Chapter 7 Controversies in Contemporary Advertising Gender and Advertising How Gender Shapes Meaning Gender and Informed Processing Advertisers provide messages and leave the meaning up to consumers to develop Advertisers are interested in similarities and differences in how men and women receive and evaluate information o Men look directly at the primary message of a given advertisement o Women not only evaluate the primary message but they also pick up multiple clues from the message Once the meaning from an advertisement has been determined men and women differ in how that meaning is used o Men process and make decisions more quickly than women o Women also tend to evaluate and weigh the various sources to process the message and determine what next steps to take o Women s reasoning processes are less task oriented and more compartmentalized than men s are Women and men respond to entirely different stimuli when viewing and evaluating advertising messages o Men respond positively to male imagery women to women imagery Women s brain processing is focused in the frontal lobes multitasking Men s processing is distributed throughout the brain Gender and Stereotypes Role Portrayals o Advertising has firmly held on to the traditional portrayal of women as homemakers and uses this imagery to promote all types of products from household goods to computers and automobiles o The media portrays women in one of four ways The glamorous sex kitten The sainted mother The devious witch The hardface corporate and political climber o Men are portrayed as Heroes Protagonists Athletes o Men Breadwinners o Women Homemakers o Advertising portrayals vary based on medium and time o Internationally advertising still conforms to traditional gender portrayals Beauty Stereotypes o Theories of beauty are culturally constituted primarily because of common socialization experiences o Since our culture constantly undergoes subtle changes beauty norms have also changed over time o In the United States and other cultures an important part of the beauty ideal today includes a thin body type o Critics point to women s fashion and beauty magazines as one of the most influential and potentially damaging media channels o When people are portrayed in advertisements they are either actively involved with the product or service being advertised or passively decorating the advertisement o Women tend to be portrayed in decorative roles much more often than men o Licensed Withdrawal Gaze is averted person appears removed from the social situation of the activity Decorative and Sexual Stereotypes Intended Effects The stage is quickly set o Stereotyped imagery is effective by virtue of its familiarity o Advertisers have almost always relied on stereotypes to establish rapport with consumers and move on to more important information about the product or service being advertised Beautiful things are appealing o As social beings we like to look at beautiful things o Advertising images capitalize on this idea and use it to transfer positive affect from the model to the product affect transfer o Match Up Hypothesis Suggests that attractive persons are highly effective endorsers for products that are used to enhance the consumer s own attractiveness Role product congruity o Suggests that advertising effectiveness can be increased when appropriate models are used o We as consumers have some idea of acceptable images that relates to the context of the advertisement The theory that sex sells o Sexual imagery is used to break through the ever growing clutter in the advertising environment Capture attention o A sexual appeal is a strong psychological appeal o Advertisers often use romance to make a sexual connection with women Unintended Effects Limited social roles o If mass media depict only a limited range of roles for men and women the societal roles that people assume are appropriate for men and women will subsequently be limited Value system focuses on external beauty o Advertisements that focus on the beauty ideal may send a message that one s looks are the only aspect that is important to the individual and to society o Increased eating disorders dissatisfaction with body Objectification o Any presentation emphasizing sexually suggestive body parts or not including the head o Individuals lose their humanity Advertising s Responsibilities to Men and Women Keep in mind o Don t take the easy way out o Use the power of advertising to portray more realistic images of men and women o Rethink your own ideas of beauty o Expand expectations