A Meditation on Hegemony, or Idealization vs Reality

     The negative effects of Hegemony through advertising can be clearly seen in this "spoof ad" from adbusters magazine, in which the typical Calvin Klein ad is parodied by the image of a nude, presumably bulimic woman leaning over a toilet bowl.
     Hegemony refers to the practice of using advertising and media outlets to instill a certain set of values in the minds of the public, with the intention of almost subconsciously establishing those values as culturally accepted norms. Those responsible for hegemony are usually people in power, or who have control over many aspects of media, and the values they project tend to be financially or otherwise beneficial for them. For example, much of the profitability of the women's fashion and beauty industry is due to the hegemonic ideal of constant inadequacy. In other words, many women spend a large amount of money on fashion and beauty products because of advertisements that emphasize the idea that they are not attractive enough without the advertised product.
     As the image shows, there are troubling and widespread negative side effects to this practice in advertising. It can be said that the media portrayal of the ideal woman is so impossibly perfect that many who try to shape themselves into that image are inevitably going to fail, leading to extremely high amounts of self-consciousness issues, anorexia, and bulimia among women. The title "Obsession" is appropriate for this "ad," because these hegemonic ideals drive many women to become obsessed with their own image, consistently reminded by media that they will never be good enough.