A Critical Comparison of the Gender Representations in Two Print Adverts

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A Critical Comparison of the Gender Representations in Two Print Adverts

Introduction

The representation of men and women in a stereotypical sense is very

different. The representations of women in mediated stereotypical

adverts are delicate, feminine, gentle and very beautiful, whereas men

are represented in a stereotypical way very differently. Men are

represented as powerful, strong, athletic, dirty, aggressive,

emotionless and have a strong camaraderie with other men. This

representation of the sexes is not a representation of reality though.

Images for magazines are mediated. Anything such as an image is

mediated, this is because the image is not the same as reality. If a

picture is taken of someone's head that is not reality, it is a

mediated close-up on someone's face. More mediation can take place of

the image is taken though, images can be airbrushed, stretched,

smoothed and changed to how the advertisers want. This is the reason

that people want to look like the men and women in the advert because

the seam physically perfect.

Adverts have a large affect on men and women, women especially on who

they should be and what they should look like. The problem with this

is that it is an unachievable goal for most people. Women and men who

don't feel comfortable with their self appearance can then become very

self-conscious on how people view their outer self. This can lead to

depression, due to this people can become very upset and have negative

emotions because they see them selves not to be a 'perfect' person.

The beauty myth is the influence that mediated representations of

people is how everyone should look and are able to, but they can't

because they choose not to do so. Advertisers do not do this on

purpose though. Companies especially cosmetic companies want people to

think that if they use a certain product they are advertising that

they can look like the beautiful person selling it. This is the reason

that some people think gender representations to be so important that

they can make people believe in cosmetic products.

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