'To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?'
Gender roles within advertising has been a topic for numerous debates, as to whether the same stereotypical gender roles displayed are fair and constructs our ideas of gender. Gender is refined within humans as a consequence of socialisation, which is why gender is a widely used theme among advertisement. Whether these gender roles displayed are correct or equal stresses a huge importance, as it has proven to establish our ideas and attitudes of gender. Other forms of the media and social attitudes throughout history have played an important role in establishing our ideas of our identity, advertising however Therefore this essay will investigate into these constructed ideas of gender, with a focus on how advertising has played a role in our judgements. Due to the historical content of our society, men and women have been assigned their own separate, and very different social roles. Typically, men are the breadwinners while women are the housewives and were accepted as second class citizens. Although historically, gender roles have changed profoundly to be more equal, advertisement has and continues, to follow this outdated association of gender roles.
Our concept of gender forms what we believe are to be key points of gender and what are crucial aspects for other people to have - what does it mean to be a man or a woman? It is argued that gender is just an action undertaking from our beliefs of what we should act like, rather than gender actually defining who we are. Tools such as advertising enforces this false idea that gender defines who we are, which leaves us with an overarching awareness of established beliefs of what is 'appropriate' characteristics. This is confirmed by Judith Butler, who argues that 'there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; ... identity is performatively constituted by the very "expressions" that are said to be its results.' (1990, p.25). Capitalism is sometimes argued as the reason for our false set of beliefs, however we have the power to change our morals and ethics, which advertising could assist with. Yet these semiotics within advertising have often been accused of treating people as cultural stereotypes.
John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' explores this theme, particularly how we are exposed to this awareness of established values in society. Berger states that 'in no other form of society has there been such a concentration of images, such a density of visual messages. We are now so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact.' (1972, p.126) Public images are consistently passing us, and Berger's theory states how publicity exerts enormous influence and is a political phenomenon of great importance. He proposes that 'publicity is not merely an assembly of competing messages: it is a language in itself which is always being used to make the same general proposal... It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more. This more, it proposes, will make us in some way richer - even though we will be poorer by having spent our money.' (1972, p.131) This exerts social pressure on the masses to transform ourselves to live up to this standard set by society. This has a huge importance on our own identities and the way one sees themselves, crucially - conforming to the 'appropriate' characteristics of gender and asymmetry of men and women. As Berger put its simply - "Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object - and most particularly an object of vision: a sight." (1972, pp.45-47) This concludes that the male gaze is superior to the female gaze, reflecting an 'underlying power asymmetry within society which publicity, particularly advertising has determined for us. Publicity is the life of this culture - in so far as without publicity capitalism could not survive.' (1972, p.154)
The underlying power asymmetry is also discussed within Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique.' Friedan rejects society's set role for women, specifically American 1960's housewives. This idealised image for a women at this time is what she points as the route of the problem - in her words 'the feminine mystique.' Friedan proposes a commercial motive which helps enforce this feminine mystique. Through manipulative advertising, this image of the idealised, housewife figure is promoted by advertisers. 'They encourage housewives to feel like worthy, intelligent, independent professionals who require many specialised products.' (1963, p.52) This discouraged women to have actual careers which may result in less time for housework as she states - "Somehow, somewhere, someone must have figured out that women will buy more things if they are kept in the underused, nameless-yearning, energy-to-get-rid-of state of being housewives...American wives are given a sense of “identity, purpose, creativity, the self-realization, even the sexual joy they lack – by the buying of things.” (1963, pp.136-143) Friedan backs up this theory through her evidence of editorial decisions concerning women's magazines at the times, that were being made mostly by men. These articles featured the idealised images of happy housewives and advertisements for these specialised household products. Large women's magazines had no mention of public issues, international or national affairs as most women were subjected to be or should be, only interested in the family and the home, which is why these magazines published '90 per cent service and 10 per cent general interest.' (1963, p.157) This shows us the link in where advertising would follow on from social norms as this was the attitude at the time. As society has progressed we no longer see these editorial decisions or highly sexist advertisements as this view is outdated, and advertising is constantly moving forward to stick to the status quo.
Kim Sheehan discusses in 'Controversies in Contemporary Advertising' how these roles within society are set, specifically why and how stereotypes used within advertising remain effective today and how they set the margin for standards. Sheehan explains that stereotypes are used within advertising as advertisers are working within time and space constraints, therefore using these stereotypes are effective in quickly setting the scene and getting its intended message across to its viewers. Stereotypes convey characters quickly, and according to the social identity and expectancy theory, people want to belong to certain groups, and will act a certain way to fit in, as within the nature of our society, people want to cohere within each other . Advertising builds on this and continues to encourage the importance of appearance, which reinforce expectations that ultimately can set a standard of beauty and fitness. This importance begins in infancy and beauty standards today have now also been set for men. Male beauty is equated with physical strength, leading to attempts being made by us to attain this standard by purchasing products. (2004, p. 63) Stereotypes today however have very negative connotations, as many people believe they have the ability to reduce people or objects to classes based on inferences that are made from an individual or social context (Vanden Bergh & Katz, 1999, p.67) These stereotypes however have strong effects for advertising, the reason being is justified by the hypodermic needle theory, which determines the mass media's powerful influence on behaviour change. Gerbner agrues that "Mass media form the common mainstream of contemporary culture. They present a steady, repetitive and compelling system of images and messages...This unprecedented condition has a profound effect on the way we are socialised into our roles." (1993, p.25) Gender being of huge importance to our roles as they determine our identity; but society has set a standard where we must conform to the feminine or masculine characteristics of gender, and must be seen as two separate beings that appear and think in completely separate ways. Therefore throughout our history men and women have been assigned separate roles, women typically being the housewife while men being the breadwinners. This however in todays society is constantly challenged and is outdated, nonetheless advertisers tend to reflect a more limited representation of gender portrayals, [while] also creating negative portrayals, to get their message across it its viewers. These negative portrayals however can lead its audiences to believe that these depictions are correct; creating negative stereotypes 'through the media's power to create and transmit 'cultural meaning.' (Ferguson et al, 1990)
Fig. 1. Keep her where she belongs (1964) is a good example of the attitudes towards women in the 1940s-50s. Women in particular have been the victims for years in the past of being objectified and highly sexualised in the media. The camera in the media has been put to use for the male gaze, as the man is in a position of power, standing over the women who is passive. Demonstrating Berger’s theory that ‘Men act and women appear.’ (1972, pp.45-47) A lot of 1940s and 50s adverts put women in a derogative position, often suggesting that the route to social success is your desirability, to look good and to provide; while also reinforcing the relationship of power and dominance of men. This shoe advertisement establishes this by the use of sex in order to appeal to male audiences, by using a young, nude women. This was degrading for a women's self worth and intelligence and we can see here that this use of manipulative advertising is what Friedan identifies and rejects. The header 'Keep her where she belongs' reinforces the attitude of women as second class citizens, using powerful visual elements such as sex to emotionally sell the product rather than logically. This commercial motive reinforces what Friedan describes as the feminine mystique, which leads on to what Courtney & Whipple argue, that 'female homemaker portrayals may cause both men and women to believe that women are unable to function outside the home without the guidance of men. In addition, advertisements may influence people to believe that women are unable to make decisions or exert power in any type of situation outside the home. The passive role of women in advertisements may suggest that women depend on others and unable to actively make decisions on their own.' (1983, p203)
The advertisement - Fig. 2. Wonderbra: I Can't Cook. Who Cares? (1999) is a more modern version Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. Although the advertisement rejects the ‘perfect housewife’ role, it still shows the importance of physical apparence women are deemed to should have. As the imagery suggests, the woman can make up for not having the 'womanly' skill of cooking by having large breasts. Sheehan states that "sexual appeal is a strong psychological appeal and sexual imagery has been shown to have a stronger persuasive ability for men than for women. The advertisement presents this standard of beauty and fitness, in which attempts are made to attain it anyway by purchasing products" (2004, p.156) often advertised as well as in women’s magazines. Friedan also identifies the persuasive power that advertisers have to compel you into buying these products so you can maintain this standard of beauty, shown in Fig.2. The significant number of advertisements relating to fashion or beauty products are modeled by artificial portrays of women, who bear little or no relation to the reality of women across the world, creating a false ideal for women who strive for the unachievable. These idealised images are often shown within magazines, as Friedan pinpoints that large women’s magazines had no mention of public issues, international or national affairs. (1963, p.157) Despite a major shift today with attitudes towards women, this idealised image of women is still continually being reinforced by advertisements today within women’s magazines. A study analysed 590 advertisements in three women's interest magazines from October 2012 to April 2013. It was found that the top three product categories advertised were food and drink, personal care, and laundry and household products (Beane, 2013, p.1-4). This determines this ideology to be hugely influential in changing our perceptions about what we think we need and want.
However, Sheehan states that there is much more of a pressure on men nowadays to equally be a dominant figure of beauty. An increasing number of advertisements are showing men as sex objects. Some advertisements have gone some way of subjectifying men as 'eye candy, Fig. 3. Calvin Klein, Concept (2012) demonstrates this. Calvin Klein’s range of advertisements uses this idealised physique to a large degree, most if not all of the male models shown have large, muscular physiques. These advertisements uses this powerful visual imagery, as Berger proposes that 'it suggests to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more.' (1972, p.131) An investigation into Males, Masculinity, and Consumption undertook a study of male body obsession and found that advertisements for everything from cars to underwear were using bodybuilder images with 'washboard abdominal muscles.' This idelasied male figure is now plastered everywhere almost just as much as women. They argued that, 'as traditional masculine roles have eroded with women gaining greater equality in society, men have become more preoccupied with muscularity because it is still perceived as a cultural symbol of masculinity. Expanding eating disorders within men after being overexposed to idealised male bodies in advertising.' (Kimmel and Tissier-Desbordes, 1999, p.34)
However, in todays modern time there is a lot opposing this idea, for example posters and advertisements emphasising that women have the right to dress how she likes and demands sexual satisfaction from men. In addition it can question social norms and attitudes and raise awareness. Fig 4. Nike Men vs. Women (2009) ad campaign is a good example of how today advertising is using both genders to convey its initial messages across, using playful implications to equally attract both men and women to join the battle of the genders. It implies that exercising can also be a powerful race to dominance yet also fun, encouraging us to run more, ultimately implying that you need these trainers to be part of the gender battle and prove you are the more dominant gender. Although the implication to exercise and run more is positive, the overall concept using both genders in a battle of the genders reinforce the segregated notions of gender. As Butler states - "no identity exists behind the acts that supposedly "express" gender, and these acts constitute—rather than express—the illusion of the stable gender identity. Furthermore, if the appearance of “being” a gender is thus an effect of culturally influenced acts, then there exists no solid, universal gender: constituted through the practice of performance, the gender "woman" (like the gender "man") remains contingent and open to interpretation and "resignification." (1990, p.25) A better solution to gender equality would be to see both genders equal, side by side in no battle, both as one. However, no advertisers display perfectly rounded people with full and meaningful lives, unless they have an underlying motive to sell a product. There is a level of materials for social prestige and influence on the way we think, as Berger confirms 'advertisements suggest to the client that the purchase of this product will produce happiness, satisfaction, and most importantly the envy of peers.' (1972, p.152)
In conclusion, all theories noted are proven to be legitimate and are demonstrated through the specific advertisements shown. The mass media is constantly surrounding us and uses this hypodermic needle theory to influence what we think and to encourage us to the socially constructed roles of gender considered appropriate by society. Gender however as Butler argues is a performance, and should not define or segregate ourselves just because of biological characteristics. Although using traditional stereotypes is a key tool within advertising, these stereotypes can help within assisting the margin for set standards. Although these standards are not set by advertising, they are certainly reinforced by advertising and all the advertising system just makes us feel inadequate, and tricks us into buying beauty products, gym memberships and more to attain the set standard, rather than completely constructing our ideas of gender. Societal norms have evolved through tradition, religion, biology, customs etc. Advertising may play a role in this but for the most part the gender roles that we have been assigned have evolved over a very long period of time and through a lot of complex cultural influences. Although in today's society our ideas and conventions of gender have certainly shifted, they are by no means overcome. Advertising however will continue to progress with us rather than against us and stick to the status quo. We will never know whether these ideas of gender will completely shift, but we are constantly progressing, however we probably will not live to see the full extent of this progression.
Fig. 1. Keep her where she belongs (1964)
Fig. 2. Wonderbra: I Can't Cook. Who Cares? (1999)
Fig. 3.
Calvin Klein, Concept (2012)
Fig 4. Nike Men vs. Women (2009)
Bibliography
Berger, J (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Harmondsworth Penguin.
Friedan, B (1963) The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.
Sheehan, K. (2004). Controversies in Contemporary Advertising. California: SAGE Publications
Beane, A. (2013) Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications - 2013 Vol. 4 No. 2
Allan J. Kimmel and Elisabeth Tissier-Desbordes (1999) ,"Males, Masculinity, and Consumption: an Exploratory Investigation", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 4, eds. Bernard Dubois, Tina M. Lowrey, and L. J. Shrum, Marc Vanhuele, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research
