Advertisements and female gender stereotypes

Advertisements and Female Gender Stereotypes When we talk about marketing, it is important to understand that marketing does not adopt the approach of men v/s women but it incorporates both genders to create a more attractive and eye catching advertisement for a particular product or service. In order to gain the attention of consumers, it is important to recognize what attracts the targeted group the most. However, regardless of such an important position provided to both genders, there is an increasing debate over the stereotypes used to portray these genders. Some researchers criticize media for humiliating, shameful and disgracing portrayal of women. Others believe that women are used media as sexual objects and this simply is immoral and unfair. On the other hand, people believe that media stereotypes women as caring, tolerant, understanding and loving creatures. They are portrayed as loving mothers, caring sisters, loyal workers and graceful wives. This paper would further explain how media portrays women and how successful it is in portraying those female gender stereotypes. During 1950s, the advertisements portrayed women as housewives who were much inclined towards cleaning, cooking and taking care of other family members. By that time, a few women worked and were discriminated as compared to the male counterparts. However, continuous efforts and feminist movements changed the history and women were finally welcomed in the professional field. This change should have caused a positive impact on advertisement by portraying women as loving, caring, sensitive and honest ladies who are able to manage their career but the reality was different. The negative portrayal of women increased in advertisements and society started to perceive women more like a sex object (Reichert 2003). The historic stereotyping of women was based on portraying this gender as weak, shy, beautiful, caring, sensitive and quiet. They were shown as beauty objects with high respect. Most of the pictures used for advertisements were of plain, expressionless faces with graceful but least exposing dressing. Those advertisements were based on the idea that women are objects that must be looked at but not listened to. However, in recent years, such depiction of women is inexistent. Women are now portrayed as bold, sexy, stylish and strong. Most of the advertisements capture them facing the camera with no expression of shyness or confusion on their faces. A number of advertisements have also shown a remarkable change in women appearance by portraying women adopting male behaviors, dressing, hairstyle and other traits. Redken advertisement is an example of such a portrayal where the female model has kept the hairstyle same as the male model. This has further changed the way women are viewed as in the world. Here it can be said that the women by advertisements are portraying an image in which they are shown more strong and manly. Through these advertisements it is stereotyped that women can compete with men in any given field and has worked towards their image in the world. Sexual stereotyping of women in media is a great threat to their status in the society. Many studies are conducted to evaluate the truth behind the claim of sexual stereotyping of women and revealed that sexual stereotyping has not only increased but has also developed strongly shameful at present. Moreover, researches also reveal that continuous portrayal of women in media showing a particular behavior, choosing a specific type of dressing or performing a particular kind of act influences the attitude of people towards women ((Soley & Reid, 1988). Advertisements are a way through which many types of people are stereotyped. Advertisements play a major role in determining the trait or personality of the individuals living in this world. The advertisements in which women take part are times done in a way in which they depict them as positive women thus giving a way for a positive stereotype to develop. And on the other hand some advertisements portray them in the negative sense thus giving a way for a negative stereotype to develop. Thus it can be concluded that advertisements play a major role in the stereotyping of the women in this world (Reichert et al 1999). Bibliography Soley, L., & Reid, L. (1988). Taking it off: Are models in magazine ads wearing less? Journalism Quarterly, 65(Winter), 960-66. Reichert, T., Lambiase, J., Morgan, S., Carstarphen, M., & Zavoina, S. (1999). Cheesecake and beefcake: No matter how you slice it, sexual explicitness in advertising continues to increase. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 76, 7-20. Reichert, T. (2003). The erotic history of advertising. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.