Gender Roles in advertising - Research Paper Example

Task: Gender Roles in Advertising In the 21st century, media has continued to transform issues of importance that include morality, politics, gender and even culture. It also enjoys the freedom and responsibility to influence people’s ideas and thoughts when making decisions based sexuality and gender among other relevant issues. This is evident in the current advertising roles that represent men and women as celebrities to attract more viewers and therefore, generate sales and profits. The ads also promote a new sense of comprehending gender roles in a society that is increasingly becoming addicted to hype and fame and thus discarding the conventional culture of respectability that valued women. In other words, the cultural breakdown is a symbolism of media that currently lacks restraint in its promotion of important goals and objectives that are helpful to humanity (Adorno & Horkheimer 57). It, therefore, proves hard to find the close relationship between the essence of feminism to encourage the girl-child and making targets for increased profits. Despite the negative events that presently dominate the media in distorting and redefining gender norms to favor corporate firms, a new wave of internet activism tries to debunk these notions to bring ethics and responsibility in information dissemination. Advertising and gender roles have a close relationship in promoting the sale of goods and services while using a vibrant media. This has been attained through the consistent reinforcement of gender norms. It begins by examining the role of gender norms in business especially with the proliferation of various media such as TV, internet and radio among others. It, therefore, allows the culture industry to thrive based on significant enlightenment because it explores morals and values found within a capitalist economy (Carroll 145). However, while Adorno and Horkheimer condemn the culture industry that has denied society the visibility of gender roles in terms of denying men and women freedom and responsibility, other pertinent factors still emerge. For example, media sources through advertising depict women as beautiful to affirm the notion that sexiness sells particularly when used in billboards, television and the internet. Additionally, the representation of bodies of both men and women evokes sexuality as an interesting game vital in generating more viewers that often translates to increased sales. The trend is escalated by a cyber democracy that blossoms on exaggerated freedoms that include politics attached to personal liberation and warped online ideologies. According to Stuart, the media sources reveal ambiguous meanings and messages that communicate a larger picture when describing the gender norms in the 21st century (Hall 54). America leads in this endeavor by reconstructing scandals and politics around advertisements with the use of political figures such as Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton. Other prominent personalities who have featured in this race of reconstructing gender norms entail Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The idea of gender norms is also evident in advertising through the assessment of complex structures that are echoed in different media forums. This is supported by a media system that focuses on the maximization of production through the increase of ads that are sexually stimulating and with mixed innuendos. Such orientation was notable when Kennedy’s handsomeness was given much spotlight in his presidential debate with Nixon in the 60s. The media hype was also observed in Sarah Palin’s offer for a porn movie at $1 million and as an advertising strategy of promoting the Republican’s political fortunes and thus furthering the issue of gender norms. It means the media contributes largely to the representation of heterosexuality as a channel of garnering viewership and sales while also grabbing political attention to sway undecided voters. Sexualization in gender norms also remains the dominant theme in TV advertisements and is therefore, increasing double standards in men and women in the cultural industry (Ross 103). In the sociological theory, according to some scientists, the gender norms ignite cultural chaos while instilling a technological rationale that lacks an essential foundation. In regards to social tendency, adverts will propel other sectors that are directly linked to cultural monopolies with larger interests found in media industry. This often has an adverse impact on culture because there is swapping of gender roles to favor men or women who reject established conventional norms and morals. These norms continue to become integral and naturalized in our immediate society because of several reasons worth noting. For instance, the proliferation of information and communication technology implies that people can connect both social practices and the inherent identity. Contemporary cultural politics with the dynamics of internet activism equally give politicians a platform to commercialize their sexualities as was observed with Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential race. Progressive socio-political changes also influence the critical approach of using adverts to communicate a particular message rather than the one intended (Sheenan 160). This spreads to meanings and messages that find a new context because the presentation is packaged in hype and glitter to generate more sales and viewership. Alternatively, the essence of capitalism plays a role in motivating business people to use advertisements as a means of satisfying emotions and feelings while also manipulating assumptions created by viewers. On that perspective, gender norms are defined largely by people who possess the money and capital while using beautiful fashion models that shape their expected profits for short and long-term purposes. However, cultural deception remains the most manipulative method used by various media formats to dupe the viewers and listeners into rethinking the gender norms accepted by a conventional society (Otnes et al 198). This is because a cultural revolution that was witnessed in the 1970s saw the breakdown of morals and values and is now completely out of sync with established freedoms and responsibilities. Businesses and other sectors are hence compelled to rewrite new civil values that worship and glorify sex and integrate them into films as seen in the 21st Hollywood blockbusters. Internet activism is another landmark factor in the affirmation of gender roles that media continues to perpetuates through contradictions. The activism is mainly reconstructed by hackers to build communities that circulate men and women’s pictures for corporate benefits and personal improvements in technology. This is apparent in the cultural behaviors that encourage the dissemination of messages and is often formalized within a system of economic mechanism to make profits instead of influencing a public’s attitude positively. It is also apparent in the opinions of viewers and listeners who post their comments supporting the new definitions of gender roles while failing to question advertisements with misogynistic undertones. In other words, the increasing consumer needs means little resistance is witnessed in a cycle of business where a facade of technological rationale exists (Okazaki et al 133). Men are also presented as strong and powerful while women are notoriously depicted as beautiful and only good for sex to promote different products. A technological rationale, therefore, possess dominance in the minds of vulnerable listeners and viewers who cannot question the increasing distortion of information and messages that favor a few corporate entities as observed in most TV and internet advertisements. On that account, the perpetuation of gender norms becomes a representation of images and pictures that lack any moral foundation in the culture industry where politicians use advertisements to campaign for their respective parties. It is thus transcends beyond race, ethnicity and creed when customers view their idols in the perspective of celebrities such as Sarah Palin and Barack Obama and not as embodiment of virtues and values. The established dominant gender norms often regulate sexual expressions in individuals because they influence the interpretations of sexuality while also affirming a new form of communication. Viewers, therefore, change their cultural perceptions when making socio-economic and political decisions and this could cloud the mindset. In other words, dominant gender norms in the media alters the complex structures that affect relationships between members of varying generations, race and even ethnicity (Manca et al 167). In turn, this assists in the reconstruction process of communication that is evident in politics, culture and religion. Alternatively, individuals are predisposed to new perspectives that define new morals and values because they think nudity is noble when politicians appear in television and internet ads for increased sales. Sexual expression is also impacted by fashion advertisement that supports the women’s dress code while reminding viewers of a sense of gender conformity. This suggests that ads have both a sociological and psychological influence particularly when they degrade women in their roles as objects of satisfying men’s desire. It means individuals bombarded by redefined and dominant gender norms in television ads will change their consumer goals and objectives because they feel that sexuality sells better than substance when conducting business in the modern world. Established dominant gender norms are also fundamental when individuals form their sexual relationships. For example, individuals exposed to a lot of nudity on various media platforms such as televisions and internet sites tend to have higher standards when selecting women for marriage. Such persons usually desire their lovers to possess the attributes and characteristics of the beautiful models depicted on the screens because they represent success and power. They also embody a sense of happiness and contentment that is often delusional in the real world. Contrastingly, the regulation of individual’s sexuality is matches with the continued dominance of gender norms that show men as the beasts who provide for the family and should not seek assistance from their wives (Kahn & Kellner 704). New connotations are also formed and are therefore, encoded in the minds of persons exposed to too much explicit images of nude models in televisions and internet sites. As a result, the individuals develop visual signs with contextual reference in defining new meanings and cultural affiliations in gender norms. Additionally, power and ideological dimensions are equally created in the sexual revolution that gives some women power to control men through sexual overtures while making gains through increased viewership that translates to profits. It is thus vital for the responsible stakeholders such as the government, activists and NGOs to continue challenging the media in its distortions of gender roles because this causes a cultural decay. Consequently, immorality also increases because young men and women view the sexual representation in the televisions and internet sites as acts of heroism and not as avenues of making profits (Hall 80). They fail to make the right decisions in politics and culture because in the modern advertising, hype often surpasses ideas and concepts as was noted in Kennedy’s handsomeness promoted in the 1960s to woo voters. On the other hand, the Congress should take punitive measures against media outlets that flout established ethics and laws that safeguard viewers from misogyny, pornography and violence because this is criminal. The act also amounts to defiance against the liberties in the American constitution. Works Cited Adorno, Theodor & Horkheimer, Max. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as mass deception. Dialectic of Enlightenment. 1993. Print. Carroll, Janell. Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity, 4th ed.: Embracing Diversity. Mason, OH: Cenegage Learning. 2011. Print. Hall, Stuart. Encoding/Decoding. Culture, Media, Language. In Hall Stuart et al (Eds.), Culture, Media, Language (pp.50-61). New York, NY: SAGE. 1980. Print. Hall, Stuart. The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media. In Alvarado, M et al (Eds) The Media Reader. New York, NY: Routledge. 1990. Print. Kahn, Richard & Kellner, Douglas. Oppositional Politics and the Internet: A Critical/Reconstructive Approach. Cultural Politics. 2005. Print. Manca, Luigi et al. Utopian Images and Narratives in Advertising: Dreams for Sale. New York, NY: Lexington Books. 2012. Print. Okazaki, Shintaro et al. Advances in Advertising Research (Vol. 1): Cutting Edge International Research. New York, NY: Springer. 2010. Print. Otnes, Cele et al. Gender, Culture, and Consumer Behavior. New York, NY: Routledge. 2012. Print. Ross, Karen. The Handbook of Gender, Sex and Media. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. 2011. Print. Sheenan, Kim. Controversies in Contemporary Advertising. Mason, OH: SAGE. 2004. Print. 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