Blog tasks: Representation of women in advertising

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

Advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous.

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

Soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate. The creation of 'feminine mystique' encompasses the fulfillment of their own femininity. 

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

Women were portrayed as 'decorative and empty objects'. The idea of a 'fair maiden' was created. This is when a female longs to have their self actualisation unlocked by a typically represented man. This is usually in the form of intellectual and sexual inferiority. 

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

Laura Mulvey contends that scopophilia (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'.

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

The idea of a 'New Woman' was being created. Van Zoonen says this included  'changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of the women's movement'

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?

Some images lead us to believe that they incorporate feminist ideals, but are actually 'used in such a way as to empty them of their progressive meaning'.

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

'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'

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

He says 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?

The advert – featured a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose – it generated so much controversy that in July 2015 the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority waded in.

2) Why was it controversial?

It deliberately shamed women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in summer.

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

The idea of the 'male gaze' was not intended but the prospect of getting females to like the advert went really wrong - it promoted ideals that are outdated and are idealistic.

4) How did some audiences react?

Some people signed a petition to take all the adverts in the US down whereas others campaigned by filming themselves in their own bkinis next to the billboard.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign employed an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women twice – first based on their own self-perception, and then based on that of a stranger.

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

We have the opportunity to voice our opinion on certain matters more than we used to.

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 of 'the female being a spectacle' to this because we see how women a=can be presenetd as idealistic and perfect but it can also challenge dominant and stereotypical patriarchal images of women. 

We can use hegemonic, negotiated and counter hegemonic readings to show how the adverts that are supposed to empower women sometimes do the opposite.

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?

Yes because they have gone from being pets to men to being at the forefront of the world. They have utilised their influence and their lack of privilege before to convey to people that they deserve better.