Advertisement & The Bluest Eye

  Old Spice Commercials and The Bluest Eye

    In Old Spice commercial's males are portrayed as superhuman body builders who are obsessed with power.  The advertisements in their commercials consistently endorse extreme masculinity through humor.  Even though male figures in the Old Spice commercials have unrealistic appearances and characteristics, men are still held to the standards of advertisement. Similarly, Morrison illustrates the role that advertisement has on young girls in The Bluest Eye.  At a young age Claudia is expected to love and accept a blue-eyed white baby doll and is never given an option to choose a colored doll. Colored doll's in the 1940's were not considered beautiful enough by advertisement standards to keep in stores (21). Claudia also rejects the idea of admiring Shirley Temple because she did not believe that Shirley Temple was cute despite advertisements claim that she was the quintessential figure of beauty. However, Claudia grows to love Shirley Temple's radiance after concluding that acceptance of society's perception of beauty is merely a horizontal step.  The candy made appealing in the 1940's by the blue-eyed white symbol of cuteness named Mary Jane molds Pecola's perception of beauty.  She now believes that she is inferior to Mary's advertised beauty; similar to how Old Spice commercial's creates an inferior feeling in male's perceptions of their own body (50).

      Advertisement creates unrealistic expectations for both males and females.  In the Old Spice flex commercial the main character, Terry Crews, illustrates the standards set by advertisement for men through his unnaturally muscular body.  Even though Old Spice is not advocating that men should have "talking abdomens,"  the commercial associates being powerful and dominant with being over muscular.  The commercial creates a superior man in order to convince men that the Old Spice product is essential to being a powerful man.  The glorification of an unrealistically muscular and powerful men in this advertisement creates a universal image of what a superior man should resemble.  By the standards created in the commercial, any guy that does not use Old Spice or is not well-built is an inferior male.  
      Similarly, standards of beauty are set for little girls through advertisement's depiction of "blue-eyed dolls" manufactured. Because "all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured," Claudia, an African American girl, receives the doll for Christmas (20).  Even though African American's naturally do not posses the traits of beauty chosen by advertisers, Claudia is still held to the same standards.  In fact she receives the gift as a statement that says "this is beauty, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it" (21). The blue-eyed doll represents a superior beauty that is naturally unattainable for African Americans.  In fact the standard set by the dolls appearance ultimately excludes African American girls from being labeled as beautiful.  Claudia is unable "to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped her" when she dismembers the doll because there is no solidity behind the beauty of blond-hair blue-eyed doll (20).  Because advertisement created an unrealistic standard of beauty, girls with darker skin are considered to have inferior external appearances.    

      In the Old Spice commercial, Terry is illustrated to be the quintessential "powerful" man.  As Terry proclaims his dominance, his bicep agrees with him and grows another arm with an equally massive bicep. This humorous depiction of a superior man illustrates advertisement's creation of male values.  Even though men are not expected to grow an extra arm, they are required by media's standards to glorify muscularity.  The pursuit of a muscular body is for many an "adjustment without improvement" because all people are created different physically.  Similarly when Claudia "learns to worship [Shirley Temple] and delight in cleanliness" she understands that the change in heart is "an adjustment without improvement" (23).  The adjustment in perception stems from advertisement's created norms that are forced on generations to accept if they too want to be accepted.

    In the Bluest Eye, Pecola wishes to become advertisement's illustration of beauty when she purchases a Mary Jane piece of candy.  Similarly Old Spice associates their product with power, dominance, and masculinity in order to deceive customers that the body wash is essential to being an attractive man.  The blue eyes of Mary Jane are perceived to be the essence of beauty to Pecola (50).  When Pecola purchases the candy she believes that "to eat the candy is somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane, Love Mary. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane" (50).  Because the advertisement has convinced Pecola that the blue-eyed white girl is the quintessential face of beauty, Pecola begins to associate true prettiness with the product.  The advertisements in Mary Jane candy's and Old Spice are designed to make the customer crave the products by enhancing the sonsumer's insecurities. Because Pecola feels inferior to the image on the candy, she purchases it with hopes of becoming like the advertised girl.  Similarly because certain men feel inferior to the muscular man portrayed in the Old Spice commercial, they buy the product with the back thought of becoming a step closer to a "powerful" man.