Representations of women in advertising

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representations of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.
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 subjects are markedly ambiguous. As an ancillary to this, there are also a growing number of distinctly homosexual images

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

Feminists had been articulating the idea of women having 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. Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan 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.

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

The influence of clothes and make-up led to women being increasingly portrayed as decorative (empty) objects.

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

Laura Mulvey came up with the theory of male gaze and it shows how men oversexualize and objectify women. 

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

The New Woman was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfillment'

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?

She suggests that in the mid-1970s, there was a proliferation of distinct images that became labelled as the 'New Woman' and they were seen as representative of the 'changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of the women's movement'. It was supposed to be 'independent, confident and assertive, finding satisfaction in the world of work and recreation, seeking excitement, adventure and fulfilment'.

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'

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

Richard Dyer 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'

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 PR team were courting the female market into looking their best for the beach this summer. The advert that featured a tanned, blonde female in a full-frontal pose generated so much controversy. That advert was arguably aimed first and foremost at the male gaze.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The Dove Real Beauty Campaign was a campaign that featured real women with real bodies of many different races and ages. This ad allowed women themselves to choose that they saw as beautiful and now what the advertisers saw.

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

Social media has manages to change audience's interactions to adverts by making it accessible to everyone online. When people began to campaign against the poster’s sexist portrayal, there were many petitions and posts on social media.  Some protesters responded visually by posing next to the advert in their bikinis, to offer a more realistic depiction of women’s bodies.

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

Van Zoonen explores how women are portrayed differently and the audience may see how advertising reinforce negative views about women. It doesn't show how technology has altered how we perceive women. Stuart Hall's reception theory addresses the producer's preferred, negotiated, and opposing readings. Preferred would be an audience that is more accepting of women's body image, negotiated would be an audience that asks questions about the advertisement in order to wanting to know more and oppositional would be an audience that is completely opposed to the advertisement.

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 that media representations of women have changed over time, but they are still attractive to a larger audience and reinforce Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. However, since then, women are now seen as more powerful and independent.