Gender Stereotypes In Advertising Essay

1870 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The Effect of Advertisement on Consumer Behavior

Buy this toy! Now only $19.99! These statements might be something a person could hear blaring out of his or her television set from the next room. It is easy for an adult to tune out commercials, but children soak up these messages whether a parent wants them to or not. Because the messages in toy commercials promote gender stereotypes that harm social equality, advertisers need to adopt gender-blind methods of advertising. The harmful effects of gender-stereotypical advertising can be quantified by looking at how the job market is divided. Parents themselves can take steps to push advertising companies in the correct direction by learning the ways these companies subliminally send stereotypical messages and taking personal steps to affect corporate profits.
Children who watch these commercials are more likely to believe that they should play with certain toys as a result of this commercial manipulation (Martínez, Nicolas, and Salas 191). It is important to examine how advertising companies subliminally affect children's beliefs about their genders. There are a couple of major ways in which subliminal influence takes place: gender separation, commercial settings, and types of play. All of these methods of gender stereotyping contribute to instilling outdated ideas and beliefs in children. Distinct gender roles in commercials promote gender-selective play by featuring either all boys or all girls. Girls are depicted playing with toys such as Barbie Fashion Show, Polly Pocket Quick Click Boutique, or My Little Pony Dance Studio with other girls. The same can be said for boys who are featured in boys-only commercials and are shown playing with toys such as Super Soakers, Hot Wheels Cyborg Assault, or ESPN Games Station (Kahlenberg and Hein, Table 2, 839).
When parents choose to purchase gender-neutral toys, they can foster a wider range of interests and skills in their child. However, tracking down what constitutes a gender-neutral toy isn't always simple. Generally, gender-neutral colors are more in line with stereotypical male colors, such as bold and primary colors. The color scheme used on toys is an indicator by companies to show which toys are gender-neutral. Advertisers have a propensity to market toys this way because research has shown that it's more difficult for boys to cross gender lines created by gender-role stereotyping than it is for girls (Auster and Mansbach, 377). When consumers purchase toys already marketed as gender-neutral, companies will calculate their sales trends and statistical data, and it will be obvious what parents prefer to buy, and they will market accordingly.

Show More
Related

  • No Wonder They Call Me A Bitch Summary

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s clear that those advertisements try to make an impact on our buying decisions. We can even say they manipulate viewers by targeting specific group of people or categorizing them so they could have a feeling this product is intended for them or what he or she represents. For instance, they use gender stereotypes. Advertises make use of men and woman appearance or behavior for the sake of making the message memorable. Therefore, most effective and common method is to represent a woman as a sexual object. They are linked with home environment where being a housewife or a mother is a perfect job for the. In other hand men are used more as work done representations. They are associated with power, leadership and efficiency. Those stereotypes make the consumer categorize themselves and reveals the mainstream idea of social status each gender needs to be to fit in and what products they are necessary to have to be part of that

    Read More

  • Mens Men And Women's Women By Steve Craig

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Jean Killbourne Two Ways A Woman Can Get Hurt Summary

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    This thought has been held on for far too long. In a consumer-driven society, advertisements invade the minds of every person who owns any piece of technology that can connect to the internet. Killbourne observes that “sex in advertising is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women,” (271). Advertising takes the societal ideology of women and stereotypes most kids grow up learning and play on the nerves of everyone trying to evoke a reaction out of potential customers, one that results in them buying products.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotype: Gender in The Toy Store

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pike, J. J., & Jennings, N. A. (2005). The Effects of Commercials on Children’s Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toy Use. Sex Roles, 52(1/2), 83-91. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-1195-6

    Read More

  • Gender Roles Of Gender And Gender In Walmart

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    That is, boys will customarily receive blue clothing or toys while pink clothing or toys will be for girls. “Children‘s toys and games are also differentiated on the basis of sex” (Diekman and Murnen 2004; Seccombe p.99). Through these toys or playing with these toys, boys and girls would eventually distinguish the differences between male and female; also, may strengthen, and perpetuate the traditional gender stereotypes. For instance, boys or men are expected to act and behave in ways that have been considered masculine or associated with masculinity (Seccombe p.104); “men are often assumed to be more aggressive, sexual, unemotional, rational, and task oriented than women” (Seccombe p.93); and thus, action figures, such as Superman, WWE wrestling toys, and Hulk are made for boys to play with. While girls or women’s roles are associated with femininity (Seccombe p.104); “women are assumed to be more nurturing, passive, and dependent” (Seccombe p.93); and so, cooking and baking set and baby dolls with bottle feeding and diapering set are made for girls, so, they could apply their nurturing and culinary skills when they get older and mainly do household chores. Personally, I believe these toys have both negative and positive influence on children’s socialization. For instance, playing with toy guns or military toy set with a knife may lead to early exposure to violence and aggression. However, some toys, such as Lego building set and blocks, arts and crafts have a powerful and influential influence on children’s thinking and

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes Among Children's Toys

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender Stereotypes Among Children's Toys When you walk into the toy section of any store, you do not need a sign to indicate which section is on the girls’ side and which section is on the boys’ side. Aside from all the pink, purple, and other pastel colors that fill the shelves on the girls’ side, the glitter sticks out a lot as well. The boys’ toys, however, are mostly dark colors – blue, black, red, gray, or dark green. The colors typically used on either side are very stereotypical in themselves.

    Read More

  • Gender Role Stereotypes In The Old Spice Commercial

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Kids Toys and Socialization

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    Auster, Carol, and Claire Mansbach. "The Gender Marketing Of Toys: An Analysis Of Color And Type Of Toy On The Disney Store Website." Sex Roles 67.7/8 (2012): 375-388. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Gender Socialization Of Toys R Us

    809 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, toy stores play significant row when it comes to the gender socialization process in children. I recently visited a Toys R Us in a shopping center near downtown Redwood City. Although It is located on the east side of Redwood City the shopping center is fairly neat and seems to have a wide variety of shoppers. The store was rather big and neatly organized. The front of the store for the most part was gender neutral. It was easy to navigate through the story and find the girls and boys toys. For the most part, boys toys were in blue boxes, while girls toys were in predominantly pink boxes. On the one hand, the boys sections were dominated by darker colors like blue, yellow, and black. On the other hand, girls sections were lighter

    Read More

  • The Disney Store Article: The Gender Marketing Of Toys

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many of the toys I had consisted of pink frilly things that were given to me by my parents or other adults. My dolls were Bratz dolls that were full of different outfits and makeup, teaching me to worry about the way I looked. My animal related toys consisted of little plastic horses and farm animals that were always in “gender neutral colors”, they always came in a red pack and any accessories were always bright and yellow or green. While when I had a gender-neutral toy, a leapfrog leader, that had a distinction of being a girls because of the case being pink and purple, not in in of the “gender neutral” color categories. My sports toys were the same, my soccer balls and basket balls were not neural colors, but pink or purple,. I also played with “boy toys” like cars, footballs, baseballs, however none of these things were ever bought for me. If I asked for these “boy toys” I was told that they were for boys not for girls, experiencing cultural competence, because no adult in my life thought buying a girl those types of toys were

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Gender Inequality In Today's Society

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is clear that companies are using advertisements today that are still degrading to women, and they do not think that there is anything wrong with it. Take the 2015 Carl’s Jr. commercial for example. The model, Emily Ratajkowski, is naked with only food covering her lady parts. Covering her bottom is a large tomato, that a man in the commercial squeezes as she walks by. “Not only does the commercial spew objectification, it also does so unapologetically, like treating women in that fashion somehow makes the brand cool” (Hickam 1). Not only is the sexism seen in commercials but it is most definitely seen in video games as well. In all of the Grand Theft Auto games, the player is allowed to “pick up hookers” and have sex with them in the car. Since when is it okay to use women only for sex? Yes, prostitution is a victimless crime as both parties that are involved are guilty. But, to allow men to use a woman only for sex, even if it is just in a video game, is completely wrong. Even in children’s’ games, such a Mario Kart, the female characters, such a Princess Peach, are slower than the male characters. This is most likely because of the

    Read More

  • Examining Gender Socialization through Toys

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender Socialization plays a big part in a child’s life in shaping their femininty and masculinity. Every child is brought with to have played with at least one toy to have called their own. Now, the purpose of the research that has been conducted is to take a further look into how toys that is sold through stores and played by children. This will then give hindsight as to how what is considered the gender norm has a part in gender role stereotyping and the affect these toys have on children view of gender characteristics.

    Read More

  • Sexism in Society Starting at Childhood

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of our culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because the girls don’t want the icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? The issue of color may go deeper than just fighting for toys. Studies have been done showing that school classrooms, especially for younger grades, are typically decorated in “boy” colors and reflect an environment that is most comfortable for boys (Bruning 23). Parents and teachers may be able to help reverse this thinking by buying toys in gender neutral colors and by using the same colors for boys and girls.

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes Regarding Toys

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a child, our toys were not exactly as gender neutral as earlier times, but also were not as gender stereotypic as the toys in today’s time. The fact that everyone eventually comes into contact with buying toys whether you have kids or you have a friend or family member who have kids which makes this an important topic. Eventually, everyone has to buy a child a present. Would it bother you that all toys are either pink or blue and there is no in between? Or does sticking to what your child is already familiar with and knows the more ideal option when it comes to gender stereotyping with children’s toys? Authors James Delingpole and Eleanor Muffitt both do a good job at arguing both sides to this issue. Although both authors provide valid points throughout each article, about gender stereotyping with toys, James Delingpole clearly was more effective in persuading the audience because he used all three elements; ethos, logos, and pathos to support his idea.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in Early Gender Socialization

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Johnson, F. (2002). Gendered voices in children's television advertising. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19 (4), 461-481.

    Read More

More about Gender Stereotypes In Advertising Essay

Open Document