Analysis of Women in Advertising

Analysis of Women in Advertising

(All advertisements referenced in this document can be found in The Practice of Writing, Fifth Edition published by Bedford/St Martin’s)

Since the advent of advertising in printed media women have been featured and targeted by various companies as a key demographic. The goal has always been the same, though the methods of reaching women have changed drastically in the last century. The image of women in advertising has evolved from primarily a homemaker into the role of the liberated woman making her own way in the world.

In a 1913 ad for Shredded Wheat we see women being marketed toward in a unique way. We see a somewhat prudish woman in a petticoat with the same hairdo we would expect our grandmothers to have holding up a biscuit of Shredded Wheat. The ad tells us that women have the right to vote for the first time in the nation’s history, and that theme is used to sell the Shredded Wheat. We are told that a vote for Shredded Wheat is a vote for healthy living and a clean household. The ad clearly views women as nothing more than homemakers, but is using the call to vote in the next Presidential Election as a way to sell its product.

By 1922 the image of women has grown in the popular media and ads seem to now focus more on the single woman . In an ad for Resinol Soap we see a woman wistfully gazing at a fire and dreaming of her own wedding day. The belief seems to be that a woman needs a man in her life to feel good about herself and the ad lets the women know that they will need clear skin to achieve this goal. While the image of women in general has evolved slightly in the 9 years between the first and second ads, we are still shown an image overall that a woman must find a man to be happy.

Our next piece is a Lux Soap ad from 1934. Again, the view of the modern woman has evolved, but not by as drastic of a margin as between the first and second ads. We’re shown a career woman who works for a national radio station who is becoming a screen star in the new medium of film. This ad is an early example of the testimonial ad, the woman in the ad was well known at the time and she extols the virtues of the product and makes a claim to use it. This ad also seems to be an early example of today’s advertising practice; telling a woman she’s below the standard and that this product can make he...

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... years, where we first saw women being shown as simple homemakers we now see women being used purely as props to sell a product. Where a woman was once viewed as a respectable mother, wife, and homemaker she’s now viewed as an object, mere eye candy placed in the ad with no other goal but to look good and get the attention of the viewer. While the role of women in modern society has evolved enormously advertising agencies seem to actually de-evolved their view of the woman. In the last 100 years women have gained the right to vote, control over their own bodies through the widespread acceptance of contraceptive solutions, equal rights, and equal pay.

Ad agencies on the other hand see women now merely as objects to be used and some would say exploited just to sell a product. It’s little wonder that so many women today suffer from esteem issues given the imagery of unattainable standards of supposed feminine beauty they are bombarded with on a daily basis in all forms of printed advertising. Advertising agencies believe women are nothing more than props today, place one in the proper spot and watch the product fly off the shelves, when in reality “you’ve come a long way, baby!”.