Gender in advertising refers to the images and concepts in advertising that depict and reinforce stereotypical gender roles. Advertisements containing subliminal or direct messages about physical attractiveness and beauty have been of particular interest regarding their impact on men, women, and youth. Gendered advertisements have and continue to shape what is expected of a distinct gender, regarding physique and attitude.
Creation and maintenance of gender normality Advertising is a significant agent of socialization in modern industrialized societies, and is used as a tool to maintain certain social constructions, such as gender. Men and women are depicted as differing in attitudes, behavior, and social statuses. These images are crafted to mimic real life, leading to confusion when separating the concepts of fantasy and reality in regards to advertising. In his book Gender Advertising, author Erving Goffman uses the term "commercial realism" for advertisers' attempts to present the advertising world in ways which it could be real. While often exaggerated, the gender stereotypes presented in the media are very much real. This is at least in some part due to the fact that when biases are present in an advertisement, they are more easily integrated into the viewer's beliefs, or if the beliefs are already present, then they are strengthened. When viewers saw an advertisement in which men were behaving non-stereotypically, the viewer was less likely to stereotype others on the basis of their gender. Men have historically been portrayed as dominant, financial providers, career-focused, assertive and independent, whereas women have been shown as subordinate, low-position workers, or loving wives and mothers whose responsibilities focus on raising children and doing housework. Some researchers argue that portrayals not aligning with a viewer's reality may contribute to feelings of inferiority or impact mental health. Goffman compares the dominant and subordinate positions of men and women as similar to that of a parent and child.
There are three prominent ideologies regarding the relationship between advertisements and societal beliefs. The mirror ideology looks at advertisements as a reflection of the culture from which the advertisements are produced, whereas the mold ideology thinks of advertising as the cast that molds the culture. The last suggested relationship between advertisements and societal beliefs is a mixture of the first two and takes from both sides. Advertising professionals tend to follow the mirror ideology, and while many of them are just as capable as the consumer of identifying sexism in advertisements, these professionals tend to have a higher tolerance for sexist themes. Chinese advertising professionals, when asked in a study, view their adverts as a replication of reality rather than as a pseudo-reality that is replicated by the real world. There is much debate in the advertising world as to whether or not self-regulation is all that is needed to make discriminatory themes less common, with those in favor of this way forward advocating for awards and positive reinforcement to encourage changes while those in opposition argue that this has failed to bring about the necessary changes so far.
Presentation of gender roles Displays in youth advertising Advertisements are found in many parts of everyday life, such as on TV, billboards, and social media. Children are exposed to these advertisements from a young age, which can shape their thoughts and opinions while they are still developing. Young children often learn by watching and copying what they see around them..
Advertisements that market to young girls include a variety of stimuli that inform and shape children's inner constructs of gender. In advertisements marketed towards young girls, the color pink is frequently used, and the subjects are typically shown in clean and calm environments playing with toys that mimic real life expectations of women, such as toys that mimic household actions such as cooking and cleaning, as well as dress-up dolls. The most famous example of the dress-up doll is Barbie, which has played a role in the internalized body ideals of women across generations, resulting in a high level of body dissatisfaction.
High beauty standards are also placed on young girls through means such as teen magazines and social media, resulting in an increasing pressure on young girls to appear sexualized and conventionally attractive. Recent studies have shown that young girls that spend more time on social media show increased pressure and efforts in emulating the images that they see.
Young boys are commonly seen in advertisements displaying aggressive, and occasionally violent behavior when playing with their toys. Boys can be seen playing with a variety of toys with themes of violence, such as action figures wielding weapons, or toy weapons, with research suggesting that this type of play can desensitize young boys to violence.
Boys have historically been subject to a wider variety of toys or games to play with. Some examples of these traditionally include hardware tools, cars, and action figures. Boys are also shown playing with toys that mimic a wider variety of skills and abilities that could be used in workplaces, influencing them to desire a wider variety of jobs from a young age.
Displays of feminine gender roles
Goffman states that women are weakened by advertising portrayals in five categories: relative size, feminine touch, function ranking ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdrawal. Advertisements that are targeted at women, or that use female actors, often draw from themes of family-life, the natural environment, and fashion. Women are also less often in humorous advertisements, and when advertisements are less comical, the stereotypes they portray tend to be taken more seriously.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, products, such as; moisturizers, soaps, deodorants, and shampoos were marketed to women through newly developed tactics of fear, sex, and emulation, three key strategies that continues to influence advertising into the modern era. Fear tactics in advertisements from this time period often depict women that fail to meet the social expectation that they always appear presentable facing social rejection, painting them as outcasts and undesirable to men, with many examples from advertisements of this period shaming women that fail to maintain an assumed level of personal hygiene. Advertisements held the promise that through buying their product, women would become more desirable.
Expectations that women were to maintain clean environments, care for their children, and serve their husbands were enforced through advertisements of this period as well. Many advertisers held the promise that a potential buyer will be able to perform these tasks more simply and more efficiently. Female subjects are commonly portrayed as helpless in any areas besides what is expected of them, relying on men to perform more mentally or physically laborious tasks for them.
Feminine roles in tech advertising Tech advertising has historically reflected broader societal expectations of women, often portraying them in stereotypical domestic or supportive roles. Apple Inc. created campaigns that attempted to challenge these roles, reshaping how femininity was represented in the tech industry.
The 1981 "Homemaker" ad reimagined the role of women as homemakers, featuring an interviewer asking a woman about using the computer for stereotypical domestic tasks, while the woman responded by listing the professional tasks she could accomplish with the computer .
Apple's 1984 Super Bowl advertisement, directed by Ridley Scott, further disrupted gender norms. Featuring Anya Major as a hammer-throwing athlete, the ad displayed acts of rebellion and change, challenging the conformity represented by IBM. Ridley Scott has claimed that he purposefully chose Anya Major, an athlete and actress, for her strength and commanding presence, which defied traditional representations of women as passive or secondary figures. By casting a woman as the central figure of action and resistance, Apple broke away from conventional portrayals of women in tech advertising. Street's documentary highlights how the ad deliberately used a female protagonist to redefine gender narratives in the industry.
These efforts to include women in unconventional roles culminated in the "Think Different" campaign in the late 1990s, which celebrated diversity and individuality highlighting many influential women including Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maria Callas, and more, continuing Apple's legacy of challenging traditional stereotypes and promoting inclusivity.
Displays of masculine gender roles
Men have historically been portrayed in advertisements as independent, breadwinners, tough, invulnerable, athletic, and generally more capable than their female counterparts. Men in advertisements are usually pictured as leaders in and out of the household, being able to accomplish extreme tasks with little effort or assistance. When shown in advertisements with women, men are typically seen in a dominant position both socially and physically. This can be seen in advertisements that show a man finding entertainment in watching a woman perform daily tasks, or critiquing a woman's lack of ability to perform these tasks to his standard.
Research found more than 100 advertisements during sports coverage targeted towards men portrayed men as a part of a family, but only 7 of those portrayed said men with emotional aspects and connections with the children in their family. In 225 advertisements directed towards children, 7 of them portrayed the role of a father, with 20 of them portraying the role of a mother. In 200 commercials during programming directed towards women, only 2 of the advertisements depicted fathers in a supportive role with children. Men that fail to meet these standards, or that show feminine traits such as compassion, emotionality can be seen in advertisements as weak, and often as a source of comedy. According to the concept of hegemonic masculinity, that suggests a social value is placed on the masculine performance of gender roles, displaying feminine traits such as these results in less favorable treatment than those who display traditional characteristics of masculinity. Advertisements that defy male stereotypes were also found to be mainly targeted towards women.
Presentation of bodies Many advertisements depict people with idealized bodies, many of which are photo-shopped or edited in some way. Studies have shown that consuming advertisements that contain ideal body image leads to an increase in body dissatisfaction, especially in young girls. Regardless of gender, self-objectification when viewing ideal body images in media may lead to negative feelings towards one's body. Thinking of one's body from an outside viewer's perspective may also lead to body shame, appearance anxiety, and may contribute to certain eating disorders or disordered eating.
Displays of female bodies
Advertisements use female bodies as a key form of marketing to consumers, with women often appearing as an object of desire, something to be controlled, something to be won by men, as well as delicate and fragile in nature. Many aspects of how female bodies are portrayed in advertising stem from the male gaze.