Blog Post #12: Empowerment Ads

For this first ad, why this would be empowering to women, is because a lot of girls grow up being encouraged to play with barbies, and many do play with barbie. And personally, I believe every little girl who did play with barbie, kind of idolize her. She's tall, pretty, talented, so being already a sort of model for little girls, by having her do all kinds of careers. It's sort of empowering girls to be all that they want, even if it is something people say is impossible. 

I think Jean Kilbourne would probably agree to the part barbie being a motivator and model for young girls and accomplishing dreams, but I think she would definitely disagree with Barbie as a whole. She is a doll that is almost sexualized, and she has staunch beliefs about protecting kids from being exposed to sexualization at young ages. And Barbie's physical appearance is very unrealistic so it might make girls want to look like that, and be that skinny, which Kilbourne is very much for the prevention of eating disorders. 

This ad is empowering to women because first off it's a girl who is advertising for sport apparel, which has typically been a male dominating area. And it's also a girl who is being seen to be have been told that she can't do something, but instead of agreeing and letting that be that, she says "Watch me." Like she's gonna prove them wrong and accomplish her dreams. 

I think Jean Kilbourne would very much agree and like this ad, it's not about a girl being skinny, or being pretty but more rather about a girl being healthy and strong, and ultimately being herself.