Advertising to 40+ Women
We here at More feel it is time to change the representation of older women in the world of advertising, starting first with our own publication. In order to find answers to the problem of women over 40 lacking a voice and presence in magazine advertisements, we have enlisted the help of several advertising agencies. Each company was asked to devise a unique plan of action to better included mature women in our ads. The following three advertising agencies—GSD&M, Kaplan Thaler, and Dimassimo—have been selected because their individual approaches to our dilemmas were most successful in their accurate portrayal of older women. So read on and discover how these creative advertisers were able to not only solve our advertising problem, but also how they were able to expand and diversify our world of advertising by including people that look and think like you.
Over the last few decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of women receiving college educations and a decrease in gender discrimination due to federal law. These two societal factors have helped the average woman to attain a higher paying job than ever before in our history. Presently, women are earning over half of all accounting degrees, 4 out of 10 law degrees, and just about that many medical degrees (Krotz 1). Therefore this gender group, which makes up about half of the American population, has a lot of monetary power. As a result, when women reach the peak of their earning power, they will have money to burn (Krotz 1). Women reach this peak around the age of 40 or older. In the last year alone, of all the women who purchased a new car, 53% were over 40 and so were 60% of those who bought new computers (Quinlan53). Evidently, the majority of buyers are older women. So why then is there a noticeable lack of this age group of women in magazine advertisements?
This is due to the simple fact that “there’s an 18-34 demographic desirability locked into corporate America’s mindset” (Quinlan 53). As a CEO of an advertising agency, Mary Quinlan can identify very well with the lack of mature women in the media. She relates to us, “I’ve sat in too many casting sessions where I’d hear, ‘We need one older woman to round out these models.
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel born November 15 1891 in Heidenheim, Germany was one of the greatest military generals Germany has ever seen possibly one of the greatest of the entire 19th century. He would later go on to command huge Nazi military campaigns across the globe with the rank of field marshall. Ever since he was a young boy Rommel was fascinated by how things worked and their efficiency this later proved useful when it came to military strategies and techniques he used during his service . By the age of fourteen Rommel had already built a hang glider with his peers, he also managed to take a part and put back together a brand new motorcycle. His plans for the future were to become an engineer considering his interest in mechanics and technology but took a change of course when he accepted his fathers wishes to join the military. At the age of 18 he joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a Fähnrich, this was the start of his legendary military legacy. Two years later he completed officer school he graduated as a second lieutenant. When chaos in the north eastern hemisphere broke out with the Assassination of the archduke Fran Ferdinan. Germany along with most of the European countries entered the war because of their military alliances with one another in August 1914, which would later become the first world war ever fought in history. This is where Rommel found his reputation in battle as his battalion fought they lost a quarter their officers. Rommel was constantly moving to the front to lead the fight. In a battle with the french Rommel fired a shot downing two french men he quickly reloaded his weapon and went to take...
The early Islamic Empire expanded by war, and making peace. In Document A: Battle of the Yarmuk, it talks about the war going on between the Muslims and The Greeks. Then Document B: Treaty of Tudmir, it talks about a treaty that the Muslims made with Theodemir, which was the Christian King of the region in southern Spain.
...he female gender. Taking a closer look however, reveals a meaning and message that while probably not planned for, could have sparked the women of the 1950s to become uncomfortable with the way that their lives had turned, and to lead the way for the next cultural revolution of the times. The 1960s that followed would see many of the traditional values held by American women altered or discarded altogether, and would eventually lead to how women in America live today. While some stereotypes do still exist, possibly this generation can do what the generation that gave birth to the baby boomers did, and start our own revolution. Advertising is a large part of our everyday lives, so good or bad we take what we see in – it’s just what we do with it that counts, as the reaction to the ads of the 1950s taught us that sexist advertising can lead to great societal changes.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. "The Muslim Empires: The Ottoman Empire.” Glencoe World History. New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2005. p.484-489. Print.
In today’s media we have copious amounts of ads thrown at us, with a large segment of these ads actually depicting women as objects. There are some “. . . so called ‘cutting-edge’ advertising techniques that continue to thrive on old ideas including the objectification and dismemberment of w...
This phenomenon suggests that all women are required to remain loyal wives and stay at home mothers who aspire to achieve perfection. In “Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images,” Jonathon E. Schroeder and Detlev Zwick claim that “highly abstract connections are made between the models, a lifestyle, and the brand” resulting in a need to associate these products with a specific way of living (25). Instead of simply displaying these luxurious bracelets and handbags, the ad creates an elegant environment through the incorporation of sophisticated items. The women are dressed elegantly in dresses and blouses, adding a conservative element to the ad. The ad presents a rather stereotypical image of the very successful heads-of-household type mothers who have brunch with other elite women in an exclusive circle. Everything from the merchandise they sport to the champagne glasses down to the neatly manicured fingernails provides insight into the class of women presented in this ad. The body language of the women strips the image of the reality element and instead appears to be staged or frozen in time. This directly contributes to the concept of the gendered American dream that urges women to put up a picture-perfect image for the world to see. Instead of embracing individual struggle and realities, the American dream encourages women to live out a fabricated
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
Rommel’s rise to power started in world war two but he was in the army during world war one. In world war one he fought in Italy, Romania, and France. He quickly became known for his bravery and ability to make quick choices while under the pressure of the war. He was very good tactically and made some tough decisions. He led many missions behind enemy lines in the cover of darkness. He would ambush enemies from behi...
During the period preceding the beginning of World War II, women were portrayed as having limited importance and impact on the functions of the nation. The authors of “A Woman’s Place: An Analysis of the Roles Portrayed by Women in Magazine Advertisements” are Alice E. Courtney and Sarah Wernick Lockeretz. Courtney is an author who frequently addresses the topic of sex roles in advertising in her writings. Lockeretz is also participates in the research of the roles of women in advertising and their portrayals. In the aforementioned article, they note that many pre-WWII advertisements “reinforce the impression that women are rarely shown in important activities outside the home” (94). Women were more commonly shown in positions of housewives and what were considered insignificant roles in the work force. The few working roles women appeared in included entertainers, assembly line workers, stewardesses, schoolteacher, and jobs regarding food preparation. These common depictions of women in the work force exemplify the assumption that women lacked the capacity to participate in important and significant
... This is inferred because the articles are about current celebrities and their lives. These would interest those women more than it would a fifty year old man. One can also say that the reader will not see an article about fishing in People magazine because that is not relevant to the target audience. Magazines also have advertisements that would appeal to that target audience. People has advertisements for items such as makeup and face wash which would appeal to young adult women and not an older woman who is in her sixties or seventies. Just like with the articles, one can say that the reader will not find an advertisement for Viagra or for Copenhagen chewing tobacco. It is not relevant to the target audience. This is how a magazine becomes successful and sells a lot of issues. It would not sell as much if it did not stay focused on a particular target audience.
….But it is not really a story for young children, particularly since it ends with the image of the girl’s cold corpse, found on the sidewalks of the city on New Year’s Day. Death is everywhere in fairy tales, but it often takes a grotesque, retaliatory turn. In “Hansel and Gretel,” the witch is shoved into the very oven she had planned to use to roast the children. Because the witch is so bloodthirsty and cruel, there
Are we selling products or selling sex? Ads have changed throughout the years to make products sexier. Marketing reps make everything about sex. What happened to just selling the liquor for its taste, smell, or social drinking? Advertisers have changed all the suggestive selling ideas from innocent fun to what the brain sees as a normal nowadays, by ads revolving around sexuality. The consumer realize that if you flaunt a half-naked woman in a picture, that the majority will consider to drink that type of liquor hoping to have some of the various effects that they see portrayed in the advertisement will occur for them. Promotional campaigns have changed the way we perceive women on a daily basis. Women are seen as
The next morning when they awoke they found that their father and stepmother had abandoned them. Gretel immediately began to cry and was extremely scared. What will we do now Hansel, said Gretel?
Early studies on gender role portrayals in US print advertising documented the presence of a number of stereotypes in the way women and men were depicted in advertising (e.g. Belkaoui and Belkaoui 1976; Courtney and Lockeretz 1971; Sexton and Haberman 1974; Venkatesan and Losco 1975). Studies found that women were found primarily at home or in domestic settings. Women were under represented in working situations and were shown in a narrow range of occupations typically in secretarial, clerical, or blue-collar positions. A large majority of advertisements showed women as preoccupied with physical attractiveness and as sex objects. Men, on the other hand, were shown in a range of occupational roles in settings away from home such as work or outdoors.
The average American is exposed to hundreds of advertisements per day. Advertisements targeted toward females have an enormous effect on women's thoughts, attitudes, perceptions, and actions. Most of the time, women don't even realize these advertisements are formulating self-image issues. These ideals surround them daily and they become naturalized to the ads. Advertising creates an entire worldview persuading women to emulate the images they see all around them. In order to create a market for their products, companies constantly prey upon women's self esteem, to feel like they aren't good enough just the way they are. This makes women constantly feel stressed out about their appearance (Moore). Advertising has a negative effect on women's body image, health, and self-esteem.