Are Commercials Affect The Mentality Of Young Children?

What is it that drives commercials towards their target audience? Commercials can be for a certain age, race, and sometimes even a certain gender. Pop culture has influenced the minority groups and shed light to women 's rights or so it was thought. Lisa Shaffer a fellow student feels otherwise and believes that Pop culture has only defended traditional values and does little to challenge those who already have power . Commercials bring in gender norms and in Steve Craig’s article, “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” he speaks on four particular TV ads directed towards a particular gender. What is interesting is it shows a false image of the opposite sex to the audience being portrayed toward their preferences. It is the image the audience wants to see that appeals to them. This is all in an attempt to sell their products and take advantage of our desires and anxieties. Craig shows commercials brings gender norms that produce the ideas of what a man’s man and a woman’s woman which is why he would agree with Shaffer because it promotes an old way of thinking.

What is it that drives commercials towards their target audience? Commercials can be aimed toward certain age, race, along with certain gender groups. Pop culture has influenced minority groups and shed light on women 's rights or so it may seem. Lisa Shaffer a fellow student feels otherwise and believes that Pop culture has only defended traditional values and does little to challenge those who already have power . Commercials bring in gender norms and in Steve Craig’s article, “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” he speaks on four particular TV ads directed towards male and female audiences. Interestingly enough these tv ads deliver a false image of the opposite sex to the audience catering to their preferences. It is the image of what the audience wants to see that appeals to them. This is all in an attempt to sell products and take advantage of our desires and anxieties. Craig shows how commercials bring gender norms that produce the stigmas of a man’s man and a woman’s woman, which makes it apparent that he would agree with Shaffer because it promotes an old way of thinking.

At the end of the school day, she gets into the car with dad and he hands her a McDonald’s Happy Meal with a Cuties inside and finally the little girl smiles. As cute as the commercial is, the subliminal message of the two commercials are what concerns me. The boys are playing with cars and using intelligent math language and the little girl is worried about her pretty smile. However, the product in the two commercials are the same but the portrayals of the children in the commercials are vastly different. The commercials are examples of the types of gender-role stereotyping that occurs often in advertisement. Advertisements that push gender role stereotypes on young children should be banned from television. Television advertisement are among the leading ways children are exposed to stereotypes that causes misguided concepts and ideologies associated with sex or gender. Martin Eistend (2010) conducted a meta-analysis study which stated that, “gender stereotyping can lead to negative consequences that restrict life opportunities, particularly for

The splitting of products into two genders stemmed from fiscally conscious businesses; those who had two products to sell to different people made more money than those who sold only gender neutral clothing, razors, and drinks. In modern times, almost everything in the media and in advertisements is biased based on gender. Ads for fragrance are no longer equitable; they are for cologne and perfume separately. As the businesses made money, a latent consequence arose. Those who grew in the days of binary gender products and segregated items became socialized to fit what was advertised. Boys targeted by monster truck commercials became conditioned to believe that they could only play with monster trucks and should compete with their friend’s monster trucks. Girls became conditioned to believe that dollhouses and horses were the only toy for them. These influences from the media have affected gender socialization, relationships, and expectations throughout the life course of almost every American.

Advertising regularly uses gender roles to promote products. Gender-role stereotyping has been a prominent subject in advertising and throughout the media. It is the concept that gender stereotypes influence and reinforce stereotypical values in society, which can lead to negative consequences, particularly for men. As for advertising effectiveness, research shows that stereotypes can be supportive or detrimental, depending on several factors, such as the gender attitudes of the audience.

Gender roles influence every characteristic and aspect of our life, from how we feel about ourselves to the degree of our contribution in social life. From a ripe young age, children become exposed to this type of gender bias right away, which can negatively affect and shape their whole outlook on life. Consequently, as these young boys and girls mature both physically and emotionally and move on into adulthood, they are, in essence, shoved into a world that impacts their attitudes and behaviors towards gender roles and stereotypes. These specific attitudes and behaviors first cultivate in the private doors of their parent’s house. Afterwards, these same biases become reinforced by the child’s peers, school experience (education), television viewing, and, of course, advertisements in the realm of print and television media. From the looks of it, it is near impossible, for children to not become subject to some degree of gender bias at an early age. As a child grows and develops, the stereotypes follow them into the next phases of their lives (i.e. adolescence) and then on into adulthood. Not only are these gender stereotypes destroying girls, they are also killing boys. The components of this essay will attempt to illustrate how advertising in print and television helps to perpetuate gender stereotypes in our world. Along with that, one must ask the question of how much harm these negative biases in gender roles truly affects the minds of men, women, and young children.

Thinking back to the days of my youth, many of us are brought back to the nostalgic commercials of girls playing with Barbies, and boys playing with G.I. Joes. These are just two basic examples. Since before 1997, commercials have been molding our youth to try to portray the idea of having the “perfect image” for boys and girls.“Kline’s research in Canada showed that the themes of television advertisements for toys supported traditional gender expectations in terms of types of toys with a focus on battles, action, and domination for boys, and nurturing, glamour, and domesticity for girls,” (Auster, Carol). I feel like producers of such products should broaden their gendered horizons and produce toys and entertainment that will not offend individuals. The article goes on to state how there is no location on the site that is sectioned

Toy commercials have been airing of TV for a long period of time and now most commercials will have a specific target audience in which the manufacturers are trying to market the toy to. The pattern of language in which these companies use, differ between when the target audience of the commercial is for girls or if the target audience are boys. Such use of this language rely on old stereotypes that have been established in society. For example, one common stereotype for a girl is enjoying to play house and with dolls, while boys like to build models of aircrafts and such. Although these stereotypes may apply to certain children, many children feel restricted upon which toys are acceptable for them to be playing with. These children often feel

Advertisements shown during television shows reinforce the socially constructed gender roles. These gender roles are learned through social interactions made during early childhood, where children begin to take on the roles of others. According to Henslin in, “On Becoming Male: Reflections of a sociologist on Childhood and Early Socialization”, boys are taught from a young age that their world is different from girls, in that girls have more restrictions and less challenges (2007). Thus, boys were taught that if you act like a girl, you will get shamed, and be called a sissy because girls are of a lower status than yourself (Henslin 2007). Ultimately, boys are taught to conform to the behavior fitting of a man,

In the Early days T.V. sitcoms portrayed women as housewives and men as the breadwinners (workforce). For example, Leave it to Beaver was a T.V. show were June Cleaver( the mother) stayed at home all times and never disciplined the children. Were as Ward Cleaver (the father) was the dominant one who worked and disciplined the children. Now, the sitcoms are completely different as far as the gender roles that each parent plays. For example, who’s the Boss were Angela was a successful businesswoman and provided for the family and Tony was the housekeeper. Commercials are another way that gender roles are displayed in society. When you see a car commercial for a mechanic most of the time the mechanic is a man. But when you see a commercial about cleaning products for the house normally a woman is the face you see. In other words, the media can help break the barriers on how gender roles are portrayed in society. The more that women represent strength on T.V. will also encourage them to build their self-confidence. However, not intending that traditional ways are bad, but the era has changed by who the individual is and not by their gender.

Media is definitely one of the most powerful forms of agency for social control. Yet, words alone are exceptionally powerful as well. Media consists of television, radio, internet, books, and so on. Commercials, for example, are a strong field of influence. When creating a certain message, commercials are able to manipulate people’s attitudes, beliefs and opinions, whether negatively or positively. Persuasion in the media is influential and it does not affect only adults, but children as well. A Verizon commercial this year challenges the roles of parents and words in gender emergence. Verizon created a commercial that battles the stereotypes of gender roles, and portrays some scenarios in the life of a child. These hypothetical scenes emphasizes how parents can influence their children when it comes to gender identity. This influence can affect individuals later on in life, by affecting how they perceive themselves. The commercial positively challenges the definition of gender roles and demonstrates how damaging stereotypes can be. Our society is very solid in defining gender, and consolidating gender identity. Girls are encouraged to wear pink and play with dolls, while boys are encouraged to play with garbage trucks and like sports. Although nowadays women are encouraged to be more confident, there are still social expectations and conjectures that conducts the idea of what it means to be male or female. In this paper, I will analyze the commercial and the message

Advertising has grown massively due to the expansion of technology and this has transformed the advertising industry. Organisations are spending heavily in advertising to differentiate their brands and cut throat competition among advertising companies is a priority. However, in this race for standing out, advertisers and marketers might overlook the ethical policies.

Francisco Pereira conducted a study that aimed to show the difference of how men and women are portrayed in television advertisements. The study looked at 86 bath and body product commercials, and out of 86 commercials, 53 depicted women as the main character, whereas only 22 men were shown playing the same role (Pereira et al 282) . Pereira also looked at 27 household commercials, and women were the main character in 26 of them. The study ultimately found that gender stereotypes were closely connected with the products and their use.

One of the most important parts of a person’s life is during their childhood. At this stage, a child is prone to absorb into the behaviors based on their exposures. Not only is this the time of their lives when they learn certain things, but they are also beginning to create their own perception of how things work. , produces the media to be a major deal of importance to a child’s life by establishing their morals. Kids then learn traditional gender norms through these advertisements they watch or hear in media. As they get older, the gender stereotypes they learned when they were younger becomes a part of their daily lives. This slowly creates gender roles they presume as normal. Companies constantly practice the usage of gender norms in their advertisements by incorporating it in their advertisement to help their products become more identifiable to their consumers. Although, it may seem like it, traditional gender norms are not necessarily bad nor are they good, but they are generalizations about roles of each gender. Children toy companies like Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Nerf are some of the leading contributors to reinforcing gender norms by advertising certain toys to specific genders, which in return creates gender stereotypes.

Commercials are the vast source of gender stereotyping, because they are adapted to the specific, either male or female target, and are “the reflection of the recipient”. The aim of the modern commercial is not only the satisfaction of needs but also their creation. Women are more often presented in commercials, because they are seen as responsible for making everyday purchases. Men generally advertise cars, cigarettes, business products or investments, whereas women are shown rather in the commercials with cosmetics and domestic products. They are also more likely portrayed in the home environment, unlike men, who are shown outdoors. Another important distinction is the face-ism phenomenon in the commercials, which consists in showing the entire figure in case of women and close-up shots in case of men (Matthews, J. L. 2007). The first method lowers the receiver’s estimation of the intelligence of the person on the