The Role of Gender in Advertising - Coursework Example

The Role of Gender in Advertising and The Role of Gender in Advertising Introduction Advertising is a technique that companies use to inform customers about new products and improvements that they make on old products. In the modern times, advertisers use the media such as television, newspapers, and the internet to pass their messages to consumers. The advertisers often use written or spoken messages and they also add pictures to their adverts so that they can appeal to customers and convince them to purchase the product. Although advertising is a technique that companies use to increase their returns, the method has other effects such as influencing the culture of the society1. The main influence that the technique has is determining gender roles in the society. This is because organizations use different forms of words and pictures when they use different gender to construct their advertisements. Gender, on the other hand, refers to the dichotomy that describes the differences between women and men; these differences include physical appearance and jobs that each of them should perform based on their masculinity and femininity. Advertisements use stereotypes that exist in the society to influence gender roles in the society. Stereotypes are the beliefs that the society holds about men and women. These stereotypes include the belief that men are aggressive, brave, confident, rough, insensitive, and dependent. The society also believes that women are emotional, gentle, caring, obedient, dependent, cowardly, and irrational (Goffman, 2008). Marketers manipulate these stereotypes to create advertisements that influence the society to continue holding on their stereotypic beliefs. This paper will analyze the various roles of men and women that are portrayed in advertisements. Stereotypes about Men and Women in the Society In order to understand the roles of men and women as portrayed on the media through advertisements, it is essential to first understand the beliefs of the society. Almost every society has its own stereotypes, but the beliefs about men and women’s roles converge (Ross, & Lester, 2011). The main belief that shapes other gender stereotypes in the society is the idea that men are more muscular than women. This is because men usually have huge bodies that are enhanced by the numerous muscles that they have biologically. Women, on the other hand, are viewed as less muscular and often skinny because their bodies do not show their huge muscles. This belief has influenced the society into believing that men have more abilities than women at home, at work, and in games. Advertisers, therefore, use this belief to create their commercials in a way that informs the society that men can perform extraordinary functions while women cannot because they are delicate (Sheehan, 2004). Another stereotype that the society holds is that women are dependent while men are independent. This is because men are more muscular than women meaning that they have a capability of earning a high income that is enough to support them and their female counterparts. This stereotype had a great influence on the society in the nineteenth century especially in America. In the nineteenth century when there was a Second World War, the government coerced men to leave their homes and take part in the war. Men participated in the war by fighting at the war front while women were left at home to take care of their children and the aged (Goffman, 2008). The men would send money to their waves so that they could use it to purchase food and clothing2. This indicates that women were dependent on men despite the fact that the men risked their lives to earn the income. The independence and dependence stereotype gives rise to another belief that women are cowards while men are brave. This may be observed from the example of the nineteenth century where men were brave enough to participate at the war front. Women, on the other hand, were left at home because they were cowards, and even when they took part in the war, they used to line up behind the men who were at the front (Sheehan, 2004). The society believes that the coward character of women makes them to take up light jobs while men carry out the hard tasks. In the next section, the paper will analyze how advertisers use these and more stereotypes to create their commercials on television, newspaper, magazines, and on the internet through social media platforms such as face book and twitter. Gender Targeting Advertisers use participants from different genders when they are advertising different products. Craig (1997) argues that organizations use men when marketing products such as alcohol and vehicles while they use women to promote home-based items such as toiletries. Advertisers also use men to advertise more occupations than the ones that they use women. For example, when advertisers use men to advertise vehicles, they show them using the vehicles to reach to their offices faster than they would do by walking or using public service vehicles (Berebitsky, 2012). When the advertisers use women to advertise toiletries, they use the home as the environment for the women. These forms of advertisements influence the society to believe that the place for women is at home while that for men is at work. Men struggle to get employed while women stay at home to clean their houses and take care of children. Marketers also use women when advertising products such as lotions and deodorants that improve the appearance of the users. The viewers of such adverts tend to believe that women should be attractive so that they can appeal to their husbands. Companies, on the other hand, use images of men to advertise products that decrease the attractiveness of a person, for example, paint and cement (Kosut, 2012). Such commercials indicate that men should perform functions that are not attractive while women should concentrate on improving their beauty and appearance. Marketers also use advertisements to influence the society to believe that women should dress differently from the men. In fact, most commercials use images of women who are half dressed while they use pictures of men who are dressed fully from up to the bottom (Craig, 1997). The women in commercials expose their bodies by wearing short skirts and dresses and blouses that show part of their burst. Women in adverts may also wear only a pant and a bra while leaving the other parts of the body nude3. Men, on the other hand, dress in well-sleeved shirts and trousers that cover their lower part of the body. However, in some cases, men in commercials also expose their bodies, but not as much as women. Such images of men show them exposing only their chest and the legs from the knee downwards. This form of marketing, therefore, indicates that women should dress in clothes that expose their bodies while men wear neat shirts and trousers. The Roles of Gender in Marketing of Similar Products When marketers advertise a similar product using the images of men and women, they include significant differences that may not be easily recognizable. The differences in such commercials indicate the various roles that men and women should play in the society. The marketers tailor the messages so that they can fit the beliefs of the society especially the audience that they target (Ross, & Lester, 2011). Nivea advertises its lotion and deodrants using images that signify that men and women have different roles in the society. For example, the company uses the image of a woman and to advertise women’s lotion. The woman in the picture has kept her hair well and she is touching her body while facing the products that are on the side. The woman does not have clothing on the upper part of her body that is visble. In another advertisement, the company uses three muscular men who are dressed in black jackets and facing the front part of the image to advertise men’s deodrant. There are writings on the lower side and on the right side, there are some nivea products and writings. A closer look at the images indicate that the advertisers used gender stereotypes when creating these figures that are used for commercials. For example, the first image uses the stereotype that women should maintain their attractiveness by using beauty products. This is why the marketer is advertising nivea lotion, which is a beauty product. Nivea marketer also uses the belief that women should expose their bodies so that they may look attractive by using the image of an undressed woman. The attractiveness of the woman is also portrayed by her skinny body. The other attribute that the marketer indicates about women is they they are cowardly and that they love touching their bodies (Carilli, & Campbell, 2012). This is because the woman in the figure is facing the side rather than looking at the front of the picture. The low confidence of the woman is also indicated by the fact that her eyes are almost closed. In the second image that used men to advertise the same company’s products, the marketer indicates that the role of men is to preserve their muscular bodies, to be courageous, and to dress up their bodies fully (Kosut, 2012). This is because the men in the figure have put on black jackets and trousers that cover their bodies. The courage of men is indicated by the fact that the men are looking at the fron part, which represents the region where the person taking the photo is located4. The men do not look at the products being advertised because they do not care much about their attractiveness The other roles of gender in advertising may be explained by the images of men and women who advertise omega watches5. In the first figure, there are two women with one of them lying on the bed and the other one leaning on a wall. The woman lying on the bed has exposed much of her body while the other one is wearing a dress that shows a tiny region of her chest. The marketer in this case indicates that the role of women is to preserve their attractiveness and perform household chores (Sheehan, 2004). This is because the first woman is lying on a bed meaning that she is at home and yet she is advertising watches. This means that she uses the watch to manage the time that she spend on household activities. The other woman who is wearing a dress is in an environment where she is admiring her body and acting in an errotic manner. The woman also dances while touching her body. The marketer, therefore, portrays women as individuals who do not take up formal jobs. In the second figure, the advertiser indicates that men work in formal jobs that require them to dress officially. This is because the men on the figure have put on gray and brown suits meaning that they are in the office. The background indicates that the men are in the offices of Omega. This means that the men use the watches to manage the activities that they carry out in the office. Therefore, the advertiser implies that the place for men is the office while that for women is at home (Craig, 1997). Emerging Gender Roles in Advertising In the twenty first century, marketers have started changing the roles of women and men in their advertisements (Goffman, 2008). For example, marketers are beginning to show women taking up hard tasks that were previously associated with the male gender. For example, women are studying technical subjects such as medicine and after school they get employed in positions that belonged to men previously6. While women are in employment, they dress in clothes that cover their bodies fully and they concentrate on the office functions rather than on their attractiveness and their beauty. Women are also becoming confident and muscular in commercials (Kosut, 2012). The new gender roles also indicate that men can carry out household functions such as cleaning houses and looking after their children while their wives are at work. The new roles also indicate that men care about their physical attractiveness and that they preserve it by using beauty products. In an image that was in the dailymail newspaper, there is a man and a woman the woman is dressed up officially so that she can go to work while the man is carrying laundry to go and clean. The man’s dressing shows that his work is to carry out casual functions at home. The woman in the image is also concentrating on her phone meaning that she is texting someone in the office where she is headed to rather than touching her body like it used to be in the past. Conclusion The roles of gender in advertisements were previously based on the societal stereotypes that signify that men are superior to women in the society. Marketers used these stereotypes to indicate that the roles of men include carrying out activities that require a lot of energy at home and working in formal jobs. Men were also confident while women were cowards whose work was to preserve their attractiveness and perform household chores such as cleaning, cooking, and feeding the baby. However, in the twenty first century, the roles of men and women are reversing such that men stay at home while women get employed. Men are also becoming conscious of their attractiveness while women are losing their concentration in beauty because they use their time to work and earn income. Reflection While writing this essay, I have learned that although advertising is a technique of persuading customers to purchase goods and services, this method has a lot of influence in the society. Advertising has a great power such that it can change the culture of a society within a short time. Advertising may also change the thinking of individuals if they rely on the information that marketers provide in advertisements. I have also learned that advertisers manipulate the beliefs and pleasures of consumers when creating commercials. Since some pleasures that individuals in the society have are imaginary, it means that marketers do not always provide consumers with true information about their goods and services. Therefore, individuals should engage their sober minds when making decisions based on information contained in advertisements. I have also discovered that the stereotypes that the society has may be influenced by advertising or they may influence marketers. For example, in the past, advertisers manipulated the society’s belief that men were superior to women because of their muscular bodies. Marketers used this stereotype to change the society’s consumption behavior. However, in the current times, advertisers influence the society by reversing roles such that women perform the activities that were previously believed to be men’s field. Men, on the other hand, perform household chores, which were women’s activities in the past. I believe that the society should not judge the ability of individuals because any person can perform any function. I have discovered that the most essential thing that consumers should get from advertisements is the existence of the products. This is because the other information in commercials such as images and information about how the product performs may be false. I would propose to the government and lobby groups to protect consumers by creating rules that prevent organizations from giving false information in their advertisements. These rules would include one that requires advertisers to use images that are based on real facts rather than stereotypes. The other rule would be the one that requires marketers to inform consumers about the effects of their products. This would prevent the society from being influenced by marketers erroneously and it would clear false gender roles in the society. References Berebitsky, J. (2012). Sex and the office: A history of gender, power, and desire. New Haven: Yale University Press. Brewer, G. (2011). Media psychology. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Carilli, T., & Campbell, J. (2012). Challenging images of women in the media: Reinventing womens lives. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Craig, S., 1997. Men, Masculinity and the Media. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Goffman, E., 2008. Gender advertisements. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Kosut, M. (2012). Encyclopedia of gender in media. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications. Ross, S. D., & Lester, P. M. (2011). Images that injure: Pictorial stereotypes in the media. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger. Sheehan, K. (2004). Controversies in contemporary advertising. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Read More