Representations of women in advertising (unfinished)

The following tasks are challenging - some of the reading is university-level but this will be great preparation for the next stage in your education after leaving Greenford. Create a new blogpost called 'Representations of women in advertising' and work through the following tasks.

Academic reading: A Critical Analysis of Progressive Depictions of Gender in Advertising

Read these extracts from an academic essay on gender in advertising by Reena Mistry. This was originally published in full in David Gauntlett's book 'Media, Gender and Identity'. Then, answer the following questions:

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Since the mid-1990s, advertising has increasingly employed images in which the gender and sexual

orientation of the subject(s) are markedly (and purposefully) ambiguous.

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

After 1945, women were made to feel guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate .Looking at women's magazines in the 1950s, Betty Friedan (1963) claims this led

to the creation of the 'feminine mystique': 'the highest value and the only real commitment for

women lies in the fulfilment of their own femininity. The highest good is keeping house and raising

children' 

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above.

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign and why was it controversial?

The 'Are You Beach Body Ready?’ campaign launched by Protein World in spring caused a real stir amongst the media and consumers. Launched in Spring 2015 on London Underground, the PR team were clearly courting the female market (19-30) into looking their best for the beach this summer.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign employed an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women twice – first based on their own self-perception, and then based on that of a stranger. The outcomes demonstrated that the strangers’ descriptions were both more attractive and more accurate than the women’s own perceptions, suggesting that women are often hyper-critical of their appearances, and unable to see their own beauty. The campaign resulted in upwards of four billion PR and blogger media hits, and was much praised.

3) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 

Social media has led to audiences being more able to freely discuss the impacts of advertising but also can help the campaigns through word of mouth.

4) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies? 

Van Zoonen's theory can be applied because she states notions of femininity and masculinity are constructed and maintained by media texts which is supported by the 'beach body' advertisement because it's representation of women is s stereotypical western standard for women.

5) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

Yes, they have changed in the last 60 years since women are represented to have more agency for themselves without being subservient to a man however, it can still be better and grow to not put people of any gender into confined standards.