Gender Roles in Advertising

Companies large and small rely upon advertisements for an increase in revenue and brand awareness. Though some advertisement campaigns are more successful than others, companies often have a good idea of the words, images, and tactics that will attract the positive attention of consumers. Companies know that advertisements can prey upon people’s weaknesses, fears, and biases in order to make them more likely to buy products. This means that advertising sheds light upon the thoughts and feelings of consumers and the general public as a whole. When a problematic advertisement appears, it likely represents a wider issue within the population at which the advertisement is aimed. By analyzing such advertisements, we are able to better understand the prejudices of the consumers that it may influence.

Sexist advertisements may be the most prevalent form of problematic advertising. This is not a new phenomenon; sexism can be seen in advertisements from decades past. In a 1961 print advertisement for Kenwood Chef food mixers, expected gender roles in society are clearly conveyed: “The Chef does everything but cook— that’s what wives are for!” The brand’s tagline says “I’m giving my wife a Kenwood Chef.” This advertisement is clearly aimed at married men and provides a glimpse into the mindset that men (as the ad’s intended audience) likely had at the time. They prided themselves on having wives who would do work for them, while their role as masculine figures was to control the money and buy the products that their wives needed. Men may have been convinced to buy the product because it would make it easier for women to make food, thus making women less likely to challenge their role. Any man who had yet to understand his superior place in society could easily learn his place through this ad. The advertisement likely also made women normalize and accept their place as society’s inferior workers. Despite being a simple print advertisement, it reveals quite a bit about society’s acceptance of sexist gender norms and how portraying those norms could impact people.

Though it has changed, societal sexism is still shown through advertisements. In a 2012 advertisement for Kellogg’s Special K cereal, a thin woman is shown in an elegant dress with a man looking at her from behind, interested in her appearance. The caption reads: “The look that makes him look again.” Unlike the 1961 ad for the Kenwood Chef, this advertisement is clearly aimed at women. This may display some of the progress that has been made in gender equality over time. Men were buying most goods in the early 1960s, but women have much more financial independence in the present day. Companies capitalize on that cultural shift by aiming more advertisements at women. However, sexist gender expectations remain. Women feel enormous pressure to appear attractive to men, and many women will go to great lengths to do so. Special K is attempting to convince women to buy their product because it will make women slimmer and more attractive. Women are pressured into the will to be the object of physical desire, so many women will feel compelled to be as attractive and desired as the woman shown in the advertisement. If a woman has not yet felt that societal compulsion, this advertisement shows her that she should put great effort into her appearance and attractiveness to men. To men, this advertisement perpetuates the norm that women are their sex objects. While it is undeniable that some progress has been made in gender equality since the 1960s, advertisements show that sexist norms are still in effect.

The implications of demeaning, sexist advertising are dire. As Patricia Hill Collins says in Black Feminist Thought, “domination always involves attempts to objectify the subordinate group” (71). Even a cursory glimpse at advertisements shows just how much women are objectified. It stands to reason, then, that women are being utterly dominated by men in society. Based on the sexist norms displayed through advertisements, it is no surprise that women make less money than men and are more likely to be sexually assaulted than men. The advertisements teach men that they are superior and women that they are inferior. This guides their actions and life choices. There is a reason why the most powerful people in the United States and in the world at large are overwhelmingly male. As Hill Collins says, “Objectification can be so severe that the Other simply disappears” (71). In order to allow women’s importance to reappear, society must cease seeing women as “the Other” with separate and inferior roles. If that change happens, it will be observable through media representations of gender.

 

-Zach

Works Cited

Hill Collins, Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the           Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 2015.

1961 ad for Kenwood Chef

2012 ad for Kellogg’s Special K cereal