Yesterday, I recieved my monthly issue of Seventeen magazine. I began flipping through the pages and I came across an add for the National Guard. I was very confused and surprised to see this in my fashion magazine. The add displays a young looking girl, obviously a teenager, smiling at the reader, and next to her, another picture is displayed of the same girl in her uniform handing bottles of water to a young boy and his family. In big letters in the middle, it says, "When disaster strikes, we're there to help." The message seems to be different than the one we saw in the commercial in class. It is much softer and "cute". The commercial we watched mostly showed young men (with the football), and the music was hard core, there was guns and shooting, and although it portrayed one woman, it seemed to be aimed at men. This add was obviously meant for women, and it has been changed to fit a woman stereotype: soft, non violent, sympathetic for young children, blah blah blah. First of all, how desperate is it to advertise the National Guard in seventeen magazine? I have never seen anything like this in a fashion magazine before. Second, I feel like this add and the one we watched in class were for two different organizations. The 3 Doors Down video showed fighting and collapsed houses and intense scenes. Yet, the magazine add shows women holding children like mothers, and being soft and loving. There is NOTHING violent or intense about the add. What is wrong with this picture? How dare the guard advertise in a popular magazine, and portray women as weak, motherly figures? You guys may think I'm over analyzing, but what the hell? If the guard is all about "Firing the shot that started a nation", then why do they feel the need to downplay that philosophy in a female aimed magazine? Two words, false advertisement.
