Representations of Women in Adverting

 Blog tasks: Representations of women in advertising

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blog post called 'Representations of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.

Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising

Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Since the mid 1990s advertising has increasingly featured images in which the gender and sexual orientation of the subject(s) are noticeably and purposefully ambiguous. 

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
In women's magazines in the 1950s, women were made to feel guilty due to them neglecting their role of being a housewife and having their own plans and careers which led to the 'feminine mystique' which is that the highest value and only real commitment for women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity. Due to the 1950s boom in the economy, there was an increase in the production of domestic goods such as washing machines and convenience foods. It was presupposed that women would be purchasing these goods therefore advertising of these products were calculated to focus attention on their domestic role, reinforce home values and sustain the belief that success as a woman, wife and mother could be purchased for the price of a bottle of cough syrup or a packet of instant cake-mix. 

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

The increasing influence of clothes and make-up led to women being portrayed as decorative, empty objects. In many perfume advertisements women are presented as innocent and equated with flowers and nature, in a sense that any rude contact with reality might spoil the maiden's perfection. Women are portrayed to wait to be awakened- sexually, emotionally and intellectually- by her Prince. There is also more to being a flower in perfume adverts, the show of petals and fragrance is there to attract fertilisation. Women are depersonalised and objectified as they are encouraged to use commodities to serve men; they use them on themselves to aid femininity.    

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

Laura Mulvey came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and it refers to the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'. Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure. Women engage in a form of 'psychic transvestism' whereby they identify with the male (gaze) that observes the woman. As a result, women learn what creates voyeuristic pleasure for men - that 'men are drawn to a certain portrayal of femininity' and thus 'women are drawn toward occupying that portrayal'

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

In the mid-70s there was a rapid growth of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of the women's movement'. The New Woman was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfilment'. 

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

Van Zoonen believes that the 'New Woman' 'only departs marginally from her older, more traditional sisters'. van Zoonen deconstructing an advert promoting the 'Jenni Barnes Working Style' range of clothing, points to claim that 'A woman should look forward to dressing up for the office.' Having a job is merely seen to provide 'another happy occasion for women to dress up and present themselves. 'Indeed, a woman 'is portrayed stepping confidently towards the camera in an office environment observed by a male colleague from behind; but she is not portrayed actually working'. 

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

Barthel notes that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power... without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that, underneath the suit, we are still 'all woman', that 'no serious gender defection has occurred'. In other words, that there is no real threat to male power.

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Richard Dyer however, claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation: 'advertising agencies trying to accommodate new feminist attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'

Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign and why was it controversial?

Launched in Spring 2015 on London Underground, the PR team were clearly courting the female market (19-30) into looking their best for the beach this summer. The advert –featuring a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose – generated so much controversy that in July 2015 the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority waded in. The advert attracted much criticism for playing on female consumer's insecurities. It's message is clear: if you use our weight loss supplements you too can look like this, as well as raised the question 'are you thin enough to hit the beach?' 

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The Dove Real Beauty campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers. The campaign’s mission is to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety.

3) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns?

Social media has changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns through many ways such as organising petitions for people to sign in order to take adverts down, visually responding by posing next to the advert in their bikinis to offer a more realistic depiction of women's bodies, or consumers contacting the company itself through platforms such as Twitter to complain about their campaigns.   

4) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

We can apply van Zoonen's feminist theory to the Beach Body Ready advert as the model in that advert is presented as a spectacle  and for men to look at (male gaze) which van Zoonen believed that in women's adverts, women's appearances were the vital element of the advert which in this advert is the case. van Zoonen also built on Stuart Hall's reception theory with regards to how gender representations communicate their meanings to audiences. van Zoonen suggested that the target audience is one of the things that the media's influence in constructing gender is dependent on. In the Beach Body advert we can see the target audience is women aged 19-30 so if they see an advert with a thin, beautiful woman confident in a bikini with the text, 'Are you beach body ready?' next to her we can tell what the message is which is woman must take weight loss supplements in order to feel comfortable and beautiful in their own skin and that they have to look like that in order to wear a bikini to a beach. This again proves van Zoonen's point that a females appearance in advertisements is the most vital element. 

However, in the Dove Real Beauty campaign we see women of all shapes, sizes, race and ages being embraced. Van Zoonen however criticised the idea of the 'New Woman' as she believed it only marginally departed from the old, traditional view of women nevertheless I believe the Dove Real Beauty campaign was a big step up from previous adverts that portrayed unrealistic beauty standards for women and sexualised them, the Dove Real Beauty campaign portrays what real beauty looks like and does not reinforce the western beauty ideals.

5) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

I believe that there has been a lot of progression made of women in advertising in the last 60 years as 60 years ago, women in advertising were portrayed as housewives or if they purchased a product it would help them in making themselves more appealing to their male counterparts. Women were presented as useless, objectified, seen as something that needed to be won by males and mainly focused on their appearances in order to appeal to males. Now however, I believe women are seen as much more than just an object to be won, they are presented as independent, strong, worth more than just their appearance and male attraction is not the focus point of women being in advertising anymore. However, there are still advertisements that reinforce the western beauty ideals, as well as adverts that sexualise women and use them for their body/appearance which is a step back.