Advertising: The representation of women in advertising

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representation of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.

Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising

Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual orientation of subjects are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous. There are also a growing number of homosexual images.

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

The creation of the 'Feminist Mystique' led to the belief that the sole goal of women were to full fill their femininity. As a result, the stereotypes that arose were about the importance of women having a domestic role in the house hold.
3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

Women were being increasingly portrayed as decorative/empty objects, and used as tools to sell products.

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

Laura Mulvey. She claimed that Male power means that any social representation of women is constructed as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

The representation of women changed with the 'new women' label. Women were supposed to be independent, confident and assertive while finding satisfaction in the world of work.

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

Deconstructing an advertisement promoting the 'Jenni Barnes Working Style' range of clothing, van Zoonen points to its claim that: 'A woman should look forward to dressing for the office.' Having a job is seen merely to provide 'another happy occasion for women to dress up and present themselves.'

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

There is no real threat to male power as today young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power without threatening them... 'no serious gender defection has occurred'

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

He claims that a woman is still displayed as a spectacle. There is a misrepresentation of woman's liberation: advertising agencies miss the point when attempting to employ feminist messages and instead equate feminism to 'aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness'.
Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

Are You Beach Body Ready - Launched Spring 2015 on the London Underground.

2) Why was it controversial?

It was a weight loss ad campaign and featured a tanned, skinny blonde woman in a bikini and in a full frontal pose.

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?

It shamed women who weren't skinny into buying the slimming supplement in order to feel confident wearing swimwear in public.

4) How did some audiences react?

Audiences were protesting the advert by posing next to the ad in their bikinis to offer a more realistic depiction of woman's bodies.When people began to campaign against the poster’s sexist portrayal, a change.org petition signed by 71,000 urged the ASA to take the adverts down.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign features real women with real bodies of all races and ages. Dove created an interactive Ad Makeover campaign that put women in charge of the advertisements, where they themselves would choose what they saw as beautiful, not the advertisers. The campaign’s mission is to "create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety."

6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 

It has given audiences a large platform to voice their anger at ad campaigns, and also spread their support for them.
7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

We can apply van Zoonen's feminist theory to the beach body campaign as the woman is sexualised for the male gaze, despite being targeted an ad at women, and depicts unrealistic western beauty standards. Stuart Hall's reception theory also applies as there was a wide backlash from audiences who had an opposition reading from the advertisers.

8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

I definitely think that representations of woman have changed in the last 60 years. Although there are still many advertisements that sexualise women, there is a broader and more fluid representation of gender and a greater acceptance of women's bodies and appearance. As highlighted by the backlash from women about the beach body campaign, advertisers find it harder to get away with sexist portrayals of women without backlash.