How are woman presented in advertisements today?

GCSE Media Studies

Gabija Gudaityte

10U-South

English Coursework-Media

3rd November 2004

How are woman presented in advertisements today?

In this piece of coursework I will be looking at different adverts. Advertising products is very successful and powerful business. Everyday an average person watches and hears one thousand five hundred adverts. A thirty second weekday advert between seven, twenty six pm and eleven pm costs eighth hundred and seventy pounds per viewing. If the advert is shown five times between seven, twenty six and eleven pm every weekday it will cost twenty one thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds.

Advertisements can be used in two different ways; in magazines, newspapers and on TV. The adverts that are shown in magazines and newspapers are known as still adverts. The adverts that are shown on TV are known as moving image adverts.

Adverts have a main role to influence the audiences in their everyday life; from main needs (food, clothes, shelter) to luxury wants (mobile phones, cosmetics, jewellery). The adverts try to make their products seem important by linking it with real life situations.

In the early days adverts tend to be stereotype (women as housewife, men as career man). Advertises still use stereotype but in a more knowing ironic way (women as entrepreneur, men as ‘housewife’).

I will be looking at how women are presented in advertisements today and in what way their roles have changed throughout the twentieth century. I will be analysing four types of adverts; women as housewife/mother (male gaze), women regaining femininity, women portrayed as a weaker sex and women equal to men.

Before World War Two women were advertised as housewife /mother through the male gaze. Males stereotyped women as housewives and mothers who will always be there for them and their children at home. Women back then were happy enough to receive a washing machine for Christmas. This is portrayed by the Hoovers spinner rinse adverts which I will be analysing.

At the beginning of the advert the print goes across the screen. The print says; STRICTLY FOR HUSBANDS. After the print it shows a man coming back home after work. Then camera focused on women’s hands. This shows that she is doing house work. Camera zooms in to show her wedding ring. Back then single parents did not existed in the adverts so this shows that she is married and has a family. It shows women’s negative facial expression. Looking at this facial expression I can tell that she is tired and not happy. Then mans voice comes up in the background. He says; “Is this, the women in your life? Still putting up with old fashion methods like this… ” camera focused on the women. She is lifting up heavy bowls of water. Then camera zoomed in to show the audience that the woman is exhausted. Mans voice appeared in the background again and he continued saying;

“…or is this the woman in your life who proudly owns spinner rinse.” This time camera shots the image from the long shot. It shows women pushing up spinner rinse. She is wearing high heel shoes and short skirt. Camera zoomed in again to show the audience her positive facial expression. This time the woman is not exhausted but she is happy owning spinner rinse. Now the print goes across the screen. The print says GIVE HAPINESS-GIVE HOOVER. At the end of this advert camera shots the image from long shot. This image shows the audience a happy family standing ...

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“…or is this the woman in your life who proudly owns spinner rinse.” This time camera shots the image from the long shot. It shows women pushing up spinner rinse. She is wearing high heel shoes and short skirt. Camera zoomed in again to show the audience her positive facial expression. This time the woman is not exhausted but she is happy owning spinner rinse. Now the print goes across the screen. The print says GIVE HAPINESS-GIVE HOOVER. At the end of this advert camera shots the image from long shot. This image shows the audience a happy family standing in front of the Christmas tree owning spinner rinse.

The advert is shown in black and white images. The setting of this particular type of advert is indoors. I think that the setting of this advert is important because it gives extra little details. I heard classical music playing in the background of this advert. In this advert there is only one main character. The main character is the women presented as housewife/mother. This advert associate with working class people because it shows that the woman does all the house works and the man comes back from the work. This advert meant to appeal to man who would like to have his wife happy owning spinner rinse.

Later in World War Two women were de-feminized. Women were recruited to help war effort. They were advertising companies that sends troops to the war. They were dressed up as men’s and they did hard jobs to help the war effort. Men felt threatened because women were able to do their jobs. Most of the men’s were not happy as women were equal to men.

Women didn’t felt as feminine as they did before the World War Two. Women did not wear make up when they were doing hard work. Therefore they felt as if they were being de-feminized.

In 1950’s women were regaining femininity. They were advertising cosmetics which portrayed by the pink CAMAY soap advert which I will be analysing.

At the beginning of this advert camera takes the shot from long shot. It shows women in the bubble bath. The camera is focusing on the women. I can see that the woman in the bubble bath is wearing a red lipstick. This means that she wants to highlight her sexuality. Then it shows women washing with pink CAMAY soap. It shows when she smells the soup and holds it in front of the camera. The camera zooms in extremely close-up to show the audience pink CAMAY soap. This time camera zooms out as the women puts the pink CAMAY soap in the soap dish. She puts the CAMAY soap in elegant way. Now I could hear mans voice saying;

“Coressing luxury of pink CAMAY there’s never been anything so lingeringly lovely in the beauty soup”. The advert ends showing a pink CAMAY soup.

The advert is shown in the coloured images. The setting of this particular advert is in doors, bathroom. In the background I could see the crystal vases. This shows elegance and luxury. In this advert there is only one main character. The main character is a brunette woman. This advert associates with upper class people because it shows elegance and luxury. This advert meant to appeal to elegant women’s who would like to wash themselves with pink CAMAY soap.

By the late 70’s to early 80’s men and women were used to advertise together. Women were portrayed as weaker sex. Women back then were not happy to be weaker sex than men. This is portrayed by the prudential company’s advert which I will be analysing.

At the beginning of this advert camera creates the image from the long distance shot. The advert uses really bright colours suitable to the late 70’s fashion. The man is wearing really bright coloured clothes (suitable to the fashion) however the lady wears old fashion clothes. The man starts of the dialogue.

Man says: We want to be able to live a little. (Looks at her husband in negative facial expression)

Women voice over: I want to be able to live a lot.

Man says: We want to be able to go out once in a while. (Women’s face drops)

Women voice over: I want to be out every night.

Man says: We want to enjoy the garden. (Looks away from her husband)

Women voice over: I want to be able to stuff the garden, hire the yacht and

disappear around the world.

Man says: We want to be together. (Looks at him and smiles then turns to the camera in the angry way)

Prudential says: More and more women are taken control of their future with a

flexible pension with Prudential.

The camera zooms in on women’s facial expressions.

At the end of the advert it shows a print saying all the company’s details

(Telephone number, name of the company etc)

The man is speaking in Birmingham accent and the woman is speaking in Liverpool accent.

Man speaks for both himself and his wife, whereas the woman only gets to voice her stream of consciousness. This shows the male dominance and portrays women as the weaker sex.

However, towards the starts of the 80’s, women start to voice their own thoughts and feelings.

The advert is shown in really bright colours. The setting of this advert is set in doors. In this particular advert there are two main characters. The main characters are man and women. This advert associates with all class people because it advertises insurance. This advert meant to appeal to all man because it gives the warning that more and more women are taking control of their futures.

From 1980’s till the present date women started to be presented as men’s equal. Women were advertising products with men, but this time as equal (women equal to men). This is portrayed by the NIKE advert which I will be analysing.

At the beginning of this advert camera creates the image from the long distance shot. This shows the women getting ready to run in the park. Then it shows man running past her and he ran accidentally into the puddle and splashed the women. He put his hand up saying sorry. The woman looks at the man and starts to run. The camera focuses on the women’s facial expression. Looking at this facial expression I could tell that she wants to get him back. She is running faster than men and splashes him. She puts her hand up to say sorry. This time the camera focuses on men’s facial expression. Looking at this facial expression I could tell that he is angry and that he doesn’t want to give up. This time the camera shows the audience the man drinking water. The women stop’s so the man offered her a drink. He splashes the women with the drink and runs off. The camera zooms in extremely close-up to show the NIKE trainers. She runs after him and pushes him away. He ran after the women and pushes her in the puddle. The woman runs and jumps in the puddle to splash the man. At the end of the advert camera shows the audience a big puddle in the street from the long distance shot. The man and women looks at each other and starts to run towards the puddle. Then the camera focuses on the coming coach towards the puddle. The camera shows the coach going over the puddle and splashing the man and women.

The advert is shown in coloured images. The setting of this advert is shown out door, in the streets. The setting of this advert is important because it gives a lot of details to this particular type of advert. I could hear music playing in the background. In this advert there are two main characters. The main characters are man and women. This advert associates with all class people because it advertises trainers. This advert meant to appeal to the person who likes sport.

Today most of the females that are presented in the adverts have sexual figure. They use their sexual figures to attract audience. Females also wear red lipstick to highlight their sexuality. They make real life situations that the audience can’t resist. Females are still presented as housewives but in more elegant way. They not only represent adverts as housewives but also as mothers with babies, career women’s, athletes and many more.

Before the World War Two women in adverts were represented as housewives.

Throughout the male gaze men’s thought that all the women can do is to stay at home and be housewives. Men wanted their wives to be mothers for their children who always stay at home and do the entire house works while they are at job making money.

Later in the World War Two women were de-feminized. They were to be recruited to help the war effort. Women’s were dressed up as men’s and they did hard men’s jobs. Therefore women felt as if they were de-feminized.

In the1950’s women were regaining femininity. They were advertising fashion, underwear and cosmetics. Women were selling products using sexuality.

By the late1970’s to early1980’s women were now used to advertise products with men’s. Women were portrayed as a weaker sex.

In the 1980’s women were used to sell negative products. Later on they began to be presented as man’s equal. By the end of the 1980’s there was introduction of ‘female gaze’.

My thoughts and feelings about women in advertising are quite strong. I disagree with male gaze because I wouldn’t like myself to be at home and do all the house works while my husband is at work. I think that women don’t have to ask their husband for money to go out and buy food or clothes. I also disagree with female gaze because that wouldn’t be fair on men’s. Men’s don’t have to do everything women say to them. They don’t have to stay at home and do all the house works or look after their children. So I think it is right for women to be presented as men’s equal. I think man and women need to be treated equally because this way there is no male gaze or female gaze.

I predict that in the future women will be advertised in more passionate way. I think in future women will be advertising everything from main needs to luxury wants using their sexual figures. I also believe that women will take the control over the advertising business by selling their bodies to the companies that advertises products.