WOMN 2620 - Advertising (historical, gender violence, diverse rep)

advertising through a feminist lens

• Advertising is more than a marketing tool.
• It reflects and reinforces society's ideas about gender and women's roles

• Feminist scholars study advertising not only to understand how products are sold, but also to examine how media influences ideas about femininity, power, identity, and gender equality

decorative or sexual, beauty and marriage

Two different images of women in early advertising

• aimed at men - presented women as ______ or _______ objects whose purpose was simply to catch men’s attention

• aimed at women - focused on _____, romance, ______, and domestic life

female advertising slogans

• "Keep that schoolgirl complexion."
• "Be the girl he marries... forever."
• "Bring out those romantic curves that will make your bust line your beauty line."

the ideal woman in advertising

Most advertisements presented a very «narrow» image of the "ideal woman.“
• She was: white, middle class, heterosexual, attractive, married, and responsible for running the household.

torches of freedom (1929)

A group of young women publicly lit Lucky Strike cigarettes while photographers and journalists looked on. Newspapers were informed in advance that this was a demonstration for women's rights

commodity feminism

the use of feminist ideas and messages to promote consumer products

the feminine mystique

Betty Friedan - the belief that a woman’s greatest fulfillment could be found exclusively in being a wife, mother, and homemaker

The soap Palmolive 1920s-1940s

Slogan - “Keep that schoolgirl complexion”

• message was clear: if you want love, marriage, and happiness, you need this product!

Cigarettes

Advertising _______ linked smoking to women’s emancipation; it was a symbol of women’s freedom and equality

• still many issues with this ad advertising would suggest smoking would suppress a woman’s appetite, and help her maintain a slim, fashionable figure

Different roles of women in 20th c. advertising

The patriotic worker, the happy and beautiful housewife, the ideal mother, the happy consumer

Virginia Slims slogan

“you’ve come a long way, baby!” - 1968

Charlie Perfume

Revlon (1973) - advertising campaign was one of the first to portray women as modern, independent, working professionals

Enjoli Perfume

1978-1980s - “I can bring home the bacon, fry ut up in a pan, and never let you forget you’re a man”

Independent consumer in the 1990s

The ideal female consumer, who expresses her freedom and identity primarily through consumption.

Jane Fonda

• Introduced a new image of women in advertising - strong, athletic, successful, and health-conscious.
• Her workout programs made home fitness accessible to millions of women and inspired them to lead active, healthy lives

• became not only just selling products but also selling a lifestyle

Protein world (2015)

“Are you beach body ready?” - health supplement supplier released this campaign on billboards in NY and London

Sexualization media

• "Sex is everywhere in the media” (Debra Merskin)
• No form of communication is more closely associated with sex than advertising.

• Sexualized images have become a norm.
• For more than 40 years, Calvin Klein has relied on sexualized imagery in its advertising

Objectification

the treatment of a person as a commodity or an object, without respect for their individuality and dignity.

Objectification in advertising

the reduction of a model's body to the role of a sexual object in order to attract the audience's attention

mosaic of fragments

The female body is presented as a "____________," with a focus on sexualized body parts (lips, breasts, buttocks, and legs), often excluding the head

Functional Ranking (Erving Goffman)

• In the mass media, particularly in advertising, women are frequently portrayed as subordinate, whereas men are portrayed as dominant.
• Men are almost always depicted as physically larger and taller than women.
• Women are more often shown leaning, reclining, or lying down—in poses that symbolize submission and availability.
• Men are more often portrayed as active, while women are presented primarily as decorative objects

Femvertising

a marketing strategy in which a brand uses feminist messages and the idea of female empowerment to promote and sell a product or service

Purpose-driven advertising

advertising that promotes not only products but also social values or causes, such as gender equality, diversity, or environmental sustainability

Body diversity

the representation of people with different body shapes, sizes, ages, skin tones, and physical characteristics in the media and advertising, as well as their acceptance and inclusion in society

• Concept became widely recognized after Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty (2004), although the term itself became common in advertising and academic literature mainly during the 2010s