Women in advertising

Gender in Advertising by Reena Mistry

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

•  She suggests that we have strayed from the ambiguous sexual identity and androgyny of the mid-90s into a much more explicit depiction of homosexuality that subverts the comical stereotypes and overall undermines the heteronormative and gender conforming narratives previously indulged by the media. 

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

• the idea that the only fulfillment a woman would feel would be fueled by domesticity, the idea that being a 'traditional' woman was empowering and an overall image of a feminine 'mystique' 

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

•  Women begun being seen as decorations and objects and this objectified gaze lead to representations of women being much more sexualised, the lady/whore binary opposition clearly played out within print advertising [the idea of innocence but also sensuality being present within women's representation in advertising].

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

•  Laura Mulvey. It refers to the idea that women exist to be looked at from a sexualised perspective and that women in media exist for male voyeuristic pleasures.

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

• Women were seen as independent, confident and assertive however since women had become accustomed to adhere to social views and present themselves in a way that was attractive to men, many adverts still presented this sub narrative. 

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?

•  Although, they depicted women in a progressive way. It was still fueled by superficiality and was less about the progression and more of a focus on how to be progressive and a 'new' woman and look good doing it. 

What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

•  That the progression and revolution that has occurred within advertising has had no impact on male power and their inadvertent dominance within our society and mainstream media. 

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

•  He suggests that although the hegemonic reading is a woman who is in power and owning her sexuality, the underlying connotations is that this liberation is merely a falsity and that these women are actually just turning themselves into a spectacle for male enjoyment despite that being the opposite to what they're trying to do.

Beach bodies vs Real bodies [MM54]

What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

• It was a picture of a woman, who fit into eurocentric beauty ideas, wearing a yellow bikini with copy that read 'Are You Beach Body Ready?'

Why was it controversial?

• It was a traditionally pretty white woman and excluded those who didn't fit into that body type- aesthetic ideology as it suggested that they weren't 'beach body ready'

What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

• That in order to be ready to be seen in public in your bikini, or swimwear, you must first lose weight or change your appearance until you look like this photoshopped - idolistic version of what, the societal 'we', believe a woman should look like.

How did some audiences react?

• Some women took to protest, in which they wore their bikinis around London in May of 2015, with many people boycotting their products in light of their social media response as well as the original campaign.

What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

• The Dove Real Beauty campaign had images of real women, with 'real' bodies of all ages, shapes and sizes used to promote Dove products.

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

• Social media allows people to attract attention on sensitive matters involved in advertising campaigns and 'call-out' the controversies or ignorance that may be included. Through this, they can bring awareness to a lack of political correctness and can even result in mass boycotts etc. of products.

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

• van Zoonen's theory on feminism and how the media depicts women links to the portrayal of women in both adverts, particularly the Protein World one as the woman fits into the stereotypical ideal women that the media has constructed and perpetuated through adverts since the 1950s. Hall's theory and the reception of these adverts can be seen through the responses, audiences can choose whether to view Dove's real beauty campaign as progressive despite still catering towards the 'look good, feel good' narrative even if it subverts the idea that looking good relates explicitly to the eurocentric aesthetics that dominate our media or as a static representation of diversity that does little to nothing to liberate audiences since the ratio of women who still have socially accepted and idolised features and those who don't is still rather shocking.

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 think that representations of women have changed however not as significantly as we would hope. Although, there is an undeniable shift in power dynamics and gender ambiguity, most women in advertising fail to represent the fluidity and overlap of femininity/masculinity and continue to fall into static stereotypes that have been around for years. Sexual liberation, self-confidence and assertiveness have all had a major impact on the representation of women and the empowerment of women as a marketing technique within corporate campaigns however whether this is positive or a play on the societal implicated insecurities in order to capitalise off of them it is entirely consequential. The representation of women has had a shift from passive, lady/whore, infantilised depictions of a fantasy bond girl to a sexually liberated femme fatale however the sacrifice of the in between - the 'real' woman and their confidence is seen as collateral damage as even today, body size, age, and the eurocentric beauty standards still dominate adverts from youtube adverts to almost half the pages in Vogue. There has been a change but as Jean Killbourne, eloquently put it, women are still not seen through the same lense as men are especially within advertising contexts.