What is it that
advertisements want to sell? Where does the advertisement want to situate me
and where do I situate myself within the context of representation? Does the
advertisement’s intended scope and where I see myself within that scope come to
an agreement? “Me” as the subject is asked to consume the “code” or “sign” that
the advertisement is trying to sell. This code of the Dove ad discussed in
Heiss’ essay intends to encompass a broader range of consumer by associating
signs of “real beauty,” but “the word 'real' coupled with these nearly
"normate" bodies is cause for concern because 'real' connotes
'natural' or 'authentic.'” The advertisement’s idea of “real beauty” and its
act to further position “the body as a site of dichotomous evaluations” is
problematic since it excludes women with disabilities that do not conform to an
image of idealized body and thus re-categorizes and reinforces the notion of normative
standards of beauty. By watching the ad, who would feel a sense of belonging
and who would feel as being shut out? What is the relationship between
representation, identity, and commodity culture? Are we still stuck in the
dominant Western discourse that confines “self” within the framework of being “ordered
and discrete, secure within the well-defined boundaries of the body rather than
actually being the body” (Shildrick)?
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