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Impact of women in advertising
What are the effects of sexism in media
Sexism in media
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What is the definition of a man? Is he the hero in an action film? The good guy that kills the monsters? An outdoors man that prefers to hike in the woods and canoe across a lake? According to media and marketing in our society, yes. He is all of these things. And what do all of these “manly” characteristics have in common? They are independent and women only seem to drag them down. Dr. Pepper recently introduced a new variation of their original soda that has sparked quite a confrontation regarding gender discrimination. The name of the new soda, “Dr. Pepper Ten,” comes presented with “ten manly calories” and the slogan “not for women,” which is an undeniable case of sexism. Dr. Pepper Ten commercials promoting the above definition of a man …show more content…
It is a lesson that we all learned as we grew up in our culture. Unfortunately, this idea has been thrown out by today’s media and advertising. Marketing is all about the look of the product, and the Dr. Pepper Company has completely reinvented their original look for their new drink, Dr. Pepper Ten. The new look was intended to attract a more masculine customer-base for their new low calorie beverage. Gunmetal gray became the color scheme because of its masculine feel and industrial rivets were introduced onto the can. These new additions associate the can with physical labor and imply that men do all the hard work while women sit back and participate in the easy jobs. However, the renovation doesn’t stop there. Dr. Pepper went as far as to change the letters to a bold new font as if the Dr. Pepper Ten soda is more important than the other drinks made by the company because it is, what the industry considers, “manly.” Not only does the new look focus of stereotypical gender roles, it also offends customers, both female and male, by the way the low calorie drink is …show more content…
Pepper Ten was released. Commercials aired on television featuring macho men being the hero in action movies and using the soda to fuel them for their wild adventures. These ridiculous ads swarmed major networks, such as FX and ESPN, networks that a man would be assumed to watch. Many women were rightfully offended by the commercial’s vulgar messages such as "Hey ladies, enjoying the film? Of course not! Because this is our movie," as if women were inferior and could not participate in such adventures. Are women not valued as costumers at the Dr. Pepper Company, and what about those who have been a loyal costumer to the company for years? Not only do these stereotypical roles implied offend women, men are also being presumed to subscribe to the standards that the commercials set for the definition of a “man.” The entire campaign for the new soda reinforced the gender role stereotypes and sexist ideals that our culture tries so hard to deny. Dr. Pepper Ten was advertised next to the slogan “not for women,” and marketing specialists persisted to convey the idea that women and inferior to men in order to obtain a masculine costumer base for the new
This is another commercial where we can directly see how the advertisers are overlooking gender stereotypes, by it being ranked number one it proves that when gender stereotypes and gender bias are not incorporated the advertisement becomes effective and
Men and women both drive cars, it’s a simple necessity to be able go to work for most people, however, from the commercials on television, one would assume that men are the primary purchasers of cars. In Steve Craig’s essay, Men’s Men and Women’s Women, he analyzes four commercials to illustrate how advertisers strategically targets the viewers. Craig argues that advertisers will grasp the attention of the viewer by the gender ideals that both men and women have of each other. Not only do advertisers pick a target audience demographic, but they also will target the audience at specific time to air their commercials. By analyzing an Audi and Bud Light commercial, one can see that Craig arguments are true to an extent but it appears that commercials have gone from an idealized world to a more realistic and relatable stance. for are still [true, however it seems that commercials may have altered to appear more realistic.] [relevant to an extent. This is to say, it appears that advertisers may have altered their commercial tactics. ]
The world is becoming more aware of the gender hierarchy occurring in our society. Men are consistently leaders and placed in positions of power while women are seen as inferior. Jean Kilbourne, author of “Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”, investigates this ideology as she looks throughout media and advertisements and highlights their sexually explicit commercials that degrade woman. In comparison, Allan G. Johnson, writer of Why Do We Make So Much of Gender?, discusses how the world’s view of gender has changed over time and how it has affected the world. Kilbourne and Johnson outline the presence of a gender hierarchy but do not accurately interpret why it happens. The underlying presence driving patriarchy is hidden deep in men’s resistance
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.
Michael Messner and Jeffrey Montez de Oca explain that contemporary beer ads represent a desirable male lifestyle to reaffirm masculinity in a time when men are insecure. Their essay, “The Male Consumer as a Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media Events,” goes on to list the reasons for their insecurities: historic and cultural shifts such as deindustrialization, declining real value of wages, feminists and sexual minorities. They support their main point by providing a window to the past as beer ads of the 1950s depicted a desirable lifestyle that was appropriate for post war style of living. By following the transitions of beer ads from the 1950s to now, we could follow the accepted lifestyles of the times during which the ad was made.
In 2011, Dr. Pepper 10 released a new ad campaign. Their new commercial’s primary purpose is to present a soda that is both healthy and still “manly.” In doing this, Dr. Pepper addressed a longstanding notion that Diet Dr. Pepper and Dr. Pepper Zero sodas are inherently unmanly. They attempted to reconcile this societal belief by creating a character that is extremely manly and still enjoys their 10 calorie drink. The average man is the target audience. They were hoping that they could target men that may want to drink more healthy beverages while still retaining their manliness. The character that Dr. Pepper creates to target this audience is a Paul Bunyan type. The actor has a long beard, is very rugged looking and shown being rowed down a river by a bear. The commercial is designed to bring back images of Grizzly Adams.
Advertisements are everywhere. Rosewarne reveals that “In both a workplace and a public space setting audiences are held captive to such images; and both sets of images work to masculinise space in a way that makes women feel excluded” (Rosewarne 314). Take beer advertisements as an example of this. Beer advertisements have been utilizing the female body to draw the interest of males for centuries. This materialization of women has been verified to not only have a discouraging effect on women, but an unfavorable effect on civilization. The purpose of these posters is to allure the male 's eyes to the model’s body and therefore to the beer planted in the background. These ads strive to make you subconsciously affiliate a charming woman with a bottle of beer. In theory, these posters should make a guy imagine that if he purchases a bottle of their beer, that one way or another there would be a model to go with it. This is unreasonable of course because a pretty woman does not emerge out of nowhere every time someone has a beer. In my opinion, advertisements like these portray women as sex symbols. The advertisers attempts to link their product with the female body, does not encourage women, but rather has an accidental effect of lower self esteem and confidence in women. Rosewarne summarizes the her stand on sexual harassment in public ads by
The 2012 Canadian Club Whisky ad uses gender roles attributes in order to persuade possible male consumers into consuming the product by appealing to their sense of masculinity. The goal is to reach men’s pride and lead them to believe that Canadian Club Whisky is capable of “helping” them achieve society’s ideal of a man through images and sentences that remind them of manhood.
When Americans think of masculinity, they often see an unemotional, assertive, and muscular man. This identity is broadcast all over America and young boys and men are soaking it up like sponges. During the Super Bowl every year, companies display commercials that are intended to subconsciously show men how they’re supposed to carry themselves. For instance, in the Miller Lite commercial “Man card”, four friends are at a club when they see their friend sweet talking to a girl in the corner and they proceed to tell him to “Man up”. Also in the next clip the same 3 guys are playing football when they see the other guy riding a scooter and they proceed to tell him what he’s doing is “unmanly”.
Professors Carrie Packwood and Debra Merskin, authors of the essay “Having It His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food Advertising”, repudiate the stereotypical macho behaviors that are used in several commercials to build a reputation for men while women are used as objects. Media use this stereotype to sell nearly every product; being fast food, beer, and cars on top of the list. Furthermore, Packwood and Merskin claim that advertisement present men, compared to women, as superior individuals with total freedom who see women as prizes. The perfect macho type is a strong resource to sell beer; the Tui beer commercial “Temptations can be dangerous, stay focused” applied this stereotype, where men are on the spotlight and women
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.
The Paco Rabanne Invictus fragrance for men advert, published in 2013, seems to portray how a modern male should appear: strong, muscular, and heavily tattooed while women are perceived as relationship-oriented, and eye-candies: a lightweight drapery hides their private parts whilst revealing their forms. Thus, it reinforces gender stereotypes. As Buying Into Sexy points out sex sells, and people tend to be heavily exposed to adds as well as “music videos that feature plenty of sexual innuendo”. That is why humongous corporations “(create) a certain environment of images that we grow up in and that we become used to (in order to) shape what we know and what we understand about the world”, states Justin Lewis in Mickey Mouse Monopoly. So, how is the ideology of masculinity represented throughout this ad? The warrior-esque man is physically desirable, and irresistible to women. Even though the audiences are aware of the existed hyperbole, they might focus on the experienced feelings of smelling good.
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
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.
Men of the millennial age are trying to change the stereotype of men, and what better way of spreading the change then through the internet. Some popular posts on the internet regarding men are pictures of them wearing flower crowns, dressed in floral/pastel clothes or writing about their favorite Lush Bath bomb. These men are trying to change the way we associate hyper masculinity with being a real man, they’re letting other males know it’s okay to embrace their femininity. Although with all the articles and facts out there it still won’t change the minds of what a man is to most people. Keohane says, “Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds…In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs” (1). The facts are the...