Men Advertisement and 'Killing Us Softly 4'

According to Forbes, feminism can be defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes or the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. This is “Killing Us Softly 4” summary essay where shown that Van Heusen’s attempt to advertise ties that are, “for men only” shows a great deal of stereotypical representation of gender roles, sexism, and conveys a misogynistic message.

In 1951, Van Heusen, a dress clothes company, published an advertisement promoting ties that were, “for men only!” The ad’s first appearance was in the Collier’s magazine, which had an audience of over three million people during the time of World War II. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a clothing company coming out with an advertisement for males. However, this advertisement is blatantly sexist; the first thing you will notice, without a doubt, is the heading: “show her it’s a man’s world.” The purpose of the ad is to promote neckties for men, meanwhile trying to convince them that they will look AND feel powerful. This ad displays the following:

1. Domination of Men Over Women: as the man sits high showing a smile full of arrogance, and the women low, kneeling before her husband with a tray of food in a dutiful way.

2. Gender Inequality: the male gender role is to be in employment, while the female gender role portrayed as housewife -- After marrying, a woman's place was in the home, and husbands were the breadwinners.

3. Males Are More Likely to Demean Females: as the man appears to be sitting on his royal thrown, he is at ease when his wife kneels before him serving him food, barely acknowledging her, if at all; looking in her direction but way above her head.

4. Hair Colour Stereotype: blond-haired people are dumb.

In the film, Killing Us Softly 4 Jean Kilbourne states, “Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images. They sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success, and perhaps most important, of normalcy. To a great extent they tell us who we are, and who we should be.” Regarding Kilbourne’s film, Van Heusen’s ad is telling us that men are the more dominant ones, meanwhile women are the weaker ones. “When men are objectified, they generally are bigger, stronger, more powerful. When women are objectified, we’re more fragile, more vulnerable, less powerful.” Kilbourne says.

History tells us that cooking is the woman’s job; it teaches us that cooking is a form of tyranny, shackles masquerading as a chore. In fear of women not willing to cook and rejecting their femininity, they said women could not vote. Women could not go out and fight as they must stay home and cook, while the men dealt with the big issues. A woman belongs in the kitchen, they said. After the Second World War, North American society entered a difficult period framed by ideas centered on so-called “family values” in the most traditional sense that promoted men as breadwinners and women as housewives. Women were discouraged from working, pursuing an education, and any kind of activity that took their attention from following the path of being wives and mothers.

In reality, this portrayal of women in the Van Heusen advertisement has somehow fallen into our nature; we grow up seeing our mothers cooking dinner for when dad gets home, we are sent to help serve the food for big family dinners on a holiday, we get little plastic kitchen sets to play with as kids. The real question is, how has all this influenced us women and what does it mean for our future? Are women today still viewed as the submissive gender portrayed in the Van Heusen ad?