I wrote an essay!

Remember how I had that one angry rant about ideal beauty standards and Pinterest? Well I basically wrote the scholarly version for my rhetoric class and I don't mean to toot my own horn but I thought it was pretty good. Go ahead and have a gander if you would like :

Rhetoric as Instrumental and Constitutive

It is no secret that the media uses rhetoric as an instrument in persuasive marketing. Yet upon closer examination the persuasive tactics that influence the viewer to buy the product also construct physical and mental realities apart from the consumption of the product itself.  The Victoria’s Secret “Incredible Bra” commercial illustrates rhetoric as being constitutive as well as instrumental in that it is not only used to create the incentive to buy the product through ethos and pathos, but also produces the reality of women’s desire to look a certain way through the augmentation of emotions as a result of pathos.

The Victoria’s Secret “Incredible Bra” commercial currently airs across mainstream television advertising their newest “Incredible” bra. The commercial features a montage of impossibly thin, leggy, and well-endowed young females all dressed in subtly sexy lingerie gazing wistfully at the camera, posing, running their hands through their flawless beachy waves, and feeling their sculpted abdomens. The commercial uses very few words, simply “The bra you love, now even more incredible” printed across the screen, and no dialogue whatsoever behind an upbeat, sultry pop song. The thirty-second commercial ends simply with the recognizable Victoria’s Secret insignia printed across the bottom of the screen. 

The commercial relies heavily upon brand loyalty and familiarity to assume that viewers will recognize the salient as well as reputable Victoria’s Secret brand and thus continue to consume their new products. The commercial assumes that the female viewers already own and love Victoria’s Secret’s other products, and because they do they will purchase this new product. However, the commercial is not solely targeted at females, it also catches the attention of male viewers who are drawn to the beautiful models and may want to purchase the product for their significant other. The advertisement does not need to saturate itself with logos and insignias due to prior successful branding which has already infused the Victoria’s Secret name with meaning; meaning that is associated with sexiness, dependability, and quality. This is otherwise known as ethos, or established credibility. Ethos is formally described as “the character of the rhetor performed in the rhetorical act and known by the audience because of prior interaction”( Palczewski, Ice and Fritch 7). Victoria’s Secret implements this definition perfectly into their advertising by reminding the audience of positive past experiences with their products and the bra they “already love”. Consequently this affirms the viewer’s trust in the company so they can be persuaded to buy the new product.  Ultimately The Victoria’s Secret name is a reputable brand with a developed customer base in which their advertisements need only play off their already established success.

This specific commercial, however, is successful in its own right, not simply due to brand repute, but also due to definitive use of pathos. Pathos is defined by Aristotle as, “ that which leads the audience to feel emotion”(Palzewski, Ice, and Fritch 12).  The Victoria’s Secret commercial is successfully able to employ a pathos argument by setting the tone as sexy and sultry so that the viewer is able to associate the product with sex appeal and thus desire the product so that they too can be sexy. Or in the case of the male consumer, he wants his significant other to be sexy like the models. Essentially, Victoria’s Secret is not just selling a bra; they are marketing a lifestyle. The commercial is telling the audience through imagery that whoever purchases their product can ooze sex appeal just like the models. The consumption of the product is no longer about buying a good quality bra, it is about the emotions associated with buying the bra. Purchasing the product directly correlates with a sense of beauty and self worth. The purchase of the bra therefore becomes inextricably linked with the hopes, dreams, ambitions and ideals of the female consumer. Or in the case of the male consumer the purchase is linked with the fulfillment of his fantasies about women. For the female the purchase may represent her desire to be beautiful or to turn men on, or it may be linked to her weight loss goals to look like the models, or it may represent an alter ego of her’s. Either way the commercial is no longer just selling a product, but an answer to some woman’s intimate desires about who she wants to be. Essentially, pathos becomes the central persuasive tactic in this commercial as images of gorgeous women become linked to core desires and emotions of the consumer and are thus manifested in purchasing the product in order to fulfill those desires.

However, apart from the rhetoric being persuasive, it is also constitutive of unattainable beauty standards for women through the augmentation of women’s desires for personal attractiveness and thus perpetuating feelings of dissatisfaction with their own looks. James Boyd White defines constitutive rhetoric as the, “art of constituting character, community, and culture in language”(Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch 7). White’s definition aligns seamlessly with this rhetorical situation in that out of this media comes a culture of feminine dissatisfaction where after viewing the commercial a woman might feel that her body is inadequate. Contributor for Psychology Today, Romeo Vitelli PhD, argues that, “The effect of media content on ideas of physical beauty appears remarkably robust with women reporting greater feelings of inadequacy regardless of their real body weight”(Vitelli). Thus, rhetoric has the power to construct normative statements in which viewers develop ideas about how the world ought to be and sets standards in accordance, regardless of whether these standards are healthy or even realistic. Women look at the images on screen of rail-thin models portraying what women “should look like” and wonder why they do not have mile long legs, toned tummies, and voluptuous locks. Suddenly it is no longer about persuading the viewer to purchase the product, but how the rhetoric involved has constituted feelings of either self-doubt or discontent. In the case of the man he may feel dissatisfied that his woman does not in fact look like a Victoria’s Secret model, and that rather than realize that not everyone looks as they so, he begins to believe all women should look like that. In both instances a new standard has been set for women and thus reality has been generated. Ultimately, rhetoric has the authority to not only influence and persuade, but it also has the ability to shape people’s ideas about themselves and the world.

But what are the cultural implications of an exceptionally high standard of beauty for women? The creation of unattainable ideals of physical appearance has manifested themselves into subsequent dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, eating disorders and the objectification of women. According to Vitelli, “With thinness presented as the ideal body shape and a necessary prerequisite for health and happiness, anyone falling short of this ideal is vulnerable to depression, poor self-esteem, and general body dissatisfaction (Vitelli).  The prevalence of thinness has predicated the idea that it is superior, which of course is unrepresentative of all female body types, yet impresses the idea that if someone does not look a certain way they are not beautiful. Phycology Today goes on to affirm this saying, “Research has demonstrated the depression and despair that women often feel over falling short of the media models presented to them… the outcome is low self-esteem, biased perceptions about how much food they should eat, and a tendency towards poor eating habits that can aggravate health problems”(Vitelli). Subsequently, the rhetoric being used to market Victoria’s Secret products creates a real cultural impact in how women see themselves and the choices they make about their bodies, choices that are often harmful. That is not to say Victoria’s Secret is the principle offender, but their ubiquitous use of rail-thin models in advertising reinforces and creates these ideas, which thus become symbolic action. Cultural implications, however, stretch beyond the female psyche and effect how men view and objectify women as well. In the instance of this particular Victoria’s Secret commercial, the bra becomes more than just a functional article of clothing, but a piece of sexual iconography that objectifies women. According to Stephanie Berberek of the University of Buffalo, “men compare the women in their lives to what they see on television screens, in magazines, and on billboards. Both the self and society has suffered because of the objectification, sexism, exploitation and assessment”(Berberek). Berberek goes on to quote fellow researcher Swami explaining, “the existence of patriarchal structures and attitudes should result in significant relationships between sexist attitudes and the endorsement of beauty ideals and practices”(Berberk). It is evident that as men are exposed to these idealistic images of women both their expectations for physical appearance as well as ideas of women as merely sexual objects increase. The results are dastardly for women as both they themselves as well as the opposite gender put more and more emphasis on outward sex appeal. On the part of Victoria’s Secret, it is clearly no accident of marketing that viewers want females to look like the models being shown, but the negative societal consequences continue to impact viewers long after the television has been turned off.

In conclusion, the rhetorical techniques of pathos and ethos employed by Victoria’s Secret are not only successful in persuading the viewer to consume their product, but subsequently in setting unrealistic beauty standards for women that result in negative self-images, disordered eating, personal dissatisfaction, and objectification of women.

Works Cited

Berberick, Stephanie N. "The Objectification of Women in Mass Media." The Online Journal of the New York State Sociological Association 5 (2011): n. pag. May 2011. Web. 21 May 2014. <http://newyorksociologist.org/11/Berberick2011.pdf>.

Palczewski, Catherine Helen., Richard Ice, and John Fritch. Rhetoric in Civic Life. State College, PA: Strata Pub., 2012. Print.

Vitelli, Romeo. "Media Exposure and the "Perfect Body"" Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 22 May 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmedia-spotlight%2F201311%2Fmedia-exposure-and-the-perfect-body>.