Lady Gaga Promises All Women The Smell Of Fame And Sexual Prowess

The latest incarnation of a celebrity fragrance promotes the idea that female sex objectification is the key to becoming successful and famous!

This advert depicts miniature men crawling over the naked body of a woman (Lady Gaga). Whilst it is said to be inspired by 'Gulliver's Travels' I find it offensive in that it implies the woman is a sex object to be explored by men. 

It suggests she is not a person and is willingly allowing numerous men to use her body. It also implies that women who use this fragrance are open, and submissive for sexual use. It implies to women that they will have men crawling all over them if they use the fragrance, and to men that any woman wearing the fragrance is sexually available, not just to them, but to multiple of men. It also suggests a submissive woman is a sex toy and enjoys being used accordingly, taking great pleasure from it. 

The imagery and its message will be seen by her many female teenage fans, many of whom are aged 10 to 15. Once again, pop culture is being used to sexualise children.

Further, this ad will encourage young girls to believe that such behaviour is the way they should be if they are to be liked by boys. Equally, young boys are being fed imagery that suggests to them that girls are mere sex objects, and that their sole purpose is to provide sexual pleasure to them and that they actually enjoy this role.

The ad breaks the ASA guidelines in respect of adverts should not suggest sexual prowess or availability as a result of use of the product being advertised. This advert not only suggests this, but it relies on this message to sell the product. Once again as is common, sexual objectification of women is being used to sell and promote a culture which is offensive and demeaning to women.

It shows once again how girls growing up are being conditioned into believing they are mere sex objects and that using their sexuality is the only way forward for a woman to be successful.

In the pop world, the basis of promoting female artists is to sexualise and objectify them; ensuring they conform to a specific and given body type. Further, the currency of pop culture is soft porn, and is embedded within song lyrics and the imagery of pop videos and advertising to promote the product.

Whilst Lady Gaga herself may feel she is, and like Madonna did do, a strong woman in control of her own product and destiny; she is merely conforming to the stereotypical behaviour enforced upon her by a misogynistic world as a result of insipid conditioning aimed at all of us, and within which we develop from children to adults.

Arguments against this view, which point out the success of both artists, merely confirm the above opinion as far as I am concerned.

The reality is that without using her body in a sexual manner in all promotion avenues, very few female artists actually get anywhere and certainly are not held up as being a role model for young girls and women.

The sexualisation of children and conditioning of both genders into seeing the female gender as the sum total of body parts, limited by and exploited accordingly; continues unchallenged by the majority of people in this country.

Our capitalist system objectifies the female gender and conditions both male and female into accepting this as the appropriate basis of a culture which holds money and sex as its gods.