Situation DefinitionThis article identifies ethical issues related to the way men and women are portrayed in advertising and argues that advertisements can be successful in generating sales without presenting women as objects, and without perpetuating that men must be masculine. Advertising is ubiquitous, repetitive and professionally developed to improve likelihood of attention, understanding, retention and behavioral impact. The purpose of advertising is generally to inform targeted consumer groups of the availability and description of products and services, and to persuade consumers to purchase them. (Cohan, 2001) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the primary federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations. According to the FTC, advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers. Aside from this law, there were no rules about how women or men should or should not be portrayed in advertisements. Advertising companies continue to produce sexist advertisements due to supply and demand. People continue to buy magazines, watch television, movies and music videos that degrade both men and women.StakeholdersInternal stakeholders who may be affected by sexism in advertising include employees and investors. Employees may not have a choice in what is published, which could make them look bad among their peers. The CEO of the company can be affected by sexism in advertising because if the public does not like the image that the company represents, it can affect sales and inventory, which affects investors. External stakeholders who are affected in some way by the decisions of the business include customers, suppliers, the community, unions and government. Customers may choose not to buy ...... middle of paper ...... its standard and, at the same time, women feel frustrated because the standard seems unattainable once they think about it . However, they will associate the product with this desire and will go and buy it. There is a certain perfection depicted in the models with impossible youth, impossible perfection – accomplished with professional makeup, hair and photo edits. Some images depict women of such perfection that they seem inhuman. Studies show that men exposed to a menu of advertisements depicting women as sexual objects are more accepting of interpersonal violence, primarily against women, than men exposed to other types of advertisements. This shows that there is a statistically significant correlation that links the depiction of women as things, in advertising, to violence against women. Violence arises from the perception of possession, that is, the desire to control.