The Process

Whilst looking for articles relating to my topic, Sexism in Advertising, I am finding that it is very difficult to find articles that fit my needs. First of all, using Google Scholar, many promising articles require my subscription to their websites to view the entirety of the text. Even using one of the library databases, many articles are not within the last 10-15 years, and if they are they are only 100 or so words. Many are more like rants than scholarly articles. I will continue my search for the right texts. I think I will just settle for Google searching them all like I did for the first one.

Sexism in Advertising

I have decided to focus on sexism in advertising as it plays out against women and men. While at first this does not seem like a "slacktivism" related topic, I beg you to reconsider. Ads appear everywhere now, not just magazines and commercials on TV. Ads are present on Facebook, Twitter, all over social media and just the internet in general. Many of these ads portray women with a standard of beauty unattainable by most, or often times as objects to tickle men's fancy. These ads have all sorts of unquantifiable effects on people, and not just on women either. Self-esteem, self abuse, gender role confusion, and the list goes on. How many people have to starve themselves before we realize that being skinny isn't the only way to be pretty? How much money do we need to spend on cosmetic surgery before we realize that you don't need big boobs to look good? Besides a constant pressure to appeal to others, there is this dissatisfaction with your life that can never be resolved until you meet the standard that the markets are giving you. And what better way to meet that standard than to buy their products? "Satisfied customers are not as profitable as dissatisfied customers," (Marketing Madness). The advertising companies know what they're doing, and they're doing it to make money. They don't care how many people are affected, how many are hurt, sick, preyed on... It's just another dollar. 

So, in conclusion, I plan on taking this as far as it will take me. It's not fair to us that we should feel this way, and I sure as hell don't want my kids feeling this way. Therefore, besides the fact that ads are ever-present in our lives, slacktivism can be a method for the "curing" of this cultural phenomenon. 

http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/CS/Marketing%20Madness.pdf