Bordos Essay

Advertising has become a popular subject of study, approached from a wide range of disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, literary criticism, and media studies. The exploration of advertising is part of a more general investigation into the force of language, more specifically the way language is used to persuade, convince, and manipulate others. The partial suppression of the advertiser's intentions in 'covert communication' and punning appears problematic at first sight. The main analysis of communication is based on a model which involves the speaker letting it be known that he is trying to communicate something. There are forms of communication that fall outside this model. Communication in advertising is all about telling clearly what is being advertised or what is being sold to the consumers. However, it cannot be denied that there are instances wherein aside from the products that are being introduced or marketed, there are subliminal messages that are being sent to the public. But then again, it is sometimes hard to comprehend such hidden messages in the absence of scrutiny and familiarity with the present issues of the society. The television advertisements and commercials that proliferates the airwaves today are more inclined into getting attention by using subliminal messages about manhood, homosexuality and women. One particular commercial embodied subliminal messages and that is the Miller Lite beer commercial. This commercial speaks of various and multiple subject positions such as homosexuality and manhood. This is of no difference with what Bordo has in her essay wherein she analyzed man as used and depicted in various advertisements. The power of advertising is so influential in such a way that it affects not just the buying power of every consumer but rather the way they think and act as well. Hence, every message that is contained in every advertisement is very important to be clearly specified.

The Miller Lite beer commercial started off with a man ordering a beer lite from the bartender. However, the bartender refused to give him a Miller lite beer upon noticing that he is carrying a purse which the man defended as a carry-all bag. This commercial implied that a Miller lite beer is not for men who are a bit soft or whose feminine side is more apparent than their masculinity. As a matter of fact, the commercial has indeed questioned the masculinity of the man. This commercial could be very offensive to the gay community. It is implying the gay men are not worthy of the beer being advertised and only a real masculine man is worthy to have a shot with it. Also, it can be seen from the commercial that the scene where the man is ordering a beer, he is surrounded with various girls who look down on him when the bartender mentioned about his purse. This only implies that women should know better and should only go out with real masculine man. In addition, this commercial is showing that men should act like men and must always act according to their manhood. Personally speaking though, the commercial is a bit discriminatory in terms of gender equality. It has to be remembered though that these advertisers are using gender definition in order to persuade people from buying their products. In this commercial, the advertisers have put men into the real perspective of their manhood as well as setting the standards for women on choosing who they will go out with. But then again, a commercial should not be used in order to look down on one gender or gender preferences just to sell something to the public and to earn huge amount of profitability by influencing the minds and the thoughts of the consumers.

The most important thing that can be learned in writing this essay, analyzing a commercial and reading through the essay of Bordo is being able to see things on a different perspective. It cannot be denied that there are many ways in which a person can look into things and people have differing views as well on same things. But then again, commercials and advertisements really do influence the thinking power of people. It changes how people perceive things and how they view certain issues. In the commercial mentioned, for example. It is important to note that homosexuality is already accepted in the society and it is not right to make fun of it and to look down on these individuals. The commercial is an eye opener for most people that gender should not be measured based on what kind of bag they carry or what kind of beer they drink. It is about accepting each and every individual as they are in order to attain peace in the society. The main cliché though that is very apparent in the commercial is the domination of men. As a matter of fact, for every beer commercial that there is, men are the main features. It is about men. Strong beers are for strong men and those who are lame are not allowed or not even worthy to have a sip of the beer. In the present society, men and women are treated equal and whatever men can do women can do also (Saloner, 2000).

With all the foregoing, it cannot be denied that commercials and television advertisements play a very important role in shaping the mind and the thoughts of the people in the society. Hence, advertisers should learn how to control the amount of information they are sending and transmitting to the public because of the fact that it can help in making of breaking the society.