Representations of women in advertising

 Blog tasks: Representations of women in advertising

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?

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?

At this time women were suffering their own identity crisis. 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'. 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. The highest good is keeping house and raising

children'. The motivation behind this mystique emerged (in part) because of a sense of social crisis, but it was exploited and reinforced (and possibly created) as a result of the 1950s' boom in the economy - particularly in the production of domestic goods, such as washing machines and convenience foods. It was presupposed that women would be purchasing such goods for the household, thus advertising 'was calculated to focus attention on their domestic role, reinforce home values and perpetuate the belief that success as a woman, wife and mother could be purchased for the price of a jar of cold cream, a bottle of cough syrup, of a packet of instant cake- mix'.

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

There was also a second major area of expansion in production/consumption - clothes and make-up - which led to women being increasingly portrayed as decorative (empty) 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?

Laura Mulvey created the 'male gaze' theory and 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 fulfilment'.

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?

Van Zoonen asserts that the New Woman 'only departs marginally from her older, more traditional  sisters.' Deconstructing an advertisement promoting the 'Jenni Barnes Working Style' range of clothing, van Zoonen points to its claim 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'

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

Similarly, 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'. In other words he is saying 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?

Richard Dyer claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: '[advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, 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?

The campaign invited readers to think about their figures, we did not consider the image of the model would shame women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in public. For that reason, we concluded the ad was not irresponsible. It was controversial because it was seemed to emphasise the 'male gaze' and be a display for men, even though the ad creators argued that it was definitely designed for women.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

Launched in 2004 by Unilever, the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign challenges narrow beauty standards by featuring diverse, real women instead of models, aiming to increase self-confidence. This was a less controversial advertisement as it was more diverse and directed at women rather than sexualising them online for men.

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

Social media has allowed audiences to become more active in their consumption of media texts, such as commenting and following links to purchase items or reviewing them and asking for sponsorship and endorsements through seeing adverts online, which have been planted on almost all social media platforms and with the use of convergence and user generated content audiences can actively interact with ads and also form their own interpretations of the meaning behind certain aspects involved using their free will.

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

In terms of the reception theory, this can be applied as people now can actively come to their own decisions of their opinions and make negotiated or even op[positional readings behind the controversial ads, in contrast to the past where the preferred reading would be the one the audiences were passively following due to methods of persuasion and just the trend of obedience. Van Zoonen's theory can be opposed with these adverts as some may argue that beauty ads bring empowerment rather than objectification for women.

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?

Yes I do think representations have changed a lot because now women have their voices and more power in society compared to traditional societal expectations which restricted their control and they can show more authority within the media and  in texts like advert, which have now in the modern world become more diverse as of social trends and also a reduction in discrimination in all aspects of people.