This is one of three photos I will be analyzing from Adams collection of photos. As you can see, this is a “sexy” female chicken wearing very short shorts, a slightly cropped shirt, and high heels. The chicken looks as if she is trying to entice the customers to come inside and I’m sure that was the intention when designing her. This is a clear cut example of Adams “anthropornography”. This means that animals are shown as sexually consumable in a way similar to the sexualization of women. (Adams, 14). Advertisements constantly depict animals very sexually because it gains male attention and it’s drawn the way that society views women. Women are viewed as sexual objects and what’s better than mixing meat and sex?
This next photo may not be an animal dressed “sexy” but it definitely sexualizes a dead animal. They use sexually explicit words to describe a dead turkey as a female who is on their back waiting for sex. Adams explains that these ads and images are “mixed with degradation. That equation has one answer: the dead animal equals the female position” (Adams, 15). This image also made me think of what Adams said about heterosexual politics, “heterosexual politics are also imbedded; the assumption is that women is available as an orfice for men” (Adams, 15). This seems to accurately describe this photo because of the man’s assumption that the “woman” is on their back ready to be eaten, or in other words that they are an orifice for men.
Finally, the last image I chose depicts a pink, female pig blowing a kiss and saying “I’m a prized pig. You can bank on me being high maintenance.” The image of the pig isn’t extremely sexualized (unless we’re talking about the kiss) but what the pig says explains it all. In society, women are always viewed as being high maintenance and very snobby, the pig is shown as being just that! I also can’t help but think about how the color of the pig means something, “whenever whiteness appears, it is a choice… black women are often depicted as “wild” animals who have to be captured” (Adams, 16). This is clearly meant to be a white female pig who is being sexualized for ticket sales… saying it that way makes it sound even more wrong.
I chose an ad that I vividly remember seeing online and I was shocked when I saw it. It’s an ad from Burger King that shows a women with her mouth open, waiting for a seven inch sandwich to be put in her mouth. The ad uses sexual slogans as well, “It’ll blow your mind away”, “BK super seven inches”. They purposely use these words to insinuate the women giving a blowjob and being shocked by how large the item is. It’s disgusting how blatantly obvious this and all of the other ads are. I’m sure Adams approach to stopping this would be to stop eating meat completely but that won’t change anything. I’ve seen ads that sexualize fruits and vegetables as women but apparently that’s not an issue to Adams.
Works Cited:
Adams, Carol J, et al. “The Politics of Meat: The Antennae Journal of Nature in Visual Culture Interview with Annie Potts ‘The Politics of Carol J. Adams,’ with Annie Potts Was First Published in Antennae, 14 (Autumn 2010): 12–24. Used by Permission.” The Carol J. Adams Reader : Writings and Conversations 1995–2015, no. 14, 2010, pp. 1–24., doi:10.5040/9781501324369.0009.
Adams , Carol J. “Examples of The Sexual Politics of Meat.” Carol J Adams , caroljadams.com/examples-of-spom/.
Widmann, Jackie. “Targeting Women – Fast Food Advertising.” Advertising & Society 2014, 28 Apr. 2014, advsoc2014.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/targeting-women-fast-food-advertising/.
Burger King is notorious for sexist ads. I remember being younger and getting a hot dog from them, I opened the bag and the box literally say “Open wide, say ‘MMM’!” And I was mortified, even not knowing fully yet about anthropornography. These ads are seen as humorous by society, so brands continue to replicate them. The more subtle, the better to marketing advisors, yet they still want that gut punch of sexualization in the food industry. Viewing women in the same was we view food, says a lot about how low society ranks femininity on the totem pole.
Great post,
Rachel 🙂
Hi Rachel,
Oh my gosh, I cannot believe that we allow companies to do this. Men laugh at these ads so people don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, they think it’s funny and just a joke. God forbid a female says this isn’t okay and it’s offensive, she will receive lots of backlash and will be told she’s too sensitive.
-Elizabeth
Elizabeth,
Yes, yes, yes! I like where you too your ending and I agree with you very much about fruits and vegetables. Sex sells and sex has always sold. The issue is so much more embedded in our world than just with animal meat, that’s just one part of it. However, I think the reason she doesn’t talk about the sexualization of fruits and vegetables is because it’s a nonliving (no blood pumping through the body, no heart beat, or feelings) thing. To be fair, I haven’t read all of her stuff so I’m basically going off of assumption when I say this, I don’t believe she is delving into advertising as a whole but just focused on meat because that is where her passion lies and where she can make her human (woman/animal) connections and their inferiority.
When discussing PETA’s ads that include naked women she says, “while some argue that PETA’s ads using naked or nearly-naked women are liberating, not only for animals but, in transgressive ways, for women too, such practices in fact only substitute one absent referent for another…Logically, there can be no politically liberatory “substitution” of woman for animal, because what is being replaced carries its own marker of inequality. What appears superficially as substitution is actually the layering of one oppressive system on top of another.” Therefore, I think that she may be against all advertising that is based on sexual innuendos but her main focus is on animals and women. However, I could be completely wrong because she doesn’t expressly dissecting other forms of advertisements in this interview.
-Tara
Hi Tara,
I completely agree with you about why she didn’t bring up fruits and vegetables. Absolutely, she’s making a point about living, breathing animals and fruits and vegetables are not that. You make some great points, thank you for explaining it!
-Elizabeth
Elizabeth,
I’ve noticed that the fast food industry frequently tries to connect sex and animal consumption. The picture you chose to post is disturbing! I’d like to know who approved it and why they chose it… Its almost as if the shock factor coming out with an advertisement like this normalizes it. This image is a very good example of anthroporngraphy. Adams talks about how sexual advertising is used by patriarchal structures when she states, ” this makes women’s degradation fun because to be effective the advertisement requires implicit reference woman’s sexualized status as subordinate”. But by using woman in a sexualized way, these people are oppressing women and animals.
Hi Elizabeth,
I used that Burger King ad as well! What a wild way to advertise a sandwich! Maybe women just aren’t their target audience, but I think few women wouldn’t at least a little bit be disgusted by or dislike the imagery. Now that I’ve learned this concept of “anthropornography” I feel like I’m experiencing the world around my differently. I feel like I’ve always been aware of the way that everything, including food, is sexualized in advertisements. However, I don’t think my first example of a sexualized ad a few weeks ago would have been advertising food. Now that’s completely different, I feel like I am so much more aware of sexualized food, and it almost bothers me more than the other sexualized ads. Interesting how things we learn permeate other experiences and shape our realities. Great post!
Erica
Hi Erica,
I definitely felt the same way after reading about it. Every time I go out I notice these ads and I just can’t believe how many companies/places actually do this. It truly opened up my eyes and it’s not a pretty sight to see.
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