Gender Bias In The Canadian Code Of Advertising Standards Canada

Introduction:

Advertisements are one of the ways that companies attract potential customers. These advertisements can include posters, commercials, products placements on TV shows or movies, etc. Unfortunately, many of these advertisements illustrate many different gender biases in order to reach their intended target. The most common ones have been drawn from stereotypes and gender roles. Sometimes these biases are explicitly mentioned within the advertisement and sometimes it is an implicit message that is being sent from the company to the public. In order to control this, there are certain guidelines that are in place to limit what companies can use for their advertisements. Unfortunately, many individuals say that gender bias does not

exist in advertisements, as these advertisements are simply appealing to their intended target market. However, in recent years there have been many cases of gender biases from advertisements that have caught consumers’ attention.

Whether it is that women are to be violently used as sex objects by the men in their lives, or that a woman is only good to look after the house while the men are at work. Similarly, these stereotypes and biases are also affecting the men in these advertisements. However, men’s gender bias revolves around the fact that they have to have certain things or qualities in order to seem more masculine.

Specific Guidelines

In Canada, companies have to meet the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards that are set by the Advertising Standards Canada (ASC)2. The ASC has a variety of guidelines that measure the acceptability for company’s advertisements and forms based on the complaints that are presented through consumer, trade or special interest group complaints2. These guidelines help companies ensure that their advertisements are still following the company’s ethics through the eyes of their consumers. In reference to gender portray guidelines as described on

their website; advertisements are required to meet six different guidelines that include the authority being presented on the advertisements2. Both men and women should have equal presence in roles of authority for both the characters within the scenarios as well as the narrators of any type of advertisements2. Men and women also need to be portrayed an equal amount as the single decision makers for all purchases in either a workplace background or a household background2. Advertisements are also required to abstain from the use of highly sexualized pictures of men or women2. As well, no one should be alluding to the idea that any type of threats or force was involved in the scenario2. In addition, advertisements should portray diversity other than just men and women by including different races, sexualities, ages, etc2. Finally, the language that is used during, or on, the advertisement must be worded in a way to prevent any type of offence to anyone2. Any company that has released an advertisement that has been reported will have their advertisement reviewed by the members of Council from the ASC and the company might have to amend the ad or withdraw it at the Council’s request . Unfortunately, as these are only guidelines, the advertisements that are inappropriate are only brought to the attention to the Advertising Standards Canada when individuals report the advertisement to them.
Sex and Violence:
As mentioned previously, the Advertising Standards Canada has guidelines about using violence of suggesting violence in advertisements2.

In recent years, there has been a term coined that encases the use of sex and violence in advertisements which is “rape myth”3. “Rape Myth” which is the belief that the sexual assault that is committed to women by men is in part the woman’s fault3. This belief has been causing issues in society as now young people who are seeing these ads are more likely to take part is this sexual violence in order to make themselves more like the advertisement’s in real life . For example, in Burger King’s advertisement, as shown in Exhibit 1, that was used to promote their new seven - inch sandwich they used an image of a young woman’s profile with her mouth open with an image of the sandwich right in front of her. Explicitly, the advertisement is just mentioning that they now offer a seven – inch sandwich deal that includes fries and a drink for $6.25. However, it is the implicit message that had consumers talking3. The image demonstrates a sexual tone as it appears that the woman is being dominated by the sandwich, which represents the woman being forced to perform oral sex to the man who is dominating her. Meanwhile, the woman in the ad is wearing heavy makeup and looks slightly frightened at seeing the sandwich up close, which indicates that the woman is a victim of sexual violence. This advertisement is providing the targeted audience with an

innuendo to the woman about to perform oral sex because you do not see her hands holding the sandwich, which is pointing right into her mouth in order to promote this new sandwich to the target audience. Burger King is well - known for being a family friendly option for people looking for a fast food option that has a strong code of ethics for everyone involved in the company . This advertisement seems to have gone outside of their core values of empowering their people because it is taking the empowerment away from the woman who is featured in this advertisement and giving her power to the man in the scenario.4
Women’s Gender Roles:
For generations, the gender of a person has influenced how each gender has been viewed in both a business and a home background. For women, their gender role was to be the caregiver for the children while ensuring that the house is clean and the meals are prepared for the man when he comes home from his job. These gender roles have since influenced what images companies use when they are creating their advertisements . Advertisements typically feature a spokesperson, who is the person being featured in the image on the advertisement5. As well as an announcer, whose voice is narrating the advertisement 5. For example, the flyer from Exhibit 2 is a poster that advertises Swiffer Wet Jet mop. On this poster, you see a woman, who is the spokesperson, holding the mop and smiling as a child is eating a sandwich. With the caption that says, “He made it in the kitchen and ate it in the dining room. With Swiffer Wet Jet, both floors were clean before he was.” Although this ad might seem innocent and clever, it implies that it is the woman’s job to take care of the child and the house while there is no man in sight to help. It allows the individuals who are seeing this ad in a magazine or newspaper to believe that the man is actually at work making money while the wife stays home with the family. Unfortunately, this method is used on a variety of products that are typically associated with certain roles. Since Swiffer is one of the brands that fall under the P&G umbrella, Swiffer should be following the code of conduct that P&G follows which includes not discriminating between genders, which this advertisement implicitly does .
Men’s Gender Roles:
This method of implicit messages geared towards men as well. For example, in Exhibit 3, the series of advertisements that came out in 2005 from Dodge Ram for their new truck. Both of these advertisements have explicit messages that target men into questioning their masculinity, unless they have this truck. At the corner of the poster, a sentence states “Dodge Ram. A real Macho’s pickup truck.” There is a reason for this offensive and border – line inappropriate advertisements that occur on mass media platforms such as TV, radio, magazines, etc. and that is because of money7. Although the creators of these advertisements know that these ads are offensive they also know that, the more offensive they are the more it gets people to talking about the company and the product . This means that people will begin to look for these ads to show their friends and family7. These searches and views give the company more opportunities to increase their revenues because of the offensive advertisement7.
Are Companies Being Unethical?
There are reasons for companies to target certain genders products. This is because majorities of men and women have different interests, expectations and, overall, care about different things . As well, although we condemn companies for publishing these types of advertisements, society is not helping itself because the advertisements that are used are a direct result to the public’s perceptions of the gender roles in every household8. These companies do an in depth look into the demographics of households to determine who and how to market their products to in order to sell them8. This means that if they find that the majority of women are more interested in keeping their houses clean over the special features on the newest truck, then they will target their cleaning product advertisements more to women then they would to men. Thus leading to the gender bias that is seen in advertisements. Therefore, gender biases in advertisements happen for several reasons. However, whatever their reasons are, ethically they should not be encouraging this type of behavior as it is.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, gender biases do exist within the advertisements of certain companies. However, there are certain guidelines that need to be followed in order for the advertisement to stay in circulation. These guidelines help companies protect their ethics when it comes to advertising to prevent any inappropriate advertisements being sent out to the public. The main themes that are found in advertisements that deal with gender biases is the belief that women should be used as sex objects or that they belong in the house raising the children, cooking, and cleaning. While the men need to demonstrate their masculinity through the things they own and their behaviors they display.