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 adverts have increasingly made the gender and sexual orientation of the person being photographed intentionally hard to determine with an also increasing number of gay imaging within them 

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

Women were made to feel guilty for idealising having their own careers and lives after the war through advertisement propaganda that the highest value and only real commitment for women lied in their ability to keep the house and raise children 

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

With the inclusion of clothes and make-up women were led to being increasingly portrayed as decorative objects and depersonalised being shown as innocent flowers or maidens in adverts in need of saving or made to sit and look pretty for the man 

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

Laura Mulvey the creator of the ' male gaze ' is the theory that looking is a male activity and being looked at  shows female passivity 

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

From 70s there was a quick increase of representations of women at work within ads influenced by the women's movement where they're independent, confident and assertive seen to be satisfied at 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?

Zoonen believed that although they were advertising women at work they never showed them doing any of it except being shown wearing smart dresswear to be stared at by men in office essentially having a job is only to provide the men with a view.

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

There isn't really any threat to male power as although we are now able to do the same jobs as them we are still women underneath so there's nothing to threaten 

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

This depiction of female liberation misses the entire point of the feminism they're trying to echo in their campaigns instead leading to a woman still being viewed passively thinking she's liberated whilst doing so.

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 a campaign for a weight loss collection arguably aimed at the male gaze but speaking directly to women being criticised for its verbage  ' are you beach body ready? ' playing on the female consumers insecurities whilst also having a woman in a bikini staring directly at the camera

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

A contrasting approach to the protein world campaign features real woman's bodies of all races and ages they created an interactive Ad makeover campaign that put women in charge of advertisement where they got to choose what was shown in the advert

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

Social media leads to comfortable criticism of adverts to be more encouraged as in this day and age diversity and inclusion is very much important in advertising with the protein world advert being taken down from the London tube through social media backlash it's easier to hold things accountable more so than ever before 

4) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

Van zoonens feminist theory and Stuart halls reception theory operated on the basis that in relation to gender it's dependent on the platform for these two case studies dove was a digital advert whereas protein worlds was print alongside the target audience whilst both are tailored towards women one seeks to empower and highlight the diverse nature of femininity whereas the other following an oppositional reading aimed to look down on women for their bodies and potentially contribute to the vast amount of people suffering from body image issues in our society today 

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?

Yes they definitely have from the 50s where they were told to go back to the kitchen with children to now being able to choose how they design their own campaign it's alot more diverse now but some still tailor towards the male gaze however that's not such a bad thing either as there are adds tailored to the female gaze aswell as long as they aren't all that way there's no issue