Blog tasks: Representations of women in advertising

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?

Advertising has become more modern and apparently progressive, showing women as more independent.

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

Women were shown as: Housewives, Doing cleaning and cooking, Being dependent on men

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

Women started to be shown as: Focused on beauty and appearance, Used to sell products. This made them more like objects to look at.

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

The idea was created by Laura Mulvey. It means women are shown from a man’s point of view, as objects for men to look at.


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

Women were shown as: More independent, Having jobs, But they were still often shown in a sexualised way.

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?

Liesbet van Zoonen says these new images were not very different because women were still: Judged on looks, Sexualised

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

Diane Barthel says adverts show male dominance with women as controlled by men

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

Richard Dyer says these women look powerful  but are still made for male fantasy, so not truly powerful.


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 Protein World Beach Body Ready campaign showed a slim model with "Are you beach body ready?". It was controversial because: many people thought it was offensive and body-shaming.

2) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The Dove Real Beauty campaign showed: real women, different body shapes. It aimed to promote natural beauty.

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

Social media allows people to: comment and share opinions, spread campaigns quickly. Audiences are now more active. 

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

People interpret ads differently: some agree, some disagree, some are in between

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, but not fully. Women are more independent now, but still judged on appearance, stereotypes still exist.

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