Premium Essay

Gender Stereotypes And Sex In Advertising

Submitted By
Words 1164
Pages 5
One may come to realize that the world of advertising has a close connection with sexuality and sexual images. Why wouldn’t someone include attractive pictures of barely clothed men and women to attract attention to their product? Well-known trademarks from Victoria’s Secret to Pepsi have incorporated these images to help promote their brand and merchandises. Sex in advertising and sexual messages to help promote and sell a product has maintained a presence in advertising since the very beginning. It has increased in helping businesses promote merchandise and help sell a new product. Through thoughtful reasoning and ethics these tactics and ideas have increased sales for all these companies. Why and how does this unrelated addition to an advertisement …show more content…
Now, think about those Nair commercials that we see today. Do you spot a difference? The recognizable Nair models we see on television weekly are now shown in a bikini on the beach still promoting the same hair removal product. However, does this commercial stand out any more than the other advertisements we see every day? This strategy businesses use today to sell their product has been in the business and way of advertisements for many years. When trying to sell clothing, the models aren’t wearing any, when trying to sell toothpaste, you most likely will never see the models teeth. In contemporary advertising like magazines and television, sex is present in promotional messages for a wide range of goods. “Regarding sex in advertising, sexual information can be associated to greater or lesser degrees with the advertisers persuasive appeal. For example, sexual content can be used to draw attention to the product.” (Reichert 243) A low association relationship would show a product and a sexual presence in the advertisement that does not have any relations. A high association advertisement would be an example of a man kissing the neck of a woman. While the advertisement asks, “what attracts?” this relates to the product of a men’s fragrance. It tells the man looking at this advertisement …show more content…
When thinking about the Nair commercials again, you can see an obvious difference in the models clothing and how much skin they show. Today, one tends to think that the vivid show of skin and sexual intercourse or images in advertising could possibly be a normal thing seen on television. With the increase in technology in today’s day we come with an increase of video advertising rather than print advertising and now viewers see more to the sexuality than just the models. “In the Reichert and Ramirez study in 2000, 25% of respondents identified things about the ad other than models that contributed to sexual perception.” (Bohbot 25) Elements like lighting, music and design elements have become a huge contributing factor to implementing the sexuality in these commercials. Meaning that the prettiest model one may find could potentially not be enough to sell the

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Gender Stereotyping

...1. Sean Lang 2. MKT 115 –Sec 770 3. April 27, 2014 4. Gender Stereotyping in Advertisements 5. 1550 6. I am highly motivated, and I am committed to excellence. Advertising Gender Stereotypes Gender Stereotyping in advertisements happen all around us. Whether it is a commercial, billboard or a magazine, advertisements are everywhere. Gender stereotypes happen at an early age that includes children. Children’s advertisements implant the very gender roles that are portrayed in today’s society. Creating specific gender products is also creating large profits for companies. When first thinking of gender stereotyping in advertisements one might think of the negative aspect first and not realize that there are positive ways to advertise to specific genders for purchasing products. By using these gender specific advertisements, companies can sell products more efficiently. Advertising to children at an early age can play a significant role in shaping the expected role for him/her in today’s society. There are many examples that can clearly outline gender stereotyping. In many instances someone might not catch it because it is so normal in today’s culture. Monica Brasted is a psychologist and observed her child when the two of them went to McDonalds one day. Monica’s little girl was upset because she didn’t get the toy she wanted. “When I asked her what was wrong she asked why the woman had given her a care bear when she wanted a transformer” (Brasted). This then brought...

Words: 1642 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Media Socialization

...Running head: THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA IN SOCIALIZATION The Effects of Media in the Socialization of Children and Young Adults The Effects of Media in the Socialization of Children and Young Adults The media today are a powerful tool in modifying the behavior of children and young adults. This behavior can be seen as negative or positive depending on the situation. Children’s development is influenced by many factors but as Lund (2003) noted the significance of the mass media cannot be overstated: “The accumulated experience of media exposure contributes to the cultivation of a child’s values, beliefs, dreams, and expectations, which shape the adult identity a child will carry and modify through his or her life.” Studies investigating Social Learning Theory, done by Baker (2007, p.26) have consistently reported that children can model roles and behaviors seen on television. Media play a significant role in the socialization process, body image, and moral judgments in children and adolescents. Cartoons on television are some of the first factors of socialization in a child’s life. Although many adults feel that cartoons are obviously fantastical, unrealistic, and therefore harmless to children, the research evidence proves otherwise. “According to developmental literature, children before the age of ten years often have difficulty differentiating between reality and fantasy”(Baker...

Words: 4134 - Pages: 17

Premium Essay

Test

...Evaluation Essay on Gender in Advertising Gender differences and biases have been a part of the normal lives of humans ever since anyone can remember. Anthropological evidence has revealed that even the humans and the hominids of ancient times had separate roles for men and women in their societies, and this relates to the concepts of epistemology. There were certain things that women were forbidden to do and similarly men could not partake in some of the activities that were traditionally reserved for women. This has given birth to the gender role stereotypes that we find today. These differences have been passed on to our current times; although many differences occur now that have caused a lot of debate amongst the people as to their appropriateness and have made it possible for us to have a stereotyping threat by which we sometimes assign certain qualities to certain people without thinking. For example, many men are blamed for undermining women and stereotyping them for traditional roles, and this could be said to be the same for men; men are also stereotyped in many of their roles. This leads to social constructionism since the reality is not always depicted by what we see by our eyes. These ideas have also carried on in the world of advertising and the differences shown between the males and the females are apparent in many advertisements we see today. This can have some serious impacts on the society as people begin to stereotype the gender roles in reality. There has...

Words: 811 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Compare & Contrast Essay

...A Comparison and Contrast of Gender Stereotypes in Advertising According to a study conducted in 2005 by Nielsen Media Research, the average American watches over four hours of television per day and 25% of that hour is comprised of advertising. This gives advertising companies a captive audience to include men, women, young, and old. Turn on the children’s channels and there are ads for juice boxes and the newest toy; turn on the sport network and there are advertisements for beer and beef jerky; turn on the entertainment channel and there will be advertisements for feminine products and shampoo that make claims to leave hair voluminous and shiny. While both men and women are subject to product advertising, it can be expected that the advertising companies use general gender stereotypes to line their pockets and sell products. Simply turn on the television for 20 minutes and you will likely find a plethora of advertisements that use gender stereotyping. Now, take for instance the following scenario, “Girl’s Night Out”, a common tradition for young women in their 20’s and 30’s. Get the girls together and hit the town on a Friday night; dawn a new pair of stilettos and a cute skirt and off to the bar for some cocktails! The women are grouped together; catching up on the latest gossip and here approaches the token tall, dark, and handsome man to steal away hearts. Sounds like the picture perfect evening out. Isn’t this what every 20 or 30-something, single woman’s dreams...

Words: 1051 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Advert and Gender

...Introduction: Advertising & Gender The adverts are carefully crafted bundles of images, frequently designed to associate the product with feelings of pleasure stemming from fantasies and anxieties (Craig 1997). Advertising can also be defined as a paid for mass-media communication, and a means of managing and controlling the consumer markets at the least cost (Brierley 1995). It is clear that advertisers seem quite willing to manipulate these fantasies and exploit our gender identities to sell products. Gender is a social construct, a dichotomy that exists in all societies (Costa, 1994). It is used to describe the socially constructed differences between men and women, referring not only to individual identity and personality, but also at the symbolic level, to cultural ideals and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and, at the structural level, to the sexual division of labour in institutions and organisations (Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences). The definition of gender encompasses a great deal. Temperament, abilities and skills, activities and behaviours, ideal types and accepted and unacceptable deviations from the ideal, sensuality and culture based essence of what it means to be male or female, are all part of the gender constructs of a given society. Therefore, marketers perform their activities differently when their targets are male than they do when the targets are female, and consumers’ responses often differ on the basis of gender. Sales personnel...

Words: 3144 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Compare and Contrast Gender in Advertising

...Compare and Contrast Gender in Advertising Advertising is a multimillion-dollar industry that targets people of various ages and gender to aid in selling gather products. The images or visual and verbal sense of the messages vary considerably by targeting different people with images and messages, which may even lead to the use of stereotyping in order to reach to a wider array of audience. For example, adverts that are solely directed for the teenage audience persuade them that purchasing a specific product makes them “fit in” with other teenagers or their role models. A comparison of advertisements that are aims at men and women show that advertisers are still using the standard gender role to advertise for their products which is causing a lot of stereotyping and biases to be seen. In order to understand stereotypes and gender bias found in the advertisements, it is first imperative to understand what stereotyping is and how it is implemented into advertisements. Stereotyping is defined as a thought that can be adopted from specific types of individuals or ways of doing things, however, that certain belief may or may not be an accurate reflection of reality. Stereotyping fits in with other types of inter group attitudes. Stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice are comprehended to be related but are still different concepts. Stereotyping is though more as rational components of an individual since it is a reflection god expectations and beliefs about the characteristics...

Words: 1283 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Media Control

...Chapter 5: Gender Stratification by sex is a feature found in most societies, with men generally being in a more dominant position in society than women. Men have traditionally been seen in a wide range of active and creative roles – as warriors, hunters, and workers, as political leaders or successful business executives, as scientists, engineers, inventors, and great artists. Women have traditionally been seen as housewives and mothers confined to the home and caring for their husbands and children. Even when working outside the home, women's jobs often seem to be an extension of their caring role in the home, looking after others as receptionists, secretaries, nurses, teachers, and social workers. Are these differences simply an extension of the biological make-up of males and females, or are they a product of the ways that males and females are brought up in society? (Nature vs. Nurture) SEX AND GENDER • Sex: (whether someone is male or female) refers to the natural or biological differences between men and women, such as difference in genitals, internal reproductive organs, and body hair. • Gender: (whether someone is masculine or feminine) refers to the cultural, socially constructed differences between the two sexes. It refers to the way a society encourages and teaches the two sexes to behave in different ways through socialization. • Gender role: is the pattern of behavior and activity which society expects from individuals of either...

Words: 8069 - Pages: 33

Premium Essay

Pornography and Addiction

...Advertisement is a tool used by companies in order to draw attention to different products, services, and events. Advertisement is used to promote sales and attract a broader audience. This marketing strategy has been applied by people and companies for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until the 18th century that advertising had started appearing more frequently in people’s everyday lives. The spike in advertising use was caused due to the technological advancements of the printing press. People would notice different advertisements for services and products which would influence their decisions and consumer habits. I have studied many topics related to marketing and psychology. Since our technology is always increasing according to Moore’s Law, our advertising methods are also becoming more and more sophisticated. The marketing method that has been on the rise for a few years now is known neuromarketing. This form of marketing is not a new discovery, although, it is now being understood and studied better as our technology increases. It revolves around the psychological response caused by the brain when consumers look at different forms of advertisements that causes pleasure, such as, food, sex, and social. Neuromarketing, more specifically, revolves around targeting dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitters in our brains which is involved with our survival instincts and pleasure responses (Touhami, 1528-32). Evidently, neuromarketing is not only being used to analyze and study psychological...

Words: 1636 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Gender Stereotypes in Video Games

...In Georgia Warnke’s book Debating Sex and Gender, Gayle Rubin recognizes sex as the “raw material” of the bodies of female and male human beings, while gender pertains to the roles and functions those human beings have in society and the culture of which they are a part of. Rubin states that sexism is the general phenomenon in which females become “domesticated women”, or workhorses for men. Rubin wrote her influential essay The Traffic in Women in 1975, yet her definitions of sex, gender, and sexism are still applicable today. The issues that Rubin addressed are demonstrated in particular in today’s media, which reinforces gender inequality and objectification, through the depiction of women as hyper-sexualized, weak, and unskilled. This negative depiction of women exists especially in the gaming community, in which many have criticized the negative portrayal of women as sexist and severely problematic. Video games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption portray women in an almost exclusively violent and sexualized manner, which serves to reinforce the never-ending sexism and gender biases that society has upheld for centuries. Society as a whole can change the perception of gender and how women are perceived, but leaps towards progressive ideas need to be made first, starting with the video game industry as a whole. Throughout history, women’s roles have primarily been domestic – staying home and being responsible for the care of her husband and children. As Warnke...

Words: 1646 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Sex Sells: the Role of the Media in Legitimising Gender Discrepancies

...This article is a detailed, academically supported body of work, designed to retort the following questions: How and why are semantically sexualised women used as a perceptive marketing stunt’ and ‘what role does the media play in legitimizing gender discrepancies through framing and cultivation strategies? Coaxed by the issue of female objectification in the mass media, the following research was conducted both practically, and theoretically, to overtly annunciate the social and democratic problems associated with advertised female subordination. The relative research involves a semiotic analysis of two sources, coupled with a survey of 40 candidates of varying ages. Furthermore, theoretical mechanisms of media framing and cultivation have been deconstructed throughout this article to uncover the impact of magnified female subordination on the domestic expectations of children and young adults. Through the collection of data, it was able to be conclusively recognized the impact of objectification on social attitudes. Results had shown the many conceptions concerning the female purpose, these include; a woman’s role as a domestic and sexual slave to her male partner. Through the convergence of data, semiotic analysis and academic theory, it may be meticulously understood how female objectification in the mass media is a social complication in the construction of an egalitarian future. ‘Women’s bodies are predominantly valued for its use to others’ Fredrickson & Roberts 1997 ...

Words: 3317 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Does Sex Sell?

...Ashley Chong Derek Gladwin Essay #2 2/7/2015 Does sex sell? It is quite common nowadays for a young woman to flip through a consumer magazine or turn on the television and find provocative images of beautiful women, and men, in revealing outfits selling a wide range of branded goods. Sexual imagery, varying from modest to the obscene, is used throughout much of the commercial advertising in today’s social media. According to Branding Strategy Insider, “Sexual information does grab attention. Sex evokes a hardwired emotional response that is linked to species survival” (Daye). In the advertising world, employing sexual imagery is an effective means to draw attention to a product. However, the marketing industry must be wary of images that traditionalize or stereotype male-female gender roles. The above advertisement is a good example of an advertisement that uses sexual imagery to draw attention to a product. The above image shows two women holding two different food bars. Both women are of similar height, ethnicity and hair color. The differences between the women are that the woman on the left is a plus-size woman holding a sugary candy bar whereas the woman on the right is a lean woman holding a Detour protein bar. The text at the top of the advertisement states, “There’s Candy Bars...Then There’s PROTEIN Candy Bars.” (Cape). The advertisers of the referenced image use a, “if you eat this product, then you get this result” sort-of comparison when describing...

Words: 1295 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Catfight

...Objectification of Women in Miller Lite’s “Catfight” Analysis Paper Darian Hill 2 May 2016 Darian Hill MCJ 462 Chris Campbell 2 May 2016 Beer makers have been criticized for “beer and babes” ads that depict women as sexual objects for years. Miller brewing held a TV spot in the 2003 Super Bowl that is quite notorious for its sexual content. The commercial, called “Catfight,” goes from a poolside argument into an angry, clothes-shredding, wrestling match between two women who end up in bras and underwear. The ad was broadcasted to millions of homes during the National Football League’s Super Bowl. Sex and the marketing of beer are virtually inseparable. Nonsexual products, such as beer, are sexualized and convey women as means of advertisement and objects. The purpose of this paper is to inform and show readers how women in advertising are being symbolized as objects of desire and as commodities, rather than human beings. The commercial begins with two women having casual conversation about beer, leading to a fight over why Miller Lite is the better beer. One claims that it is the taste of the beer and the other claims that it is less filling. The verbal struggle erupts into a physical battle between the two women, starting with the brunette flipping the table over. The blonde then punches the brunette, which is followed by the brunette throwing the blonde into a fountain and they fight as they rip each other’s clothes off. Soon down to their bras and underwear...

Words: 2836 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Critical and Ethical Issues Faced by Advertisers in Drafting Advertisements

...all companies use some sort of advertising when selling a good or a service. The expenditure for the campaign might depend on the type and the size of the Business. Advertising is a complex form of communication that influences customers to purchase a certain product or consume more from that product and, it always identify the sponsor or the company. Advertisements draw public attention to goods and services. Objectives and strategies of advertising lead to various types of impact on consumer thoughts, feelings and actions. Advertising is a paid medium. Generally advertisements provide information of the certain product or service in many different ways. Traditional media, such as; television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, direct mail and billboards are most commonly used to transmit advertisements to consumers. Advertiser holds the main role in Advertising. Advertiser is the person or organization that uses advertising to send out a message about its products. Advertising Agency is the second player in Advertising. One of the primary benefits of advertising is its ability to communicate to a large number of people at one time. There are different types of Advertising; Print advertising, Outdoor advertising, such as; Billboards, kiosks, tradeshows and events, Broadcast advertising, Covert advertising, Surrogate advertising, Public service advertising and Celebrity advertising. Print advertising have always been a popular advertising medium, but television commercials...

Words: 1438 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Stereotyping

...are confirmed. In this essay, a broad range of texts will be used to examine the ways in which the mass media construct and reinforce social stereotypes around gender, ethnicity and age, as well as how the media shape one's imagination though direct images. It cannot be doubted that the media profoundly influence people's attitudes and outlooks. They convey a whole variety of information which individuals would not otherwise acquire. Newspapers, books, television, radio, films, recorded music and popular magazines (Giddens, 1989, p.79) bring individuals into close contact with experiences of which we 'would otherwise have little awareness' (Giddens, 1989, p. 79). There are very few societies, in current times, even among the more traditional cultures, which remain completely untouched by the mass media. Electronic communication is accessible even to those who are completely illiterate, or in isolated areas of the world. According to Juredini and Poole, gender usually refers to the 'behavioural and attitudinal characteristics' as well as roles that are learned and derived from a 'particular cultural milieu' (2000, p.171). An important source of gender information in a consumer society is television. Despite some notable exceptions, for example 'Sesame Street', most television shows continue to portray males and females in stereotypical gender roles (Sigorelli, 1990, citied in Newman, 2000, p. 136). In a recent study of television...

Words: 1528 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

How Are Gender and Sexuality Significant to the Study of Visual Culture?

...university of essex | SC291-5-FY | How are Gender and Sexuality Significant to the Study of Visual Culture? | | Word Count: 2,312 | 1004894 | How are Gender and Sexuality Significant to the Study of Visual Culture? In this essay I plan to explore the meanings that are found within the concepts of gender and sexuality and the presentation to which they are given in all types of visual culture. I wish to look into the reasons behind the current stereotypes of gender and sexuality which are used in day to day life. The origins of such clichés and the reason why stereotypes are so heavily used in visual culture, to try and understand the disadvantages and advantages they bring to the media. I will begin by trying to give an explanation of the definition of the terms, gender, sexuality and visual culture. Gender is often depicted to a simple non-complex term which is based upon an individual’s biological sex. Thus presenting the theory that the sex of an individual will biologically predetermine their mannerisms and actions; behaviours that are associated with being male or female. Although it is necessary to understand that there are differences between men and women, to assume that all behaviour can be categorised as male or female could be considered to be ignorant. In more recent times gender has become less fixated upon the biological sex of the person and is more determined by the individual themselves (Kirsch, 2000). Sexuality is the term used to demonstrate...

Words: 2343 - Pages: 10