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Objectification of women in advertising
Objectification of women in advertising
Advertising and women's image
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How, according to John Fiske, is television programming gendered?
According to John Fiske, advertisers appeal to the needs of their target audiences. Television producers base their program lineup on whether they’re appealing to the male or female gender. Depending on which audience they’re attempting to reach out to is how the schedulers and producers will set up their programming and then they will consider the needs of their clients being the target audience.
Why is male camaraderie such a common motif in “men’s men” advertising, according to Craig?
Male camaraderie is an escape from the overpowering of feminization and provides men with the time to spend with each other bonding over such things as sports, beer and cars which is what the advertisers see as a way to connect with men in their commercials. If they provide the fantasy of male camaraderie with their products during a commercial that is being shown during a general male television program that one usually watches with other males, the man might see the product as appealing to him because it relates to what he likes to do, which includes having fun with his buddies/ male comrades.
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What roles do men tend to play in the two types of commercials aimed at women?
In a “men’s men” commercial, women aren’t usually seen much unless they’re their as a sexual object of affection that is used to persuade the man that if he uses this particular product the “sexy” woman will want
It’s clear that those advertisements try to make an impact on our buying decisions. We can even say they manipulate viewers by targeting specific group of people or categorizing them so they could have a feeling this product is intended for them or what he or she represents. For instance, they use gender stereotypes. Advertises make use of men and woman appearance or behavior for the sake of making the message memorable. Therefore, most effective and common method is to represent a woman as a sexual object. They are linked with home environment where being a housewife or a mother is a perfect job for the. In other hand men are used more as work done representations. They are associated with power, leadership and efficiency. Those stereotypes make the consumer categorize themselves and reveals the mainstream idea of social status each gender needs to be to fit in and what products they are necessary to have to be part of that
The gendered patterns in advertising that Craig outlines in his essay still exist today, in commercials of how men and women are portrayed. In Steve Craig’s, “Men’s Men and Women’s Women,” it is stated that large advertisers and their agencies have evolved the pseudo-scientific method of time purchasing based on demographics, with the age and gender of the consumer generally considered to be the most important predictors of purchasing behavior. Therefore, Craig argues that computers make it easy to match market research on product buying patterns with audience research on television viewing habits, eventually building a demographic profile of the “target audience.” According to an article titled Web Advertising: Gender Differences in Beliefs, Attitudes and Behavior, previous research suggests males and females exhibit different beliefs about and attitudes toward traditional media advertising along with different advertising-suppressed consumer behaviors. Craig talks about how in John Fiske’s book, Television Culture (1987, Chs.
When Americans think of masculinity, they often see an unemotional, assertive, and muscular man. This identity is broadcast all over America and young boys and men are soaking it up like sponges. During the Super Bowl every year, companies display commercials that are intended to subconsciously show men how they’re supposed to carry themselves. For instance, in the Miller Lite commercial “Man card”, four friends are at a club when they see their friend sweet talking to a girl in the corner and they proceed to tell him to “Man up”. Also in the next clip the same 3 guys are playing football when they see the other guy riding a scooter and they proceed to tell him what he’s doing is “unmanly”.
Competitive sports and risky outdoor activities have always been a favorite past time for adult men. This is one of many stereotypes that have been enclosed on most American men throughout time and for this reason many companies have used this specific stereotype to attract men into buying their products. In this commercial Toyota uses one of the many typical stereotypes placed on men and uses specific color techniques to emphasize the stereotype used in the ad. Toyota’s advertisement reinforces this stereotype that men tend to compete in outdoor activities.
Rajecki, D. W., Dame, J., Creek, K., Barrickman, P. J., Reid, C. A., & Appleby, D. C. (1993). Gender Casting in Television Toy Advertisements: Distributions, Message Content Analysis, and Evaluations. Journal Of Consumer Psychology (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), 2(3), 307.
Advertising has become a means of gender socialization because it is a way for people to learn the “gender map” that lays out the expectations for men and women based on their sex.
Men and women both drive cars, it’s a simple necessity to be able go to work for most people, however, from the commercials on television, one would assume that men are the primary purchasers of cars. In Steve Craig’s essay, Men’s Men and Women’s Women, he analyzes four commercials to illustrate how advertisers strategically targets the viewers. Craig argues that advertisers will grasp the attention of the viewer by the gender ideals that both men and women have of each other. Not only do advertisers pick a target audience demographic, but they also will target the audience at specific time to air their commercials. By analyzing an Audi and Bud Light commercial, one can see that Craig arguments are true to an extent but it appears that commercials have gone from an idealized world to a more realistic and relatable stance. for are still [true, however it seems that commercials may have altered to appear more realistic.] [relevant to an extent. This is to say, it appears that advertisers may have altered their commercial tactics. ]
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
The commercials were mainly directed at men. Every single advert glorified masculinity, except one, where a man’s “sensitivity” being referenced as a reason his partner chose to have a relationship with him. This advert depicts a woman at a car dealership, describing her dream car as a “perfect.” Seconds later an attractive man comes to the desk holding a pup...
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.
Where commercials that are selling a product to women focus on beauty or the ease of use using wording like sleek clean lines, soft, makes life easier. This is because men are portrayed as being masculine and being responsible for outdoor chores like lawn maintenance where as women are portrayed as delicate and weak and tend to be in charge of daily in home chores like cooking, and cleaning. While analyzing the genders used in the commercials and what the roles were we found that the women tended to do the shopping and asking the questions about products and the men seemed to be bored and were there to pay the bill and be the one responsible for the assembly of the product purchased. The colors of the products being sold play important role as well. Men seem to be more attracted to darker or bolder colors like black, red, green, and blue where products for women are usually lighter or softer colors like white, or pastels.
The Web essay on Male Gaze by the authors Thomas Streeter, Nicole Hintlian, Samantha Chipetz, and Susanna Callender on the University of Vermont website discusses the exploitation of the male gaze in advertising and provides several convincing examples to explain its impact on women. Male Gaze has been a long tradition in western art, where women are represented as objects to be viewed by male viewers. This tradition continues in modern advertising and the omnipresence of this tradition has made it so that "Women watch themselves being looked at" (Berger, 1973, p.47). Through the ages and even in modern times, advertisements assume man as the ideal spectator therefore women are acclimatized to look at themselves through the eyes of a man. I completely agree with the authors that the advertisers understand the power and tradition of the male gaze and exploit it even in modern times, and the primary spectator is the male.
Johnson, F. (2002). Gendered voices in children's television advertising. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19 (4), 461-481.
The portrayals of men in advertising began shifting towards a focus on sexual appeal in the 1980s, which is around the same that women in advertising were making this shift as well. According to Amy-Chinn, advertisements from 1985 conveyed the message that “men no longer just looked, they were also to be looked at” as seen in advertisements with men who were stripped down to their briefs (2). Additionally, advertisements like these were influencing society to view the male body “as an objectified commodity” (Mager and Helgeson 240). This shows how advertisements made an impact on societal views towards gender roles by portraying men as sex objects, similarly to women. By showcasing men and women in little clothing and provocative poses, advertisements influenced society to perceive men and women with more sexual
Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. Stereotyping women is not only rampant in the adult world; it also flourishes in the kiddie universe as well.