Although both Kotex advertisements are trying to sell the exact same sanitary napkins, each comes from a different place in time and represents a completely different culture for women than the other. The first advertisement is older and filled with text including social situations, product information, and scenarios in which women would feel comfortable and satisfied in their decision to use Kotex. Its use of the phrase, “More women use Kotex than all other sanitary napkins,” suggests to viewers that Kotex is the most widely used and therefore most superior brand of pads out there. Because “more women” use it than the few that don’t, readers will, as a result, want to jump on the bandwagon and follow the menstruation techniques used by other women. The second ad, on the other hand, focuses more on the individual. It wants its readers to feel some kind of special treatment by using Kotex. Its catch phrase demonstrates the self-consciousness and vulnerability that women often must endure; they should therefore use a brand name of pads that helps them to feel more secure and confident in their daily activities.

 The two advertisements pictured above, although obviously very different than each other, are both selling toothpaste. The first is a magazine advertisement from the 1930’s with the headline, “Two clues to whiter teeth.” It has a lot of text, largely including healthy tips in which to keep teeth strong and information about the product, promising “it adds gentle double polishing to thorough cleansing.” The ad wants consumers to value a strong and properly cleansed set of teeth. The second ad pictured is a more recent magazine ad, telling consumers that Rembrandt “can get even clean teeth two shades whiter.” The prominent object on the page is a set of women’s lips, red and glossy. Along with them, of course, comes a beautiful mouth filled with perfectly white teeth. It is very different from the previous advertisement, in that it is directed more towards women – women who want a mouth that looks just like the one in the ad. This ad is a perfect example of how women are objectified for their features in advertising, even when toothpaste is the product being sold. Over the years, companies selling products in magazines have come up with clever and cunning ways of persuading women to buy their products. Women inevitably want what they can’t have, so if they see in a toothpaste ad a gorgeous set of white teeth with full, red lips, they will automatically assume that when they go out and buy this toothpaste, in return they will end up with a more beautiful and enviable mouth.

We, as consumers in a world filled with more advertisements than we can count, must learn how to “deconstruct” the ads we see in front of us to better understand what the motives really are behind these companies whose products we might buy. We must develop smarter ways of seeing things put before us; otherwise we will fall victim to the shallow ways of society today.