Advertising: The representation of women in advertising

Advertising: The representation of women in advertising

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

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

While previously the representation of characters in advertising was obvious since the mid-1990 's that representation is now far vaguer; not only this but there has been a new introduction of homosexuality in modern advertising aswell that was never in mainstream media before

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

Some common stereotypes were that women belonged to their husbands, that they had to be housewives, and that if they did not fulfill their predetermined roles properly, they should feel guilty. These stereotypes were reinforced were the increased introduction of domestic products such as convenience foods and automatic washing machines.

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

The increased influence of clothes and make-up made it easier for men to objectify women and to force them to become more passive due to their femininity, along with this advertisers began objectifying women for men. 

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

Laura Mulvey developed the idea known as 'male gaze', this idea states two things, one was that women existed for men to observe and look at, the male gaze idea also stated that as a whole, women in movies were almost invisible and were only important due to their physical appearance.

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

In the 1970's women were heavily sexualised in advertising, this is primarily for the male gaze to help sell more products; to help increase even more sales. new advertisements began to advertise the idea that their product will help the males to attract females.

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?

While women in earlier advertisements were dressed in working clothes or were shown in a workplace, the women were still there as just a means to fulfill males gaze as they were not doing anything particularly important to give themselves meaning and or a representation, this makes this advertising no different from the 1970's and 1980's

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

Barthel suggests that women now have the power to help defend male power or to keep it as it is. 
8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Richard Dyer suggests that the femme fatale representation in advertisements promote an idea of false feminism. What this means is that while the products show women regaining their sexuality and that their products are for the female; but in actuality, the women are still being used to be looked at.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

The protein world beach bodies campaign included a female showing an unrealistic physical representation of women in a bikini with protein supplements with the words "are you beach body ready" 

2) Why was it controversial?

Not only did the campaign help promote an unrealistic body standard for women with protein supplements and texts that promote fat loss; this shows fast shamming 

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

This campaign suggests that the female in the advertisement is how you should look and that if you don't look like this, you're ugly or irrelevant 

4) How did some audiences react?

two of the more prominent reactions to the advertisement, one was the petition signed to get the advertisement taken down by the ASA, that petition got over 71,000 signatures. Another reaction was an attempt to show realistically how women's bodies look like, this included various women taking pictures in bikinis next to the advertisement.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

Dove had a trained FBI Sketch artist to draw women in two times with different perceptions given to the artist, one was of the females self-perception of their body and one was the perception of a complete stranger. The information given to the artist was quite different to what the female said, the stranger perceived the female as far more attractive than the female herself, this shows that women can sometimes be hypercritical on their appearances 

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

Audiences now have a voice due to their ability of direct communication due to social media, this allows audiences to be able to engage in debates, conversations etc. This gives the company the opinion of the masses.

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

As van Zoonen's theory states that the sexualized female is used in advertising is there to promote and sell the product and or brand, Stuart halls reception theory can be used to gain a better understanding as to the difference a person can perceive the advertisement. 


8) 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?
I do believe that the representation has changed drastically since the past, where in 1940's-1960's women were continuously degraded and were seen as below men, to where now women now have their own voice, are represented far more equally and also now are seen as more than an object.