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Communication research and gender advertising
Essays on the portrayal of genders in advertising
Essays on the portrayal of genders in advertising
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The Garnier Fructis advertisement, found in “Seventeen” magazine, promotes their new line of “Grow Strong” shampoo, conditioner, and treatments. The Ad features a young, attractive couple that seem to be happy. The first aspect of the ad that is noticed is the man, as he is the center of the page. The first thoughts that come to mind are that he is happy, attractive, and his girlfriend is caressing his head with her fingers through his hair. Next, you notice the woman who is beside him, the one caressing the man’s head. It is quite noticeable that her hair is long, shiny, and wavy. Also, the people in the ad are wearing fancy attire as if they are going to a formal event, which shows they are well-liked in society and are powerful. The product …show more content…
The man has a devilish smirk that shows he is content with his partner’s long hair. Additionally, the ad wants the audience to believe the product will attract men and help women get into a loving relationship. The ad glorifies the idea of women having long, wavy hair and shows that men prefer women with long hair. Garnier advertises that the product will give consumers “stronger hair” which creates a “stronger you”. The key words on the advertisement promise consumers speedy hair growth that will make their current hair strong. Specifically, the ad convinces the viewers to purchase the product by promoting the product’s ingredients that will help “reinforce” strong hair growth “from root to tip”. Garnier want the audience to believe that strong, long hair will make consumers stronger, happier …show more content…
Curry and Clarke’s article believe in a strategy called “visual literacy” which develops women and men’s roles in advertisements (1983: 365). Advertisements are considered a part of mass media and communications, which influence an audience and impact society as a whole. Audiences quickly begin to rely on messages sent through advertisements and can create ideologies of women and men. These messages not only are extremely persuasive, but they additionally are effective in product consumption in the media (Curry and Clarke 1983:
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. ]
Jean Kilbourne’s “Two Way a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence” is a section of a book titled: “Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising” that was originally published in 1999. It is about the images of women that advertisements illustrate. The central claim or thesis of the document is that: “advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish and it plays a role in shaping people’s ideas” (paraphrase). The author wants people by all genders and young children to acknowledge a right attitude towards what is shown in the advertisements so that the standards of behavior will not be influenced. As a result, it enables the negative contribution from the advertisements to be limited or eliminated.
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.
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
The ad campaign is funny to the point that the commercial is pretty much making fun of itself. The sex appeal is apparent as the bare-chested man sells the product of a man, man. The product name and logo are repeated and shown throughout the entire ad, making repetition a strong selling point. This advertisement is effective because it appeals to a wide audience using humor, sexual appeal, and repetition to sell the product. Women like attractive men, but they also like men who are adventurous, handy, charismatic, and intriguing.
The next part of the ad, and as equally important as the first, is on the second page. Large, in bold, is the word ‘naturally’. Beneath it are the words “If citrus sheen fell on shimmering braids and soothing mist caressed short twists. How lovely would that be?” It has the feel of a poem, and the different shades of brown add to the artistic feel of the page. The artistic feel is important, because it adds the idea of a woman with natural hair as being both bohemian and sophisticated.
Advertising, whether criticized or celebrated, is undeniably a strong force in American society. Portrayals and Images of women have long been used to sell in published advertisements. However, how they have been used has changed enormously throughout the decades. Women have fought to find a lasting and prominent position in their society. Only in the span of twenty years, between 1900’s and 1920’s, the roles of women changed dramatically here in United States.
The statement underneath Jepsen is defining the product and how beneficial it is. When describing the GUD product, the name itself draws attention to a reader. The pop of red helps to catch the audience’s attention and it also labels the product. Hence the name Red Ruby Groovy nourishing shampoo and conditioner. The ad defines the Red Ruby Groovy product as being a “natural” product. Using the word natural can intrigue a reader to stop and look at the ad. The word natural can also make a reader believe the product is healthy. The ad also describe a few ingredients that are used in this product underneath Jepsen. It states that the shampoo and conditioner are scented with grapefruit and thyme. These two ingredients are both refreshing and fragrant. Not only do these ingredients leave a person’s hair smelling great, it is “designed to leave your hair soft nourished, and ready to sign a record
Beginning a long time ago, many companies started using sex in their advertisements; however, contemporary advertisements are beginning to use different aspects of nature to sell their products. For years, sex appeal was perhaps the most important attribute of a product. Companies would show young, half-naked bodies in their TV commercials and magazine advertisements. The producers sought to force the public audience to take pleasure by looking at these beautiful ladies, while also making viewers feel naughty at the same time. Advertisers thought the audience would not be able to avoid looking at these well-endowed women. And to consumers, the women were appealing, and that made the product itself appealing. In some recent commercials, however, the concentration has changed from sinful desires to the more healthy approach to life. Everyone wants to appear healthy and in good shape. To achieve this, many people are eating better, working out more often and using healthier products on their skin. To demonstrate the idea about natural products, I have chosen three advertisements to show how these companies use nature to sell their products .
All these stages are simple, but extremely effective. Any advertisement that you hear on the radio or see on the TV is using classical conditioning to make you change your behavior and go and buy their product. Cola, pizzas, cars, and even toilet paper commercials are no exception. Advertisements are made with this psychological principal, using objects or certain types of people to generate an emotion to dig deep into your mind and your pocket book. Today we will take a walk through the history of advertising and look at how commercials for beauty products have evolved with the
This persuades women to buy the Old Spice body wash for their man, so that the body wash will make their men more masculine and dominate man, like the “perfect man” example, Mustafa. While the commercial not only reaches out to the “ladies”, but it certainly appeals to men’s emotions also. The Old Spice ad targets the men by signifying a perfect image of what an “ultimate man” ought to be like by using the attractive, physically fit, Isiah Mustafa in their commercial. This strategy is used to make all of the men who feel like they are not up to par feel as if they must do something to change their physical appearance. In a modern society that is filled with gender stereotypes and specific ideas of manliness, men impulsively desire to smell, look, and be just like Isaiah Mustafa, who is a man that exemplifies almost all of the necessary masculine traits that society places on men. This Old Spice commercial targets men emotionally by inferring that they as of now, they are not exactly the man their female spouse is expecting them to be, but if the men start using Old Spice, they will become more desirable to the “ladies”. These advertisements appeal to the men’s emotions and forces them to desire to a masculine man, therefore influencing men to purchase the Old Spice body wash that will intuitively make them a “real
Dove is a personal care trademark that has continually been linked with beauty and building up confidence and self-assurance amongst women. Now, it has taken steps further by impending with a new advertising strategy; fighting adverse advertising. And by that it means contesting all the ads that in some way proliferate the bodily insufficiencies which exits inside women. Launched by Dove, the campaign spins round an application called the Dove Ad Makeover which is part of the global Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” what has been continuing ever since 2004 and times print, television, digital and outdoor advertising. As Leech (1996) believed,” commercial consumer advertising seems to be the most frequently used way of advertising.” In which way the seller’s chief goal is to sway their possible spectators and attempt and change their opinions, ideals and interests in the drive of resounding them that the produce they are posing has a touch that customer wants that will also be in their advantage, therefore generating false desires in the user’s mind. Dove is vexing to influence their viewers to purchase products they wouldn’t usually buy by “creating desires that previously did not exist.”(Dyer, 1982:6)
In conclusion, this advert from Heat Magazine is very effective in portraying the message of the advert. The advert is subtle, and presents the main feature of shiny hair well, without being too garish and shows Schwarzkopf as being of high quality and professional. Not being someone who colours my hair this product does not interest me directly but I would probably suggest it to another based on this advert. In my opinion, this makes the advert successful as it reaches and is relevant to the target audience.
Have you ever looked in the mirror and seen many white flakes in your hair? That is a sign you have trouble with dandruff. There have been many shampoos that have been created like Dove, Suave, and Pantene. Every shampoo brand has a different way of using ads to persuade buyers, but one shampoo who is made for men, guarantees greatness, and not dandruff is Head & shoulders. This advertisement is found in the Sports illustrated magazine. Head & shoulders advertisement effectively persuades its target audience to purchase their shampoo through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos.
Axe advertisements works and appeals to its target audience through rhetorical strategies from pathos, logos, to ethos. Pathos is used in the ad to target the audience through its emotions which is evident to the viewer. It’s the ideals of “boy meets girl” that is instilled in young men, if they use this product you will get the girls. Axe created new Axe Dark Temptation that is as irresistible as chocolate. Women ranked chocolate as more irresistible than shopping, jewelry or even sex. The ad shows women licking chocolate off the guy because chocolate is irresistible to woman thus wearing the fragrance makes you irresistible. The ad tells young men that using the...