The use of gender stereotypes in advertising - Essay Example

? The use of gender stereotypes in advertising inserts his/her s Department’s Persuading consumers to purchase goods and services is the main objective of advertising. However, commodities are not just consumed for their benefit or use. As products, they facilitate the creation or expression of customer’s identity which includes gender. The gender identity of individuals is created, enhanced and accomplished through the products we consume. Therefore, the products one possesses serve as symbolic markers of one’s gender identity (Avery, 2012). Gendered ads tend to convey either a masculine or feminine image of the product that is socially shared across individuals. Although sex is biological in nature, gender is a construct that has been developed through social forces (Avery, 2012). Gender has been viewed a cultural resource which is defined by one’s social status (Otnes & Zayer, 2012). Socio-cultural forces, therefore, dictate what is considered as masculine or feminine. Considering that advertising is everywhere and that customers are bombarded with thousands of ads every day, marketing and advertising have become crucial socializing platforms that build gender roles. Marketers and advertisers, since long, have recognized the dialectical property attached to goods which makes these goods objects of self-expression. The critical point today is that the interaction between the subject (consumers) and the object (the goods to be purchased) is changing. Identities are being based on non-tangible criteria such as appearances rather than objective ones such as durability. Advertising today, therefore, has become gendered in that it addresses the pressing need of humans to express their social images by way of physical appearance. Advertisements that show the female body decorated through cosmetics and fashionable items are based on woman’s desire to express her presence by working with and within her body. Males, on the other hand, are shown as outrageous and extending power outside their bodies through cigarettes, alcohol, weapons, automobiles etc. Therefore, advertisement content largely includes simplified images of gender roles that do not take into account the complexity of contemporary lives, thereby providing marketers a shortcut to communicate for whom the merchandise is intended. Stereotypes, therefore, form the basis of what have been termed advertising’s “ideologies” (Lafky, et al., 1996). Early advertising content has focused on a narrow spectrum of woman’s roles including childrearing, housekeeping and objects that are dependent, emotional, submissive, selfless and lacking power and authority (Hellemont & Bulck, 2012). Other ads have focused on the “superwoman” image of females who are equally good in their professional careers as they are at housekeeping (Hellemont & Bulck, 2012). Still others have highlighted the sexual image of woman as being an object of beauty, pointing to idealized body images and sex appeal (Hellemont & Bulck, 2012). Men, on the other hand, have been associated with traits such as assertiveness and aggression (Hellemont & Bulck, 2012). The world of advertising has been labelled as providing monetary and sexual rewards to the projection of an appropriate manly appearance. Some writers go as far as claiming that virtually all advertisements are skewed towards men by either demonstrating to them the kind of status they can aspire to achieve or demonstrating to women what kind of men they should aspire to attract. However, this does not negate the practice of portraying women as beauty objects or sex symbols in most advertisements. The way in which gender is portrayed in advertisements depends largely on the literacy levels and social status of the audience being targeted. For instance, some ads show working women as independent, whereas others portray women in their traditional dependent roles. A product targeted towards the higher social class will be advertised using the independent career-oriented image of woman compared to the traditional role. Thus, class dictates the way in which gender is portrayed. Various cues have been used to denote gender specific traits in ads. Since a long time, color has been used in marketing to target particular genders. For instance, advertisements related to females generally tend to use pink or red based hues as opposed to blue hues used for marketing to males. This is particularly evident when advertising products for babies. In one of the ads, Johnsons and Johnsons utilizes the blue color to indicate that the baby is a boy even though no manly attributes such as aggression, power, assertiveness are yet allotted to him (O'Barr, 2006). Some ads have even gone as far as showing the baby boy as thinking something while the baby girl is being protected by her mother which reinforces traditional gender roles (O'Barr, 2006). This shows that the portrayal of both sexes in the ads goes beyond words. Advertisers use subtle cues such as colors to demonstrate the gender to which the message is targeted towards. In other words, they use somatic markers which are cues that enhance emotional responses to the marketing messages and result in biased decision making. However, color does not always depict the intended gender differences in ads, especially due to changes in human lifecycle. For instance, ads that show a group of adolescents will typically go further than just signifying men with blue and women with pink. Rather, the dressing and behavior of both genders is used to convey the intended meaning. In an ad of Downy ( a fabric softener), a girl is shown dressed like an angel in white frock and sleeping on a white pillow and bed sheet as if on a cloud (O'Barr, 2006). The subtle smile on the girl’s face as she sleeps together with the gesture of sleeping with arms wide open is consistent with the brand essence conveyed in the ad. The ad copy reads “feelings of beauty” by claiming that the product is designed for ‘angels’ (O'Barr, 2006). In this case, clearly, women’s traditional association with beauty, emotions, tranquility and their image as objects of comfort is being utilized to sell the product. In another ad of Kraft cheese, a young girl is shown wearing a tutu and standing in a dancing position which would clearly not be appropriate for boys (O'Barr, 2006). Therefore, behavior (including posture and gesture) are important cues in gender based ads. Gender based differences in behavior and lifestyle are most pronounced when marketing products for teenagers. Typically, teenage boys are shown as being actively involved in sports and winning gestures, such as being tossed in the air, are depicted in ads that play with young boys’ athletic abilities (O'Barr, 2006). In other words, teenage boys are represented as rugged, passionate, anxious, excited and exuberant. On the other hand, females in their teens are represented as being conscious of their physical appearance, beauty, style and delicacy. It is not surprising then that young, attractive females are shown in ads of major cosmetic brands, particularly beauty and fairness creams, whereas, older females (aged 30 and above) are shown in the ads of anti-ageing creams. Products marketed towards adult women, on the other hands, demonstrate sexuality through provocative positions, clothing and gestures (O'Barr, 2006). Perhaps, the most common way for women to pose is to smile more widely than their male counterparts. This shows that emotional states may vary for women and men. Ads such as Dove’s “Real-women” campaign break the clutter by showing bulkier women with imperfect bodies as opposed to the perfect, idealized body images of women portrayed through the years (O'Barr, 2006). The overall campaign has a series of ads whereby women are shown with no or minimal makeup in order to bring out their ‘inner’ beauty as opposed to the outward beauty that has been rewarded in recent years. As part of this theme, women are shown as smiling confidently which reveals that they are not conscious of their bodies. Men, on the other hand, are hardly ever shown as smiling. In fact, intense seriousness of attributed to being a real man. Impassiveness and composure have since long been considered as hallmarks of masculinity in the advertising world (O'Barr, 2006). Male adolescence, on the other hand, is adequately captured by ads of various perfumes, shaving creams, physical training services and automobile brands, by showing semi-nude images of muscular physique of men. In most cases, male bodies are highlighted by activities such as surfing which conveys physical fitness and power. The use of the opposite gender in ads is also a popular practice. For instance, female models are used for products aimed at men. It is not surprising that nude images of women are shown on the covers of various magazines whereby women’s traditional image of being sexually attractive is capitalized on. Ads of some products, such as cosmetics, also use seductive female images to convey the message. However, these products are clearly not for males but for females to use, hence, the use of appealing females is merely to suggest to the target audience that the consumption of cosmetics will make them physically attractive for men as well. Generally, when young males and females are grouped together in the same ad, traditional gender roles of women’s submissiveness and men’s dominance are reinforced (O'Barr, 2006). In most cases, the relationship shown between the two genders is sexual (O'Barr, 2006). Sometimes, the narrative of ads is left for the viewers to complete (O'Barr, 2006). Ads may show sexual encounters that are overt and incomplete in nature. The viewer decides what happens next; that is, will the genders engage in any sexual encounter or not. However, gendered ‘behavior’ does not constitute all ads. Some ads show standardized behavior for both genders but show distinctness in product based on color or some other cue. For instance, in an ad of boys’ and girls’ shoes, both sexes were shown enjoying outdoors, playing and smiling (O'Barr, 2006). However, the product was shown as gender specific. The boy’s shoe was shown as blue, whereas the girl’s shoe was shown in red bearing a flower on it. Had this ad been for adolescents, however, the portrayal would have been very different. This leads to an interesting observation that the role of colors, behavior and other cues varies with the stage of (both sexes’) lifecycle that is being targeted by advertisers. Therefore, it has been established that marketers make use of various stimuli to produce gendered ads. The effect of these ads on both genders, however, is a major cause of concern for most advertisers. It has been discovered that the portrayal of typified gender roles in advertisements elicits varying attitudinal and emotional responses from customers of both genders. It is important to understand how the two genders react differently towards these gendered messages. Research suggests that females are more aware compared to male counterparts of stereotyped advertising messages. In particular, women who bear less encouraging a priori attitudes towards gender based advertising are highly likely to display negative attitude towards the commodities or services of the firm whose ads depict stereotypical gender portrayals (Orth & Holancova, 2004). The effectiveness of such ads, is therefore, greatly determined by audience’s a priori attitudes. Interestingly, the role depictions that elicit positive reaction from women simultaneously elicit negative reaction from men and vice versa (Orth & Holancova, 2004). This is an important insight since the improper depiction of gender roles may result in negative impact on the brand with members of the audience who have not been targeted. Since a long time, the self has been thought of as a crucial element in advertising since consumers mainly purchase for oneself or one’s reference group (including family, friends etc.). Hence, if one can relate oneself to the content of the ad, the ad is claimed to be effective. Judgments that are made in relation to oneself generally invoke positive recall and learning (Debevec & Iyer, 1988). Since the “self” is a permanent point for reference that is used to infer information from various stimuli, marketers use traditional sex portrayals to elicit self referenced responses from customers (Debevec & Iyer, 1988). In other words, self-referencing stands as cohesion between gender role portrayals and the customers’ subsequent reactions and attitudes. Advertisements that depict contemporary and progressive portrayal of genders tend to elicit higher level of self-referencing amongst consumers compared to those that depict traditional ones (Debevec & Iyer, 1988). This has meaningful insights for marketers. If marketers are targeting educated and young audience then contemporary portrayals are effective. However, the validity of self-referencing in determining effectiveness of such ads has been called into question by Orth and Holancova whose research that customers react most positively to exclusive portrayal of in-group members (Orth & Holancova, 2004). Sexist advertising messages impact both attitudes and behavior of the audience. For instance, it was discovered that males who were exposed to ads depicting women as objects of sex had a higher incidence of engaging in sexist behavior later such as acquiring stereotyped information and sexualized conduct with females during their interviews for jobs (Rudman & Borgida, 1995). This is because these persuasive messages prepared the male perceivers to classify women as objects of sex and, therefore, increased this stereotype’s accessibility and applicability even in unsuitable situations. When stereotypes are accessible the traditional gender traits are easily transferred and applied to new information about members of that category, resulting in the target’s assimilation to the category (Johar, et al., 2003). Accessibility is, in large, enhanced in individuals whose tendency to stereotype is high and vice versa. Therefore, the ultimate effect of such advertisements on eliciting certain behavior depends on the individual’s tendency to stereotype. Furthermore, the response of males and females to such advertisements differs largely due to the varying ways in which both genders cognitively process the ads. The process of gender role socialization is complex as it involves various elements including the subject’s family experience, literacy levels and cultural conditioning (Lafky, et al., 1996). This socialization process not only determines how humans understand the social world but also overlays gender differences in every facet of human life. In other words, individuals will respond differently to gender based advertisements depending on their gender because of what Bem has termed the “lenses of gender”. Gender-based advertisements are processed differently by members of both sexes based on their levels of gender schema. In other words, individuals who have are highly masculine or feminine in terms of their thinking will tend to process gendered information in the ads faster compared to others. Social psychologists have discovered that individuals generally use cognitive methods such as heuristics to make judgments about events with high levels of uncertainty (Lafky, et al., 1996). Therefore, these mental shortcuts facilitate the solution of complex problems by simplifying the situation at hand and enabling individuals to make judgments and predictions based on information that is available. Individuals assess events on the basis of the frequency with which an event’s associations are made available- a phenomenon known as the availability bias (Lafky, et al., 1996). The ease with which such associations can be retrieved plays a dominant role. Stereotypes help guide and shape behavior through availability bias (Lafky, et al., 1996). The expectation that an individual will elicit a certain behavior leads to the inference that the individual has actually engaged in that behavior (Lafky, et al., 1996). Although judgments based on schemas, personal traits and other rules may lead to differences in inferences amongst individuals, socialization may lead to similarities due to commonly held beliefs. This is how social psychologists have attempted to demonstrate the way in which stereotyped information is filtered by humans. Based on the above facts, research has shown that even brief exposure to gender portrayals in ads has an impact on the perceptions that audience form with respect to social reality right after exposure (Lafky, et al., 1996). Furthermore, exposure to such ads reinforces existing stereotypes that individuals may hold. Prolonged exposure to gendered content (including advertisements) can lead individuals to develop heuristics that are gender specific (Lafky, et al., 1996). In other words, such stereotyping in marketing messages can lead individuals to permanently view the world though the lenses of “gender”. Over a period of time, the interaction between these gendered lenses and the more permanent human beliefs and values can result in preconceptions that lead to permanent biases in the individual’s judgments. At the same, however, it is difficult to imagine a world without gendered advertisements. Companies that are opting for gender-bended brands are facing huge challenges and failures as well. For instance, Volkswagen relaunched its popular model Beetle in 2012 by claiming it to be the birth of a “boy” (Avery, 2012). The model’s design is aggressive and is targeted to attracting the male segment rather than the traditional female segment. Much the same was the case with Harley Davidson that historically claimed to have catered to big boys by offering them big toys but is now selling products to females (Avery, 2012). Breaking the gender boundary is not easy and can sometimes spoil the entire image of the brand. For instance, attempts to market Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi to males were unsuccessful (Avery, 2012). Although consumers are embracing gender-bended products, gender still maintains its importance in the marketing and branding world. Gender-bended brands make people feel “out of face” when dissonance arises between who their appraisals and who they aspire to be (Goffman, 1959). This results in consumers resorting to practices that enhance their identities in order to lessen the incongruence (Goffman, 1959). Gender contamination may occur when, for instance, men purchase products that are advertised as “manly” as opposed to those that have a feminine personality in order to reassert their masculinity (Avery, 2012). The need to reassert ones gender has become recently important as women take on men’s roles and gender boundaries become permeable. As a result, it has been observed that stereotyped projections of gender through ads continue to exert significant pressure on consumer’s purchases. Hence, persuading individuals to buy products that are shown as gender neutral does not seem to work. This is because in-group members fight back to oust out-group members in order to preserve their identity which increases discrimination against the out-group (Sachdev & Bourhis, 1991). It is not surprising, therefore, that the dominant male customer base of the brand Porsche fights back to maintain its superior position in the larger social hierarchy (Avery, 2012). Men, for instance, may use consumption as a tool for reasserting their gender as they are forced to adopt feminine roles such as taking care of their daughters (including making meals, making braids for their daughters and dealing with their daughter’s transition to adolescence) (Otnes & Zayer, 2012). This leads to the interesting insight that consumption of products that are advertised as gender specific is more crucial today than it was before because of more permeable gender boundaries. This demonstrates how the normative and stereotyped ideologies perpetuated by advertisements connect with the bigger picture that includes sociological notions such as gender narratives. To conclude, the representation of male and female stereotypes in advertising seems necessary for the adoption of products. Considering gender is personal and socially constructed, its role in consumer behavior is profound at all stages of human lifecycle. The depiction of such stereotypes merely aid customer’s buying decisions by enhancing association with the product. Nevertheless, simplifying the preferences of members of the same gender can be dangerous as suggested by the self-referencing and gender-schema theories. Individuals within the same gender group differ in their ability to process gendered information owing to accessibility and availability bias as highlighted earlier. 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