Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
We’re living in the golden age of male objectification; we’re increasingly surrounded by images of shockingly well-built six pack abs selling us anything and everything … from Kraft cheese to Old Spice.
We’re used to the common grievance with media propagating unrealistic standards for women, but it seems that men are also subjected to the same insecurities as women. Is it an inherent flaw in our society? Do we enjoy the constant notion that we’re not ‘good enough’?
We could see this as a twisted form of equality now that men and women are being objectified in the media – there’s nothing to complain about, right? Wrong.
I suppose we could blame ourselves to an extent – we’ve allowed companies to get away with this: as the consumer, we are empowered enough to voice our concerns. And, we should use our voice to fight back against the subliminal messaging in advertising. If we want to buy a certain brand of cheese, we’ll do so on the basis that we like cheese. Not because the model used has amazing biceps.
Living in a constantly evolving world has its drawbacks; where some exploit the mechanism to use it to their own advantage. Businesses have had their say … it’s our turn now.
