This essay will be discussing how the issues of gender and sexuality are represented in advertising.

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This essay will be discussing how the issues of gender and sexuality are represented in advertising.  For many years, imagery of traditional male and female stereotypes have been used by companies in the advertisement of their products.  Many adverts for products from the early to mid-twentieth century show women in a negative light (usually to be more shallow and less intelligent than men) or being subservient to men, for example a 1953 advert for what appears to be tomato sauce shows a picture of a woman with a surprised look on her face with the caption ‘You mean a woman can open it?’ and also a 1952 advert for Chase & Sanborn coffee features the image of a woman laid over her husband’s knee being spanked with the caption:

‘If your husband ever finds you’re not “store testing” for fresher coffee … if he discovers that you’re still taking chances on getting flat, stale coffee…woe be unto you!’

Although sexism in advertising to these extremes has gone out of fashion since second wave feminism in the later part of the twentieth century, and would probably receive complaints if they were introduced today, there have still been some adverts that are offensive towards women. A 2007 advert for the fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana, that was later on banned in both Italy and Spain, showed a scantily clad woman being pinned to the ground by a man with four other men standing around and watching, considered to be a portrayal of a gang rape.   Some advertising for products aimed at women in recent years has trended more towards men looking foolish for example the Maltesers adverts often show women pulling pranks on men to make them appear foolish.  

Lynx adverts (male cosmetics brand that specializes in body sprays, hair care products and shower gels) often show an average looking man using the product and attractive women finding him irresistible.   In 2011 six Lynx adverts where banned in the United Kingdom as the Advertising Standards Authority received over 100 complaints about them being:

 “sexually suggestive, demeaning to women, and inappropriate for public display because it could be seen by children” (BBC, 2011).

The current Lynx advert for the new “2012” range shows what appears to be the start of the Apocalypse and a man building an Ark and women entering it in pairs with the slogan ‘get it on for the end of the world’,  a take on the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark.

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Impulse (a female cosmetics brand specializing in similar products to, and owned by the same company as Lynx, Unilever) have a similar advertisement campaign with the roles reversed.  Impulse adverts from the late 1990s adverts shown a woman walking through what appears to be a gay village and a homosexual man with his boyfriend being attracted to her and another heavily suggested that a male life model at an art class got visibly aroused in front of the class as a female student was wearing Impulse body spray.   The adverts followed with the caption: ‘Men can’t help acting on ...

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