Dimension 1

Intended and Unintended Consequences of sex and gender representation in advertising

Intended consequences

• We are familiar and comfortable with stereotypes
• Ex) We instantly recognize what is supposed to be the jock versus the nerd in advertisements
•   In commercials, we expect to see a mother doing the grocery shopping and making dinner for children. If the father did these types of things, we would second-guess the commercial and maybe not even realize it.
• Consumers are attracted to beautiful things
•   Ex) An advertisement for flowers with a Victoria’s secret model will be viewed more positively than the same advertisement with a random girl from Michigan
• I think consumers are attracted to beautiful things to a certain extent. There are other ways, such as fear or humor tactics, to get a message across.
•   Role-product congruity
• “Research has shown that certain stereotyped portrayals for men and women are appropriate for specific categories of products” (Sheehan p 105).
•   Sex sells
• Advertisers tend to use more attractive images to induce a positive feeling with their product
•   I am doing research in my ADV 375 class on if college men prefer humorous alcohol advertisements versus sexy alcohol advertisements.
• The results show that men will say they prefer humorous advertisements but when shown an example they choose the sexual advertisement instead.

Unintended consequences

•  Stereotypes limit social roles
•  If you see the image of a mother caring for her children, you will assume that most women are stay at home mothers.
•  The limitations of social roles are good and bad.
•   It can be good because advertisements have such little time to explain the setting or situation. With stereotypes, it makes it easier for people to understand the advertisement.
•  The limitations can also be bad. We have grown in many ways as a society and stereotypes hinder our growth.
• External beauty is the only thing that matters
• Consumers will start to rely on how they look compared to the models in the advertisements
• This can cause unhealthy habits, such as eating disorders, in young people
•  I have bought a product just because the way the model looked in the advertisement. I believe this is common among most people when buying a product.
•  Objectification
• Advertisements will zone in on male and female body parts to make an advertisement more appealing
• Ex) Beer advertisements such as Budweiser and Sam Adams have objectified women by showing their body parts next to their beer
• Objectification goes hand in hand with the intended consequence that sex sells. They are both not ideal but in most cases sex and objectification work in selling products.
• Marginalization
•  Consumers are so used to seeing men and women in traditional portrayals versus nontraditional portrayals

Sources:

Sheehan, Kim. (2004). Controversy in Contemporary Advertising. USA: Sage Publications.