The media, especially in advertising, can be blamed for portraying men and women in stereotypical ‘gender roles’. These gender roles appear in advertising, which is focused on people of all ages. Advertisers influence the parents of children by showing what is acceptable and unacceptable to each specific sex. They show that boys tend to prefer violent things, outdoor activities and action figures like ‘Action Man’. Girls on the other hand tend to prefer calm quiet activities like tea parties and to play with dolls like ‘Barbie’.
This type of suggestion begins to define the role of gender in advertising.
When advertisers focus on influencing adults, they seem to play on emphasising stereotypes of what men and women should be and act like.
Gender and sex are used to sell products. Erving Goffmann’s book ‘Gender Advertisements’ gives a good example of this. It states that for products like perfume, you see a ‘bottle with the soft touch of women’s hands’. This is in contrast with products for men, which are shown in a rough way. This is a stereotypical view because not all women are soft and fragile, just as not all men are rough and rugged. My research will be trying to seek out these portrayals. I will be looking to show the gender-based advertising in the media today. When conducting my research, I will be looking to identify these examples of the use of gender.
The media portrayal of women has been a focal point in recent years. Women tend to be shown as either a sex symbol or a domestic worker, and this has come under attack. It has been argued that women are rarely shown in better occupational positions than men. For example, the man would be shown as the doctor and the women his nurses.
Courtney and Lockerets argue that until 1997, women were still shown as working persons in the house. They were not able to make important decisions and the women are dependent and need men’s protection.
According to Dominick and Rauch (1972) TV advertisements in particular have traditionally treated women in a stereotyped way. They state that 75% of all adverts using females were for products for use in the kitchen or bathroom. Twice as many women were seen with children than men and 56% of women were judged to be (only) housewives. Recently, advertisers have begun to change the way they use women in advertising. Through my research I will show the changing roles of women and their relation to men by finding examples of this and the extent to which they are used.
In research conducted by Bretl and Cantor (1988), males and females occur approximately equally as primary characters in adverts. However, males were shown more often in occupations of a higher status than females and more likely to be depicted away from home and out of doors. Manstead and McCulloch (1981) found similar things in their research. They found that males were portrayed as having expertise and authority, while women are shown as consumers and not very knowledgeable about the reasons for buying a product.
In the past, it was rare to find a woman shown as a leader on television. Nowadays, television producers make a greater effort to level out the inequality of status.
Men outnumber women by two to one on most television programmes except for in adverts. However, the physical presence of men is not the only dominance that they have. According to Huston et al (1990) men are usually used for voice-overs in adverts.
Gender portrayal has altered over the years as society’s views have changed. The main change has been in how women are portrayed in advertising and on television. Women began registering complaints about the portrayal of women in the media in 1951. Over the years, a number of studies have documented the problem, looking for areas of change. A study carried out by Carrie Cooley, Christine Duerst, Amber Oslen and Steve Ryan states that in the 1950’s women were shown as unemployed, low-income earners who had little purchasing power. It continues to say that women became sex objects, wives or mothers in the 1960’s and were portrayed as achieving fulfilment by looking beautiful for men. Although there were an increasing number of women in the labour force in the 1970’s, a woman’s place was still in the home and women were generally isolated from their own sex in adverts. Men still had the authoritative position through the 80’s, with only 24% of female characters shown in paid occupations.
Nowadays, however, women are not only gaining ground in workforce participation, but are also filling positions once held primarily by men. This has resulted in a change in the portrayal of women in advertising. There is a far greater range of roles taken by women in adverts, many of which are roles traditionally filled by men.
The most important thing to realise is that there would be no point in a complete reversal of stereotypes. The macho man shouldn’t suddenly become the passive housewife. Portrayals should be more true to life, they should be more representative of the population. Basically, adverts should portray what our lifestyle is - diverse.
Advertisers have come under criticism for their use of women shown as ‘sex symbols’ to sell products. Women are shown in provocative ways to get the attention of the viewer. An example of this can be seen in the Vauxhall advert where Claudia Schiffer is used as furniture in the commercial for a car. She is used in order to persuade the male viewers to buy the car because the advert makes them see the car as a sexy car that will attract women. She has nothing to do with the quality or advantages of this car. However, men are used in this way as well, though to a smaller extent. A great example of a man being used for his sex appeal is the Diet Coke adverts where a topless man drinks the Diet Coke while women stare, gasping in desire. This advert also shows men in a stereotypical way, as a builder (or in another manual job) to exploit the rough, rugged stereotype.
Some critics attempt to minimise concerns about the media portrayal of women. One line of reasoning is that the portrayal of gender roles is a feminist issue, of little concern to the majority of people. However, many that study gender in the media take the opposite view. They argue that every portrayal of men and women is important in that it contributes to the overall model of social reality.
Stereotyping and portrayal of gender has a particularly strong affect on girls and young women. This is because of the constant portrayal of thin ‘stick-insect’ women in magazines. This brainwashes girls/women into thinking this is how they should look and this view has brought about the increase in the problems of anorexia where girls/women starve themselves in order to lose weight.
In researching into the gender portrayal in advertising, I will be looking at different types of advertising in order to gain a full perspective of the problem of stereotyping at hand. I will be looking at the advertising on bus stops and billboards. These adverts are designed to be striking and memorable and for this reason will be different to that on television. The other types of advertising that I will be looking at are those in printed media like magazines and newspapers. For each of these types, I will be studying the tactics used by advertisers to gain attention and sell products.
Billboard Advertising
I have noticed, from the study of my photographs, that there are several different ways that gender is portrayed. There are those, which show men as dominant over women; those that can be seen to exploit sexy imagery, as well as those do not conform to traditional roles.
Firstly, with reference to adverts 1 and 8: These two adverts portray men as taking care of important decisions. Advert 1 is for insurance and advert 8 is about the payment of bills for energy (electricity, etc). Both show men as being the persons taking care of these matters, and this can be seen to portray men in a dominant role and in control of the money.
Adverts 2 and 6 look to portray women in the traditional stereotyped roles. They both portray women in activities linked to the kitchen. This portrayal is a traditional one and not necessarily accurate as a lot of men nowadays are staying home and cooking the food. However, advert 6 is supposed to be for a traditional food and so the advertisers are likely to have intentionally played on this stereotyped portrayal.
A traditional role is also portrayed in advert 4. The adverts shows a man and a boy (father and son possibly) hanging up wallpaper. This plays on the idea that all men have the skills to do fix-it jobs around the house. This is a stereotyped view as not all men can do these things.
The portrayal shown in adverts 5, 9 and 10 all use the appeal of the body as their main tactic. All of them show semi-naked people in order to sell the product and promote its image. Image 5 uses an attractive woman in a low-lit room in order to push the sexual imagery of the advert. The advertisers are using the women to attract both men and women. Men would see the advert and be influenced to buy the product because it looks good on the model and they want their wife/girlfriend to look just as good. Similarly, women would buy the product for themselves, but for the pleasure of their husband/boyfriend.
Advert 9 and 10 use people, along with the background setting, to promote the image of the product. Advert 9 shows a woman in a bikini on a beach. This is used to mirror the way of life in Ibiza as well as to show the product enjoyment. Advert 10, however, show a man leaning against a wall holding the product whilst in a beach resort somewhere (possibly in the Caribbean). The posture of the man shows him to be relaxing and this in turn implies that the product is relaxing.
All the character is adverts 5, 9, and 10 are slim and attractive. This is intentional because the public likes to see good-looking people, but this portrayal may be contrary to reality.
Advert 7 uses Cat Deeley, a television presenter on MTV to promote a service. The advert uses the phone number for signing up to Sky Digital as Cat Deeley’s private phone number. This advert design is based on the fact that Cat is a very desirable woman. Although, those who see the advert know that this number does not get them through to Cat, by phoning the number and connecting to Sky Digital, the public will be able to see Cat Deeley on MTV.
The character portrayed in Advert 3 is a middle-aged woman. She is shown as a working woman, independent and not needing the help of men. This portrayal goes against the traditional view that women belong in the home and need men to support them both financially and emotionally.
Magazine Advertising
The advertising in magazines also uses a number of tactics in using gender to sell products. As with billboards, there are those adverts, which use sex, those which use imagery of traditional roles and others using role reversal.
Adverts 1,2,3,5 and 6 all use sex to sell the products. Advert 1 shows the most blatant use of sex I have ever seen. The advert shows a pair of female legs with the text ‘Opening in July! Don’t miss it!’ Readers will instantly take this to mean that the legs will be opening in July, but in reality, the text is referring to the motorcycle shop. This advert is likely to get noticed and remembered because of its use of sex and will probably be effective in that it will have good recall.
The way in which advert 2 is designed is quite an original slant on the use of sex. It is designed in the style of the Kama Sutra. The advert is for beer and the idea of the Kama Sutra is relating the pleasure of sex to that of drinking a beer.
The use of sex in advert 3 is very different to that in advert 1. While the portrayal in advert 1 might be seen as dirty, the portrayal in advert 3 is very much more sensual. It portrays a male and female, naked, holding each other very close. They are wearing similar watches and this may encourage readers to buy both male and female versions of the watch, one for themselves and the other for their partner.
Advert 5 and 6 are the same product, but one was found in ‘FHM’ and the other in ‘B’ (a magazine for girls/women). The advert portrays an attractive, blonde female wearing only lingerie. The target audience for the advert is different in the two magazines. In FHM, the advert aims to attract men to buy the product for their wives or girlfriends.
However, in advert 6, (the advert in ‘B’) the audience changes to women. The advert is now aiming to attract women to buy the product for themselves, perhaps to please their husband/boyfriend. If they have no partner, they may buy it in order to gain attention.
The characters portrayed in these adverts (except for advert 2) take up nearly all the advert space. The emphasis is on the bodies as this is the tactic used. These characters are also of a great body form. They are slim and attractive in order to appeal to readers.
The appeal of the desire to be ‘cool’ is the selling point for advert 4. Bruce Willis (a notoriously cool actor) is shown wearing the product (sunglasses) and a leather jacket. These two items are known signifiers of being cool. As well as the clothing that is being worn, the use of a celebrity helps to sell the product. Readers will see the advert and think that if Bruce Willis is wearing these sunglasses, they must be good, ‘very’ cool and therefore desirable. The advertisers understand the impact of his celebrity status and this is shown by the inclusion of his name in the advert.
Advert 9 again uses the appeal of sex to sell the product but combines it with a more traditional portrayal. The advert portrays women as household keepers. It suggests that women enjoy doing the dishes. The advert shows a young, slim, attractive woman in her underwear. This is somewhat confusing, as this is likely to be a situation of sexual appeal. The main purpose of this is to advertise a new promotion where silver rubber gloves are being given away. The text ‘What does it take to get me into rubber?’ is again playing on the use of sex, but this time with more of a fetish slant. I feel that the promotion is degrading to women by suggesting that the give-away of silver rubber gloves is going to influence a purchase.
The portrayals in adverts 7,8 and 9 are of women is positions of power and in control of men. Advert 7 shows a woman wearing a full PVC cat suit holding a riding crop. This portrayal is used to suggest that the woman is a dominatrix (a women who controls men in a sexual way). This portrayal uses an element of humour in the way that the text states ‘she makes love like no other woman with… sandpaper’.
Advert 8 portrays a woman standing in a very confident, yet cocky position. The text in the advert says ‘I don’t chase men who can’t run away’. This statement relates to two things. Firstly, the woman is powerful and looking for a strong-minded man. Secondly, the statement is also referring to the beer. It suggests that the beer is also strong. The advert is suggesting that the beer is strong and if you don’t watch yourself, you will, get drunk and not be able to ‘run away’.
The way in which advert 10 shows women as controlling men is more subtle. The advert is all about using Persil Non-bio because it is kind on the skin. It shows a good-looking man putting on a clean white shirt and text ‘Is he the sensitive type?’ The portrayal in this advert is complicated. On the one hand it is showing women as looking after men which a modern portrayal of women. On the other hand, women are still being depicted as the ones seen to be doing the washing. This portrayal is a more traditional one.
Analysis
Traditional Roles
The portrayal of men and women in traditional roles is very prominent and also very contested in advertising. Characters, both male and female are constantly placed in roles, socially constructed to ‘match’ their gender.
Women are repeatedly placed in the kitchen to advertise products such as washing –up liquids or cleaners of some sort. They are often seen as the housewife looking after the children. This housewife role is shown in magazine advert no. 9 and 10 and in billboard advert no. 2.
Men get similar treatment from advertisers. They are shown to have financial control. Men are always the one’s shown telephoning for insurance. They are also often shown to be DIY experts. When has a woman been the main character in an advert for power tools? I cannot recall any except for the appearance of a scantily clad woman holding a power tool and smiling beguilingly.
Advertisers play on these traditional portrayals of gender because for the most part, they are fairly recognisable. The percentage of housewives to househusbands, for example, is greater and therefore for many household goods the target audience has been women.
Although the younger generation of adults shares responsibilities, in a lot of households, the man is still seen as the breadwinner, and therefore the decision-maker. With the increase of women in full time work however, this may soon change.
A different slant on the portrayal of traditional roles can be seen in magazine advert no. 9. This advert portrays an attractive young woman in underwear advertising a washing-up liquid. The purpose of the advert is to bring attention to the special offer of free rubber gloves. Although the use of sex is still a big part of the advert, the woman is still shown to be the one doing all the washing up (housework).
Sex and Skin
Sex sells. Advertisers are aware of this and this can be seen very clearly in the Sprite magazine advert. This shows the legs of a slim model holding a bottle of Sprite. The text on the advert says ‘ we were told that showing a topless model would help us sell more sprite’. This Sprite advert is mocking the tactic of using semi-naked models in adverts, yet still showing the power of sex.
Advertisers use sex in a number of ways in order to sell products. There are these adverts that portray sex in a straightforward way in order to sell products. This type of portrayal can be split into the portrayals using more sensual imagery and those showing a plain use of the human form.
Advert no. 5 from my billboard research and no. 3 from magazines show examples of the use of sensual imagery. The sensual portrayal of sex is used to show the product as appealing to the opposite sex and therefore desirable. Advertisers know that men will be influenced to buy a product solely by its image and therefore, by using sex to promote the product, advertisers can take advantage of this.
The alternate portrayal can be seen in magazine advert no. 5, which shows a big-breasted blonde woman in underwear (the product being advertised). The advertisers have used this model intentionally to attract the attention of male readers. They know that ‘big breasts equal big bucks’.
This type of portrayal is often used to target men. It is very rare to find a woman’s product being promoted by a man. However, a lot of products for men use women. An example of this is shown in Gillette’s adverts for their razors, where a woman is seen admiring how close a shave that the razor gives (advert no. 8).
The final use of sex in advertising is different to the other two. This portrayal does not tend to use the human form as much as the other portrayals. Instead, sexual innuendoes are used to create the meaning of sex. As I said before, sex sells. This does not necessarily mean actual sexual imagery but also sex as a phenomenon. Sexual innuendo is used as frequently in advertising as any other type of portrayal. Advertisers use it in many ways in order to sell a product. From my research I can highlight two prime examples of its use. They are in the magazine advert no. 1 and 2. Advert no. 1 is very blatant whilst advert no. 2 uses sexual innuendo in a more subtle way which is not very obvious at first glance.
8 out of the 9 adverts that I looked at have emphasised the characters in them. The characters in these adverts take up from half to nearly all of the space of the advert. The proportion of the image taken up by the character(s) is high and this is most likely to make them stand out. The advertisers want these individuals to be the focus point of the advert.
Role Reversal
Advertisers are beginning to pick up on the changes of gender roles in society. The ‘traditional’ roles of men and women are disappearing. Women are becoming more powerful. They are getting the well-paid jobs, earning a lot of money, and attaining positions of power. Due to this, the numbers of men staying at home while the women are going out to work is increasing. The traditional roles are being reversed.
Advertisers are using role reversal more and more in adverts to highlight these changes. These reversals are, however, often portrayed in a sarcastic or less serious than in other adverts. In many cases, other advertising tactics are used together with the role reversal in order to give the advert more ‘pulling power’. Examples of this can be seen in magazine advert no. 7 and 8 of my research. Both adverts portray the woman as powerful and in control suggesting role reversal.
Advert 7 portrays a woman in a PVC cat suit holding a riding crop. This implies sexual dominance. The portrayal along with the words ‘submit willingly’ suggests that towards the ice cream is so good that it is impossible to resist.
There are, however, role reversal situations, which are not ambiguous and not muddled by opposing portrayals, i.e. use of sex. This can be seen in billboard advert no. 3 advertising a travel service. In this advert, the only purpose is to promote the service. Gender seems to be irrelevant to it and it just happens to be a woman shown in the advert. The advert portrays a woman in different environments. She is shown as confident, in control and independent. This portrayal is a very modern one. In the past an advert of this sort would never use a woman in it.
Effect of Body-shape
The body-shape of characters is very important in adverts. Advertisers use body-shape to correlate their product with, either the market they wish to sell to, or the fantasies of this market.
When wanting to match the body-shape with their product’s market, advertisers would usually opt for more average looking models. This would help to let the readers/viewers feel comfortable because they were like the person in the advert (normal). This type of portrayal is usually reserved for more serious adverts like those for insurance, or products for the home.
The second type of body-shape advertisers use is that of slim (and in the case of men, muscular) and attractive. This body-shape is used in order to try to show the product as desirable. The attractive models are used to give the product a good image and attract readers’/viewers’ attention. In one woman’s magazine, 41 out of the 42 adverts which featured a woman as a central figure (whose body is visible) used models of this type. The one other advert featured a more average, possibly slightly overweight woman. However, this advert was for some sort of fitness product.
There may be a problem, however, with this type of portrayal. The constant portrayal of people as slim and attractive can be dangerous, especially for girls and young women. It may lead them to believe this image of people is the way one has to look. Girls who are slightly overweight may begin to feel unhappy with themselves and this can lead to eating disorders and illness.
The final use of body-shape is where advertisers are looking to attract men to buy their product. The models that the advertisers tend to use when trying to achieve are slim, attractive women who, most importantly, have large breasts (and very little clothing). Advertisers use these models all the time in adverts that don’t relate to them being included because, as I explained earlier, they know the power of sex. The problem with this, however, is that many feel that women are being exploited when shown in this way. It has been argued that this type of portrayal is degrading and offensive. I feel that, if there are women willing to do it, let them, it works: products are sold because of it.
The effect of stereotyped gender roles in advertising on the public
I conducted a series of interviews in order to obtain key information from the public about the different aspects of gender portrayal.
The Questions
Each question in the questionnaire was included for a particular reason but ultimately to achieve my aim of investigating the effect of stereotyped roles in advertising on the public.
Question 1. – What gender roles are men usually portrayed in?
Question 2. – What gender roles are woman usually portrayed in?
These two questions are essential to my study. They allow for me to analyse the interviewee’s awareness of gender portrayal in advertising.
Question 3. – Is society really like this?
This question follows on from the answers to questions 1 and 2. It looks to find out to what extent the interviewee believes the portrayals of gender in advertising are true to life.
Question 4. – Do you feel that adverts exploit gender in the form of ‘sexy images’ to sell products?
As I explained earlier, the use of sex in advertising is very prominent. Question 4 has been included so that I can obtain the views of the public on this aspect of portrayal and whether its use in advertising is, in their opinion, inappropriate.
Question 5. – How do you feel about the portrayal of women in this way?
This question investigates the view that women may be seen to exploited in advertising. The purpose of the question is to obtain other views on this topic.
Question 6. – How do you feel images in magazines showing women as the ‘beautiful stick insect’ type has influence on girls/young women?
There is the theory that the constant portrayal of women in magazine as extremely thin has a negative effect on the minds of girls and young women. Many believe this kind of portrayal leads to, in the worst cases, eating disorders. I have included this question to analyse this view.
The Interviews
I interviewed a mixture of male and female members of my school’s Sixth Form individually. The way I would carry out an interview was to obtain their co-operation and then find an area that was fairly secluded. This was done to try to get the interviewee’s concentration. The other reason for doing this was so that they did not feel self conscious about people listening in.
I made the interviewee aware of the purpose of the interview and then proceeded to ask them the questions. I tried to make the interview as formal as I could so as to make the interviewee aware of the importance of truthful responses.
When carrying out the interview I would start off by asking the question written on the questionnaire. I would then ask for more detail in their answer by questioning them about different aspects of the topic I was asking about.
The Findings
Question 1.
The answers I received for question 1 included a lot of different portrayals. Below is a table of the answers:
These answers are the ones that I would expect to hear: the typical portrayals of men as the hardworking businessman or the muscular and rugged manual worker. Several interviewees said that men are shown as, either rugged and handsome or rich and handsome. While others argued that men are either portrayed as topless with muscles or as overweight.
Question 2.
Again, here is a list of the answers I received to question 2.
Some interviewees picked up on the recent changes in portrayal by stating that women are also portrayed as the modern woman (juggling children and work). Most, however, stuck to the traditional, better known ones such as the housewife. One interviewee stated that women tend to be shown, in advertising, as either young and attractive or old and motherly.
Question 3.
The answers to this question were all essentially the same. All interviewees acknowledged that gender portrayal in advertising is a distortion of reality. The interviewees state that there are all types of people in society but advertisers want to show attractive people in attractive jobs. It was also argued that the portrayals of women as housewife and mothers are correct because women are usually the ones to stay at home with the children. However, women have a choice and would be just as successful in occupations.
Question 4.
All responses to the question, ‘Do… adverts exploit gender?’ were Yes. The reasons for the answers were generally the same. The interviewees said that the use of sex to sell product made the people seeing the adverts think they would be as beautiful or ‘lucky in love’ if they were to buy the product. An example was given in the Levi adverts. It was argued that the public might see the advert and because of it only buy Levi brand jeans.
Question 5.
Depending on the person interviewed, the answer to this question was different. Several male interviewees responded that they like the portrayal in the advert. Many answered that the portrayal was degrading or exploiting women. However, others argued that it was not degrading because it was just an advert and people can take it how they wish.
Question 6.
The response that I wanted to get back from my interviews was that the ‘beautiful stick-insect’ portrayal could have a negative influence on girls and young women. This response is exactly what I got. Nearly all of the people I interviewed picked up on the possible self-image issues that could be interpreted from this type of portrayal.
Conclusion
In order to draw a conclusion from my study, I need to refer back to my original aims and objectives.
My overall aim was to ‘Investigate the extent of the stereotyping of gender in advertising’. Within this aim were two sub-objectives to ‘Investigate how gender advertising works to portray gender’ and to ‘Investigate the effect of stereotyped roles on the public’.
Content Analysis
The portrayals used in billboard and magazine advertising are very similar. Therefore, a large part of my conclusion will apply to both types of advertising. There will be, however, certain aspects that are unique to the specific type of advert. I will look at these separately.
The effectiveness of the use of sex
The use of sex is one of the most powerful tools in advertising and in media. The use of sex is apparent everywhere (from newspapers like ‘The Sun’ to Television) to promote a new product. This use of gender is very effective and because of this, it is hard not to find an advert using sex to attract attention or influence feelings about the products. Even adverts that do not, at first glance, seem to be using sex may be using it by way of sexual innuendoes and references.
This use of sex has been a main contributor to the world of gender portrayal. When sex is used, it is usually combined with the traditional gender roles, for example, the Diet Coke adverts portraying the man as a rough, yet attractive manual worker,
The use of sex can cause the public to be misled into purchasing products that they either, don’t really want or don’t really need. Clothing is a perfect example of this. Advertisers for clothing use sex to promote the image of the product showing them off as a magnet to draw a partner to you. Many people purchase these, more expensive, clothes because of this image.
The categories looking at ‘body-shape’, ‘part of body shown’ and ‘proportion of image taken up by person’ are all different aspects of the use of sex. These categories all increase the effectiveness of the advert when used correctly.
By focusing on, say, the breasts or legs of a woman, men are just about guaranteed to take an interest (just as women would with a man in the advert).
Body-shape in advertising has become a talking point in recent times because of its ‘effect’ on the minds of young people. A slim woman or muscular man in an advert is likely to grab the attention of more people than average-looking characters.
The effectiveness of Role Reversal
Although the use of role reversal (going against the traditional gender roles) helps to give women more power and credibility, it can also be seen as being used to simply gain attention. People looking at the advert will notice the way the woman or man is portrayed and are more likely to remember it because it is unusual and not what they are used to seeing. These portrayals are intentional and not just a whimsical choice made by the advertising agency/department. If not to gain attention, the use of role reversal is likely to be used in response to complaints about the portrayal of characters in traditional roles and not the more modern ones, for example, the businesswoman or househusband.
Billboard Advertising
My initial theory for billboard advertising was that they would be designed to be more eye-catching or more complicated than those in magazines are. This theory was partly wrong. I feel that the adverts on billboards have a lot more substance and detail than magazine adverts (well, those that I looked at anyway) but are generally not very eye-catching in comparison to the adverts I analysed from magazines.
I found that the billboard adverts were, generally straightforward and simple, apart from the occasional post-modern type advert, e.g. those of Benetton. Several of the Benetton billboard adverts that have been publicised are very obscure. They are not obviously adverts for clothing, for example, an image of a newborn baby covered in blood.
My expectation that billboards would be more eye-catching was wrong. The adverts in magazines were far more eye-catching than those on billboards. I now feel that billboard adverts do not really need to be wild and wonderful in appearance because of their size and location placement, which will get them noticed very easily. Magazine adverts, on the other hand, need to be extremely eye-catching and ‘worthy of viewing’ because readers can easily miss them when flipping through the pages of a magazine. If not interestingly weird or bright, many readers will not take much notice of it or even miss it altogether.
Magazine Advertising
The main point I would like to bring to light is the fact that different adverts are found in different magazines. Advertisers know the target market of the product and therefore must look to match with the target audience. It would be a stupid idea to include an advert for a car in a child’s magazine because it does not relate to them.
Just as the product must be matched, so must the portrayals. Advertisers, again, know which tactics gain the attention of to which audience. For example, an advert showing a man sitting on a couch being served by a woman can be seen as sexist. This portrayal would be completely out of place in a ‘women only’ magazine like Woman’s Own.
I looked through FHM in search of adverts and the ones that I found were definitely positioned in the magazine intentionally. The majority used sex tactics and were for products that men would usually purchase, either for themselves, or their partners. This reinforces the argument I have made above.
Interviews
Before going out and conducting the interviews, I had my own views on gender advertising. My feeling was that men and women are typically portrayed in their traditional roles. There are certain portrayals that are easily seen as a ‘man’s job’ and those which can be seen as ‘a woman’s place’. When conducting the interview I was looking to investigate this view and whether this view was replicated in the views of other people.
I can now conclude, after analysing the responses I received that the use of gender in advertising has a great effect on the public. I was looking to see how advertising affects the views of people. My research has shown that people are aware of the gender roles used in advertising and their significance. They are aware of the reasons for their use and yet are still affected by them. I can make this statement based on the fact that advertisers continue to gender roles. If this style of advertising did not work, advertisers would look for another way. This is not the case, however, because products, which use a large and expensive advertising like the Calvin Klein fragrances, sell very well. This cannot be down to just the smell. A lot of these sales are down to the cool image of these products. Many interviewees picked up on this in their answers to question 4 – ‘Do… adverts exploit gender?’ and argued that people are won over by way products look on the model. They think that they would look as good as the models do with it.
Evaluation
Aims and Objectives
The overall aim for my study was to investigate the extent of the stereotyping of gender in advertising. Within this objective it was my intention to gain insight into the views of the public, and to investigate the use of gender in advertising.
With hindsight, I can see that these objectives were not very precise, as they could be interpreted in a number of ways. These objectives might have been more clearly defined. They could have also been broken down into various sub objectives.
Methodology
I decided to use content analysis and interviews as my research methodology. Within the content analysis, I chose to look at the advertising on public billboards and in magazines.
While I am happy to have looked at these two types of advertising, I have two regrets. The first regret is that I did not look at television advertising and the second is the lack of time. If more time had been available to me, I would have been able to find and analyse a lot more adverts and billboards. I went to Chester expecting to have no trouble in finding suitable advertising. From there, I went to Sheffield, as I was going to attend a University Open Day. It was a struggle to find advertising that fulfilled my expectations. Maybe I had been looking in the wrong places or maybe it was just bad luck.
Going back to my regret about not investigating television advertising, this was again due to the amount of time available to me. Television advertising would have been both interesting and useful to investigate because of the aspects of advertising not available in the printed media, for example voice-overs. In carrying out the interviews, I questioned about 10 people. Those questioned were all 17/18 years old, both male and female and members of my school sixth form.
This is a failing in the representativeness of my interview research. In order to gain a more valid understanding of the views of the public, I should have looked at several other groups. One factor that I could have looked at, was that of age. By investigating the views of older people, they might have given me insight into tactics used in advertising in the past. This would have been very helpful in analysing the “effect of stereotyped roles”. In order to change all these things, I need to look again at the sampling procedure used in the interviews. By using a more developed and structured procedure, I would have been able to foresee any problems that could occur.
I believe that the level of reliability in my interview research is high. The responses I received were very much like my own and those discussed in newspapers and on television tended to agree. I feel that a repeat of my study would yield, essentially, similar results but the timing of the research may adjust/distort findings. Advertisers use different tactics at different times of the year, i.e. the use of children at Easter or couples near to St. Valentine’s Day.
Presentation of Results
The presentation of my results would have been made better through the use of pie graphs and charts. These summary diagrams were not included because of the amount of information I had to get across. I felt that it would be too complicated for the reader if these diagrams had been included. Therefore, I have included the full content analysis tables with analysis and the actual adverts in the appendix of the study.
Bibliography
Appendix
