*Advertising: The representations of 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 Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

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

Mistry says that since the 1990's advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual orientation of the subjects are purposefully ambiguous.There are also a growing number of distinctly homosexual images.

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

Women belonged in the domestic sphere where the 'highest good is keeping house and raising children'. There were traditional ideas of femininity and women were discouraged and made to feel guilty about pursuing a career.

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

It made women more prone to sexualisation and led women to be increasingly portrayed as decorative objects.Janice Winship asserts that women are depersonalised and objectified because they are encouraged to 'use commodities to serve men; they use them on themselves to aid femininity; commodities replace them in their relation to men'.

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

Mulvey came up with the idea of "male gaze" and it refers to the way in which media and culture depict the world and women from a masculine perspective. This perspective objectifies women and presents them as passive objects of male desire. It also often perpetuates gender inequality and contributes to the oppression of women. 

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

social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure. 

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

Van Zoonen states 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'.

So in advertisements during the 1970's women were presented to be independent, confident and assertive in their careers but the "new representations" were marginally different from the sexist representations as the women are still being used to appease men. Perpetuating that women only dress up for male attention and validation. Therefore not much has changed.

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'

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

It is a misrepresentation of women's liberation as agencies are trying to accommodate new feminist

attitudes in their campaigns and often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very

unliberated coy sexiness' (1982:186). 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?

It pushing the narrative that a body acceptable for the beach has to be toned with abs.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

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

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

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?