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Essays on portrayals of women in media
Essays on portrayals of women in media
Essays on portrayals of women in media
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Although, in society today ads are being produced with different characteristics of feminism; for example, having more "plus" sized models in ads instead of the typical tall, skinny models. The mass media is still predominantly a gender discriminated aspect in today's society. The media presents aspects of masculinity and femininity in ads produced for general ideas of how people in our society should look like and wear to be appealing. I chose to analyze a magazine ad that displayed both a male and female model. I ended up finding an ad that I felt was very gender biased, the producers of this ad had to be mimicking how they believed gender equality should be. The ad I chose to analyze was an ad by Gucci where both models were wearing some of the name brand clothing. As the male model is …show more content…
The United States originated as a patriarchal society as women had to fight years to earn any kind of rights(site book). As the time has went on, this system has systematically disappeared from the United States as many laws and regulations have been passed to ensure the equality of all people gender wise. Even though these rules and sanctions are in place for equality, society seems to still have glimpses of gender discrimination and gender inequality. In the ad chosen, a sense of dominance is prevalent as the male model is pictured much larger than the female. Also, the male is standing over top of the female as she is on her hands and knees, showing dominance towards the male. More aspects of masculinity shown in this ad are shown with the male having his shirt off. With the shirt off it shows the muscle tone on his arms, his six pack abdominal, and his clean shaven chest. Thus depicting a figure that is pleasurable to the eyes that creates images of how males should look to be “desirable” or
There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and for this paper to be 1,200 words, it is apparent that analytical skills will be put to the test. The ad chosen approaches the line that is gender identity, with a woman in mid-action, representing a liner for athletic woman. With gender identity comes the talk of tomboys and sissies, and being ladylike or manly. Evolutionarily speaking, men have been strong and the leaders; while women have been the child bearers and with low social status. In the last one hundred years, these ideas have been challenged. From women 's suffrage to a Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton running for president, our country has taken huge strides for equality. With that being said, some aspects
Seventeen Magazine, a popular magazine amongst young females, contains the latest gossip, beauty and fashion tips and many different advertisements. The first advertisement featured in Seventeen is for Maybelline’s new Falsies Push Up Drama mascara. Maybelline, a once small family oriented business, now reigns as one of the largest makeup businesses in America. Maybelline’s main focus is to draw the attention of women towards their product so that they may feel confident, explore new looks and flaunt their own individuality and creativity. The advertisement for Maybelline’s new product provides a bold, eye-catching look on model Gigi Hadid, creative text and a vague claim which leaves the audience wanting to learn more about the product. In
In Jib Fowles analysis of advertising he states, “An advertisement communicates by making use of a specifically selected image (of a supine female, say, or a curly-haired child, or a celebrity) which is designed to stimulate “subrational impulses and desires ” (75). Fowles quote applies to Tom Ford’s 2012 advertisement. Ford’s advertisements, portray women as sex icons. In his advertisement, there’s a woman who has dramatic makeup and is looking directly at the camera to show attraction. She’s posing while there’s a man behind her to represent protection and dominance. Meanwhile, men always have to have a masculine identity while women have to simply be beautiful. This is a mainstream issue that devalues women, encourages sexual harassment, and advertises violence against women.
Through the application of physical appearance, audience and text the ad unfortunately paints women in a negative manner. The ad employs tactics that reel society into believing that women must put a man on a pedestal in order to gain his admiration. Women have the right to be treated equally and deserve to be represented in a positive light so the culture can fray away from following beliefs similarly portrayed in this 1930s advertisement. We must teach the next generation that although it is in our nature to nurture those around us, there are no boundaries or restrictions for women to excel in society for the
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
Analysis of Two Advertisements From Magazines I have chosen adverts that are both aimed at teenagers, as this is the case. biggest market, and the one companies make the most money from. As I am a teenager I can identify with the target audience and therefore decide whether the adverts successfully target their audience. The two adverts I chose to analyse were very different although.
Advertising in American culture has taken on the very interesting character of representing our culture as a whole. Take this Calvin Klein ad for example. It shows the sexualization of not only the Calvin Klein clothing, but the female gender overall. It displays the socially constructed body, or the ideal body for women and girls in America. Using celebrities in the upper class to sell clothing, this advertisement makes owning a product an indication of your class in the American class system. In addition to this, feminism, and how that impacts potential consumer’s perception of the product, is also implicated. Advertisements are powerful things that can convey specific messages without using words or printed text, and can be conveyed in the split-second that it takes to see the image. In this way, the public underestimates how much they are influenced by what they see on television, in magazines, or online.
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.
Advertising surrounds the world every second of the day. This form of influence has had the power to influence how society views gender roles ever since men and women began to appear in advertisements. Through the exposure to many different gender portrayals in advertising, gender roles become developed by society. This stems from how men and women are depicted, which forms stereotypes regarding the individual roles of men and women. People often shift their definition of an ideal image towards what they see in advertisements. From this, they tend to make comparisons between themselves and the advertisement models. Advertisements tend to be brief, but impactful. The different portrayals of men and women in advertising show that advertisements
An analysis of the signs and symbols used in Patek Philippe Geneve's "Begin your own tradition" advert.
Maclean’s is a Canadian news magazine established in 1905 by John Bayne Maclean. Distributed weekly, it is Canada’s only national current affairs magazine; it covers such matters as politics, international affairs, social issues, business and culture. On average, the magazine circulates 366,394 issues per week and has a readership of 2,753,000. 51% of readers are men and 49% are women, with an average age of 45 years old.
To sum up, it is often said that advertising is shaping women gender identity, and some have been argued that the statement is true, because of the higher amount of sexual references of women that advertisement show and the damages that occur on women’s personality and the public negative opinions of those women. As well, the negative effects that those kinds of advertisements cause to young generations and make them feel like they should simulate such things and are proud of what they are doing because famous actors are posting their pictures that way. Others deem this case as a personal freedom and absolutely unrelated to shaping women gender identity. On the contrast, they believe that, those sorts of advertisements are seriously teaching women how to stay healthy and be attractive, so they might have self-satisfaction after all.
Plous and Neptune writes in their “Racial and gender biases in magazine advertising” that advertisements have been called ubiquitous, inescapable and one of the most important cultural factors affecting the modern society. They are also known to be one of the great vehicles of social communication. While it is difficult to determine the cumulative effects of the exposure to the vast number of advertisements, it is proved through research on gender stereotyping that these advertisements affect people’s perceptions of and relations with one another (Plous & Neptune, p.01). The debate regarding gender bias in advertising and marketing campaigns is not new. Since long, female bodies have been used to advertise a large number of products from chocolates to toilet products. In the new era, gender has also become a marketing tool just like sex has used to be. Gender bias in advertisements has become the new norm with brands trying just anything to sell their product even if it does not appear logical.
Recent technological advancements have been a leading factor in the increase of communication around the World. Advertising is one of these very significant form of communication. Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to promote or sell something, usually a business’s product or service. It is used to suit the needs and desires of consumers. As a result those businesses have the hope that people will purchase more. There are a variety of tools used to advertise, one of the most common is models, specifically women. Although the images of women are a great way for large companies to draw in consumers, it influences women in a negative manner.
When it comes to magazine advertising, most small, local business owners think of the large, glossy, national publications chock full of flashy big brand ads. They make the assumption that their business has no business advertising right alongside the big shots, especially since their target audience is within a 100 mile radius. But this simply isn’t the case. The truth is, many national magazines have local sections that are aimed at smaller, regional businesses.