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Action Project! Women in Advertisements Emilie Vu
Introduction
Emilie: This project has taught me toughness and perseverance. I never thought it would have been so difficult and elaborate to develop a project of this immensity. I know now what activism is all about. It is about friendship and support, but mostly it is about devotion. One can not fully achieve his/her goal if one does not show some kind of attachment to the cause. And one does not have the same satisfaction of having accomplish something without some level of devotion to the project. My experience proves this statement. I found myself very proud of what I have done. When we made those postcards, I felt completely thrilled. Those postcards were "cool", because we made them on our own and spend so much time trying to figure out how we would design them and were they could be printed.Pictured here are (left to right) Emilie Vu, Jennifer Hall and Alysia Kim. Since this was a class project, we had deadlines to meet. But if I had to do it again, I would take more time to research and prepare for the action so that it looks more professional. Our project was a little off the edge and lacked credibility. Had we had more material to present to the petitioners, like video, statistics, other pictures to compare, or a sponsor supporting or cause, I believe we could have done better and more. In any case, this has been a very interesting gratifying experience, and I suggest to those who want to try themselves in activism to take their time, make sure everybody cooperates to the project, and make sure to be ready before you display anything. Be devoted to your cause and you will live the most satisfying moment of your life. Jennifer: My experience with the women and advertisements was a great experience. It is definitely an experience to be put in the books. This project came at a good time, because I was starting to forget that there are other people out there feeling the same way as I do about women in the media. This helped me to realized that they are out there and there are a lot of them out there. It also helped me to get other opinions on the matter whether they were boys or girls.When we first all got together it was quite fascinating, because we could not figure out what form of advertisement to focus on, and what specifically to do with it. We were choosing between music videos, movies, news, or magazines. Since we all had access to magazines we decided to choose the magazines. Then we had our trouble on which ways to use the magazines to relate to women in advertising. Once we decided on the Gucci ads we started to rock pretty fast and smooth. At first this was just a class project that held my most interest, but then at this point it turned into a group effort to try and make sure some kind of change was put into effect or thought about. I had always done my own miniature parts in the cause by not buying the magazines and voicing my opinion to whom ever, but this time it was a group. It was three other intelligent college students. This is also the point when I think the project turned into more of a personal thing for all of us. We got our money and hearts more into the project then what they many have been at the beginning. I have always loved to argue and/or discuss things with people and this project gave me an opportunity to do it with a lot more then I already was. I had discussions with many people at work and home. I had heated arguments and mellow discussions. I enjoyed them all very much. I opened some eyes that were closed or just looking some where else. I learned something about some people. Rosana: This project has taught me a lot about myself as well as activism. When I just read the outline for the project I got nervous. But I would not trade the experience. Activism is frustrating yet fulfilling. Making the post cards and seeing the final project was amazing. So see an idea of four young women turn into something real is great. I don¼t have any idea what, if any, response we will get, but just making people expand their views and their minds is worth it.My own views on this subject has changed as well. If anything I am so much more aware of how women are portrayed. The best part is that I don¼t have to try, it comes naturally. Working in a group was different for me. It taught me togetherness, devotoin, and friendship. All in all the experience as a whole was one that I am proud of and will take with me forever. Alysia: Most of my experiences of this project is written in the actual essay itself, dealing with the action project. I must say that this whole project in its entirety has been quite a valuable and genuine learning experience for me. I still vow that every person should, at one point in their life, experience what Emilie and I had experienced that day.It really goes beyond words because there is never really another chance like that where I dealt with so many different types of people all at once, and all about a topic which I held dearly in my heart. I do not believe I have ever argued with such strong-willed, stubborn (some pig-headed) people before. Most of the people actually wasted time debating about the model's salary and that it is their Ïown free choice so let them do what they want no matter what they doÓ instead of discussing the matter at handÛthe disgusting pictures. Ever since our group met on that faithful Valentine's Day at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Tustin, we have all faced limitless boundaries and obstacles that challenged us in the many months of our project. I grew weary when the meetings failed and we left with nothing productive. The weeks seemed to fly by and we hit a wall at South Coast Plaza; D-E-N-I-E-D!!! They denied us on the night before the day our action project was scheduled to take place. When I had found that out it was very much like a smack in the face because it was so unexpected. I could not believe that the almighty South Coast Plaza would be so afraid of our harmless, quiet petitioning. They claimed that due to the Ïnature of the subject matterÓ they could not approve us, but they were clearly informed since the beginning exactly what our subject matter would be. I was enraged because they wasted so much of our precious time. Time that could have been spent doing something more productive than just waiting for their reply. I became discouraged because I so dearly wanted this action to take place near the premises of the Gucci store. But, I had also wanted the action happen at Irvine Valley College because I was curious as to how the students would respond to such images. Imagine my surprise! The turnout was great, but the views that some students and faculty carried really amazed and shocked me. During our Women's Studies class presentation of our project, I told the class that I believed that nobody else in the world really thinks the way our class does. The rest of the world (with the exception of our supporters and petitioners) seemed to be blind of all these awful images that struck so much disgust in me. It was as if the images HAD to be as bold and as obvious as images of rape, or a young girl being molested. Not many made the connection between potential violence and our pictures and I must admit, that really disappointed me. Not many people even TRIED to make a connection, but to the few who did and tried to understand, I am grateful. I am proud of Emilie, Rosana, Jennifer, and myself for accomplishing all that we have in the past 3 months. This is truly an experience that educated me more than I can ever say. I am extremely thankful to the Women's Center at IVC for their strong moral and encouraging support and also for their excitement with our project. I still feel so thankful that they let us be a part of the Health Fair at their table, which let us reach so many more people and get so many more signed postcards. Not to mention the fact that they want to eternally preserve our project/movement in the Women's Center by framing our poster board and our pictures!!! Of course, I will not end this without giving my greatest thanks to the people at About-Face who have agreed to post a copy of our postcard and our essay on the Internet. The Internet!!!! What more could I ask for!!! We now have the ability to reach so many more people than ever before. I really cannot be prouder than I am because I helped create this and perhaps, hopefully, I helped perpetuate the efforts on preserving positive images of women in advertising.
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