Portrayal of Women in Music Videos
...efore, is where the problem lies. Over time, seeing women being portrayed as sex objects will shape the way people in general view women. It will change how a woman sees herself, and how a man sees other women. A big problem with music videos is that the visual is put to music. Every time a person listens to a certain song on the radio or on a CD, the images of the music video will pop into their heads. If one views a particular music video at least a few times a day, and also listens to the song on the radio or on a CD a few times a day, they are being presented with these images over and over. The younger a person is, the more these sexual images can affect them. Young adults are possibly the most influential group, for music videos are much more popular at this time in a person’s life. How a teenager dresses, acts and talks can be heavily influenced by what they see. The main reason for this is because at this age, a teen is constantly searching for what kind of person they are to become. Their self-esteem is low, and they don’t have much knowledge of who they are as a person. Ironically enough, this is the age when watching music television is the most popular. On August 1, 1981, Warner Bros. (and American Express) launched MTV, the first 24-hour music video cable channel. According to the vice president of marketing, Marshall Cohen, it was "the most researched channel in history," and it is arguably the most powerful musical outlet developed to date. The idea of the channel was to have a forum for music artists to portray their songs through images of their choosing. The wide-range of responses from the channel was almost immediate. The music industry was initially cautious about videos. They are relatively expensive to produce, and they h...