Gender Role Bias in Advertising

Gender Role Bias in Advertising

Gender role bias in advertisements has been so prevalent for so long that the untrained eye wouldn't even discern it. All the same, these biases, for the most part, put women in subordinate positions and men in dominant ones. This assumption on both the genders is unfair and demeaning. These ads portray women as subservient and play toys for men. Not only do the models depict an image nowhere near close to reality, but their bodies are scantily clad and what few clothes they are wearing are very revealing.

These roles for females represent what the advertisement industry believe buyers deem as the real world. As Goffman asked," What messages about women have been given to society through magazine advertisements?" (Goffman p.979) These images are broadcasted through television, films, magazines, etc., all of which are viewed by children and teenagers who in turn receive this false image of beauty and roles of men and women. For example, depicted in In Style magazine, is an add featuring a female and male representing exactly the gender role biases previously discussed. The girl is wearing a pair of Guess Jeans and a bathing suit top and the guy is wearing the same kind of jeans. The male's face is partially hidden as he leans over the girl who is leaning on a tree somewhere in a tropical forest. The girl is staring into the camera seductively with her hands by her side, as the guy seems to almost be taking advantage of her. She depicts the docile and vulnerable female stereotype.

According to Goffman, these characteristics of docile women and aggressive men can be categorized through "frame analysis." These relationships between the men and women displayed in the ads are described as one or...

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...t that simple photograph, an entire story has been told, with a moral, or lesson learned. That lesson is "BUY ME". These ads have one function only and that is to urge buyers in whatever way possible to but their product. Unfortunately, this business has successfully been able to get a hold of and exploit that which all humans want: a better life.

It's too bad that so many willing and even unwilling people have been brainwashed into thinking that that 75-dollar pair of pants is going to bring Tom Cruise to his knees. If only they'd known what we now know. It is all an act, a theatre, with characters that make you want to be them, know them, like them, or even despise them. No matter what the appealing concept is, it's just a façade. If only they could know what they are really buying into: a money grubbing business with not an ounce of care for the social being.