Topic: Representations of Masculinity in Advertisements A way of doing gender
Intro:
Masculine images typically convey power, strength, , athleticism, and competitiveness whereas feminine images show beauty, submissiveness, nurturance, and cooperation. Such themes appear repeatedly in popular culture (including advertisements) and are often accepted by those who see them as natural aspects of the human condition. The subject of this essay is the representation of gender in advertising. The focus will be on the story that advertising tells about masculinity and femininity and how it models and idealizes certain roles and behaviors while ignoring others. These particular ads are intended to draw attention to the range of ideas in contemporary advertising. The representations of gender in these
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In Judith Lorber and Patricia Yancey Martin’s chapter “The Socially Constructed Body” they state, “The equation of big size, strong muscles, and “true masculinity” is a pervasive theme in U.S. culture. They go on to show how in our society we are bias to men being tall and put together.
According to Bordo , to present the man in the action of exhibiting himself as a physical object would feminize him. If the body must be presented, as in the case of a man in his underwear, additional visual elements must be present to preserve his masculinity. I will be using this to further explain my arguments of how Axe commercials homogenizes the stereotypical characteristics of what a man should be or should be able to do. Critically, ads influence how we think about masculinity and femininity, what is sexy, and what will be seen as attractive by desired others. Standard advertising poses generally signal men’s dominance over submissive women, be it through physical, financial, or psychological
Professors Carrie Packwood and Debra Merskin, authors of the essay “Having It His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food Advertising”, repudiate the stereotypical macho behaviors that are used in several commercials to build a reputation for men while women are used as objects. Media use this stereotype to sell nearly every product; being fast food, beer, and cars on top of the list. Furthermore, Packwood and Merskin claim that advertisement present men, compared to women, as superior individuals with total freedom who see women as prizes. The perfect macho type is a strong resource to sell beer; the Tui beer commercial “Temptations can be dangerous, stay focused” applied this stereotype, where men are on the spotlight and women
In Susan Bordo’s essay “Beauty Rediscovers the male body”, Bordo stresses the changes on the concern of the male body and how the male body is depicted in advertisements. Bordo demonstrates her stance on male advertising with graphic images of male bodies with intense descriptions. In the 1990s there was this emergence of male models depicted in a more sexual way. As Bordo states in her essay, the images of these
Schroeder, Jonathan & Zwick, Detlev, Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images: Consumption, Markets and Culture, (Volume 7: March 2004)
Advertising, whether criticized or celebrated, is undeniably a strong force in American society. Portrayals and Images of women have long been used to sell in published advertisements. However, how they have been used has changed enormously throughout the decades. Women have fought to find a lasting and prominent position in their society. Only in the span of twenty years, between 1900’s and 1920’s, the roles of women changed dramatically here in United States.
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
Katz states that “physical size and strength for many men have become increasingly important to proving manhood” (Katz 3). He blames mainstream media for creating stereotypes of what men should look like and how they should act if they want to be a manly man. Action films starring, buff, male actors is one example he uses that portrays a tough guy image. He goes on to say that men are challenged by woman in education and in profession so the belief to have the advantage of being stronger and bigger in build result proving how important physical appearance is to man (Katz 2). The way he explains it is that men are to be seen as violent and more powerful or they won’t be seen as a manly man. Katz stresses on the idea of stereotypical images of men and the expectations that are put on men because of how much it can affect them at a young
Weber, B.R. (2006). What makes the man? Television makeovers, made-over masculinity, and male body image. International Journal of Men's Health, 5(3). Retrieved April, 8, 2008, from EBSCOhost Research Database.
“Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images, they sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success, and perhaps most important, normality.” Jean Kilbourne, a media critic, goes into great detail of this disgrace to modern society in her documentary, “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising 's Image of Women.” Many people like Kilbourne could argue that women have falsely been depicted as a minority to men over the years. All different forms of advertising have been guilty of womanizing in this way at one time or another. Some of the largest companies have been caught displaying woman in a sexual and desirable way in order to sell products; some even make the woman seem weak or dependable on a male figure. While many companies are guilty of the form of advertisement described in Kilbourne’s video, a handful of corporations bring hope into our often sexist society. One particular Nike ad contradicts Kilbourne’s theory of worsening feminization by showing a ruthless, successful female athlete. However, when analyzed, an Old Spice ad suggests that women are subjective to men, proving Kilbourne’s theory to have some truth.
In Gender Advertisements, Goffman analysed the ways in which popular media constructs masculinity and femininity through looking at more than 500 advertisements. Goffman’s studies showed a clear contrast in the ways in which both men and women are presented to society. Generally, women held lower gazes whilst men looked straight on; men were strong in their grip whilst women were lighter and more delicate; women were more melodramatic whilst men were stoic and controlled etc. Overall, Goffman argued that the relationship between men and women was presented as a parent-child relationship – men are powerful whilst women represent subordination (Goffman,
Advertising sends gender messages to both men and women. Advertising tells women how they should look and act, and it tells men to expect women to look and act that particular
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.
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...
Advertising surrounds the world every second of the day. This form of influence has had the power to influence how society views gender roles ever since men and women began to appear in advertisements. Through the exposure to many different gender portrayals in advertising, gender roles become developed by society. This stems from how men and women are depicted, which forms stereotypes regarding the individual roles of men and women. People often shift their definition of an ideal image towards what they see in advertisements. From this, they tend to make comparisons between themselves and the advertisement models. Advertisements tend to be brief, but impactful. The different portrayals of men and women in advertising show that advertisements
To sum up, it is often said that advertising is shaping women gender identity, and some have been argued that the statement is true, because of the higher amount of sexual references of women that advertisement show and the damages that occur on women’s personality and the public negative opinions of those women. As well, the negative effects that those kinds of advertisements cause to young generations and make them feel like they should simulate such things and are proud of what they are doing because famous actors are posting their pictures that way. Others deem this case as a personal freedom and absolutely unrelated to shaping women gender identity. On the contrast, they believe that, those sorts of advertisements are seriously teaching women how to stay healthy and be attractive, so they might have self-satisfaction after all.
Curry and Clarke’s article believe in a strategy called “visual literacy” which develops women and men’s roles in advertisements (1983: 365). Advertisements are considered a part of mass media and communications, which influence an audience and impact society as a whole. Audiences quickly begin to rely on messages sent through advertisements and can create ideologies of women and men. These messages not only are extremely persuasive, but they additionally are effective in product consumption in the media (Curry and Clarke 1983: