This article looks at a couple of magazine adds and discusses the portrayal of women in the media. Let the comments begin.
http://stilettorevolt.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/glossy-garbage-dissecting-magazine-ads/
Media Gender Stereotypes
About the Author
A complete and total jerk. His disregard and distaste for the establishment and everything it has established, provides an un-pandering and brutally honest look at stuff that happens. 
Stereotypes are certainly present in the depiction of both sexes. The portrayals of men are generally just as bad as those of women, dare I say worse, because no punches are ever pulled with men. Most articles only cover the negative impact on women, because men’s feelings and self esteem aren’t as important. The angle of the stereotype depends on the market being appealed to, and the market the ads are aired.
Products marketed more towards men use the suggestion of sex (or possibility thereof) or appeal to a man’s insecurity.
Example: By wearing the right deodorant, buying the right tool belt, or drinking the right brand of hard liquor, you can get a girl to pay attention to you and it will make you a “real” man.
They seldom seem to attack women outright.
Possible Example: Your wife is a bad driver so get good insurance, or your wife never remembers to get oil changes, so use our oil product it will keep your car running longer.
They are usually more about insecurity than they are about insulting women. Some products marketed towards women make women feel inadequate, or insecure and as if they are in constant competition with all other women with respect to body image, lifestyle, and family. But there are also ads targeting women where men are blatantly portrayed as buffoons, perverts, or worse.
Men are too often portrayed as uncontrollable (and they are frequently portrayed as needing to be controlled), impulsive, butt sniffing animals, who are crude, grungy/dirty, uncaring/unfeeling, unintelligent, violent and aggressive, and superficial. Though both sexes are made to feel insecure men probably bear the brunt of the negative advertising and stereotyping. It is acceptable to make the man be the dumb, greedy, selfish one in commercials, but not the woman. The woman is the selfless champion of family values, she is the glue that holds a family together, she is never selfish or crude, and not capable of violence or degradation (blah, blah blah, let me pause to gag).
Example: There is a cable tv commercial where the man makes a big deal about installing cable tv, only to have the woman do it in two seconds. The man stands there looking like a confused idiot, while she wife smirks in a sly, content with oneself way. Turned around, it would have been deemed offensive to make a woman seem stupid or technologically inept.
Example: The diamond commercials we all see, where he buys her the diamond and she loves him for it, is really aimed at both sexes. The fact that it makes men feel insecure, like they need to spend thousands of dollars to prove love is not really discussed. Women get pressured into buying clothes, products, and jewelry but it’s also in competition with each other, not just to impress men. Women don’t get bombarded with the message that if your girlfriend can’t bring down an airplane with her diamond, you are a loser.
Example: The Pepto-Bismol commercial where the wife is calling the doctor and describes that her husband ate a whole bunch of random crap, including dog food, and now she needs the doctor’s help to make him better. That would never be done the other way around, because only men act like slobs and pigs and eat themselves into feeling sick.
The one ad that I recalling seeing that puts woman as the aggressor, is a GreyPower insurance commercial. An elderly driver is stopped at the stop sign, and a crazed women behind him starts going crazy, honking on the horn, and eventually just pulls around the stopped person cursing. So this commercials shows that women can be reckless, or dangerous, or impatient drivers too, not just men. Very refreshing, but in the end women still get cheaper insurance rates based on the stereotype that men are more aggressive, are bigger risk takers, or just plain immature.
The over-riding theme in most of the ads on that page is the appeal to our insecurities, or that sex follows these products like a shadow. For every hair colour or makeup ad that tries to make a woman feel insecure, there is a baldness, grayness or Viagra ad that makes men feel like failures. For every unrealistically scantily clad woman in underwear or bikini, there is a depressed guy who can’t get it up on command anymore. In a sense the companies are playing us off against one another. They make women feel like they need to be “sexy” to give us an erection, and it tells men they are failures if they can’t one. One way or the other, someone is buying something to fix a “problem” that may not exist.
I especially like the Debeers ad and the commentary pertaining to it. Sure guys perpetuate the stereotypes by buying the diamond, but show me ONE conscientious objector of a woman who has ever turned one down. Not one huh? Really? Can’t find even one? Didn’t think so.
If there is a moral to the story, it’s that we should not allow corporations to make us feel inadequate by constantly pitting one sex against the other. Ad executives attempt to manipulate our fears and the desire to be wanted/loved, and they make us buy stupid and expensive crap that we never needed. But since we keep buying those products anyway despite our outrage and/or disgust, they think their darn clever commercials are working. So people get a brain, gain some self respect, and remember the companies that annoy or anger you and don’t buy their products, no matter how “in” it might be.
Pro-women movements (I always thought the word feminism, sounds stupid, what is the antithesis to that, masculinism? Should masculinism be an antithesis to feminism? Can’t it be complimentary? There is no definition for masculinism in the dictionary.) need to be more careful of their overall message. There is a line between promoting the interests and rights of women, and exclusionary rhetoric that insinuates that there is a giant man-led conspiracy against women. The interpretations of some of the ads cross that line. By continuing to focus attention only on how things impact women, how things are degrading only to women, how they create unrealistic expectation of only women, men are left disenfranchised and unable to relate to the goals of the movement. Let’s all work together to make advertisers give us a clear messages of product strengths, versus using cheap tricks, sex, and insecurity to manipulate us. Wallet power!!!
Although you make a goood point with regards to the pitting of the sexes against eachother (and I do agree) it is more often than not that women’s sexuality is primarily (and primally lol)used as a tool to manipulate both men and women in advertising. Male-targeted ads often appeal to insecurities, yes, but the majority of advertising with strong sexual innuendos use the female body and the idea of “sexiness” as an object to be won, owned, bought, sold to. These ads are OVERTLY sexualizing women. No question about it. They are completely disgusting, and I for one will not support any of these companies. The old “sex sells” motto doesn’t fly in these times, especially when both men (I hope) and women are just completely over-stimulated and under-credited. Another example of stale creativity pulling on the same old tricks.
How would you feel if your daughter saw any of these ads? Your mother? What exactly are they decoding from these messages? How many times do they need to be exposed to this kind of imagery before they start feeling sexualized and nothing more than commodity?
My point here is that although the male/female dynamic is consistently used in advertising, sitcoms, movies–there is a strong argument to be made that it is not a 50/50 split. The burden is not shared.
thanks !! very helpful post!
I rarely comment on blogs but yours I had to stop and say Great Blog!!