I'd Die For These Shoes

Through all the advertisements that I have searched on the Internet none of them seemed to have an obvious change than these ads for shoes. Before I start to talk about these two pictures I want to leave you with an image in your head of an ad for men’s shoes. Imagine a women lying on the ground with a white sheet covering her whole body with just half of her face showing. Now picture a stream of blood on her face that is shown. Also, a pair of men’s shoes on top of the sheet on the woman’s body with a winning slogan to finish this picture, “I’d Kill For These Shoes”. This advertisement is one of many that show violence against women that Jean Kilbourne uses in her Killing Me Softly film to show people how strong of an image the media can have on people. This ad in particular stuck with me for about a year now, and I have seen how advertisement commercials have changed, but I am not sure if it’s for the better.

If you look at the image of the woman crouching down to the ground, you can see her trying to pick up something. That something is a shoe. What makes the picture worse is that she is on a ledge of a very high building. To me this is very similar to the first image I tried to put into your heads, but this time the slogan should be, “I’d Die For These Shoes”. This is putting the idea in women’s minds that they must have these shoes even if it costs them their lives. So the violence has not changed, but now it’s voluntary and according to this ad, the danger is necessary. Now I thought to myself I would go barefoot in New York before I risk my life on a ledge for a pair of shoes. Someone must have thought the same thing and changed the ad even further.

I have an image with a pair of men’s shoes and a pair of women’s shoes at a table representing people on a date. Now people who watch this are suppose to use their imaginations as to how they think the people will look like in those shoes. People who see this as will also think that if they get these shoes they will be able to get a date. This ad appeals to men and women. There is no violence; neither men nor women’s bodies are being exploited. This ad shows me that people are thinking very carefully on how to sell their products to the public without offending anyone. This is a good example as to how the media can go about selling products, but I am not sure if they can keep up with this progress.