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More handpicked essays just for you.
The effect of mass media on gender roles
The effect of mass media on gender roles
Impact of media on gender
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PEP!
Since I was a little girl, my mother always made it clear that a husband was unobtainable if a woman could not properly tend to his needs. I learned how to cook, how to clean, how to do laundry, and I even learned how to take care of my younger siblings all because, according to my mother, these responsibilities were a woman’s duty; it was her job. For centuries, this has been the mindset for every woman, which has been passed down from generation to generation. A stereotype that has influenced a culture and defined a human being. In this 1930’s Kellogg’s PEP Cereal advertisement we witness yet another stereotype defining women into this sexist housewife persona. Through the use of clothing and appearance, text and audience the ad conveys
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In the first part of the advertisement the man makes a comment saying, “So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!” Implying that if the consumer eats Kellogg’s PEP cereal she too will gain “cuter looks”, strongly emphasized by underlining the slogan. With the product they won’t just gain an extra boost of energy to continue daily chores, but will also gain the eyes of their husband. The wife looking perky and agreeable, the admiration from her husband appeals to the audience which is directed towards both men and women. Men are targeted through the fantasy of having a more attractive wife. The main tagline suggests that men can purchase the product and expect improvements in their wives looks. Women are targets as well, in hopes of gaining a “cuter” appearance that will appeal to the man in their life. The target audience negatively attracts men and women, again showcasing how these roles define both a man and a woman into whom society believes is acceptable. Women having to conform into a tight strict guideline that must tend to a man 's wants and needs; as if a women must bow down to a man in order to gain respect, love and …show more content…
According to Kelloggs.com “..PEP was the first cereal fortified with vitamins B and D through the ‘spray’ method..” marking the beginning of the cereal industry’s food fortification processes. A revolutionizing stepping stone for a product that could of been marketed in a way that shined a bright light on its health benefits; instead decided to focus on women and how a stereotypical advertisement would direct an audience to drive sales. The 1930s was a time where sexism was common. Regardless of the traditional gender roles of that time the advertisement suggests that the homemaker’s job is equivalent to the man’s job outside of the household when in reality, a woman’s job is emotionally and physically straining. Men in that time mostly had jobs in an office which are nowhere near similar to a wife’s job. Why is it that women are always perceived as weak minded individuals incapable of jobs outside of the home? With advertisements constantly portraying women as mere housewives our culture will continue to confine them into this exhausting role. Despite our true caring nature as women, we too deserve the right to be conveyed in culture as dominant beings who are capable of more than just sweeping and mopping, but who are intelligent beings with the ability to work just as hard as a
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
There has been a significant shift in this generation when it comes to gender roles and identity. In her book, Peril examines advertisements and propaganda from the 1940s to 1970s, when gender roles apparently influence stereotypes and societal pressure on women in America. In one of her examples, Betsy Martin McKinney told her readers of Ladies’ Home Journal that the sexual role of women is to have intercourse and complete it with pregnancy and childbirth and denying it would be denying her femininity.2 It is not right to take one person’s word and speak it fo...
The Cult of Domesticity is an offensive gesture; however in the 1950s’ there was validity this gesture. The rise of feminism has created a society in which there are more single mothers than ever before, long side more children born out of wedlock. The United States Census Bureau states, “During the 1960-2016 period, the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled from 8 to 23 percent and the percentage of children…” (1). The article the Cult of Domesticity indeed points out the valid flaws of Ideal duties/expectations of domesticity in the 1950s’; however, I would like to state that anything man-made idea or material mechanism is not without faults. The agreeable points of the list were that there should be a genuine respect and act of service shown to our husbands each day. However, the list made a hard-left turn in suggesting that women are not to question the motives of their husband, and/or the location of their husbands if they chose to be late after work. Lastly, if husbands choose to
Individuals since the beginning of time have always judged each other based on gender role preferences. Since we live in a digital era, those gender role messages from society can be strongly biased on both genders. Society has a way of also influencing individuals to accept its ideas on how men and women should live. Analyzing these commercials, we are going to see just how society is judging genders on their roles, behavior, and emotions.
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
Gender roles and stereotypes can many times intertwine because of our western culture has taught us since the first radio broadcast show, “Father Knows Best” which was based on the father, Jim who was the ruler of the household and the wife would do whatever he said. Gender roles in the 1950’s were that the men worked hard, brought home the money, and had all the power in the home. Women were seen as the homemakers who can’t make their own decisions and are portrayed as a week. According to an article called Gender Roles in 1950’s America, “men were expected to be strong, masculine, and good decision makers, which served as a natural counter-balance for the feminine and maternal role of women” (White, Retrieved
Due to her vitamins the wife can excel and “thrive” whereas the husband is “all tuckered out by closing time”. Again roles come into play, the man tired from a long day at the office representing a blue collared business man, while the wife takes role of the housewife ready and willing to complete whatever is necessary to please her husband. The situation seems attractive to women, the man not only complimenting her good looks but her hard work as well. The words coming out of her husband’s mouth show a sense of validation, forcing the audience to believe that a woman’s tasks are indeed rewarding. The ad sets a standard for the culture to reciprocate, making it okay for women to size themselves into a sexist
Bordo’s essay shows the way that women are constantly being bombarded with commercials. Advertisements portray the idea that you are what society envisions you being, if you don’t make a certain choice regarding to the kinds of food you eat, and the amount of food you eat. They say that if you don’t eat a certain kind of cereal, that you will be fat, or that you look unattractive eating that thick, burger, and instead, you should have some
In her essay, “I Want a Wife” Judy Brady declares the necessity to reevaluate our current global ideas about gender equality; by speaking in a sarcastic manner to express the fact that women are exploited as domestic slaves. By Brady proposing the idea of “wanting” a wife, it elucidates extreme sarcasm in order to demonstrate how gender roles are seen today. Brady embodies a males mind as she claims that she too would want a wife in order to be taken care of, to have a house clean and the babies pampered. The typical household would compose of a father who goes to work every day, children that will regularly attend school and a wife that is expected to attend work, cook, clean, and be there when ever someone needs
Definition of the Situation This paper identifies the ethical issues of how both men and women are portrayed in advertising, and argues that ads can be successful in generating sales without portraying women as objects, and without perpetuating that men must be masculine. Advertising is pervasive, repetitive and professionally developed to improve the probability of attention, comprehension, retention and behavioral impact. The purpose of advertising is generally to inform targeted consumer groups of the availability and description of products and services, and to persuade consumers to buy them. (Cohan, 2001) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the main federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations.
During the video clip Changes in the American Family Since 1970 we were learning about the changes that had occurred in American families since 1970, which have, even since then, changed in other ways. At the time of the video clip we were learning different things from experts Arlie Hochschild and Timothy Biblarz. One of the changes that have been made, this change being the most drastic, is the amount of women who were working in the labor force at the time. According to Arlie Hochschild, mothers of children 18 and under, less than half of them (43%) were in the labor force in the 1970s. Today over 2/3 of women are now working in the labor force, and taking care of children when they arrive home from work. Once women joined the labor force it seemed that the roll of men seemed to change drastically also. Once women were gone at work during the day, along with the men, the men were beginning to help more around the house. Hochschild had made the comment during the video clip that men are doing more work at home and women are doing a lot less, which all together means that less work is being done at home. In the home in the 1970s the rolls that each spouse had were different in many ways. Before women joined the labor force women took care of the children. By taking care of them, women did the important things such as bathing them, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, as the video stated, the maintenance things. As a father in the 70s th...
Advertisements have begun to move away from presenting men as strictly providers for the family. There have been advertisements that show “men represented as caring partners and loving fathers as well – but it remains the case that men are rarely seen as responsible for tasks associated with day-to-day household maintenance such as cooking, cleaning and shopping” (Amy-Chinn 3). Tsai further adds to this idea by stating that advertisements show men having “lower involvement with their children, and they are predominantly shown playing with children, instead of being responsible for childcare duties” (Tsai 38). This causes society to make a shift from viewing men solely as laborers and sex objects to thinking of them as thoughtful husbands, although they should still not be responsible for household chores as seen in commercials. Women remain to be viewed as caretakers and in charge of the chores, but are now considered to be less traditional. In this sense, the power or dominance that male figures used to hold in society has become more dispersed because the gender roles of men and women have become a bit more mixed with each other. This contributes to the idea that how society views gender roles is determined by how advertisements represent
From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This idea that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even to this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles.
Throughout history, the roles of men and women in the home suggested that the husband would provide for his family, usually in a professional field, and be the head of his household, while the submissive wife remained at home. This wife’s only jobs included childcare, housekeeping, and placing dinner on the table in front of her family. The roles women and men played in earlier generations exemplify the way society limited men and women by placing them into gender specific molds; biology has never claimed that men were the sole survivors of American families, and that women were the only ones capable of making a pot roast. This depiction of the typical family has evolved. For example, in her observation of American families, author Judy Root Aulette noted that more families practice Egalitarian ideologies and are in favor of gender equality. “Women are more likely to participate in the workforce, while men are more likely to share in housework and childcare (apa…).” Today’s American families have broken the Ward and June Cleaver mold, and continue to become stronger and more sufficient. Single parent families currently become increasingly popular in America, with single men and women taking on the roles of both mother and father. This bend in the gender rules would have, previously, been unheard of, but in the evolution of gender in the family, it’s now socially acceptable, and very common.
“The Satisfactions of Housewifery and Motherhood” was an interesting and informative article of what life was like when living in the shoes of a housewife in 1977. That was a time when women were going off to work in order to help support their families due to The Women’s Rights Movement. Society frowned upon those women who remained a housewife. They were viewed as blood sucking leaches living off their husbands. Terry Hekker believed that she would be one of the last housewives before their extinction. Some of the main beliefs that Ms. Hekker wanted to explain is there are misunderstandings about the role of a housewife, benefits can be gained and that the occupation of a housewife is an acceptable job for women. Terry Hekker proves that society back then left some women affected negatively by the “do-your-own-thing” philosophy. The author brought up a few arguments...