Abeille D Or: A Critical Analysis Of Advertising

Advertising over the years has become inevitable. It has developed to be a constant element in anyone’s eyesight: in a lifetime, two millions ads or more are encountered. Typically, the first thing a consumer looks in an ad is himself. However, media do not reflect the diversity of the real world. What advertising portrays is homogenized in terms of race, gender, sexuality and human ideals. For instance, three advertisements picked from Lebanese mass media, whether on a billboard or in a high-end magazine, perfectly testify the misrepresentation in publicity.

The critical description of these ads indicates their power to persuade masses that the solution for incessant needs and desires is the consumption of their products

At glance, the first ad appears to be promoting a beauty pageant but it’s not;

In a billboard format, this ad is set to attract men who would pop out of their car window and girls who want to look like the featured women, which are barely wearing any clothing (crop tops, apron skirt and ripped jeans). In addition to that, their rehearsed facial expressions are sexually suggestive like looking the viewer straight in the eye while licking off an ice cream. The written material generates ridiculous double meanings that create intended confusion: “Taybin” means tasty and attractive and “Top” is addressed to both sweets and models. What should tempt the viewer? What is the real dessert? These conveyed messages echo the simplistic cliché often used in advertising to seduce the consumer: the sexualized human Barbie, excessively photoshopped. Furthermore, the white women have different hair colors; the ad will steal any men’s attention. It’s important to note that the “Queen” with the tiara is a brunette that leads to another societal cliché that brown-hair women are the only ones that are intelligent and