Advertising: The Representation of women in advertising

Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising


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?

Mistry suggests that since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual orientation of the subjects are markedly ambiguous. In essence, there are also a growing number of homosexual images- and these are far removed from depictions of the camp gay employed as the comic relief elsewhere in the mainstream media. 

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

Prior to the war, feminists had been articulating the idea of women having their own plans and careers; but soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate. 
Looking at women's magazine's in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims that this led to the creation of the 'feminine mystique'.

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 increasingly portrayed as decorative (empty) objects. This prominently occurs in perfume advertisements where one of the most common images here is that of the ' fair maiden' 

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

Laura Mulvey's Male gaze refers to the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings). This has been 'organised' by society's patriarchal definition of looking as a male activity, and being looked at as a female 'passivity'.

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

The New woman was meant 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 asserts that the New Woman claim that a women should look forward to dressing for the office and having a job is seen as merely to provide another happy occasion for women to dress up. indeed a woman is portrayed stepping confidently towards the camera in an office environment and observed by a male colleague therefore is not portrayed as working.

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

Barthel notes that today, young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power without threatening them and reassuring that underneath the suit they are still women. 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?

Christian Dior make up attempts to make themselves sexually attractive and that her sexuality is for her own enjoyment. however, Richard dyer claims that such images are a misrepresentation of women's liberation with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very undelivered coy sexiness. showing that all that is left is a women who continues to be a spectacle.

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?

The pr team was trying to court the female market with the summer beach body featuring a tanned fit blond women  

2) Why was it controversial?

The claim for this advert was: 'Are you beach body ready?', which invited many readers to think about their figures, but the reason as to why this advert was critisised was because the image of the model would shame women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a skinning supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in public.

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

That thin women are accepted by society as beach ready and that if you use their product you too will be beach body ready and reach the healthy but desired weight. 

4) How did some audiences react?

Consumers chose to disagree because when people began to campaign against the poster's sexual portrayal, a change.org petition signed by 71,000 urged the ASA to take the adverts down.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages and the goal was to to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety.

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

Now the audience can actively express their opinions to others and discuss and give feedback to a campaign or end it. 

7) 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 theory to the beach body campaign as the women is being objectified for the male gaze and the camera is directly sexualising the women and she also reinforces unrealistic but western beauty standards of thin and light. 

8) 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 do think that representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years because during the 1950s, women were perceived as obedient and innocent and also quite passive. However, as time has gone on, women are now able to challenge these traditional norms of women. Also there is an increasing tolerance of gender fluidity and non- binary gender in today's day and age.