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Tori Fanning
Professor Bolton
ENG 101
1 October 2014
Only Looks Required
Every day, we are surrounded by advertisements. We are so influenced and used to
seeing advertisements that at times we do not even realize they are straight in front of our
face. An advertisement tells us how we should feel, look, eat, and even live! Ads are used to sell
an item, to make a product stay in our subconscious by using repetition, and they have catchy
phrases or songs. For example, the J.G. Wentworth commercial that has their telephone
number in their song, with that tune that plays in our head. Wow, who can forget? Females, the
majority of the time, are portrayed in certain but various ways. In Jean Kilbournes Killing Us
Softly 4, she explains how womens bodies are constantly turned into objects, such as beer
bottles or cars. She also speaks about how ads concentrate on the womens breasts or buttocks
instead of the whole woman, to catch the audiences attention. The media through ads show
society how a perfect woman should look, dress, and eat. According to ads females should
not have wrinkles, blemishes, and like Kilbourne jokes that they dont even have any pores.
Woman looking seductive and sexy in ads always suggests how that product will make them
feel and look. In ads for Calvin Klein, Bali, and Viktor & Rolf, women are portrayed as seductive,
flawless, and perfect to sell a product.
In an ad for Calvin Kleins Reveal, a females perfume shows how women are
portrayed as seductive, flawless, and perfect. There is a man and a woman standing in this ad;

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the man is shirtless with tanned skin, is holding the woman slightly to her right. The mans face
is not seen for his face is near hers, like if whispering something sensual to her. The mans back
muscle definition is seen. The woman is also white with a bronze tan, has dirty blond hair, and
blue eyes. She is wearing a black, thin- strap, low- cut dress. Her hair blows passionately to one
side while she seductively looks at the camera with slightly parted lips. She is gently touching
his neck with both hands like she is sexually aroused. She is young and beautiful with not a
single mark on her body. The word REVEAL is written in white capitalized letters across their
upper bodies. The words Calvin Klein is below the word reveal but in a smaller font. The square
silver and brown perfume bottle is at the lower bottom of the page. The background is brown,
beige, and black. These tones are used to set a sensual atmosphere and it goes with the colors
of reveals bottle. The message of this ad is clear. The ad is suggesting that if women buy this
product, that it will make them sexy and irresistible to men. They are making it seem that it
smells so lovely that men will be lured by the fragrance. This Cosmopolitan ad for Calvin Klein is
an example of how women are seductive, flawless, and perfect to sell products.
Another ad by Bali Intimates from Cosmopolitan uses seduction, flawlessness, and
perfection to sell their product. In this ad there is a woman up close wearing nothing but a pink
bra and an open robe or sweater. The white robe is open and hanging off her right shoulder
fully exposing her pink bra. A thin- strand delicate necklace with a single diamond is around her
neck. She faces the camera with her head slightly tilted to the right with most of her blonde and
brown hair flowing to one side. Her makeup is put on smoothly and light to make it seem that
its her natural look. Her eyes are hazel with light mascara and her lips are a glossy rosy pink. Of
course her body complexion is perfect. Her eyes and face gives off a playful seductive look. The

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background looks like she is leaning against a window or a door that shows some green possibly
from a tree. The robe and the background is used to create a relaxed and comfortable feeling.
The slogan FEEL AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU LOOK is on the left median of the page in white. The
word Bali is bolded and below the slogan. Here again we have another ad suggesting that a
product will make women feel a certain way. It is saying that because a woman is beautiful, she
should feel beautiful with this bra, and she should not settle for anything less. The woman is in
her bra, is it really needed for this ad? So for this ad to sell, a woman is made to be seductive,
flawless, and perfect.
Finally, FlowerBomb fragrance by Viktor & Rolf is introduced in Glamour using
seduction, flawlessness, and perfection to sell their product. The woman in this ad has the right
side of her body facing the camera with her head turned to look at us. The woman is naked with
small breasts and a fragile body. Her head is covered by a sheer light pink material that flares
like the top of a flower at the top of her head. A black ribbon with the fragrances name and
maker is wrapped around her pale white body twice. The ribbon comes across her shoulder and
then again at her bosoms areolas. Once again, the woman looks seductively at the camera
while her left hand tilts the pink liquid perfume bottle closely towards her face. The background
is plain white. The ad is implementing the product smells so much like a flower that it will
transform or make women feel like a flower. This is a product that will make them feel sexy.
The ad uses a beautiful naked woman to catch the audiences attention. Seducing, flawless, and
a perfect woman is used to sell this fragrance.
These Glamour and Cosmopolitan ads are just a few of millions of ads made and
published that use seduction, flawlessness, and perfection of women made and shown to sell

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company products. Would the world see and respect females differently if companies were not
allowed to use people to sell their products?

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Work Cited
Calvin Klein. Advertisement. Cosmopolitan 257.4 (2014): 148-149. Print.
Bali Intimates. Advertisement. Cosmopolitan 257.4 (2014): 52-53. Print.
Viktor & Rolf. Advertisement. Glamour (October 2014):144-145. Print.

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