Gender Stereotypes In Television Commercials And Magazines

How has the media displayed what an ideal man or woman should look like? For a man, does he always have to be muscular, or big and tall? For a woman, does she have to be thin with curves, and have hair that flows down her back? Television commercials and magazines have both given society a positive and negative expectation of how a man should appear, as well as a woman, and they both have been shown equally in some of the cases.

In television commercials and magazines, men are defined by being the head of the household, and the breadwinner between him and his spouse. Sometimes men are not always the breadwinners within the home since time has changed. Households are not the same anymore due to the fact of more single-parent homes increasing.

In the media, a man's physique most of the times have to appear very strong, slim, or muscular in order to appeal to the viewers. For instance, it is very difficult to believe that a fitness product company would put an obese male client to give his realistic, honest testimony in an ad since some buyers will quickly assume the product does not work. Instead, companies place a slimmer male, who took a muscle gainer supplement to build his body within their commercial to persuade the audience that the product is powerful and it is worth buying. In television commercials, and magazines they always place a man who has a strong sexual appeal to the audience. The media feels that by them placing a man who is sexual appealing in their commercials, or ad, it would bring in more attention that will help the companies increase its sales. For example, Old Spice, has always put the same shirtless guy throughout most of their commercials. It is strange that a

Women are defined to be, the homemakers, or gorgeous models, and are often to be seen as seductive. A homemaker, is someone who maintains the home, by cleaning or cooking. For a grocery store item commercial, like the Rice Krispies or Pillsbury commercial, they are not going to place a mother in inappropriate clothing in their commercial because it is will be seen as not being appropriate for different audiences. For a product like Cover girl or Victoria Secret, the companies will place famous actresses and models who any woman would dream to resemble in their commercials, and they do not have issues with placing a little sexual appeal within their commercials because the product is mainly for adult women who want to get those celebrity looks. Magazine companies like Cosmopolitan and Esquire, put the sexual appeal by placing these female celebrities on the front page wearing something too revealing or some of the cases wearing nothing at all. When companies do that they are telling the average woman that this is what people like, fix yourself and women are spending thousands on plastic surgery so that they can have a thin waist or a thin nose, and bigger hips. During the annual Super Bowl commercials, companies know that millions of men are watching the Super Bowl, so they place a very attractive woman in the commercial to grab viewers'