What Are Food Advertisements Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes

Advertisements are all around us, whether that be at bus stops, in magazines, or on TV. While it is clear that we are constantly surrounded by advertisements, many are questioning what these advertisers are doing in order to sell their products. While some seem to think it is natural that advertisements are marketed towards a certain demographic, other are concerned with the stereotypes and depictions that are used in the ads. Due to this difference of opinion, there has been quite the discussion on how Food advertisers targets specific genders and try to appeal to them by reinforcing gender stereotypes. When looking at Yoplait Yogurt commercial advertisements, it is clear that the advertisers use female diet stereotypes to target women. Advertiser use language that they believe will draw the interest of their target demographic. Yoplait uses dessert names, “the Boston crème pie, the apple turn-overs, and the white chocolate strawberries” (Yoplait, 0:06), because they think that hearing those words will appeal to female viewers. Rather than just simply having the women in the commercial say to the

The constant reinforcement of these stereotypes make women believe that they should only be eating yogurt and that eating desserts such as those stated above (Boston crème pies and etc.) should be an indulgence. It instills the idea that females should constantly be trying to lose weight and be on diets, eating only low fat, low calorie snack, which in turn can be very damaging. This type of portrayal can lead to several negative impacts including body image issues. When it is always being shown that women are eating foods that are low in fat and etc. it can make those who are watching feel that they must also eat those food too, “these advertisements try to brainwash the women” (Mandar 3), and this makes them believe that there must be something wrong with them if they don’t fit the