Gender Norms In Advertising

Gender is a sociological idea, in which it is not based on biology. While there is some biological differences between the sexes, the “meaning” of being male or female is based on social norms. Like race, these “biological” differences provided a system of enabling inequality between the sexes. History offers many examples of the gender norms over time. Women, for centuries, are few as the homemakers and often viewed as intelligent. Despite living in the twentieth century with greater equality, one does not need to go far to see how society and media influence our perception of gender. Advertisements in various media persuade its audience to buying their products. However, the means of attracting and persuading the audience can have underlying messages. Even in entertainment for young girls these underlying messages are prevalent. One example is the popular film, The Little Mermaid, in which the main protagonist is a young female. The protagonist gave up her identity to satisfy her lover. Even traditional gender roles are at work; the film showed young girls that to be happy and successful one had to find a husband and must relinquished one’s identity (Wood 1994). The generalized perception of male and female are polar opposites. Males are viewed as masculine, strong, authoritative, powerful, and devoid of emotions. Females are viewed as beauty, fragile, nurturing, emotional and sole purpose is to please men. These ideas can lead to sexism, which can have negative effects on

Gender stereotypes affect children substantially. From the baby boy in blue with trucks and action figures to the baby girl in pink with dolls and princesses, these roles and generalizations affect children’s personalities while they are still developing. Those guiltiest of stereotyping in children’s media are Disney, Nintendo and other video-game companies, and reality television. These influences are expansive, and they reach past elementary-age kids to teenagers. Stereotypes negatively impact children of all ages through these forms of media, and parents need to be aware of this.

Subliminal and direct messages of gender-role stereotyping can be found in advertisements for children’s toys, television cartoons, foods, and many other items that are marketed towards young children. Specifically, children in the age ranges of six to ten years old. For example, McDonald’s Restaurant has a new Happy Meal commercial that runs often on television. Actually, it is a set of commercials advertising Cuties, a brand of mandarin oranges, as a healthier alternative in their McDonald’s Happy Meal. In one commercial, there are two young boys and an adult male sitting in a kitchen playing with Hot Wheels and in the commercial the boys begins discussing calculations, centripetal force, and making ramps as they calculate the force needed

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.

I believe that gender codes in advertising do have an effect on how we interact with people as we picture how people are ‘supposed to look’ from advertising and compare them to the people we see in our day to day lives. When we see people who are acting different than the media dictates they should act then we silently judge them and maybe whisper about how they should be acting according to what we see on the media. It is especially explicit when we look at female athletes as they are powerful and strong in their sport but the media has them pose in accordance of the gender codes for women, so that people can see that they are truly feminine and not too masculine, since they play sports. As well for some sports how we dress to play the sports also follows gender codes where we should be wearing skimpy clothes that are revealing, this is explicit in volleyball where girls wear spandex that barely covers and a tight shirt to go along with it, and it is seen as weird if girls wear anything other than that to play. As well gender codes dictate what professions certain genders should have so when I see certain people in professions the opposite gender typically is in it could appear as weird to people since they only see males being plumbers, electricians, or mechanics, and females as nurses, maids, and stay at home moms.

According to cook and Cusack (2010), Gender stereotypes are concerned with social and cultural construction of man and women, due to their physical, biological, sexual and social functions, structured set of beliefs about the personal attributes of man and women. Childhood is a fundamental and significant period in forming an impression of an individual boy or girl, and man or women finally. Subsequent researchers Ania and Cameron(2011) hold an accordant opinion with Cook and Cusack(2010) that gender stereotyping is problematic only when it operates to ignore personal characteristics, abilities, needs, wishes, and circumstances (Cook & Cusack, 2010). In fact, during children’s learning process of gender stereotypes, most of them are under gigantic pressure of the society they belong to and formed a problematic view through normally ignored. One obvious phenomenon is about the toys. Toys are designed and retailed separately for boys and girls with different colours, styles and functions by toy manufacturers. When acquiring a toy, gender will normally be the first issue to consider instead of children’s inherent preferences. It will highly possible to limit children’s personal experiences and future development for both gender groups (Martin, Eisenbud & Rose, 1995). This article will analyse the role of toy manufacturers in gender development in order to decide whether they are responsible to

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.

Commercials also affect the mentality of young children. In every commercial advertising toys demonstrates how cars are for boys and dolls are for girls. There are always commercials about girls playing with a toy house, cooking appliance, or a beautiful barbie doll. Additionally, there are commercials about boys playing with action figures, cars, and sports. In the article “Care Bears vs. Transformers: Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements” Dr. Monica Brasted mentions her experience at a fast food restaurant with her daughter. In her daughter’s happy meal she received a carebear, when her daughter wanted a transformer. The cashier assumed since she was a girl she would like a carebear rather than a transformer. This demonstrates how society believes there are specific toys made for each gender and only that gender can play with it. Brasted stated “Research indicates that the media, particularly advertising, has played a role in the perpetuation of gender stereotypes in our culture.” Basically, Brasted is proving the point that many commercials have shown gender roles and have influences in young kids. All these commercials in their own perspective show how it is okay for a woman and men to abide to these rules society has created.

Throughout the years, advertisements have influenced and supported the cultural myth of gender roles to society. Advertisements that demonstrate men and women in their traditional roles can affect an individual’s perception. First, they might focus their products on individuals that still believe in traditional gender roles. Second, they might have society talking about the modern approach that the product is being advertised. Various cultures have made men and women believe what roles they should be doing. Unfortunately, many advertisements still show the idea that men are the providers and women are the housewives. However, since today we are gradually adapting and beginning to live in a modern world, the gender role myth is starting to slowly change in advertisements as men are beginning to take on traditional female roles that are considered less masculine and women have adopted male roles. The Le Creuset advertisement supports and rejects the traditional female gender role myth by demonstrating a father and a daughter both taking the position of a traditional female.

Children first begin to learn their gender identities between the ages of two and six. With this, they also begin to recognize activites, traits, skills, and other stereotypes associated with each gender. During this period of time, children are vulnerable and impressionable, imitating the actions they see happening around them. Children begin to act according to how their gender is portrayed in society, and the media is playing a larger role in daily life now than ever before. Binary gender stereotypes are continually advertised in the media through movies, television shows, advertisements, music, etc. Unfortunately, a message seen far too often within

Children are highly influential in their younger years and advertisements can change how they view themselves. Take for instance how toys are marketed towards little girls. Most often they tell how feminine and desirable they’ll be if they buy the product in question. Even with how much gender stereotyping has declined, the products being sold to girls are almost exclusively feminine. From dolls, cooking, or princess attire, they still teach young girls that they have to meet traditional womanly roles. They’ll tell them they have to be little princesses that anything remotely boyish is wrong. Unknowingly this can influence children in greater ways than could be imagined. It tells them that if they don’t fit the specific mold they’re being sold they won’t be liked by others. This is often the reason young girls find themselves deterred from pursuing careers in STEM and becoming self conscious about their bodies. Another common stereotype for advertisements marketed towards girls is that they’re always weaker than boys and should leave hard work to them. One toy company is working to break this mold by promoting a line of toys for girls where their female mascot isn’t just interested in being fashionable and pretty. GoldieBlox Inc. desires to keep young girls interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math claiming that in these industries where men dominate, girls lose interest in these subjects

Are the "Codes of Gender" suggested by Goffman apparent in advertising today, and are they a reflection of us as men and women in today's society?

From an early age children are shown how different boy and girls ‘naturally are’ through media and advertising. For instance this Walmart advertisement to the right portrays boys as strong and adventurous while it portrays as girls as sensitive and caring. For instance one of the boys is shown with a toy gun while one of the girls is shown cooking with a childrens baking set. They also limit the boys clothing to very basic and bland colors while the girls wear lots of pink and bright colors. In the article “Gender Stereotypes: Kids Believe Them By Age 10”, Belinda Luscombe quotes Robert Blum, “We found children at a very early age—from the most conservative to the most liberal societies—quickly internalize this myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent”(time.com). This article reflects a worldwide study that gathered information from many children in fifteen different countries. Gender roles are so harmful because they force men and women to be insecure about their identity if they do not fit into the guidelines of what is deemed proper.

Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.

The roles of males and females in society have significantly changed, as opposed to the predominant roles in our history. In the modern culture of today, women have begun to break out of the mold that which society has placed her in. This much can’t be said when it comes to modern gender representation in mass media advertising. It can be safe to state that woman are seen as sexual, fragile, exotic—whereas men are portrayed as tough, in control, and aggressive. This trend can be one seen as an inhibitor to the advancement of our culture, because especially for women, it is hard to pull away from the stereotypes that are continuously represented. As examples of the given trend, the following