Gender stereotypes in advertising reflect the male-dominated values of our world. Discuss.
Media plays a major role in our modern world, this is achieved by broadcasting information at a fast pace to large swathes of audiences. Advertising media consists of television, radio, press, books and the internet. The large availability of the internet has allowed it to be one of the faster developing advertising mediums, although television is still a major contender. “People intentionally participate and select media messages from communication alternatives . . . what people do with the media, instead of what the media do to people” (A., 1994, p. 421) Rubin’s point of view, relative to advertising perfectly explains how we take our own messages from what we perceive in a communication.
Through creating a certain type of message, socialization can be achieved which allows media to distort people’s attitudes and opinions. In my essay I would like to focus on this problem by investigating how this distortion of opinions can apply to Gender stereotypes. I will discuss different stereotypes, how they are used within the advertising world, what these stereotypes imply and how stereotypes are viewed dependent on culture and upbringing.
A gender role is a set of social rules dictating the types of actions which are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their actual or perceived sex or sexuality. Gender roles are usually based on two concepts; of femininity and masculinity, although there are omissions and differences. The details regarding these gendered views vary considerably amongst different diverse cultures. Whilst other characteristics may be shared throughout a range of cultures. There is a constant debate as to what extent gender roles and their differences are biologically determined, and to what extent they are constructed socially.
One of the main principles used for orientation in a social environment are stereotypes. These represent opinions of members within a certain social group about another social group. They are bottled up early during socialization, these stereotypes are a result of learned observations from the individual. Although they can also be influenced by other major roles during our development such as schooling, media, friends and family. The main issues with stereotypes is that they are not entirely accurate and actually can present half complete or misguided ideas about reality, this is because they are usually based on tradition and passed on generation to generation. The trouble with this is once a stereotype is set in place, it is more likely to be carried on during the socialization of the next set of children and thus the cycle continues until it is broken. Furthermore, stereotypes can have a positive or negative undercurrent, but usually are usually geared towards how someone should act or is expected to act, which completely goes against being an individual. Even when presented with the chance to disprove a stereotype, the person would rather treat that difference as an exception rather than to change their own way of thinking.
Men and women within the world of advertising have been portrayed in a plethora of stereotypical ways. Whilst men have been historically categorized as being masculine and strong, women have been shown to be the emotional and weaker sex. This could be further from the truth in an advertising application, where women are actually the main consumers in the household, with more control over the purse strings. This is shown by how men are used to advertise cars, DIY products, investments and business products, conversely women are shown in adverts for cosmetics, cleaning products and child related goods. Women were also more likely to be shown in a home environment, whilst men are shown more times outdoors or within a workplace.
What exactly is a male dominant society? Simply put, it is a society that favors men in most aspects in life. Whether looking at education, law or daily privileges. A dominant male is accepted as a man who uses his physical or mental powers to rule over others. Especially women. This norm was widely true when looking back into history. Women were mute in society, any opinion or outlook on life through a women’s perspective was overruled by the dominance of men. Presently, these barriers have broken down. Women have as much a stance in society as men. Hilary Clinton running for president in the United States of America is the most popular example to be considered. In today’s day and age, demeaning comments of women wont be accepted or tolerated as they once where. A comment such as “shut up, women. You don’t know what you’re talking about! Go back to the kitchen” could result in you waking up on a hospital bed with ten or more stitches on your head after a minor concussion. (You’re welcome to try it out if you don’t believe me). Women have been represented in a particular way for centuries; the outlook on life women had was restricted by the rules governed by men, mainly due to classifying women in a certain way that seemed true at the time, this has largely to do with stereotyping(4). What is stereotyping? And how did this affect the lives of women in past dates? Stereotyping is usually a misleading and simplified representation of a particular social group. In examining women for instance, they were classified as weak, passive, nurturing, emotional, irrational and domestic in nature. Again, this shows how women up until the 20th century have had little or no say during the early years. The magnitude of power men possessed over women was wide spread and clearly visible for a very long time, the use of phallocentric views can be used to justify the mindset of both men and women from the earlier decades(4). Phallocentrism: “The prevailing of signs or symbols that represent male power(3).”
In other words, the reference to the penis as a symbol of power. The notion reads that men are more powerful than women. The movie “300” is based on the battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartan soldiers fend off thousands of Persian warriors day after day to defend their country. When analyzing the movie “300” many aspects on how men are viewed in respect to women are brought out. This movie is action packed, full of gore with mind blowing visual displays where blood is splattered, decapitations and limbs being chopped off like a typical day at a butcher shop. It is basically an orgy of death, if simply put(1). The careful collaboration of the “brave 300” when orchestrating the battles at the “hot gates ” is a visually bloody masterpiece. The ferocity depicted by the soldier’s who were born for the very reason of war, exploits the inner animalistic nature in every man watching. The frenzy of killing sprees upon the perfection of handling a sword and shield takes the word “Dominant” to a whole different level. Being dominant gave the upper hand when it came to choices between men and women. Being dominant came with respect, respect to whoever holds that title, and being dominant in this media artifact is surrounded by the use of a sword (2). This movie displays male power. Phallocentric views are at its prime, being born with a penis gave the upper hand in this particular hierarchy. The system as to how the country is run, its political infrastructure and its military structure portrays no women in command with any power to make any decisions in whatever magnitude. Men were firmly in control for the outgoing decisions that best suited the country. This movie showcases the very fabric of what is defined as “being a man”. The strength, diligence and valor of the king, who is viewed as a rational, logical and rightful leader of Sparta, Leonidas can be viewed as the common stereotypical man. The common stereotypical man was resembled by how strong, rational, logical and his capabilities in dealing with politics, and these traits in a person were believed to be absent in women. The king’s wife, queen Gorgo, resembles a nurturing mother figure, emotional and passive in comparison to the King. Even though she was their queen, she was easily overpowered and refrained at first from expressing her thoughts to the members of the council when the decision of war with the Persian army was being evaluated. Even though she possessed the prestigious title of being their queen, the fact that she was a woman gave her no right to affiliate with the status of men, making her title as “queen” worthless. There are the occasional cases where a woman speaks out, which in this movie happens to be Queen Gorgo. A case in which how women are usually looked at and how sometimes women do in fact speak there mind can be seen in the clip where the Persian messenger questions the King demanding him “what gives this women to speak among men” which shows authority of men, and the dominance of men conveyed in this movie, where the queen replies “because only Spartan women give birth to real men” What I found interesting in this movie is, however much the portrayal of Leonidas is shown to be “dominant” he considers his wife to be equal to him. He seeks her advise in the ongoing prospect of war, showing that even though on a general basis, women were considered passive and weak, the king’s interest in Gorgo’s opinion shows the equality between them, but to the public, this notion is reverted. The scene where king Leonidas doesn’t expresses any emotion to his queen upon departing for war shows that there is no room for weakness (emotion and showing weakness were signs of a women’s trait), the common portrayal of men in this era did not include this aspect of personality (2). Even though one might perceive as the Queen stating that women and men are equal when looking back to the scene where she shares her opinion on the war with her husband, she herself says that women are existent to give birth to the warriors, the real men. This shows that she sees women more as support for men, and indirectly states that they are the “head” while women are the supporting neck”. The concept of women being existent as a support system for men was well deep rooted into everyone’s conscience that even the queen perceives this was the case. Since dominance is determined mainly through physical attributes, the fact that women do not possess the build and muscle leads to them being deemed unfit to walk amongst the ranks of men when it comes to war. The nurturing role of a women in the movie its visible that while King Leonidas marches into war, his wife was given the task of staying at home and following the daily routines of a typical women in ancient society. The fact that women were constantly being perceived as “weak” led them to believe so.The constant reminder by men by their actions such as being able to lead into war, gave more reason for women to accept the fact that they were only capable of the role of a nurturing mother who was devoted to her husband and children. As we can see, through this media artifact it is evident that up until the 20th century a male dominant and stereotype oriented stigma and society existed amongst men and women. Male dominance in society. How it used to be
Gender roles in Children’s Advertisements
This socialization even transfers onto children’s toys advertisements, which can be seen to show the intended place in society for girls and boys. Boys are shown to play sport, computer games or be the masculine strong figure, whereas girls are shown as babysitters nursing dolls in a maternal fashion. A study by Browne (1998) provides further evidence of the substantial gender stereotyping that is found in advertisements. According to Browne, Boys appeared in greater numbers, assumed more dominant roles, and were more active and aggressive than girls. (p. 12). In commercials containing both boys and girls, boys were significantly more likely to demonstrate and/or explain the product even when the product used was not sex-typed. Girls were never shown using products designed for boys (e.g., guns or trucks), and no commercials showed boys using products targeted for girls (p. 6-7). Gender role reinforcement was observed at the level of body language and facial expression; girls were portrayed as shyer, giggly, unlikely to assert control, and less instrumental (Browne, 1998)
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Even the outside packaging for children’s toys can exemplify the type of gender stereotyping we see from advertisements. For example, the packaging on these Jr Doctors and Nurses toys there are two defined roles. The boy is shown as the doctor, which connotes a higher level of education, responsibility and authority. Where the girl is shown as the nurse, not to berate the work of nurses by any means, which connotes a lower level of education and knowledge, thus would need the help of the male doctor if she was out of her depth. This shows the boy as the powerful figure over the girl. Even the outside packaging further perpetuates gender stereotypes by containing the typical masculine and feminine colours, blue and pink. The blue box is intended for boys and the pink box is for the girls. The use of colour to indicate the appropriateness of a toy for a boy or girl is found in a lot of advertisements historically.
At this point, you may ask, what’s the major problem if a toy is blue or pink or if it’s a doll or an action figure? Is this not another case of advertising to sell a product? The issue is that contained within these messages of consumption are teachings about gender roles and expectations. These types of advertisements purposely target children with a message of what is and isn’t appropriate for boys and girls. Although these may be “just advertisements” they are also one of the places that children learn first about gender roles.
Problems in distinguishing gender roles in a modern society can be a faultless instance of the negative social effects of using these stereotypes. The split of gender roles is securely rooted in our social models. At one time, the dominant family model was based on patriarchy. Throughout civilization, even before modern society, men have been the main financial providers within the family unit, they are expected to be career focused, self-confident and independent, whereas women have been seen to take up low paid positions, but would mainly be seen to be loving wives and mothers, whose main responsibility would be raising children, providing meals and keeping the house tidy.
Nowadays a family model is based rather on a partnership than on patriarchy and women have more rights and opportunities within the job market. The Feminist movement played a major role in the change in this situation. With liberation of women, there was a shift of change within the rights of women which also forced traditional gender toles to be redefined. The movement claimed that there should be no division among emblematic masculine and feminine professions, and that qualities of character should not be attributed to a single gender. And while females and males are still not equal the variances amongst gender are not so enormous any longer. However, many social institutions, such as mass media would still use these deeply ingrained gender stereotypes, based on an assumption, that everyone would have had these imprinted on them within the viewers socialization, with the idea of them understanding the message being passed over by the media.
Despite the significant presence of stereotypes within advertisements, adverts specialise more and more in non-linear ideas of the promotion of products and services. Conversely to the ingrained stereotypes, women are shown to be free, strong and independent of social expectations and men are shown to be in more situations more akin of the typical female roles, such as washing or cleaning. One of the more popular, non-stereotypical commercial is for the Dove campaign aimed at women of every age and with differing body shapes. The campaign emphasized natural beauty instead of the all too familiar airbrushed perfect bodied models. The female viewers prefer to watch women, with whom they can identify with, consequently the campaign was proven to be a great success “Dove sales, for instance, have jumped from $2.5 billion to $4 billion since the company unveiled its “Real Beauty” campaign in 2004.” (Tenor, 2015)
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Male roles in advertising are redefined as well – British commercial of a cleaning product called Mr Muscle presents a handsome superhero figure (see picture below) cleaning the kitchen with this product; This situation is opposite to the traditional scheme, in which a girl is a seductress and a man is a viewer. In this Mr Muscle advert from 2010, the female is seen struggling to unblock the kitchen drain. She even emphasizes the way she is represented as weak and helpless by saying “blocked drains are such hard work”. Mr Muscle swoops in out of nowhere. He is portrayed as a male superhero, depicted as a strong, muscular man. This image connotes coolness, strength and success. He shows her how to use the Mr Muscle cleaning product and her drains are now successfully unblocked. She is in awe of Mr Muscle and thanks him before he receives some sort of message from another female (housewife) who also needs his help.
The message is simple; she could not have done it without him and that men need to invent these products so that women can use them, and therefore be a successful housewife (stereotypical). The fact Mr Muscle saves the day reinforces the hegemonic, yet disrespectful and unrealistic idea that women need men.