have to keep on selling products, and when the soda sales growth stopped, they decided to sell water. Hence, it is necessary for us to know that everything that we are shown or told isn’t inevitably true, no matter how convincing and appealing it may be. Media can make anything look real. So, how do we react to all of these advertising illusions such as the “ flawless woman” and the “ clean bottled water”? All we need to know is that such things do exist and that we should question everything that we see. We can go against it by boycotting these industries’ products and their values, and by making others aware of this problem. A critical mind was, is and will be what distinguishes us as humans.

And so, let’s be critical! Thank you very much for your time. BibliographyKilling Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women . Dir. Sut Jhally.

Interpr. Jean Kilbourne. 2000. The Story of Bottled Water. Dir.

Annie Leonard. Interpr. Annie Leonard. 2010.