The Effects of Gendered Representations in Advertising
This essay discusses the representations of women in media and advertising, including the effects they have on individuals in society. Firstly, I will review the literature on stereotypical gender roles within media and advertising. This will include traditional roles such as the housewife, and modern roles such as the sex object. Secondly, I will critically evaluate and examine the effects of these roles on women, and even men, in today’s society. Effects include body dissatisfaction, thin idealisation and, in extreme cases, violence against women. Thirdly, I will aim to make conclusions on whether gender representations and roles within media have impacts on men and women in society.
During the rise of the feminist movement in the late 20th century, a significant body of research emphasised that media and advertising can affect the behaviours, knowledge and beliefs of individuals. The mass media can influence attitudes and opinions, either immediately or gradually, which may shape social norms (Lazarsfeld, 1948, p.249). In particular, researchers have argued that advertising plays a huge role in affecting the attitudes and behaviours of individuals in society (Courtney and Lockeretz, 1971, Kolbe and Langefeld, 1991; Harrison and Hefner, 2006; Stankiewicz and Rosselli, 2008; Ifezue, 2010). Advertising may be referred to as a “persuasive and repetitive form of communication” (Panarese, 2014, p.100), which occupies
Next I am going to talk about advertising focused on gender roles as a form of negative media. For women, the media is always focused on how they look. It constantly degrades women’s self esteem by telling them to be skinny, vulnerable, powerless, and silenced. In addition, the media turns women into objects or things instead of beings, which encourages violence towards them. This teaches women it is okay for people to use them. Men are also negatively impacted by the media as they are scrutinized for having feminine qualities such as compassion, nurturance, cooperation, empathy, sensitivity, and good communication skills. Men are told they must be violent, brutal, and ruthless, especially towards women. The media’s perspective on what it means
Considering the fact that the unrealistic images of women are continued to be used in advertisements for countless years, this tells media consumers that whenever this began, it began with a bang. Representations of women in the mass media dates all the way back to the
Sexist ads show that society is dominated by the same masculine values that have controlled the image of women in the media for years. Sexist advertisement reinforces gender stereotypes and roles, or uses sex appeal to sell products, which degrades the overall public perception of women. The idea that sexism is such a rampant problem comes from the stereotypes that are so deeply embedded into today’s society that they almost seem to be socially acceptable, although they are nowhere near politically correct. Images that objectify women seem to be almost a staple in media and advertising: attractive women are plastered all over ads. The images perpetuate an image of the modern woman, a gender stereotype that is reinforced time and time again by the media. These images are accepted as “okay” in advertising, to depict a particular product as sexy or attractive. And if the product is sexy, so shall be the consumer. In the 1970s, groups of women initially took issue with the objectification of women in advertisements and with the limited roles in which these ads showed women. If they weren’t pin-ups, they were delicate
Today's media is increasingly pornographic, and the notion that 'sex sells' has infiltrated the advertising of virtually all products and services. Both men and women are sexualized in contemporary media, but the extent to which women are sexualized is far greater that men are. Jean Kilbourne states in her talk, The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women, "There are stereotypes that harm men, of course, but they tend to be less personal, less related to the body." The stereotypes that drive the portrayal of women in the media lead to the repeated objectification, particularly sexual objectification,
No one utilizes the power of sexual suggestion like car companies. In today’s world, cars have become a sex symbol, and in the race to sell their brands, the top players in the industry have tried to out-sex each other, at one point or another. Some ads don't even feature a car. Throughout the past 60 years car advertisements have changed significantly. In the 1950s, families were used to show cars were ideal and the way of the future, while the 1980s and 1990s showed biased “fact” based arguments and hints of celebrity approval. Today, the 2000s continue to enlarge celebrity acceptance and continue to make sex appeal more widespread mainly through the portrayal of women. Researcher and professor Tom Reichert, explains that this upward trend
On a daily basis, the average person in the United States is exposed to roughly 3,000 different advertisements that contribute to shaping our society’s ‘ideal’ image of each gender (Baker 13). These images and texts typically represent and reinforce a fabrication of gender roles, expectations, and stereotypes. Examining and understanding the different portrayals of men and women in the advertisement industry is vital because we becoming so highly influenced by these unrealistic, fantasy-type images.
On television commercials, billboards, the radio, public transportation advertisements, planes, the internet, and almost everywhere people go there is always directed broadcasting of advertisements for companies to sell their product; a product that is never promoted for all of the general public to use, but instead to emphasize on specific categories of consumption . Whether it may be categorized in the decadent, the money saving, health, cleaning, cooking, automotive, or whatever sub category it may be; and bigger roles that play in to commercialism are gender roles . Men and women have very different lifestyles, what they buy, do, consume, and produce. As stated in Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes, “Popular conceptions of femininity
The ideas and assumptions built around the concept of femininity affect women from all walks of life. The discourse that surrounds this issue sets up and maintains an environment which limits and dictates women’s choices. Documentaries such as Miss Representation (2011) have been produced in order to shed light upon gender issues such as these, focusing on the causes and consequences of these ingrained stereotypes rampant in media upon modern women. In the context of this paper, these discourses and the effects of said discourses will be explored. From print advertisements from the 1950s-1970s to contemporary ads, as well as resistant discourse in film, the ramifications of both discourses in media and female representation in different
Taking a look at the details can make a big impact in what you think you are seeing. On the outside, we see sexes that are the biological differences in individuals, but what about the concept of gender? The expectations that society creates about men and women establish these levels of association people gather together. As these roles come about, people begin to grow accustom and oblivious to the reoccurring presence. In the current era, media continues to expand all over the areas of daily living. One of the major forms of communication is advertising, which relays information to society about a certain product, location, or trending topic. Whether it be on television, the radio, or the internet, gender is intertwined into these forms of
Advertisements has been around for decades, the main goal of advertising is to intrigue consumers. Producers spend billions of dollars yearly to sell their products. The aspect of advertising is to analyze and change the portrayal of women. I recently viewed an advertisement from Glamour magazine November 2013 issue, which I believe indeed is viewed as offensive. According to my sources “Beauty and the Beast of Advertising” and “Killing Us Softly 4” both by Jean Kilbourne, there many forms of offense in advertisements. The name of the advertisement I found is called “Josie Marian” which is named after an American model, actress and entrepreneur and it is quoted “What kind of nut puts oil on her face?” with subtitles “A nut like me”. The advertisement is a picture of Josie Maran smiling, and pointing both index fingers towards her face. This advertisement can be viewed as offensive to women because it illustrates that with this product you will be beautiful and perfect. The company also quotes that there product is the best on the planet. Which is a broad statement, and will entice women that it is needed. This essay will describe how images, text, and settings of advertisements all work together to form offensive messages.
In the article “Gender issues in advertising- an oversight synthesis of research”, Professor Lori D. Wolin, a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and professor at Lynn University, gives insight on the gender roles and stigmas that are assigned to society, knowing first hand from advertising and being a test subject to the gender roles that gender roles play a key role in marketing and that the assignment can be harmful and are necessary to analyze to keep from creating a further stigma in society. Wolin explains that the difference in advertisement towards males and advertisement towards females are vastly varying and play an important part in the way advertisement furthers the instillment of gender roles.
The roles of males and females in society have significantly changed, as opposed to the predominant roles in our history. In the modern culture of today, women have begun to break out of the mold that which society has placed her in. This much can’t be said when it comes to modern gender representation in mass media advertising. It can be safe to state that woman are seen as sexual, fragile, exotic—whereas men are portrayed as tough, in control, and aggressive. This trend can be one seen as an inhibitor to the advancement of our culture, because especially for women, it is hard to pull away from the stereotypes that are continuously represented. As examples of the given trend, the following
The media advertisements promote gender stereotypical images and create a negative impact on the society. The advertisements in any form, such as television ads, magazine photos, textual contents or movies, perpetuate the gender inequality and expect different genders to perform in a certain way only. In her article” Hunger as Ideology,” Susan Bordo analyzed several media advertisements and represented how brand promotions have used gender based identity to increase the demand and desire of their merchandise. The gender-oriented messages are influential and affect the opinion, thoughts and behavior of human beings. However, the question arises how these typecast advertisements divide the society. This research paper will examine the
In this book, the author concludes that women are weakened by advertising portrayals via five categories: relative size(women shown smaller or lower, relative to men), feminine touch(women constantly touching themselves), function ranking(occupational), ritualization of subordination (proclivity for lying down at inappropriate times, etc.), and licensed withdrawal(women never quite a part of the scene, possibly via far-off gazes).
“The gendering of programming allows the industry to provide the proper audience for advertisers by constructing shows pleasurable for the target audience to watch, and one aspect of this construction is in the gender portrayals of characters” (Craig, 188). Advertisers use many approaches to make their product more attractive for us to purchase. One form of using different approaches is using stereotyping by gender. This idea is focused on attraction; for example, a woman is going to be more attracted toward the handsome looking man and associate that product with him or associate the product with personable looks. Using this idea, advertisers intentionally put attractive men or women in their advertisements to create a more attractive theme for their product. In most of their commercials, Fiat, has tried to make their commercials distinctly different or interesting. Analytically “pulling apart” one of Fiats commercials can show how advertisers are using different non-conformist plot ideas, the idea of “a man’s woman,” or a perfect woman from the man’s point of view, and the idea of a shifting “geek” culture.