Representation of Men and Women in Advertisement - Essay Example

Representation of Men and Women in Advertisement Advertisement has become an essential part of our social life: it tells us what to buy and what to reject, how to look and what to wear in order to remain in the center of attention. Underestimating the power of advertisement is illogical and selfish, it does have an immense influence on our consciousness and subconsciousness. It is impossible to deny that we live in the era of consumerism: we earn money to buy things that define our personalities. When the creators of Apple understood this phenomenon they stared to sell emotions along with goods and shaped their loyal customers. In a modern society a person becomes what he buys: an expensive car and an elegant suit or a cellphone of a latest model will be valued as much as aristocratic background. Advertising industry imposes on us what we want or what we seem to want in our lives. Advertising industry sets unrealistic goals for men and women showing them how they must look and behave to be popular and to fit in social requirements. No need to be a psychoanalyst to see how objectification and sexualization of both genders distort the perception of consumers. And it is getting very difficult in our world to understand how much your own image of a “real man” or a “real woman” is influenced by advertising and to what extent it is your own. So in this work I have decided to analyze the effect of advertisement on gender perception and find out what gender archetypes are imposed by advertising industry. Even a brief look in the advertisements printed in women fashion magazines helps to realize that women are subjected to a serious pressure today because of the image of a “perfect woman”. Today a female image shown in almost every advertisement is unreachable for most women living on the planet due to this or that characteristic feature. The ideal woman is white enormously sexy with ultra-slim, teenage figure, perfect long hair, shiny skin and professional makeup (Bale 89). The accent is made on appearance which is defined as the key to success in private and social life. Before you even open any glossy magazine you realize that to appear on the cover of it you need to fit all these criteria. The models in the advertisements of fashion magazines are intentionally unrealistic and unreachable: they seem to be weightless, ephemeral creatures. Printed media has made it clear that thinness is almost equal to sexual attractiveness and all the women who fall out of the category S and sometimes even XS size do not have any chances to count on the attention of men. The gap between ultra-thin models and normal sizes of ordinary women is so huge that regularly comparison becomes unavoidable. The most serious is the fact that advertising industry has made it a norm which means that it has managed to impose those unrealistic standards on all women of all classes and all nationalities. Fashion magazines models and Hollywood stars advertising this or that product whose beauty is far from natural- with multiple plastic surgeries and crowds of stylists and hairdressers tell common women how they must look, what they must wear, how they must smell. For teenage and college girls as well as for adult women being exposed to such an extreme variant of beauty is very stressful. Comparing themselves in the mirrors and finding all the flaws of their figures and complexions young women have very limited choice: either get depressed and develop a low self-esteem unable to reach the ideal o get obsessed with perfect look, perfect skin, perfect figure and start following all the rules described in the glossy magazines and buying all the products advertised on its pages (Bale 116). The only company that tried to overcome these stereotypes was Dove who invited women of normal size to advertise their products. Women who wear M and L sizes of different age and race made some kind of revolution in advertising appearing on the screen. But unfortunately such campaigns are held seldom. In addition advertising industry is constantly narrowing the sphere of supposed interests of women. Describing women`s problems, dreams, occupations, concerns advertising industry makes it clear that women are limited and superficial. Most magazines and TV commercials depicting women state that the ambitions of women do not go beyond finding a partner (attracting a man with one`s beauty and sexuality) and starting a family. The most frequent topics for discussion and analysis on media are sex, children upbringing, relationships with men, kitchen, and appearance (Dittmar & Howard 478). Thus, advertising industry suggests that as the goals of women are so down-to-earth then their main occupation must be their own appearance and housekeeping. That is why we see women in advertisement only in their typical roles: as sexual objects before marriage and as mothers and wives after marriage. The products that are advertised therefore are of two kinds: cosmetics and outfit and/or kitchen supplies and washing machines. Marketing specialists would hardly take a risk and overcome stereotypes advertising new blender for men and new laptops for women though little changes are sometimes noticed (Bale 90). The situation with men is not better. The accent is also made on appearance and on sexuality: men are supposed look like real machos, be seductive and handsome in all the situations. Athletic and attractive body is praised above all, if a man has a beard and piercing look it can make him a star. In such a way men are turned into princes by advertising industry. Moreover, recent research conducted by Rohlinger proves that men as well as women were objectified by advertisement and sexualized to a great extent. Seeing male naked body in cologne advertisement is a mundane thing today. The analysis of printed advertisements of outfits and perfumes shows that male sexuality was brought to attention recently which the other connected to liberation of gay movement. In other words, advertisements depicting men today show men as those having unknown, strange sexuality. Thus when seeing men one may wonder whether they are heterosexual or homosexual and may try to decide for himself (Rohlinge 65). In other cases men are most often depicted in working environment. They are the primary target auditory of all technology gadgets, such as smartphones, laptops, and headphones. Object of status advertised for men include watches, devices, and cars. Those depicted in the commercials of this kind represent an ideal of masculinity: these men are usually older and often have family. But advertising creates stereotypes and archetypes of men as much as for women who need to be mothers or seductive fairies. Men appear in commercials as big bosses often or as lonely self-sufficient individuals. When searching for a typical successful man in a commercial we see a mature a man driving his car along the shore or a powerful and charismatic guy sitting in his cabinet drinking whiskey. With women men are constantly dominant while with other men they can be aggressive. Men`s friendship is depicted in advertisement most often when there is a need to advertise a new alcohol which undermines its value (Nakayama, 2010). Thus, the perception of gender in society is not shaped by traditional and cultural norms only anymore. In the era of consumerism people become what they buy and are perceived by others accordingly. The image of a man as well as the image of a woman is shaped by modern advertising industry as it tells what skirt to wear and what laptop to choose. So it is very important to understand what archetypes are sold to us by marketing specialists to differentiate between our real selves and imposed images. Works Cited Bale, J. Media Representations of Female Body Images in Womens Magazines: A Content Analysis of Media. Indiana: Lightning Source, 1999 Dittmar, H., & Howard, S. “Professional hazards? The impact of models body size on advertising effectiveness and womens body-focused anxiety in professions that do and do not emphasize the cultural ideal of thinness.” British Journal of Social Psychology 43(4) 2004: 477-497. Nakayama, T. Images of Men in Advertising, Media & Values. 2010 Retrieved from:http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/images-men-advertising Rohlinger, M. “Eroticizing Men: Cultural Influences on Advertising and Male Objectification.” Sex Roles: 46 (3/4) 2008. Read More