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 of the person being photographed intentionally hard to determine.
2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?
Women were made to feel guilty for having their own careers and lives after the war through advertisement propaganda and the highest value for a women lied in their ability to keep the house and raise children this mainly done as men want their jobs back after WW2 as after they returned their formers roles were lost as women were doing them so they had nothing to and viewed this as losing their manhood
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 being shown as innocent in adverts in need of saving or made to sit and look pretty for the man this was done to create a sense of Innocents and purity.
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. ' The theory is describes how women and the world are often depicted in visual media and literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective,
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 where they're independent,
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 anything noteworthy or distinguishing in those respective fields.
8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?
representation of women in advertising, like that seen in Christian Dior make-up ads, is a constructed ideal of glamour and desirability that is often tied to consumer culture and visual spectacle.
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 aimed at the male gaze but speaking directly to women but was not well received due to how it depicted only one type of body being the perfect type.
2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?
The Dove Real Beauty advert was a campaign that represented many different women's body types.
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.
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.
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?
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