Advertising And Print Media Advertising

Introduction:

An advertisement is a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, or service (“advertisement”). Companies use various forms of media to get their advertisements across, as seen on television, billboards, in newspapers, magazines and they are even heard through the radio. Print media advertising refers to the use of advertisements in physically printed media. This includes platforms such as newspapers, magazines, billboards and posters. Though consumers may not always be paying attention, the repetitive flow from the constant bombardment of advertising that is received, embeds itself within their brains (Berkers, 2014). The power of advertising and the large scale of its production allows for it to mould opinions. With the constant access to advertisements through various media platforms that people now have access to, the influence that advertisements have on a person’s individualism or values has increased. Many products are bought not because they are ‘needed’ but rather because of the strong advertising of that said product has made the consumers want it. If companies are able to influence people into buying products simply because of smart and innovative advertising campaigns, who is to say that the perpetual stream of product promotions that are seen have not influenced the perception of society and moulded opinions. Advertisements found in magazines alone deliver more advertisement impressions than TV or the Web in a half-hour period (McPheters & Company) which mean that they often mirror and shape society’s values, therefore creating and supporting misinformed ideals and stereotypes. Gender in advertising influences how individuals are shaped and encourages taking on appropriate gender role...

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...he portrayal of women in advertising is due to the hyper reality that the advertising world is set in, which needs clearly demarcated gender roles. Advertiser’s use of gender rather than sex sets up this hyper realistic world. The term ‘sex’ refers to the biological distinction while ‘gender’ is specific to the cultural arrangement of men and women. The conventionalised portrayals of men and women in society are what advertisements rely on heavily as they are an extremely concentrated reflection of aspects of society. The images presented in advertising are constantly debated in regard to how true or false they are portrayed, but it should be taken as that advertisements are “neither false nor true reflections of social reality because they are in fact part of social reality…as they are hyper-ritualised that emphasise some gender displays and de-emphasize others.”