Advertisements have been understood as key sites for the production, reproduction and negotiation of gender identity. Compare the ways in which gender has been constructed through advertising in historical context.
Introduction
In this essay I will discuss how advertisements are sites for the production, reproduction and negotiation of gender identity. I will talk about how advertisements do this in relation to theorist’s concepts and show some examples of it focussing on the eras of the 1800’s and the 1950’s and 60’s. Finally I will discuss what resemblances these eras have to one and other and how these relate to modern depictions of gender identity in advertising.
The dawn of consumerism in the 1800’s
In Victorian England consumerism came into existence largely due to the industrial revolution and became a big part of the ideology of the middle classes. This meant that the consumption of commodities became a ‘fundamental form of a new cultural system for representing social values’ McClintock (1995). These social values were showcased in advertising. With the rise of consumerism in the 1800’s these representations centred around what it meant to be a colonial nation, calling into question imperialistic motifs. The social semiotics of the time were informed by the these motifs thus an 1800’s man would imbue different meaning from a trope in an advert than a modern man would.
Ideologies of the 1800’s
A prime example of an imperialistic motif was the marketing of soap as a personification of angelic and pure female beauty. McClintock talks about how female beauty in soap adverts is maintained as a spectacle to be admired bearing the traits of superiority and almost religious divinity adhering to the ‘Victorian obsession with cotton and cleanliness’ (1995. P.211). Along-side these motifs, women were also shown as a gender of no political power unlike representations of men in adverts. For this reason soap over time had to be masculinised because women could not be the agents of history.
This shift of ideological function perfectly exemplifies the role of advertising in negotiating ideas on gender identity. Gender identity is constructed through advertisements and the media to fit what is needed of that gender at the time. British advertisements were looking to promote an imperialistic role model in the form of a strong military man. I will discuss this later in relation to a Pears soap advert.
Female magazines
Through analysing adverts from various eras we can gain an understanding of the socio-cultural thinking that existed at that time. We can also inspect what roles this delimiting of genders would bring about. In the 1950s consumerism was on the rise and was a key part of western society. This meant that there was an expansion of the middle classes, and a buying trend that manufactured more needs and wants. Driven and conditioned by the system, the male breadwinners had to be washed, fed and relieved of domestic labour, so it fell to the women to do this. This viewpoint rippled out into women’s magazines during the 1950s which displayed adverts and articles teaching the readers how to make sure their husbands, boyfriends and daughters were well cared for.
Cronin talks about how female magazines are ‘located on the margins of what are generally considered as the more significant and interesting areas of television, cinema, video and music.’ (2000. P.110) This is down to the fact that they are less innovative than men’s magazines. In contrast women’s magazines have not changed from their traditional format: ‘The style and content of both British and French editions of Elle in my study are remarkably consistent over time: the subject and Female visions: advertising, women and narrative’. (2000. P.112)
Joke Hermes writes how this on-going narrative is echoed in the romance fiction of the 1980s and expresses the ‘significance of how women fit the activity of reading into their daily routines’ (2000. P.110). The narrative structures of weekly literature aimed at women helped re-inforce these ideas, and acted as manuals to be followed with guidelines on how to act. This is an example of how these forms of magazine advertisements and articles are understood to produce and reproduce the female gender identity.
The male gaze
Cronin’s notion of ‘women’ as a metaphor for sexist ideologies in turn creates a ‘currency to re-produce specific forms of European male identity’ (2000. P.117). Advertisements that show one gender in a certain light also impact how we view the other gender. The idea of the male gaze is underpinned by evocative images of women that could be considered voyeuristic. Advertisements are designed to appeal males by drawing on licentious poses. Many would see this as a negative connotation of female sexuality, but it also affects the way that males are reproduced in the advertisement sphere: as active voyeurs of the female form. Susan Sontag writes:
'The camera doesn't rape, or even possess, though it may presume, intrude, trespass, distort, exploit, and, at the farthest reach of metaphor, assassinate - all activities that, unlike the sexual push and shove, can be conducted from a distance, and with some detachment' (1979. P.13)
Fig 1 (see bibliography for source)
This sexist advert by American Apparel has a clear message about sexual power and commanding male dominance. Jib Fowles writes how gender is actually the most used social resource in advertising at a time when ‘maleness and femaleness are strident features of the mediated content available to the young’ (1996. P.201). There are increasing concerns about gender being heavily stereotyped ‘as soon as their media participation begins, children are exposed to a vast assemblage of starkly bimodal gender depictions.’ (1996. P.201).
Adverts of children for children
The evocative images of women that are moulded to fit a finely tuned aesthetic give the young unrealistic representations of what it is to be beautiful. According to a study by Barcus (1983. P.64), only 22% of characters in children’s television shows are female ‘the predominance of males could be taken by young viewers to mean that males are more important than females.’ (1996. P201). Gender depictions are most easily produced when the young are the target because the ideologies of a generation in their youth are often the ideologies that they take forward into their adult life. In this advert for GAP clothing the idealized boy is viewed as an ‘Einstein’ and the girl as ‘the talk of the playground’.
Fig 2 (see bibliography for source)
In modern times circa 2017 the ideologies absorbed by the younger audience are made much more potent by using children as models. Here young girls are ‘more likely than their brothers to be shown alone and asleep (in a vulnerable state)’ (1996. P205).
Macho man
The delimited gender definitions are continued into adult advertising too where as Julia Wood expresses ‘Typically men are portrayed as active, adventurous, powerful, sexually aggressive, and largely uninvolved in human relationships.’ (1994. P.35) This can arguably have a negative effect on the male identity. Less active, adventurous and sexually charged men are deemed less masculine in the cultural sphere, rendering those who do not fit the archetype confused and at a loss with their identity. This macho man imagery is continued into the rhetoric of the brand name and slogan.
Fig 3. see bibliography for source
This representation of man to be macho, adventurous and physically strong is a traditional trope. However the seed was planted in the postcolonial advertisements of the 1800’s when men were seen as capable and strong which contrasted sharply with the representation women as fragile and incapable. This is shown potently in this advert for a pencil sharpener:
Fig. 4
Motherly women
Where adverts showed women in important roles it was only really in the sphere of motherhood. In this advert from just after the turn of the 18th century a laxative product is sold through invoking ‘strongly held feelings’ (Fowles. 1995. P45) of motherly instinct.
Fig 5
Military men
Men in 1800’s advertisements were often depicted as military heroes of colonialist Britain. This Pears soap advert features an example of the idealized Victorian male
Fig 6 (see bibliography for source)
The advert shows an admiral dressed in pure imperial white, washing his hands. Adverts such as these were the ‘technology of social purification, inextractebly entwined with the semiotics of imperial racism’ (McClintock. 1995. P212). The Captain is in a boat travelling across the boarder of the empire, the slogan reads: ‘Pears soap is a potent factor in brightening the dark corners of the earth as civilisation advances.’ (McClintock. 1995. P32). This advert shouts imperialism, a scene in the bottom right corner depicts a white man offering a black man soap as a form which he receives gratefully ‘as he might genuflect before a religious relic’ (McClintock. 1995. P32).
The 1950’s landscape
In America during the 1950’s this image of the idealised man contained similar tropes. After World War 2 people wanted stability and so went back to tradition. This is what potentially put progressive thinking on hold through the early 50’s. The nihilism of the 40’s gave way to a rebirth of the American dream. Consumerism reinforced the optimistic notion that with a lucky break you could make it big, travel anywhere and fulfil your potential. This was emphasised by the social change brought about by the suburbanization of America, the popularity of the automobile, the advent of the Mcdonalds fast-food chain in 1955 (Mcdonalds. 2016) and the first Holiday Inn. In the 1950’s the man of the house would drive from the suburbs to work in the city and come home to a wife that would have to please them.
Fig 7 (see bibliography for source) Fig 8 (see bibliography for source)
The adverts above show how men were seen to be much more important than women where the female is depicted as being in the role of servant. In the Van Heusen advert it is reinforced in the caption ‘show her a mans world’ and ‘for men only!... Brand new men-talking, power packed patterns’ that it is implied that only men that can be powerful. The positioning of male and female characters in the advert blatantly suggest fellatio and with it the implication that the women has to be ultra-subservient to the man. The Heinz soups adverts maintain the same theme of male superiority.
The Malboro man
In the 60’s The Marlboro man was a figure used in cigarette advertising campaigns. He was a rugged man often styled in the cowboy image. The campaign transformed filtered cigarettes into a product that was initially seen as a women’s cigarette into a largely successful male product. The advert was so successful, that despite the increasing anxiety at the time that the product could kill, sales still increased.
I would like to discuss the extreme gender identity altering power that adverts can have. Previously I have been discussing how adverts have been taking ideologies surrounding gender identity at the time and producing a semiotic depiction of them. The Malboro campaign does this but in addition successfully markets a certain type of cigarette to a male audience
This creation of the male identity bore less connection to the ideologies of the man at the time and more to a manufactured identity for the company’s financial gain. The male identity has been produced through advertising rather than reproduced. As consumerism has increased we base our identity much more on the products that we own. As the Marxist philosopher Georg Lukacs expressed in his book ‘History and class consciousness’ (1923) our modern period is a melting of culture and consumerism.
Depictions of femininity
Women in recent times have been advertised in such a aesthetically idealized way that the viewers start to manufacture a warped idea of what it is to be beautiful. If you do not display the features promoted so heavily in the media such as being thin, blonde and tanned then you are seen as less of a women. Adverts that depict women as submissive and passive would alienate adventurous women who would not fit the social norm of femininity.
Woods analysis extends into the specificities of the women when they are shown as ‘disproportionally blonde or auburn, more likely to be identified as single (50% vs 29% for males), and were four times more likely to be provocatively dressed’ (Fowles. P208). In an advert for lilyette a company that made lingerie, females are shown to be accessories of men ‘umbrella.. blanket.. heater.. channel’ (Fowles. P210).
At a glance the 1950’s may seem far removed from the 2000’s living in terms of gender role, but on closer inspection many of the ideologies of gender roles, social norms and familial structures still continue. The 50’s are often seen as the simpler times and to a certain extend they were. Normality in the delimiting of genders is achieved through the creation of a hypereality. When the world around you mirrors the same thinking then you are often content because you have yet to experience any difference. However soon feelings of discontent began to brew which I will discuss later in relation to feminist literature.
In the 50’s marriage was seen as the main aspiration. If you were a women and you wanted more for yourself you were seen as not conforming to the social norm. All these ideologies were reflected, negotiated and even sometimes created by the adverts of the time.
The 50’s was seen as a prosperous period of calm conformity, but underneath there were rising feelings of discontent about racial segregation and women’s rights. Betty Freidan writes the ‘Feminine Mystique’: a book that highlights the unhappiness that many women felt in the role of the ‘housewife’ This is credited with sparking a feminist revolution. She writes: ‘Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material’ (1963. P15). Books such as these alongside the invention of the birth control ushered in a period of feminism and sexual revolution in the 60’s.
Adverts such as The Malboro Man that informed the male gender role maintaining the macho man image. However other male identities emerging at the time in more liberal adverts clashed with the traditional ones. In the 60’s the coming out of homosexuals and other differentials and the sexual freedom of women was respected and celebrated at the time.
Fig 10 (see bibliography for source)
Gender and Race
‘Mantegazza’s Morphological Tree of the Human Races, for example shows vividly how the image of the tree was put at the disposal of the racial scientists’ (McClintock. P37). This extract expresses how scientific studies during the 1800’s rendered non-whites as lower in the evolutionary stage deeming them as more animalistic. Animalistic representation continues into the depictions black women today.
Fig 11 (see bibliography for source)
In more modern times, images reinforce racial tropes that are embedded far into our collective post-colonial memory to the point of losing their vulgarity. Kim Kardashian’s magazine cover shot (Paper, 2014) is copied directly from the photographer Jean Paul Goudes work. ‘Champaign incident’ features a naked black lady donning a subservient, cartoonish smile akin to that of the iconic black slave girl trope.
Beardswell stated that the postcolonial gaze ‘has the function of establishing the subject/object relationship’ (2000. P.8). He proposed that a photo suggested a relationship between the viewer and the subject. In doing so the viewer gains an understanding of himself or herself in relation to the subject, therefore establishing their identity. In regards to the male gaze when presented with an advertisement with a women in a sexually lurid and submissive pose a man builds his understanding of his identity around what it means to be the voyeur. In this instance a man would feel powerful in relation to the compliant women.
Advertising in modern society
In regards to the way women are depicted in modern society, stereotypes are definitely still used in advertisement. Women are still being portrayed in a negative way. Ganahl (2003) have compared TV commercials from three major US networks with a previous analysis of TV commercials by Bretl and Cantor (1988). In this study despite the changes in women roles between the two periods the advertisements still hit the traditional stereotypes. (Eisend. 2010. P103)
In a fashion advertisement for Gucci the girl is in a submissive position with the man’s hand on her bottom as if he were about to spank her. If we juxtapose this image with an advert from the 1950’s the similarities are very clear, sadly the delimiting of the female identity continues.
The difference in modern society compared to the 1950’s is that there has been a re-imagining of gender, Wernick writes: ‘male partners have gradually been forced to take greater responsibility for domestic chores so that few of either sex are now unfamiliar with the joys of supermarkets and shopping malls.’ (1991. P49) The fact that there are many more males living alone or together with other males due to rises in divorce rates, the age of marriage, gay couples and students also plays a factor. This has meant that companies that sell domestic day-to-day products have to take into consideration ‘that men, too are potential buyers, and so must be treated as part of the ‘you’ they address. There have also been massive breaks in code where men are being sold more and more beauty products which serves as cultural zeitgeist of how male identity is changing:
‘The promotion of fragrance to heterosexual males, for example, involves a break with the formula that men hunt, women attract’ (1991. P49)
Conclusion
In conclusion, adverts play a large role in the production, reproduction and negotiation of gender. During the 1800’s the gender roles were fashioned around idealizations of the imperialistic dream, whereas in the 1950’s the adverts aimed at promoting a rebirth of the American Dream. Both of these ideologies categorised the role of men and women. The men presenting macho, strong and important traits and the women more passive, subservient and unimportant.
It was only during the 60’s when there was a wave of progressive thinking on sex, gender and rights, that adverts began to show women as more important, but the negative connotations have not completely gone away. Modern advertising has not ceased to objectify women in a voyeuristic fashion yet there has been a move towards the re-imagining of gender. When gender roles change in our society it is reflected back into the advertising.
Companies have increased their sales by promoting products to both genders and so gender identity is built around clothing, brands and technology. Thus our depictions of our own identity have moved away from cultural ideologies and more towards the depictions of a gender in the products we possess.
Bibliography
Anne McClintock. 1995. Imperial Leather, Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. England. Routledge.
Jib Fowles. 1996. Advertising and Popular Culture. USA. Sage Publications
Andrew Wernick. 1991. Promotional Culture. London. Sage Publications
Anne Cronin. 2000. Advertising and consumer citizenship : gender, images, and rights. New York. Routledge
McDonalds. 2016. Our History. 2016 [Online] 14th March 2017 [Date Accessed] available from: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-us/our-history.html
Paper magazine. (2015) [Online] 15th March 2017 [Date Accessed]
Eisend, M. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 2010 [Online] 14th March 2017 [Date Acsessed] .Available from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Eisend/publication/226193018_A_meta-analysis_of_gender_roles_in_advertising/links/5830b61408ae004f74c0f4b2.pdf
Georg Lukacs. 1923. History and class consciousness. Hungary. (In England) The Merlin Press
Pictures
Fig 1. Huffington Post. 2013. American Apparel Adverts Banned: ‘Sexual And Objectifying’ Images Show Models Half Naked (PICTURES) [Online] [9th March 2017]. Available from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/10/american-apparel-adverts-banned-sexual-objectifying-images-half-naked-models_n_3050235.html
Fig 2. Daily Mail. 2016. 'How can you seriously think this is OK?' Gap Kids provokes fury with a 'sexist' ad calling little boys 'scholars' and girls 'social butterflies' (and it even spells Einstein's name wrong) [Online] [14th March 2017]. Available from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3718308/How-seriously-think-OK-Gap-Kids-provokes-fury-sexist-ad-calling-little-boys-scholars-girls-social-butterflies-spells-Einstein-s-wrong.html
Fig 3. MeTV. 2015. VINTAGE MEN'S COLOGNE ADS FROM THE 1960S AND 1970S [Online] [12th March 2017]. http://www.metv.com/lists/vintage-mens-cologne-ads-from-the-1960s-and-1970s
Fig 4. Live Journal. 2011. Planetary Pencil Pointer - now a WOMAN can sharpen a pencil! [Online] [16th March 2017]. http://vintage-ads.livejournal.com/3065456.html
Fig 5. Nujol Constipation. Jib Fowles. 1996. Advertising and Popular Culture. USA. Sage Publications
Fig 6. ThingLink. 2015. Pears Soap ad. [Online] [10th March 2017].
Fig 7. Daily Mail. 2012.
‘Show her it’s a man’s world’: American adverts from the Mad Men era reveal the shocking sexism upon which brands were built [Online] [14th March 2017]. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119086/Show-s-man-s-world--American-adverts-Mad-Men-era.html#ixzz4bWlAYoZ5
Fig 8. Findery. 2013. Does your husband yawn at the table [Online] [11th March 2017]. https://findery.com/broadside/notes/does-your-husband-yawn-at-the-table
Fig 9. AdPrinciples. 2012. Malboro Man [Online] [14th March 2017]. https://adprinciples.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/marlboro-man/
Fig 10. The World of Kitsch. 2011. 60s & 70s Men's Underwear Print Adverts. [Online] [14th March 2017]. http://theworldofkitsch.com/worldofkitsch/60s-70s mens-underwear-print-adverts/
Fig 11. Jezebel. 2013. Why Photograph a Black Women in a Cage. [Online] [12th March 2017]. http://jezebel.com/5337618/why-photograph-a-black-woman-in-a-cage
Fig 12. PaperMag. 2015. Paper: Break the Internet. [Online] [14th March 2017]. http://www.papermag.com/no-filter-an-afternoon-with-kim-kardashian-1427450475.html
Fig 13. Refinery. 2014. The Troubling Racial History Of Kim K's Champagne Shot. [Online] [13th March 2017]. http://www.refinery29.com/2014/11/77809/kim-kardashian-carolina-beaumont-john-paul-goude
Fig 14. News Activist. 2016. This isn’t very Gucci of you. [Online] [16th March 2017]. http://www.newsactivist.com/en/articles/gendered-world-views-section-11-winter-2016/isnt-very-gucci-you