Feminism’s impact on the representation of Gender Inequality and Sexism in advertisements
Gender Inequality and Sexism has always been a highly debated topic in society. Advertisements (print, videos etc.) industry is not an exception to reflecting those themes. “Sex sells”, a technique in Advertising which has been around for years, in contemporary society it became less noticeable and provocative due to the impact of Feminism. Even though there are many gender-stereotypes (women are still often portrayed as housewives, mothers or fashion-models (and mostly oversexualized), men are often depicted as strong, masculine and fierce), portrayals of gender in ads have gone through many changes. Contemporary Advertisements became more gender neutral and show progress towards empowerment of the individual’s sexuality. Thus, feminism plays a big role in shaping the new advertising rules.
To begin with, woman’s body and beauty have always been a popular stimulant for the target audience in Advertisements to get the wanted attention. Gender inequality and Sexism especially was featured from the Golden Age of Advertising – Sixties. For example, many sixties ads usually featured gorgeous women, usually overly sexualized. Not surprisingly, they also would include a sexist tagline. Despite the women liberation (which started in the 1960s’), women were usually shown as sexual objects, for example, printed ads would show them almost naked or with extremely feminine/ provocative looking clothes and seductive look, usually submissive for men. Sometimes they would be even shown as silly, even childish. The roles they were presented in the ads would be only “feminine-type”, for example, mothers, housewives, secretaries etc. “Studies have shown that the image of women that has predominated in magazine advertisements is of weak, childish, dependent, domestic, irrational, subordinate creatures, the producers of children and little else compared with men. Lucy Komisar (1971) suggests the audience of advertising could never know the reality of women's lives by looking at advertising, since "A woman's place is not only in the home, according to most advertising copywriters and art directors; it is in the kitchen or the laundry room" (p.301). Komisar also refers to the image created by advertisers in 1960 as a combination sex object, wife, and mother who achieves fulfillment by looking beautiful for men. A woman is not depicted as intelligent, but submissive and subservient to men. If a woman has a job, it is as a secretary or an airline hostess.” (Kang, Mee-Eun, 1997). Not surprisingly, most of these types of ads were usually dedicated to men audience and products. Hence, women were usually depicted as sex objects for “male-gaze” in the rise of Feminism.
However, the fourth wave (since 2012) of Feminism – introduces an idea of women as empowered human-beings whose power is to use femininity to attract both attention from men as well another female- envy. While in the rise of Feminism women’s sexuality in the ads is depicted as being passive for men, the contemporary Feminism depicts women as independent and strong due to their Sexuality. For example, “Wonderbra”, “Loreal”, “Shisheido” posters tell the consumer that they are special, strong and confident: “Contemporary advertising targeted at the midriffs suggests, above all, that buying the product will empower you. ‘I pull the strings’ asserts a beautiful woman in a black Wonderbra; ‘Empower your eyes’, says an advert for Shiseido mascara; ‘Discover the power of femininity. Contemporary advertising targeted at the midriffs suggests, above all, that buying the product will empower you. Defy conventions and take the lead’ reads an advert for Elizabeth Arden beauty products. What is on offer in all these adverts is a specific kind of power – the sexual power to bring men to their knees. Empowerment is tied to possession of a slim and alluring young body, whose power is the ability to attract male attention and sometimes female envy (Goldman, 1992). This is ‘power femininity’: a ‘subject-effect’ of ‘a global discourse of popular postfeminism that incorporates feminist signifiers of emancipation and empowerment as well as circulating popular postfeminist assumptions that feminist struggles have ended, that full equality for all women has been achieved, and that women of today can ‘have it all’ (Lazar, 2006: 505).” (Gill, 2008). All things considered, it is clear that last wave of Feminism has made a huge impact for women’s depiction in ads – posters, video/film usually show their liberation and use of their sexuality as a weapon. Compared to the beginning of Feminism, ‘male-gaze’ type imagery became less important in the fourth wave of Feminism, as the images show the ‘power of femininity’.
All things considered, feminism has made a huge impact on the depiction of gender inequality and sexism in advertisements through the history of Advertising. Nowadays, women are not depicted as lower in terms of equality with men as they were represented in ads in the Golden Age of Advertising – Sixties but more as confident and powerful, independent human beings. Even though sexuality theme is still being used for selling products, and Advertising posters/films still are using ‘sex sells’ technique, it became less sexist as it focuses on representing the empowerment of person’s sexuality. In conclusion, ‘male gaze’ term, visible in ads have been replaced with ‘power femininity’ and liberation of person’s sexual liberation.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.868
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3318841/Shocking-posters-1950s-60s-sexist-racist-campaigns-seen-acceptable.html
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dI5dDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=most+famous+sexual+sixties+ads&source=bl&ots=6kV0GPhtdR&sig=S2SYnoID0qCq_gyPLJqeaYnAnUc&hl=lt&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGrevx_dDaAhVhCcAKHfRBCfsQ6AEIYDAM#v=onepage&q=most%20famous%20sexual%20sixties%20ads&f=false
http://www.geser.net/gof/kang.htm