Tuesday, July 24, 2012
consuming women
I thought this reading really pointed out the ultimate desires of organizations and corporations to actively pursue the commodification of women, regardless of their earliest articulated motivations for creating online communities for women. I haven’t spent much time on iVillage, partly because it isn’t as popular as it used to be, but mostly because it seems like one big barrage of ads coming at you from all directions. I feel similarly about gURL.com, although I agree with a lot of the advice columns and articles content, I think the pages are so overrun with advertisements and shallow product links that it is easy to get frustrated and lost in the deluge. While I recognize that marketing products to specific groups is a necessary practice, I am also concerned with the overwhelming evidence that women and girls are viewed as solely consumers who can be convinced they need/want this or that if they are confronted with images of it enough. It also concerns me that sponsors and advertisers can control the content of the sites, which is unacceptable in places where supposed open conversations are encouraged.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like how you point out that all the control lies with the site administrators and advertisers, which really doesn't permit open conversations for girls to employ subversive messages against consumer culture on these sites. I visited these two sites for the first time ever yesterday, and I totally agree with you both sites overwhelm the view with a "deluge" of "girl power" adverstising culture.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Robyn--I appreciate how you brought up the advertisers being able to control the website--I find that incredibly scary and unethical. While society is concerned about "predators" online--we think of just child molestors preying on children--we don't always think of predators as being someone in an expensive business suit, watching what girls type and click on on the net--and using that information to push products on them...
DeleteI really like the title of your post because it gets to the heart of the issue. Girlhood is consumed by marketer's, their marketing practice, and intentions, while the girls are conditioned to consume the products marketers produce. You're right, marketing practices are necessary evils, but there seems to be a large discrepancy in the way boys and men are marketed to versus the ways in which girls and women are singled out and validated through purchase power.
ReplyDeleteI'm creeped out how often we are being sold everything all the time - Facebook is always trying to get me to join a dating community, study for a new career, or buy shoes.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to deal with this sort of commodification and consumerism online is to make girls - and all of us - aware that they are being sold and sold to.
Is it wrong that I don't even see the ads on Facebook? I mean that's how little they matter to me. I ignore them. I don't think about them. I dictate what I buy. That's how I deal. That said, I do feel advertiser's prey on girls via Facebook. Does Twitter have many ads?
ReplyDelete