One of the more notorious advertisements from the BMW automotive company aligns perfectly with the concepts of objectification of women in the media that Jean Kilbourne outlines in "Killing Us Softly 4." The advertisement is a print media ad that depicts a close-up shot of a young, blonde woman who is laying prostrate on a bed, and giving the camera a sultry, "come hither" look. It is clear from the shot that the woman is lying on the bed in anticipation of a romantic encounter with an unseen individual, and a caption next to the woman asks the question: "You know you're not the first. But do you really care?" At first glance, this caption suggests that the subject of the photograph should be so thrilled to be having an intimate relation with such a beautiful woman that the question of whether or not she is sexually "pure" is irrelevant. However, when one glances at the far right corner of the advertisement, one can see that it is an ad for "certified pre-owned BMW vehicles."
As such, the advertisement directly compares the young woman with a vehicle, and suggests that she has had multiple "riders," which is not only vulgar, but exceptionally degrading. As Kilbourne observes in her lecture, it is quite common for automotive manufacturers to feature beautiful women in their advertisements (somehow completely ignoring the fact that heterosexual women and homosexual men are also potential new car buyers), and to draw visual comparisons between the vehicle and the woman. However, this BMW ad takes this comparison a step further, by suggesting that someone who prefers to buy new vehicles is as skittish and archaic as a man who insists that his bride still be a virgin. When regarding this BMW ad, it is hard to believe that it was made just a few years ago, and not in 1955. |