Representations of women in advertising

 

Representations of women in advertising

March 08, 2024

 Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising

Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous. There are also a growing number of distinctly homosexual images - and these are far removed from

depictions of the camp gay employed as the comic relief elsewhere in mainstream media.

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

After 1945, women were stereotyped as being staying at home wives to cook and clean and look after their children and husband and be submissive to them. In 1950's a women magazine claim this led to the creation of he 'feminine mystique' which put these types of submissive and stay at home wives into this category.  

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

 

Influence of clothes and make-up changed the representation of women in advertising as it portrayed them as decorative (sexual) objects. An example of this is prominently shown in perfume advertisements where the women is shown looking sexually with very little clothes on showing off her body which to consumers give off the wrong look and impression of women and how we should see them. 

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

The idea of the 'male gaze' came from a female called Laura Mulvey which refers  to males not being able to control their urges and look and perceive women in a wrong way and look at them in a different way. This is a problem especially in a patriarchal society where everything is male dominated which means that women should still obey to males and listen to them. The 'male gaze' is a severe problem in everyday society as women in advertisements are just their to please male pleasures and nothing else.  

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

From the mid-1970's, there was a new label for the representation of woman called the 'New Woman' which tried challenging and changing the reality of women's social position and of the women's movement. The 'New Woman' was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfilment'. This is a very useful and strong example of how women were trying to subvert the boundaries and stereotypes of women and how they to can work in patriarchal environment and not just men. 

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

Van Zoonen asserts that the New Woman 'only departs marginally from her older, more traditional sisters.' Deconstructing an advertisement promoting the 'Jenni Barnes Working Style' range of clothing, van Zoonen points to its claim that: 'A woman should look forward to dressing for the office.' Having a job is seen merely to provide 'another happy occasion for women to dress up and present themselves.' Indeed, a woman 'is portrayed stepping confidently towards the camera in an office environment observed by a male colleague from behind; but she is not portrayed actually working' (1994:73). Gill says that these images lead us to believe that they incorporate feminist ideals, but are actually 'used in such a way as to empty them of their progressive meaning'

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that, underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman', that 'no serious gender defection has occurred'. In other words, that there is no real threat to male power.

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Another dubious image of the New Woman is the 'dark lady': on the other side of innocence and romance, is the knowledge and sexuality of the daring femme fatale. The message is that women can use Christian Dior make-up to make themselves sexually attractive - and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment. Richard Dyer however, claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: '[advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'. Thus, all we are really left with is a woman who continues to construct herself as a spectacle and, just like the innocent maiden, is presented as a willing co-conspirator of men's sexual advances - and worse, believes she is 'liberated' in doing so.

Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign and why was it controversial?

The 'Are You Beach Body Ready?’ campaign launched by Protein World this spring caused a real stir amongst the media and consumers. Launched in Spring 2015 on London Underground, the PR team were clearly courting the female market (19-30) into looking their best for the beach this summer. The advert – featuring a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose – generated so much controversy. 

The advert was arguably aimed first and foremost at the male gaze (an interesting way to get the attention of both sexes) but the question – and the subsequent advertising message – was definitely designed for women.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

A contrasting approach was represented by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty – one of the most successful of the digital age. The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. 

3) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 

Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves  would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers.

4) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

 Van zoonen suggests that the media plays a role in representing woman in stereotypical ways, and Stuart hall's that media texts can have many meanings to different people can be applied in the way the adverts can represent many different things and opinions that can be taken oppositionally or in a negotiated manner that was not to the hegemonic intent of the producers allowing for people to speak up about their own opinions and interpretations of the dove advert to highlight certain parts that are reflected and could be offensive or even unpleasant. 

5) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

In my opinion, I think that representation of women  have not drastically changed as much as I would have thought. This is because of women still being shown sexually in adverts such as showing off their body parts still and wearing a lot of makeup to look good for males. However, there have been a slight change of direction from sexualising women in adverts now and using the same stereotypes in advertisements that women show on men now. This is because of men now showing off their upper body and showing off their ripped muscles they have to try appeal to the female gaze and show off to women in a sexual way. In conclusion, I think there has been a slight balance on how women are shown in advertisement compared to men but still more dominantly focussed on the representation of how women are shown in advertising.