Gender Stereotypes

"Is advertising guilty of creating gender imbalances in society or does it simply mirror social attitudes?"

That is the moral question one must answer when talking about gender stereotypes in advertising. Girls are known to wear pink and boys are known to wear blue. That's just the way society views gender roles. I believe that the advertising industry uses these generalizations to their advantage. In a way they are just mirroring society's views, but by doing this they're also making these views a social norm, and in turn indirectly supporting gender imbalances. These two things come hand in hand.

But I believe that when advertisers make hurtful, demeaning generalizations, that's when gender stereotyping becomes a problem. There are a few woman stereotypes that are used often in the media, and the irony of them being a joke does not make it okay.

Sexism in older ads are more predominant, but can still be seen in some today. A ritualization of subordination advertisement by Dolce and Gabbana is shown below.

But there is a lot more to understanding sexism in advertisements. According to Katherine Frith, there's the surface meaning, the advertisers intended meaning, and the cultural/ideological meaning. These ads can be interpreted in different ways depending on the person. An ad could be offensive depending on the individual. Most of the time the advertisers intended meaning does not equal the surface meaning seen by the viewer. Let's use Katherine analysis on this Dolce ad above.

 The advertisers intended meaning may be clear or unclear, for this Dolce ad it isn't as clear as other. Personally I believe this is supposed to be sexual. The men are looking at her with desire (maybe because shes wearing Dolce) The advertiser is trying to express that Dolce and Gabanna creates desire, but the way she is position and outnumbered creates a whole new meaning. Especially in a cultural context. 

This is a case in which the advertisers message got scrambled in it's delivery. Which is done very often.

Nowadays, I believe the gender roles are being more challenged than they have been in the past although there are still examples of these stereotypes still existing whether companies intend them to or not. 

The Misfits - Stereotypes in TV shows

One of my favorite shows would probably have to be The Misfits. It doesn't originate here in America so I watch it on Hulu.com when I need some good UK sitcom in my life. Non-American shows are just better than ours, and I'm not just saying that to get a good grade from my professor who's from the UK.

In this show, there are five “juvenile delinquents” that gain superpowers in a storm, and get in a bunch of difficult situations like teenagers usually do. I did not even think about the race of these kids until now, since they are all diverse. Their race doesn't have anything to do with the “trouble-maker” role they are trying to express. The TV show also has an array of different characters and races in general and I found that there is no predominant race or gender.

Although this series has a racially diverse cast, when I deeper thought about this I noticed that they do use some stereotypes in this show.

Curtis is the dominant example of a stereotype in this show. He is African American and in this series, he was a Olympic status athlete. Curtis' character represents the "all-black-guys-are-good-at-sports" stereotype and especially since he is a runner.

Another stereotype of a main character in this show is Alisha's character. She is portrayed as the beauty, and is often sexualized in this show. I believe she portrays the woman that everyone wants, and has the lack of brains at the same time. When you get deeper into the season, you realize she not just a beautiful face but that there is more to her.

I actually believe that this show does a wonderful job at bending gender and ethnic roles, for example  the "bad-guy" in the first season is actually a woman! But the two examples above is the only time I noticed The Misfits use race and gender stereotypes.

It's important for shows to be sexually and ethnically diverse because they break the negative stereotypes that are sometimes places on race and gender. Even though this is a show from the UK, I believe America TV shows are breaking stereotypes more often and as we progress it should continue in that direction.

Stereotyping in Advertsing

Stereotyping is everywhere. Although our society has come a long way from negative stereotypes, they still exist here in America.

I believe it's not wrong for advertisers to stereotype. A lot of the time these stereotypes are not offensive and are used to get a point across. Some are even hilarious. Whether we know it or not, it's in our human nature to stereotype other people. You can say "no stereotyping is wrong I never stereotype" but the reality is, we all do it.

Some examples of this are when we're driving and somebody cuts us off, someone might just assume they're Asian. Or if a white lady is carrying a Louis Vuitton bag someone might just assume shes snooty, rich, and thinks she is better than somebody else. Another example is when a Mexican doesn't speak English well or at all. Most of our society would believe that person is uneducated and crossed the border. We all do it, and all psychologists know it's in human nature to make generalizations about objects and people.

I'm not saying all stereotypes are true, but these advertisers want to make their product more identifiable to their target market and sometimes they use these racial or gender generalizations to do so. I believe there is a difference between generalization of certain people and offensive stereotypes. Companies should stay away from any demeaning towards a certain group of people, but I believe other harmless stereotypes are okay.

Advertisements have come a long way since the past. There are a lot of old ads that depict African-Americans as servants or women as housewives. We don't have that here in America anymore, I believe that racism in advertising is a thing of the past. Now whenever individuals have a problem with an advertisement, the company usually complies and takes it down. I don't believe there is a huge problem with racism in advertising today.

Since these companies and advertisements are in the public eye, I believe they do have a responsibility and they can't be offensive. Technically they can be just as offensive as they want, but if the public views them in a negative way they won't buy their products. I love to use the United Colors of Benetton as perfect example of this. They did whatever they wanted with their advertisements and many people found them offensive. In turn, the sales of their sweaters declined and they are not the company they were 20 years ago.

Overall, companies should stick to positive stereotypes. If advertisements end up being sexist or raciest it is not only hurtful but is bad for the company too.

Three Different Awesome Ads - Semiotics

Print Ad:

I actually never saw this ad in print, but instead found it on the internet. I believe it's cute and simple, while it seamlessly gets the point across. The chicken and the egg are iconic symbols; the chicken is there to symbolize lunch while the egg is there to symbolize breakfast. The connotation between these two symbols is hilarious, the chicken is shocked to see the egg, just like a someone who was smelling egg on someones breath would react. This reaction goes well with the slogan "don't let lunch meet breakfast". The myth of this ad is, that if you chew orbit gum after breakfast, your breath will not smell like egg but rather like that minty cool feeling you can observe by the ad's background.

Billboard Ad: This is another ad I have not seen personally but it is the most creative billboard ad I have witnessed. The denotation of this image is obviously the man ripping the billboard with his teeth. The connotation we perceive is that his teeth must be really strong to do that. I know my teeth couldn't personally do that. So the association between denotation and connotation is that, this toothpaste in the corner of the ad is made to build strong teeth just like their slogan says. I believe this was a great use of the slogan and overall photograph the ad has.

Commercial Ad: The semiotics of this ad are a little more difficult to point out, and there don't seem to be any symbols in this ad, but ever since I watched the Superbowl I could not appreciate any other commercial as much as I love this one. The denotation of this ad is the apparent goat eating Doritos all day long. The connotation of this ad is that these Doritos are so good not only do humans love them, but goats love them so much that it's a problem. The myth surrounding this ad is that these chips are just too damn good. Period

What a Brand Actually Is

A product is just a product, until a brand makes it an "experience".

A brand is not just a product, but it instead sells a type of lifestyle and quality with the name. When it comes to food labels, people are willing to spend more on the name brands than the generic brand, but why is that?

It's because as a society, we associate brands with quality. Companies like Heinz or Kraft advertise themselves as brands that have been there since your childhood instead of selling themselves as products that taste better or last longer. This "nostalgia" type of selling works. These brands don't use statistics saying they're better, but since we grew up with these brands with associate them with being of better quality.

Brands are one thing when it comes to food, but a completely different story when it comes to clothing or other brands. This is when the "lifestyle" aspect of a brand comes into play. 

Brands do what other generic clothing can't, along with their product they sell an "image". What I mean by that is that people will pay extra for a brand, to live the lifestyle they believe the brand fits.

Some examples:

Hurley is famous for being a surf sponsor  They sell beach-like apparel and when you buy their products you may feel like you're associating yourself with the surf/beach culture. This is a huge selling point for Hurley.

I'm not too familiar with Roca Wear but I know they sell an rapper inspired clothing, which can be seen through this ad. Look at this cool guy with three pretty ladies in a jet plane. Roca Wear sells to a more rap cultured audience and their brand sells that too.

This is the last example I'll talk about, Louis Vuitton. People pay over a grand for these designer handbags. Not only are people paying for the purse, but the high class lifestyle that goes along with it. When you carry a Louis, people know you cashed out big bucks for a purse. This high class lifestyle is what keeps brands like this going.

To sum it all up, people will interact with brands all their life. Brands set up an image for themselves and that's how they sell their products. Clothes are just pieces of fabric but a brand sets an image with those clothes. Ketchup is just ketchup but Heinz makes it Heinz Ketchup.