Veild women in Advertisments

The phenomenon of marketing products through veiled women has become more prominent in the past couple of years. Nescafe, Knorr soup, Safe Hair, are all new ads in which women are veiled. The questions arises : Is there any strategy behind this? Or is it a sort of try outs approaching a new variety of media exposure, to check new effects?

Nevertheless, countries such as Egypt associate its development and growth so much with religious fundamentalism, so is it enough of a reason to target countries with such ideologies? Clothing has always had functions and designs. People wanted to protect themselves against their surroundings; namely, the harsh changes of climate and weather. However, in time, and as the culture of Man changed from a hunter gatherer society to an industrial society, another function was added to clothes, namely , that of prestige. Therefore, one could tell who is who from his or her appearance. Industrial society imposed more additions to these two functions, they added the factor of design and uniform, consequently one could tell through observing others their rank, and positions. More over as religions evolved, one could also tell who is who through observing the clothes of priests, clergy men, nuns and whoever represented or belonged to or was affiliated to a certain religious group. To make the long story short, the researcher in the field of media who wants to discuss the issue of veiled women in advertisements has to know about the historical and evolutionary aspect of clothing.

A veil in Islam is a piece of clothes worn by women on the head to cover their hair and prevent men who are not related to them by blood to see it. In the past of course no one can deny the existence of fashion. Yet, in time, this fashion as well as the designs related to it have become subject to cultural changes , that is, veils have designs related to the political affiliation of people. thus, a politico-religious design of veils have emerged with the emergence of modern Islamic nation-state countries and with the emergence of extremist, moderate and religiously neutral societies, opinions concerning the appearance of veiled and unveiled women in advertisement have become various and subject to controversy.

I, the writer of this article strongly believe that Lebanon is built on three essential pillars. The first is that of freedom; freedom of thoughts , the right to express oneself, the right to the second pillar is that of variety. The Lebanese society is made up eighteen religious sects as more than three or four ethnic groups. Thirdly, tolerance, the Lebanese system cannot exist without all these religious, political, and ethnic groups tolerating each other. Thus as far as Lebanon is concerned the writer believes that veiled advertisements ought to be tolerated and accepted. Yet as far as the rest of the Arab and Islamic world it depends on how democracy is practiced along with the existence of Islamic fundamentalism.

To conclude, veiled women, like any other women, have their rights for education and work. I don't see why women specializing in media are not to work in their own fields. Or I do not understand the weirdness some people might find behind such an aspect. Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have strong religious constraints which is spread among all society and individual behaviors. So, a smart way to coordinate between the society's beliefs and media is to bring people to the media field, without offending any party.