Murcia 1

Miriam Murcia
Professor Ditch
English 113 A
29 October 2014
The Social Role of Women in Beer and Sex Advertisements
Women that post in sex advertising dont realize the social role they play when they are
portraying a very feminized skinny, Barbie looking lady. Companies such as Budweiser send the
public a message that young ladies in western societies should look a certain way, meaning to
have thin waist. If these women keep portraying all girls to look skinny every women will have a
belief that they are supposed to have an established figure. These advertisements of women and
beer give men assumptions that beer is okay and that they might get a girl like in the beer
advertisements and live a joyous life. The way these women pose in these ads are very seductive,
making themselves look vulnerable to be grabbed like a man would grab a beer. In the text
Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender by Aaron Devour, the author
explains the life experiences and differences that males and females have and how this affects
both genders socially to conform to biological concepts and subside women in society. Another
example of women demoralization is described in a scholarly article Selling the self: Women
and the feminine seduction of advertising by Kristine Blair, she explains the roles women
undertake when they post in these sex advertisements. Women that contribute to the beer
advertisements lower other womans self-esteem and demean themselves and their roles as
women in society.

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Companies such as Budweiser dont really think about their true audience, the people in
society they are really targeting and the impacts these advertisements make in everyones life.
The women that model for the Budweiser advertisements may have very beautiful figures but we
dont know in depth what these women go through to have such body figures. Moreover, these
women dont understand the impact they give posing in such ways as to look vulnerable to be
grabbed. For instance, the advertisement that the model poses in has a solid red background and
she stands out with the beer behind her. She is wearing a bathing suit that is exactly the same as
the beer brand. Her arm gestures are very open as if someone would take a hold of her, but in one
hand she is clearly grabbing a piece of her bathing suit. She also has her legs very open. By her
presenting herself in such ways these companies can have the perception that men will think
maybe if they drink this beer brand their perfect girl will come their way or they will have all
their dreams come true. But in reality all beer does is make you lose consciousness and the
control of the body and brain. All this beer company does is demoralize women by using them in
their ads to appear sexy or attractive enough to lure men to buying the beer or even to make
women around the adulthood age believe their bodies wont be affected by heavy drinking.
Personally, I believe these advertisements demoralize women in society, giving men the thought
that they are powerful and making it okay in our society to think in a narrow minded way about
the image of woman.
In the story, Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender by Aaron
Devor, he states that by birth we have social norms that we follow and different experiences that
undergo these norms and expectations. Boy and girls learn as they grow, and a part of their
learning process focuses directly to their childhood on developing their social role in society. For
example, As they develop concepts of themselves as individuals, they do so while observing

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themselves as reflected in the eyes of others (Devor 37). This quote clearly reflects on Devors
thought about child development and the norms they obtain and how they obtain them. Kids have
growing minds and if they see images of women half naked in beer advertisements they may get
the impression that it is okay. Also that this is the role women have in society lowering
themselves to men. Another point Devor makes is the characterization of women and men and
the roles they play of masculinity and femininity and the hierarchical power that they perceive in
society. Popular conceptions of femininity and masculinity instead revolve around hierarchical
appraisals of the natural roles of males and females (Devor 39). Meaning that men and
women have a set mind about power control and division in western societies. Most commonly
because males take on more violent actions they portray a dominant role in society and society
tends to follow these so called natural roles. This is important because in these advertisements,
these female models may not realize that they are being used to induce men to buy beer or they
may know what they are being used for but act ignorant lowering themselves to a mans thought
of being or having more power as to women. If women dont start realizing the demoralization in
these advertisements we will always have inequality of power and respect.
In the article Selling the self: Women and the feminine seduction of advertising by
Kristine Blair she argues how the role of a women is seen in society as an object of seduction.
In the context of advertising, the female viewer is continually forced to look at herself through
traditionally male eyes, to fit her personal history and her body into that money-making construct
known as woman. This is important because women constantly think that looking a certain
way is what is expected when in reality its a socially constructed norm brought out by these sex
advertisements that lure the thought of a women to be skinny and sexy.

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Although some women may see this as empowering to show themselves in these images
with their bodies half exposed others may not. These models may feel empowered by their
appearance but in reality this is only probably empowering to these models. I dont think women
get empowered by seeing another half-naked lady selling or helping the sales of beer.
In conclusion, women in beer advertisements dont contribute to the feminine role of a
women it just demoralizes it placing women below men as objects of sex. Companies such as
Budweiser dont care about the effect that women get through these advertisements all they want
is to sell their product. Women in the ads should notice how they are being used shouldnt
contribute to this hierarchy of men.

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Blair, K. (1994). Selling the self: Women and the feminine seduction of advertising.
Women and Language, 17(1), 20. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/198807801?accountid=7285

Devor, Aaron, Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender