WOMEN in the BOOB TUBE: The Exploitation of Women in Television Advertising

WOMEN in the BOOB TUBE: The Exploitation of Women in Television Advertising
By: Nicole Marie Joson

INTRODUCTION

WOMEN STEREOTYPES
Here in the Philippines, culture dictates a lot of stereotyping with respect to women. Due to the colonization of Spain, the United States and Japan, the role of women have been shifted from a very high status in society to being domesticated, objects for pleasure and objects of beauty. This idea has remained up to now. For this reason, advertisements especially in the field of television have portrayed women in this notion. Recently, advocacies for gender parity have emerged and one of the key sectors that could show true equality among sexes is the portrayal of women in television advertising.
More specifically, women stereotypes in the Filipino culture are the domesticated wife. As a domesticated wife, women are portrayed as keepers of the household, who is usually in charge of cooking, taking care of the children and doing the laundry. As objects for pleasure, women have been used as instruments in epitomizing products such as liquor. More recently, women have been stereotyped as objects of beauty. As objects of beauty, Filipino women are only considered to be “perfect” when they have long, straight, shiny and soft hair, whiter skin, have lesser weight and having young looking skin.

ADVERTISING IN THE PHILIPPINES
Advertising is defined as “the dissemination of information or messages for a business purpose, usually intended to promote commercial transactions or to enhance a business’ general standing in the marketplace or the community.” In advertising, there are three forms of media used in putting across ones message. These are television, radio and print, in this paper, the focus will be on television advertising. In the Philippines, the trend in advertising is to use celebrities as endorsers of one’s products. In addition to using celebrities, advertisers in the Philippines have the tendency to infuse Filipino culture into television commercials. As such, a lot of stereotyping may be seen in these advertisements. Subsequently due to the usage of such stereotyping, television advertisements illustrate a lot of scenarios wherein the image of women or the women themselves are exploited.

SAMPLE ADS
In order to have a clearer picture of television advertisements that could be considered exploitative of women a couple of examples are given. For the portrayal of women as being domesticated, most television advertisements that illustrate this are those wherein women are shown as the caring mother or the one that does the household work. Examples of such are the classic Surf or Tide commercial. Television advertisement which portray women as the doting mother are mostly milk products such as Nido endorsed by Sharon Cuneta, Lactum endorsed by Claudine Barretto, Jodi Sta. Maria-Lacson and Carmina Villaroel and Alaska by Maricel Soriano. The Kool Fever television commercial portrays women as the caregiver of the family. This also applies for the Tempra and Robitussin Cough Syrup television commercials. Another stereotype shown in television commercials is women as mothers being the ones who cook for their family. Television advertisements such as Maggi Magic Sarap, Maggi Sinigang Mix, Graham Crackers and Knorr Pork Cubes portray women in such a way that they are considered as domesticated who cook for their families. In terms of classifying women as objects for pleasure, the best examples of television advertisements are those of alcoholic beverages. Specifically, television commercials of GSM Blue endorsed by Anne Curtis, Emperador by Katrina Halili, San Miguel Beer by Marian Rivera, Colt45 and the classic White Castle advertisement which showcases a woman in a red bikini riding a white horse endorsed by a number of celebrity women. Finally, the exploitation of women may also be seen in the portrayal of women as objects of beauty. Recently, the definition of a beautiful woman has been focused on lighter skin tone. As such television commercials of products such as Pond’s Whitening Cream, Nivea products, Belo Essentials and Extraderm have shown that an extraordinarily beautiful woman that will catch a man’s attention would be women with lighter skin tone. Another trend for women nowadays is having perfectly soft, shiny and straight hair. This has been the message of countless shampoo products in recent years. Examples of such are Pantene, Sunsilk, Creamsilk and Rejoice. The idea that women must lose weight and be skinny has also been the trend recently. Nowadays, there are a number of television commercials showcasing women so intent in losing weight through various ways television advertisements of Xenical, Fitrum, Nestlé Yogurt and Fitnesse cereal are some examples of such commercials which exploit women in that area. The Stresstabs commercial also implies a negative connotation for women, it puts across the message that women should always look energetic and their 100% best if not, people would make fun of how “stressed” a woman looked which would connote old age as well. Finally, women are expected to be beautiful at all times, because of this, numerous television advertisements put across the message of the necessity for women to use make-up or cosmetics. Television commercials of Sansan cosmetics, Hortaleza Beauty Center, and Avon are some of the advertisements which emphasize that women have to be beautiful in order to be noticed or successful.
DISCUSSION
APPLICABLE LAW
The Constitution
The Philippine Constitution
It has been said the Constitution is considered to be the supreme law of the land. May it be the Constitution of the Philippines or the United States Constitution, this law is considered to be the basis of all laws. For this paper, provisions concerning advertising are taken into consideration. In Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution, the law states that,
“No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”

This provision involves one’s right to freedom of expression. As stated, each and every person has the right and freedom to express oneself through the limitation of implementing laws which impair such freedom. This provision gives an impression that in terms of advertising, any form of advertisement featured in television may be considered allowable. Although this is so, there are still restrictions with respect to the content of such advertisements. Although freedom of speech is considered to be very important and an integral part of the highest law of the land, there are still some factors to be considered that could be noted as boundaries to the freedom of expression. For television advertising, one must consider the concept of obscenity. Being that obscenity may be considered as a relative subject and constantly changing as time passes, a test for obscenity was established in a case in the United States which will be discussed in the following section.

The United States Constitution
With respect to the United States constitution, the very popular Bill of Rights states in its First Amendment that,
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It is evident that both provisions from the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the United States Constitution have are very similar in text and context. Although this is so, both countries have very different cultures and belief. The diversity in both culture and belief makes one consider the difference in the consideration of freedom of expression of both countries. In terms of advertising, it is very apparent that the United States has more liberal television commercials which do not hesitate to speak the truth. Although this is so, one also has to consider the boundaries to the freedom of expression. In the case of Miller v. California, the test for obscenity was set up. In order to classify obscenity there are three things to consider,
(1) Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
(2) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable law.
(3) Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

Given the test for obscenity, it is evident that there are no definite restrictions. This is attributed to the fact that every society has a different perception of what is obscene. Also, as mentioned earlier, given that morals, belief and culture constantly change as well, a general test that is not too specific and restrictive is the ideal way of guiding the judicial arm of the government.

ROLE OF MTRCB
In order to regulate the different forms of media advertising especially in television, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) was established. Through Presidential Decree No. 1986, under the administration of Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos, the MTRCB was created. Upon the creation of this regulatory board, a previous regulatory board called Board of Review for Motion Pictures and Television under Republic Act No. 3060 was abolished. The primary purpose of the MTRCB is,
“To screen, review and examine all motion pictures as herein defined, television programs, including publicity materials such as advertisements, trailers and stills, whether such motion pictures and publicity materials be for theatrical or non-theatrical distribution, for television broadcast or for general viewing, imported or produced in the Philippines, and in the latter case, whether they be for local viewing or for export;”

This provision enables the MTRCB to filter all forms of media featured in television and motion pictures, and also advertisements which is the focus of this paper. Consequently upon perusal of such material the MTRCB then has the power to,
“..approve or disapprove, delete objectionable portions from and/or prohibit the importation, exportation, production, copying, distribution, sale, lease, exhibition and/or television broadcast of the motion pictures, television programs and publicity materials subject of the preceding paragraph, which, in the judgment of the board applying contemporary Filipino cultural values as standard, are objectionable for being immoral, indecent, contrary to law and/or good customs, injurious to the prestige of the Republic of the Philippines or its people, or with a dangerous tendency to encourage the commission of violence or of wrong or crime...”

This paragraph provides for the actions the MTRCB can take in order to achieve its primary purpose of regulation. As mentioned above, publicity materials such as advertisements are subject to approval and editing when the content of such advertisements are contrary to the morals, beliefs and cultural values of the Filipinos. Specifically, paragraph C specifically mentions in article four that “those which serve no other purpose but to satisfy the market for violence or pornography.” This provision specifically addresses the issue of obscenity which hinders the exploitation of women in a sexual manner.

ROLE OF ADBOARD
On the other hand, another regulatory board independent from the government is the Advertising Board of the Philippines more commonly known as the AdBoard. This institution is represented by five sectors, namely, the advertiser, advertising agency, media, advertising services sector and the consumer sector. Given the extensive representation of different sectors involved in advertising, this regulatory board aims to promote self-regulation in the advertising community and promote harmony and unity as well. The code of ethics provided by the AdBoard is more suggestive than mandatory to its fellow advertisers, advertising agencies, media and advertising support. This self-regulatory board provides for the protection of the advertising community’s freedom of expression and at the same time offers guidelines to promote values such as national unity, respect for human dignity and the rights of all, decency and courtesy, respect for religious beliefs, customs and traditions, pride in things Filipino, respects for law and authority, adherence to principles of justice, honesty and fair play, dignity of labour and environmental concern groups. To address the issue of the exploitation of women, the AdBoard of the Philippines also has guidelines with respect to monitoring obscenity. According to Pagunsan (2004), the AdBoard’s Guidelines in Interpreting Rules on Obscenity and Vulgarity states that,
“The objective of these guidelines is to help identify advertising material which is objectionable because it is obscene and vulgar in the view of the general public or because it exploits a person as a sex object.”

Given this provision, Article IV, Section one, number four, sub-number two addresses the concern regarding obscenity. This provision states that,
(2) Advertisements should not depict or exploit persons as sex objects

As stated above, the Code of Ethics of the AdBoard of the Philippines clearly and specifically states that persons should not be showcased as sex objects. This is a clear guideline that aids in the prevention of the exploitation of women. Although there is a clear-cut guideline, there is yet to be a punitive measure regarding the violation of such guideline.
Another provision in the 2007 Code of Ethics under Article IV, section eleven, number three mentions that,
“Advertisements must not imply that alcohol beverage consumption enhances sexual attractiveness or is a requirement for social acceptance or sexual success.”

In this provision, there is a focus on alcoholic beverages. This guideline also explicitly states that, advertisements of alcoholic beverages should not have a sexual attractiveness or success implication. Similar to the previous provision, there are still no punitive measures if ever an advertiser or any involved party should violate one of these guidelines.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION
The current 14th Congress in the Senate is now taking measures to prevent the continuing exploitation of women in the area of television advertising. Former Floor Leader, Senator Manny Villar has already introduced senate bill no. 2539 entitled, “An Act Penalizing Any Advertising Agency, Television or Radio Station and Publication which Exploit Women and Glorify Sexual Violence in its Advertisements,” also known as the Advertisement Regulation Act of 2007. This bill imposes a heavier penalty upon violation of the condition that any advertisement should not contain any sexual implication may it be violative or exploitative. Specifically, the penalty to be imposed by the Advertisement Act of 2007 states in section four that,
SEC. 4. Prohibition and Penalties. - Any advertising agency, television or radio station and publication which exploit individual and glorify sexual violence in its advertisements shall, for the first offense, be liable for a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,OOO.OO) nor more than Seventy thousand pesos (P70,OOO.OO) plus suspension of license or permit for thirty (30) days; for the second offense, to a fine of not less than Seventy thousand pesos (P70,OOO.OO) nor more than Eighty thousand pesos (P80,OOO.OO) plus suspension of license or permit for sixty (60) days; and for the third and final offense, imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than six (6) years or a fine of not less than Eighty thousand pesos (P80,OOO.OO) nor more than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00), or both such imprisonment and fine, at the discretion of the court, plus the cancellation of the license or permit.

In line with this penalty, the MTRCB will be the assigned government regulatory board to impose such penalty for the offenders. The proposed legislation of Senator Manny Villar improves the well-being of women being exploited in television commercials. Specifically, advertisements which exploit women depicted as sexual symbols in the different forms of media. The approval, ratification and enactment of such the proposed bill shall facilitate in the reduction of the exploitation of women in television advertising.

ADVOCACY
In this day and age, the exploitation of women in television advertising may not be realized by people in society. This may be due to the fact that it has become part of our customs, beliefs and culture that consider women as objects of beauty, pleasure and domesticated individuals. The question at hand is how will the exploitation of women stop if society sees it as a norm. In order to strengthen the advocacy of promoting gender equality among men and women, one must first eliminate the labels of men and women. One of the hardest things to take away is the culture, beliefs and morals already imbibed in society. Being colonized for hundreds of years definitely changed the view of the Filipinos in terms of gender perception. I believe that in order to lessen if not totally get rid of the exploitation of women in television advertising, society must first change its perception on gender. This may be achieved through intensified information dissemination and educating people. In educating people, advocates for change must ensure that society realizes that there is something wrong with the perception of society in terms of how women are portrayed. The only way advertisements of women depicted as objects of beauty, pleasure and domesticated women is too change society’s perspective through education and increase awareness through intensified information dissemination.