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?

Advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual

orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous.

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

By the end of WW2 there began to be value placed upon the traditional roles of women and men. However prior to the war, feminists were already toying with the idea that women could have their own plans and careers,  but soon after 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate (Millum, 1975:73). 

In regards to women magazines in the 1950s - Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led

to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for

women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity.The motivation behind this mystique emerged because of a sense of social crisis, but it was exploited and reinforced (and possibly created) as a result of the 1950s' boom in the economy - particularly in the production of domestic goods, such as washing machines and convenience foods. It was presupposed that women would be purchasing such goods for the household, thus advertising 'was calculated to focus attention on their domestic role, reinforce home values and perpetuate the belief that success as a woman, wife and mother could be purchased for the price of a jar of cold cream, a bottle of cough syrup, of a packet of instant cake-

mix' (Cynthia White, cited in Winship, 1980:7).

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

With the second major area of expansion in production/consumption - clothes and make-up women were now portrayed to be decorative (empty) objects.

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

Mulvey came up with the idea of the male gaze, which refers to the way women are presented in the media for the pleasure of men. What men like to see a woman wear, do or act like. 

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

They were presented to be damsels in distress, waiting for their princes to awaken them , mentally, sexually and even intellectually. 

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?

The 'New Woman', and that were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of the women's movement' (van Zoonen, 1994:72). Although the 'New Woman' was meant to be independent, confident and assertive - a complete contrast to the presentation of the 1940s woman; the idea that these characteristic undermine the traditional feminine stereotype is superficial. As the roles these women take on in advertisements appears to be progressive (the employee, the active woman); as van Zoonen describes it is only departs marginally different from her older, more

traditional sisters.' 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.' Therefore still reinforcing the traditional stereotype that women love fashion, clothing and are obsessed over their appearance. 

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

Barthel notes 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, we are still 'all woman', that 'no serious gender defection has occurred'.In other words, that there is no real threat to male power.

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

He claims that such images are something of a misrepresentation of women's liberation:

'[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'. Thus, all we are really left with is a woman who continues to construct herself as a spectacle and, just like the innocent maiden, is presented as a willing co-conspirator of men's sexual advances - and worse, believes she is 'liberated' in 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 campaign encouraged women to try and look their 'best' for the beach that summer, but it received a lot of backlash as the advert featured a tanned-blonde women in a full frontal pose. It seemed to have shamed women with different body types and insinuated that if you did not have the models body type then that was something that needed to be 'fixed' before summer. 

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The Dove Real Beauty advert was a campaign that represented many different women's body types as well as different races. 


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

Audiences are now able to have access to the opinions of many different people, therefore shaping their own nuanced opinion on these advertising campaigns. They also have access to media literacy , where they're able to comprehend what the advertisers want them to feel or think and are able to differentiate that from their own opinion. 

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

van Zoonen's feminist theory states that in a patriarchal society, women are viewed as commodities and it's different from the way men's bodies are presented as spectacles. I think this is entirely true for the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign however not so much with the  Dove Real Beauty advert, as I think it was aimed at body positivity for women.

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 think it has changed for women as I believe advertising is no longer focusing on gender but more sexuality. As gender is already a liberated subject but sexuality is not an all round accepted concept yet. Although I do think that advertising still falls in line with the ideals of the 'New Woman', but most ignore it as women are already liberated lawfully and mostly socially in the West, so there is no huge focus on it.