Gender Roles in Advertisements - Essay Sample

Introduction

The advertisement is about a couple standing near the altar, ready to get married. Suddenly, the ceremony is interrupted by a concerned future mother-in-law who begins to inspect the bride. She then pinches the ears and nose of the bride and checks her teeth. The groom then seems surprised and attempts to stop his mother. However, the mother assumes and takes another last look at the chest of the bride and declares that some important decisions should be carefully made. As the advertisement ends, an Audi car appears whose idea is to compare the car with the bride such that in both scenarios, people should be careful. The ad depicts that when looking for a woman, one should go for the most efficient and effective women like the Audi car (Audi Commercial, 2018). However, discussions about the advert being bias as well as the deliberate use of gender stereotypes went viral, and individuals boycotted it as they demanded an apology and an explanation from the organization.

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Sport England: This Girl Can

With the aim and intention of reversing the decreasing number of women participating in workouts or exercises in America, this advertisement shatters almost every rule regarding sports advertising. People should assume women have model-like physical dimensions that are shown in the first second of the ad. They should focus on real women who have real bodies getting stuck in, boxing, swimming, cycling, spinning, running, those with confidence and determination that is impossible to fake to mention but a few (Sport England, 2015). The action displays quiet satisfaction and induced endorphin joy during exercise, which excites women. Therefore, in sports advertisements, women should also be included in sporting activities.

Love Essex

Different examples of gender roles or gender stereotypes depicted in advertising can be said to overwhelm televisions, billboards, and city posters. The primary aim of love Essex advertisement is to prove that women are not only beautiful but can also be educated and operate successful business life; the advertisement is a groundless stereotype that keeps appearing in public. The love Essex advertisement is a campaign that encourages people living in North America to keep their streets clean, and two controversial pictures are introduced in the advertisement. One showcases a woman with a tag which states that throwing garbage in the trash is always a "beautiful" quick action to undertake. However, the move would have sounded right if the second picture would not have been next to it. It is an image displaying that throwing trash in a bin is a "smart" action (Love Essex, 2017). Thus, with the current generation, women should never be underestimated such that they are only concerned about their beauty; they can do best that which a man can do.

Pantene: Labels Against Women

To be honest, people do not entirely love the creative execution of the depicted advertisement as it has undeniably great insight. During the press release in emphasizing the truth behind the advertisement, Pantene depicted that they used the statistic that more than 70% of the make gender believe that the female gender should downplay their humor for them to be accepted in their places of work. The action depicts the reason why there are few women in great businesses and why many large organizations are run by men than women, which is not at all gut-wrenching depression (Pantene, 2013). Therefore, this advertisement, as well as other adverts which challenge women's stereotype in business, can only be good. Moreover, as showcased in Pantene advertisement, the woman's hair does not seem healthy and attractive.

Cumulative Effects of all the Advertisements

Advertisements are always aired for various purposes and the different target audience. Therefore, when adverts are made underestimating the role of women in society, the upcoming female generation of kids will always be affected negatively. Advertisers, on the other hand, will also be facing increased scrutiny of the pictures they post and how those posts are likely to influence the behavior in growing children. Additionally, with the depicted advertisements, there should be regulation of gender stereotypes regarding the physical appearance of women (Tuncay Zayer, & Coleman, 2015). For instance, an advertisement implying that the social or romantic failure of a person is down to their appearance will always be challenged. The action includes those adverts which target new mothers, suggesting that idealized looks should be their priority at the cost of their well-being emotions, which should not be the case.

The advert should benefit both the target audience and advertising organization for it to be accepted. Nevertheless, clients and advertisers often pay the price. The backlash of consumers, in most cases, risks lower sales and leads to the negative brand image of an organization. For instance, consumers have a right to choose the type of adverts they want, and they might say that they do not need a certain advert because they are less likely to purchase the products or services from the drawn organization (Tuncay Zayer, & Coleman, 2015). The reason might be if the organization produce advertisements that portray unachievable or idealized standards because they only end up threatening the social identity of consumers. Moreover, women are always put off while purchasing products like cars or financial services when such type of adverts are portrayed to be of the male gender (Tuncay Zayer, & Coleman, 2015). Thus, most of the advertisements often speak to ethnically diverse audience differently.

Audi Commercial, (2018). Audi Commercial Associates Women with Second-hand Cars. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5023740/

Love Essex, (2017). Women are not only pretty but also smart: Love Essex. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5023740/

Pantene (2013). Labels Against Women. UK Television series. Video retrieved from https://youtu.be/-K2kfgW7708

Sport England, (2015). This Girl Can. US television series. Video retrieved from https://youtu.be/aN7lt0CYwHg

Tuncay Zayer, L., & Coleman, C. A. (2015). Advertising professionals' perceptions of the impact of gender portrayals on men and women: A question of ethics?. Journal of Advertising, 44(3), 1-12. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00913367.2014.975878