Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image [Paperback]

Vickie Rutledge Shields (Author), Dawn Heinecken (Assistant)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2001

The mute gestures of advertising images are frozen for posterity by photographers and illustrators, gestures that, for better or worse, perpetuate a certain aesthetic and eventually become emblematic of a period. The images of today display the values of a society that has more interest in the body than the mind. They are technoenhanced labyrinths of unattainable appearances that leave women and men feeling horrified, estranged, and restricted by unrealistic, silent mandates. Measuring Up looks at advertising as more than just a way to extract money from unsuspecting people but as a vehicle for conveying the larger views of a confining, body-obsessed culture.

By weaving theoretical and textual insights from feminist and cultural studies with the voices of real women and men, Measuring Up offers a unique reception analysis of the effects of repetitious exposure to advertisements of perfect bodies in our everyday lives. Shields examines a particular, complex relationship between the idealized images of gender we see in advertising and our own thoughts, feelings, and behavior in relation to these images. The study is unique in presenting audience reception in terms of ethnographic data, not textual interpretations alone.

Measuring Up engages with and informs current theoretical debates within these sometimes complementary and sometimes contradictory literatures: feminist media studies, feminist film theory, critical social theory, cultural studies, and critical ethnography. This is an important work that explores the forms and channels of power used in one of the most insidious and overt means of mass influence in popular culture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Vickie Rutledge Shields is Associate Professor of Telecommunications and Women's Studies at Bowling Green Sate University, where she is Director of the Women's Studies Program. Dawn Heineken teaches women's studies at the University of Louisville.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812217918
• ISBN-13: 978-0812217919
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,765,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars This book does not measure up March 24, 2005

By Bryan

Format:Paperback

Measuring Up just does not measure up and leaves a lot to be desired. Very early on in the book the authors' position against the use of any kind of potentially hurtfull advertising is made crystal clear. The authors are advocating a dramatic change in how advertising is done in our society under the pretence of trying to "inform the public" about how advertisements make people feel about themselves. The authors' not only do the least amount of informing as possible, they even nag at you while they do it. In chapter six the reader is told a "sob story" about a girl named Elizabeth who was so negatively impacted by advertisements in magazines that she is scared for life. In reality, Elizabeth pretty much comes off as an over-the-top drama queen. Therefore, if you want to read a book that pretty much yells at you and are interested in feministic ideals taken to the extreme, this is the book for you. However, if you are like me and do understand that advertising has an impact on people, but want a more impartial, two-sided view of the issue, this is not a book to read.