Women in Advertising

The aim of the advertising industry is to persuade people that the goods or service that is being advertised is something that the consumers need, and must have. In order to grab the audience's attention, advertisements frequently use images of beautiful men and women. These images reflect the way the society believes that each gender should behave. Those are idealized visions of masculinity ...

The aim of the advertising industry is to persuade people that the goods or service that is being advertised is something that the consumers need, and must have. In order to grab the audience's attention, advertisements frequently use images of beautiful men and women. These images reflect the way the society believes that each gender should behave. Those are idealized visions of masculinity and femininity.

In advertising, women are usually represented as sexual objects or in traditional roles (as a mother or housewife) The ads addressing the female audience focus on a specific set of characteristics of femininity such as dependency, extreme attention to beauty, typical roles as mothers and housewives. Since the late 1950s, the feminist movement has struggled to make advertisers change this image, saying that it is offensive and discriminates against women.

An analysis by two American advertising professors, Tom Reichert and Courtney Carpenter-Childers, conducted in 2006, showed that only 3 percent of women were shown in a "progressive," manner in print ads: occupying managerial or professional roles with emphasis on the aspects of their personalities such as abilities, competences or goals. Around 25 percent of the advertisements analyzed showed women in traditional roles: as wives, mothers or homemakers; or employed in traditionally female-oriented jobs such as secretaries, nurses or teachers. The bulk of the ads, 73 percent, showed women merely as decorative ornaments to enhance the product. These advertisements emphasize women's bodies and their attractiveness, but neglect their competencies, goals or skills.

Advertising uses images showing that women differ significantly from men and their behavior should comply with different rules for what is appropriate and what is unacceptable. Women are passive and subordinate. In his book Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising Anthony Cortese says that a key component of the passive, subordinate role of women is their lack of voice. "The sexual objectification of women requires that they remain silent," Cortese says. He adds that, while the masculine gender role is valued, the feminine counterpart is disregarded or devalued.

The image of the perfect woman is used to sell all types of products, from cosmetics to cars. The ideal look is of a young (often under 24), slim, good-looking, seductive woman without any imperfections (no scars, pores, wrinkles). This image carries the message that women would be only liked by men if they are young and pretty, and if they fail, then they should feel guilty. Feminists say that advertising industry creates a cultural environment that forces women to seek physical perfection as the only advantage that would matter.

Cortese calls this image a "provocateur," and says that this unreal image can only be achieved through the purchase of vast quantities of beauty products. "The perfect provocateur is a mere facade. Even the models themselves do not look in the ?esh as impeccable as they are depicted in ads. The classic image is constructed through cosmetics, photography, and airbrushing techniques," Cortese says.

Researchers have examined the link between the image of women in advertising and the obsession of girls and women with dieting and their self-image. Advertising is blamed for increasingly common, life-threatening eating disorders among young females such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

"Advertising gives us a constant stream of representations of perfect — and, of course, unattainable — female beauty. The ‘waif look,' epitomized by ultrathin supermodel Kate Moss, has colonized the dreams of young girls. However, the failure to attain such an unrealistic look has been more like a nightmare than a dream for girls who consider the waif look the only valid form of female identity," Cortese says.

A research of a cosmetics company conducted in 2004 showed that most women are not satisfied with their bodies and that they believed that their physical appearance is more important than personality or intellectual development. These findings provoked some companies to start campaigns where they promote their beauty products showing images of real women. Others put focus on women in their role of successful executives who have equal rights to men.