CMNS Final Essay - N/A PDF

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1 Topic - How Lux soap company's marketing advertisements promote sexism in Pakistan’s population?

Lux brand was launched in 1925 by Lever brothers, founders of what we know today as Unilever company. This soap was first advertised as a toilet soap with the name "Sunlight flakes". Later the name "Sunlight flakes" was changed to "Lux", a Latin word for "Light". Since 1925, Lux has developed from just a soap to gels, body wash, shampoos and face wash. Lux always had celebrities endorsing its brand which has maintained its top position and has been able set a high standard for competition in the market with other soap companies. (Patel, 2012) Therefore, portrayal of celebrities in lux advertisements concerns the identity of women especially in Pakistan. This essay will focus on how the marketing advertisements of lux objectifies women which affects the identity of women in Pakistan and promotes sexism. The representation of women in advertisements is the major issue as it impacts the image of women in society. Lux uses celebrity endorsement as a strategy to promote its product. In order to make an ever-lasting impression on the viewer, Lux showcases celebrities with bold, cheerful, and glamorous looks. This kind of representation has a significant influence on people in Pakistan, especially when these females’ celebrities are portrayed as flawless. Advertising is one of the most important and influential technique to announce a product or a service to the people it is being targeted to. We tend to remember things which attract us the most. In Pakistan, fair skin is correlated with a woman’s beauty. A woman with dark skin tone is considered less attractive and less beautiful. It is every men’s dream to marry a girl with fair skin and a mother’s dream to have a daughter with fair skin, so she will get married easily. Hence, taking advantage of such societal expectations, lux soap company features woman with fair skin complexion to sell their products. Keeping this in mind, I chose this topic to show

2 how companies objectify women as a marketing strategy to sell its product without considering its impact on the society. This, in turn, promotes sexism in many parts of the world. It is important to be aware of topics where women are objectified in promoting products which wrongly portray women as flawless due to their physical beauty. This in turn makes a woman think less of herself when these portrayed standards are not met and constantly makes her think she is not worthy of the society. Furthermore, men also consider this portrayal as the standard of viewing women and belief that this is how a woman should look and behave. Lux is not the only company that promotes sexism. Many industries use beautiful and glamorous females to promote their products. From online advertisements to billboards, there is a showcase of females with flawless skin, perfect smiles and perfect hair. (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008) This has led the society to accept what is shown by the advertising companies to be the true beauty of male and female. As a result, many individuals spend a lot of money on beauty products, soaps, and shampoos to look like celebrities. They feel less self-confident, often they feel ugly if they cannot afford the products which are supposed to make them look like a celebrity. These attractive images of females have negative impact on the culture and tradition of Pakistan as it changes the view that girls are not fit for anything if they are less attractive or does not have sense of clothing. The significant trend that is seen is in the changing of dressing style in the women of Pakistan which signifies the influence of western culture on the local culture there. (Afifa, 2014). The advertisers neglect the fact that the lifestyle of every women is not the same luxurious as they have shown in the advertisements especially in the culture of Pakistan. (Afifa, 2014). The other aspect that have influence on people is body color of women in advertisements. The article by Baker Christina analyses that the image of representation of women in magazine advertisements often depends on the race of audience viewing it and also the

3 race and color of the women who is represented in the magazine ad. It was also founded that black women are not objectified as much as white women are in magazines or in advertisements. (Christina, 2005). This shows how there is discrimination between the color of skin and this influences people to give more importance to white females than black females, which in turns promote sexism in societies especially in the societies like Pakistan where inequality between men and women is common. In the article “Communality sells: The impact of perceivers' sexism on the evaluation of women's portrayals in advertisements”, the research states that the females are generally presented more in advertisements than males. Their sexual appearance has an impact which allows men or any other person to view females in a sexist manner. There are some advertisements where women are shown in a bath tub half naked or their body structure is in such a way that it is looked up to as erotically appealing. (Ullah, 2014) Men are rarely seen with showcasing their physical body parts. That too is considered as cool and a way that can attract a woman. But when woman is shown wearing western clothes, it is symbolized as someone who is sexually attractive. Due to these actions or representations of women in advertising, there is a misconception that women’s identity is solely based on her physical appearance. Also, the background of the advertisement is often in a lavish room or party hall where both the genders have been gathered where males are being charmed by female beauty which is not seen in any gathering in Pakistan’s culture. (Afifa, 2014) This depiction of glamorous female body and the way the advertisement is shown has major impact on the community of Pakistan as females are considered less superior than men and these advertising techniques affect their identity in the society, they live in. In the news paper “Pakistan Today”, Sahiba Khan wrote about the traditional mentality of people to send boys to school rather than girls if they ever had to make a

4 choice between a girl and a boy. (Khan, 2011) This mentality depicts how males are considered important in family than females. Similarly, strategies used in various commercials also influence people’s opinion about females when they see women portrayed in certain way in the advertisement. In advertisements, both males and females perform various roles. There are people who support sexism because they think there are many aspects which make females different than male and that should be understood by everyone. It is often said or observed that women are not interested in math or they are not fit for leading business, but the fact that is ignored by many is that interests depend on an individual’s likes or dislikes, whether it be a female or a male. Because of these notions of females in society and not realizing the biological, emotional and social differences between males and females which makes both the gender unique in themselves, leads to the idea of gender stereotypes in the society. (Bates, 2018). There are people who think that world now is changing and is inclined towards western culture. It is not just about flawless skins or western clothes which empowers women. (Bates, 2018) There are advertisements which have girls wearing traditional clothes which helps advertisers promote their products. This is often neglected, and the focus is only on the females which are shown naked. The advertisers use this approach which helps them promote their products and is beneficial to them. However, that does not mean that they are asking women to leave their traditional lifestyle and just live the way the celebrities are living. The focus of the essay was to show how advertisements of Lux and female representation in its ad affects the identity of women and promotes sexism in the society of Pakistan. Due to advertising techniques like celebrity endorsement to sell the product, Lux has been objectifying women as sexually attractive which is totally opposite of women in Pakistan. As a result of these,

5 Pakistan’s females are trying to adopt the techniques of an individual shown in the ad to make themselves feel superior which in turn supports Lux marketing strategy. In a way, Pakistan is considered as a male dominated society where females are supposed to stay in limitations. (Afifa, 2014). Because of the ads like Lux, males have negative impact on their view of females, as it makes them see women as someone who can be sexually judged and controlled without her consideration of consent as this is innately what they want as shown in the advertisements. This has a major effect on women and her self-confidence which makes her feel less worthy in the society she lives in. As a result, she is not able to get the support to be independent in the male dominated society. In the culture where females were just started to get equal standards as men, it seems that the advertising techniques of presenting women in certain way has vanished the idea of gender-neutral society from the minds of people in Pakistan as well as in other parts of the world.

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Works Cited AFIFA HAMID ALI, T. N. (2014). Effect of Women Representation in Lux Advertisement on Pakistani Women Identity. Faisalabad, Pakistan: EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH. Hazir Ullah, H. N. (2014). The Objectification of Women in Television Advertisements in Pakistan (Vol. 8(2)). Islamabad: FWU Journal of Social Sciences. Infanger, M., Bosak, J., & Sczesny, S. I. (2012). Communality sells: The impact of perceivers' sexism on the evaluation of women's portrayals in advertisements (Vol. 42(2)). European Journal of Social Psychology. Patel, B. (2012). An Analysis On Lux Beauty Soap. Plakoyiannaki, E. M. (2008). Images of Women in Online Advertisements of Global Products: Does Sexism Exist? European Journal of Social Psychology,. Plakoyiannaki, E., Mathioudaki, K., Dimitratos, P., & Zotos, Y. (2008). Images of Women in Online Advertisements of Global Products: Does Sexism Exist? (Vol. 83(1)). Journal of Business Ethics. Baker, C. (2005). Images of Women’s Sexuality in Advertisements: A Content Analysis of Blackand White-Oriented Women’s and Men’s Magazines (Vol. 52(1)). Sex Roles. Bates, L. (2018). How to convince sceptics of the value of feminism. Khan, S. I. (2011). Gender discriminaiton in Pakistan. Lahore: Pakistan Today.

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