Women in advertising

 

Blog tasks: Representations of women in advertising

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representations of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.

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 Gauntlet's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

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

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. As an ancillary to this,

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?

.

Prior to the war, feminists had been articulating the idea of women having their own plans and careers; but soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate (Millum, 1975:73). Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity.

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

 clothes and make-up led to women being increasingly portrayed as decorative objects 

A poignant example of where this occurs is in perfume advertisements;

according to Diane Barthel, one of the most common images here is that of the 'fair maiden'.

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

Laura Mulvey's (1975) theory of the 'male gaze' is important here;

she contends that scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other

human beings) has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of

looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'.

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

From the mid-1970s there was a proliferation of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New

Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position

and of the influence of the women's movement' (van Zoonen, 1994:72). The New Woman was

supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and

recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfillment'

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?

1978:8). According to Liesbet van Zoonen, however, the ability of these images to undermine traditional female stereotypes is superficial. At the level of content analysis, the roles that women take on in these advertisements

appear to be progressive (the employee, the active woman); however, with a more semiological

approach, van Zoonen asserts that the New Woman 'only departs marginally from her older, more

traditional sisters.'

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'

(Barthel, 1988:124-125; Davis, 1992:50). 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?

women can use Christian Dior make-up to make themselves sexually

attractive - and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment.

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?

A picture of a slim woman in a bikini, the text said are you beach body ready and it was  promoting weight loss supplements. It was controversial as it may suggest that if you dont look like the model, you arent ready to show your body and need to lose weight.


2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

Pictures of a variety of different women of different sizes promoting body positivity


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

social media allows the public to challenge and call out controversial adverts to make a positive change

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

The advert was arguably aimed first and foremost at the male gaze

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?

the context of why they are being advertised has changed however they are still somewhat presented for the male gaze.