Admit it. Mass media is everywhere. We live in the modern world of media. Whether we like it or not, we are surrounded by countless mediums that compete for our attention all over the society. TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, films, and even the Internet and the latest technologies where we are all hooked in, we can see different kinds of media that inform, educate and entertain us. And as time flies, the industry has tried innumerable ways to keep the public hooked with the media. And the present trend that is quite concerning is the use of sensual images in trying to get the public’s attention; particularly, images of women which display nudity and sexuality. This kind of technique is mostly used in the advertising industry, using exploitative images to draw attention to products, which was noticed by Jean Kilbourne: the woman behind the Killing Us Softly series.
Yes, it is in human nature to be curious about sex. God gave man the power to reproduce, thus it is not morally wrong to induce sex in the media as it is part of humanity. However, too much can be morally and ethically wrong. Studies show that the use of sensual images can indeed increase the sales of a product; that is acceptable if the products are related to the said sensual images. But some advertisers go beyond their limits when they use such sensual images in products which are not really inclined with each other. That is just wrong. To make profit out of half-naked women in their bikinis and sexy clothing and the use of double meaning phrases that titillate the minds of the consumers when the products don’t really go together with the ad is a show of how people nowadays can resort to uncreative ideas just for the sake of money. There are many ways of catching the public’s attention. It’s not all about sex.
On the other hand, it is pleasant to know that here in the Philippines, the shows and ads that make the Filipino favorites are not all about sensuality unlike those of the other countries. Since we are a family oriented society and there are values in our culture that coincide with the idea of femininity, conservativeness and modesty, the Filipino favorites are still the ones which have the concept of love for family and fellow Filipinos, happiness, charity, liveliness and wittiness. I applaud the makers of the films, shows and ads here in the country as they don’t resort to the sensuality that is vastly spreading in the other countries. As a future media practitioner, this lesson is what I should bear in mind. Creativity is much more important than resorting to mundane ideas that just bring in money. With a creative mind and a lot of effort, it is not impossible to reach the top.
Yes! I really do agree that there's a lot of ways to catch the attention of the consumers, not only sex. but in this generation, a lot of people really uses it, because they do believe that it was the best thing to attract a lot of consumers, and that was one of the saddest thing that was happening around the world. they are using half naked women or with bikinis, and at the same time, about the men, half naked look, using briefs to attract people, it was really catchy, but it was really unethical. i just really salute the filipino's that was changing that kind of perception, doing a lot of commercials that can attract the attention of the people without using men and women half naked and etc. :)
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