Gender Representation in advertising &

Gender Representation in advertising &

Social Construct

So do advertisements Objectify Men too?

This video focuses on the influential role

that product marketing and advertisements

play in the social construct of gender identity.

In recent years sexualized images of men have increased in media and are based on masculinity. This masculinity is expressed through a strong, physical muscular image of an athletic bodied male.

This masculinity is used as a tool that consumers manipulate to achieve gender identity. The products are juxtaposed with the male images of power, which hopes to show that the product

is an extension of the powerful man.

Gender

Representations

So How are Women Objectified & what effect is this having on society?

Advertising images display culturally segregated

idealist types of masculinity and femininity.

Throughout the progression of advertisement campaigns, when looking at social developments and patterns through history it is noticeable that they are sensitive to cultural codes of gender class and race.

Jean Kilbourne emphasizes that adverts sell more than just a product, they sell socially constructed values, often deemed to be the values that society should reinforce.

Advertising often promote a set of false ideals that women think they should achieve. This involves women having to look visually appealing and embodying societies perception of femininity. Marketing executives exploit women's bodies, the expectation is to be slim, have a flawless complexion and have overall general 'sex appeal'.

These idealist images are often portrayed as objects to be visually

appealing for the benefit of men, which has become the social norm.

The objectification tends to result in the de humanizing process which

neglects the emotional needs of women and increases a male dominated society.

The portrayal of feminine bodies as marketing objects further

contributes to the ongoing gender biased

stereotypes of women's roles in society.

Traditionally gender roles are so easily recognized by consumers they are presented obviously in the

imagery of mass media. These images are

not always reflective of social reality.

Gender images hit at the heart of an

individuals identity.

(Killing us softly 4: Advertising image of women, Jean Kilbourne)

Social construct of gender difference

Gender roles in

advertising

Sexual Objectification

Gender roles are a set of social and behavioral normality's within culture.

Gender roles are so much a routine in advertising does society sometimes forget to question them?

The difference in the objectification of men and women.

Advertisements use visual imagery of men and women to grab the attention of the audience as a persuasion technique.

Advertising companies create gender stereotypes in the designing of adverts in a hope to appeal to the large audience, they create a cultural expectation for the population to follow, the model of how a gender should act or appear.

However within the realm of the advertising world it is clear there is a fundamental difference

in the way that men and women are

portrayed and targeted.

Women are primarily depicted as sexual objects or agents and are stereotyped to gender expectations. Its argued that in today's culture this is an expectation for men too. Do you think this is true?

Men and women are shown in contrast with one and other in advertisements. Male dominance is key. The men shown as big and strong whereas the women are thin, fragile and weak. This is depicted in allot of adverts through the use of body language. The woman will be leaning in towards the man or underneath him. This leads to a women's power in society to become her looks.

Beautiful People: Helps to create

a connection between the product

and the consumer, allowing them to

feel if they purchase the product

they will be like the person in the advert.

(Jean Paul Gaultier )

(Calvin Klein)

Extrapolation: To draw large conclusions about a product when a very little about of facts are revealed by it.

Flattery: Building up a

consumers ego about

himself or herself if

they purchase the

product.

Advertisements depict the men and women in an ideological form. They have what is perceived by most of society as the perfect body image.

By presenting this to the consumers they feel that if they buy the product they would have a likeness to that model in the image, but in fact the body image is mostly false due to enhancements with technology.

Advertising

Techniques

(Dolce & Gabbana)

Social Construct

Association : Linking the product

to something that a viewer will

already enjoy or desire.

Influences on society

Social construct is how society groups people and how it privileges certain groups over others.

Intensity: Relating the product in question to event the advert portrays.

Researchers have found that exposure to sexual objectification can connect to:

• Depression
• low self esteem
• Disordered eating
• Substance abuse
• Rigid gender roles

Humor: Joined with product association, appearing to be fun creates an enjoyable sensation that a person can remember when deciding to purchase the product.

Sexual objectification can lead to self objectification. This occurs when men and women internalize objective messages as part of their self worth and constantly scrutinize themselves and others around them.

Its found in cases involving men that the development of how to build connections with women can be faulty due to this exposure.

Objectification can lead men to perceive women in a one dimensional entity and feel their purpose is only to fulfill sexual desires.

Tolerating sexual objectification has been found to increased women's anger, disgust and distrust towards men as a group.

These factors are becoming part of a productive

society of western main stream culture.

We are surrounded from birth to death in a media consumer society.

This society constructs gender representations and sexualized objectification's that will always be presented in modern culture.

It is important to learn how to understand criticize and interpret these images around us.

Do you think that the representation of men and women is becoming equal in today's society?

Do you think objectification sells products correctly or fairly?