Representations of women in advertising

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?

Mistry suggests that it has increasingly utilised ambiguity to heteronormative standards and camp comic relief used to undermine conventional gender stereotypes.

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

In a post-war society, warnings of leaving traditional gender roles shot up to guilt women back into the home, so there was a creation of the 'feminine mystique', ideals of women's strengths laying in fulfilments of femininity. 

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

They highlighted women's domestic roles and showed how women were viewed as decor for their husbands and it was a form of sexuality, waiting to be 'awakened'.

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

Laura Mulvey, that visual sexual drive is organised by the patriarchy, the act of looking is masculine whilst the act of being observed is a feminine, voyeuristic pleasure.

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

The representation of women changed in the 1970's though the introduction of the 'New woman' to pop culture where it was representative of the changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of women's rights movement, allowing women to become more independent, assertive and confident. 

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?

Van Zoonen suggested new representations of women in advertising is 'a woman should look forward to dressing for the office', a woman is portrayed as stepping confidently towards the camera in an office environment with a man behind, observing her but she's not portrayed as a working women. 

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

Barthel suggests that 'today's young women can successfully storm the bastions of male power without threatening their male counterparts' providing we can reassure them that underneath the suit that they are still 'all woman' and that '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?

Richard Dryer suggests that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation as '[advertising] agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness', believing that they should be represented without sexuality and femininity not at the forefront of how they're portrayed.


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 and why was it controversial?

The Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign was about a weight loss supplement, it was taken as very controversial as it featured a slim model that asks "Are you beach body ready", connoting that to be able to be out at the beach or in public in general, a female's body should slim like the one on the advert.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The Dove Real Beauty campaign was promoting a product of Dove with a diversity of different body shaped for women who can use the product, making a female audience feel understood, accepted and are part of a group.

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

The social media has changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns as audiences can now chose to be passive and active audiences, interacting through user-generated content, they can offer feedback automatically by liking, commenting, sharing or ignoring and disliking the campaign openly.

4) 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 theroy in the 'Beach Bodies' campaign as it shows how the media can construct the audience opinion negatively and in addition, we can apply Stuart Hall's reception theory in the 'Beach Bodies' campaign, where the preferred reading could be the idea that women can get help in getting their dream body by taking the supplements as well as the idea that the model's appearance is a positive result when taking supplements whilst the oppositional reading could be that it is controversial to suggest that women must have a slim body to be ready to go out in the world.

5) 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 believe that representation of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years to some extent as women are becoming subtly less sexualised and objectified, showing women's independence and autonomy, representing women as empowered rather than objectified.