Impact Of Gender Portrayals On Men And Women: A Question Of Ethics

Since the emergence of advertising in American culture one thing that has remained constant is the visible truth that men and women are portrayed differently. In consideration to the evolution of man kind gender roles have evolved immensely throughout time, although advertisements have not kept up with this process of evolution. Companies to this day use their tactics and skills to reach out to specific genders such as pretty fonts with a stylish message, while advertisements towards men portray the character as strong and intimidating. The typical viewer can easily spot the difference in the portrayal of genders. Men are portrayed this way because the viewers look up to these characters, they want to be

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.

Contemporary visual media contributes to the social construction of gender in that the way that men and women are portrayed in advertising is vastly different.

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.

Gender role bias in advertisements has been so prevalent for so long that the untrained eye wouldn't even discern it. All the same, these biases, for the most part, put women in subordinate positions and men in dominant ones. This assumption on both the genders is unfair and demeaning. These ads portray women as subservient and play toys for men. Not only do the models depict an image nowhere near close to reality, but their bodies are scantily clad and what few clothes they are wearing are very revealing.

Women Can Do Everything? In Jean Kilbourne’s film, “Killing Us Softly”, she examines popular stereotypes of women in advertising. Her work has helped to develop the study of gender and how it is depicted in advertising. Gender stereotyping of women in advertising is everywhere today; television, internet, billboards, movies, magazines, airlines, taxis, subways, videos, and other digital media.

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.

In Craig's article, the author explores how advertising views men and women as separate consumer markets and appeals to both of them at separate times. Gender roles are heavily influential when creating commericials for each respective market. Craig details this through an analysis of beer ads

In her essay, Jean Kilbourne sharply critique the using of men and women in advertising. She begins her essay by proposing that women are being sexualized and demoralized

A commercial is one of the advertisements that we could see in life. When you turn on television, you could see a lot of commercials before programs start. In Men’s Men and Women’s Women, Steve Craig, an author, claims that “advertisers seem quite willing to manipulate … fantasies and exploit our anxieties, especially those concerning our gender identities.” However, Stan Hope disagrees since he assumes that “the ads he describes are just light hearted to stories designed to entertain, rather than exploit. Consumers are way too smart to be so easily manipulated in any case.” Advertisements could just describe stores for entertainment like Hope said. However, advertisers should think carefully about gender identities because men and women’s favors are different.

Advertising in the 1950’s, at first glance, can be described as sexist; however, with a deeper understanding of the assumed gender roles of the decade, it is discovered that advertising was pushing established boundaries, especially that of women’s portrayal in ads. Advertising in the 1950’s was drastically different compared to today’s advertising norms. Ads in the 1950’s, under today’s values, are mostly interpreted as purely sexist. However, a deeper understanding of the decade and society can reveal how ads were even boundary pushing. While these ads may not be successful in today’s society, a simple comparison to today’s advertising can show how society’s values have shifted to accommodate different gender roles.

Advertisements play a big part in our society and are significant for products to be seen to attract people’s attention and be persuaded to buy. They might not always be interested in purchasing anything but instead just taking a peak, especially when women are involved. As time goes by, more women are depicted as sexual icons in adverts. This is true in sports adverts with men portrayed as masculine and athletic, while women are characterised as sexy and lacking athletic potential even though they are well-known athletes. Many people such as Goffman (1979) suggested that advertising images transfers cultural ideals of both genders explicitly or subtly, by

One of the biggest media industries to blame for the thin ideal representation of women is the advertising industry. Unlike journalism, advertising has the ability to solely portray images that don’t have to be factual. According to author Patrick Lee Plaisance (2009), some of the advertising code of ethics are: “1. A

Companies around the world are all fighting against each other to get their new product out to the public. Using many strategies and lots of money to accomplish their goal. But can it be that this same public they are trying to reach, is being affected by the methods these advertisers are using? Ads are causing damage in men and women. In women especially, anorexia is a colossal issue. The misuse of photoshop is making these women try to reach an unattainable goal. FInally the gender stereotypes are killing people’s chance to express themselves and be unique.

On television commercials, billboards, the radio, public transportation advertisements, planes, the internet, and almost everywhere people go there is always directed broadcasting of advertisements for companies to sell their product; a product that is never promoted for all of the general public to use, but instead to emphasize on specific categories of consumption . Whether it may be categorized in the decadent, the money saving, health, cleaning, cooking, automotive, or whatever sub category it may be; and bigger roles that play in to commercialism are gender roles . Men and women have very different lifestyles, what they buy, do, consume, and produce. As stated in Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes, “Popular conceptions of femininity