Preview

Advertising in the Media

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2223 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Advertising in the Media
Advertising is an important social phenomenon. It both stimulates consumption, economic activity models, life-styles and a certain value orientation. Consumers are confronted with extensive daily doses of advertising in multiple media. With the continual attack of marketing media, it is presumable that it will affect our individualism and society as a whole. What are the effects of advertising today? Does television reinforce the mainstream ideology of contemporary culture? How do they shape the society? Can the media help break the barriers of gender roles? Consumer minds ' can be changed, opinions molded. I believe advertising in the media today is slightly changing, however will not drastically change. The commercials and advertisements still implant the usual gender roles to our society today. Will the media ever change?
The methodology used was researching, analyzing, and observing magazine ads, plus watching commercials for a full three hours to help in exposing the advertising in the media and how it seems to characterize our society today.
Commercials are a way that gender roles are displayed in society. When you see a car commercial for a mechanic most of the time the mechanic is a man. But when you see a commercial about cleaning products for the house, normally a woman is the face you see. In other words, the media can help break the barriers on how gender roles are portrayed in society. The more those women represent strength on television; it will then encourage them to build their own self-confidence.
In review of the television viewing of women and men, it is easy to forget that the hours they spend watching television are a substantial part of each week. Excluding hours spent sleeping, women spend approximately 1 hour out of every 4 hours of each day watching television. Men, not far behind, spend about 1 hour out of every 5 hours of each day watching television (Butler 1980).
In general, these concentrated views of manhood



Cited: Anderson, Margaret L. 2000. Thinking about Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender. Pearson Education, Inc. Butler, Matilda. 1980. Women and the Mass Media. New York, NY: Human Sciences Press. Melville, Dennis A.; Cornish, Ian M. "Conservatism and Gender in the Perception of Sex-Roles in Television Advertisements". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1993, Vol. 77, p642.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Advertisements place men and women in certain roles depicting who they should be in society. These stereotypical gender roles have been used throughout the history of advertisements. Previous research has established that: Gender role is the set of characteristics prescribed by a culture and communicated through direct communication and through media (Kerr & Multon, 2015, p. 184)…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two articles “You’re soaking in it” by Pozner, and “How Advertising Informs to our Benefit” by Calfee, offer two very different takes on the effects of advertising. Pozner claims that movies and TV shows have become a new medium for companies to present their ads. She goes on saying how these companies exploit their audiences by portraying a fictional society. Although she is very critical, I agree with her, that ads such as Nike sneaker one saying how our product will always be there and at the same time never judge you. I feel this is a very common tactic in the ad business and can sometimes remove consumers from reality. Furthermore she is very critical of relationships…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1960s to the 1990s was an era when there were strict gender roles to be followed. Companies have always used advertising as an outlet for selling their products. These companies have one aim, that is to target their audience and make them want to buy the product. Corporations such as Coke and Marlboro have been successful at finding an audience and then directing their ads towards the people thus making a large profit. Public surveys conducted by Gallup through the 1980s showed that peoples faith in advertising was in decline through out America, particularly in the years between 1970 and 1979, according to a 1994 Journal of Public Policy & Marketing article by John E. Calfee and Debra Jones Ringold. Studies by Harris and Associates found…

    • 240 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Advertisements are a very influential part of our lives. We have been exposed to ads all our lives, and in many ways, they have shaped the way we think and act. Advertisements are very pervasive and come in many different shapes and sizes. They are available in every form of medium, ranging from magazines, television, radio, the internet, billboards, etc. Ads are very important in our society. They make us wary of many cultural trends, as well as give us useful information that might help us lead better lives.…

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Old Spice Stereotypes

    • 1757 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The media, consisting of its various forms, is a very influential socializing agent. Messages fed to us through forms of advertising and marketing have a lasting impression, often changing the ways we think and behave. As the popularity of an ad grows, so does it moral implications, as well as its influence on audiences world wide. This week's topic of “advertising and Difference: Gender and Race” is supported by two articles which examine the effects of adverting and stereotyping on African American culture, as well as females from different cultures.…

    • 1757 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many people hold the belief that advertising does not affect them, stating that they are the exception to its influence. However, Jean Kilbourne challenges this assumption in her shocking 1999 documentary called Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women. (Ridnor, 2010).…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gender In Advertising

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Advertisements are yet another prominent and integral part of television viewing. Due to its power and charisma, advertising is the best-known and most widely discussed form of promotion. Advertising not only informs but persuades and motivates the consumer about the advertised products, service or ideas. Advertising plays an important role in persuading the public to change their attitudes towards a product, service or idea. The constant flow of advertising images of gender, types of persons, social classes, and other groups influence our social learning process. A quick glance through TV gives a strong indication of how society views women. It is observed that many advertisements portray women in stereotypical roles that limit their capabilities.…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women In Advertising

    • 3497 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Throughout this paper I will discuss how women are perceived in advertisements. How their roles in ads connect to the dominance of men in the media, as well…

    • 3497 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Advertising In TV

    • 1997 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Advertising is a tactic used to persuade future customers into buying a company’s products; although, there is much more behind a pretty television commercial or billboard poster. Flashy advertising has become the new norm that Americans have become, for a great majority, used to. Jib Fowles, an accredited author and professor, explains that there are 15 emotional appeals used to grab our attention in advertising; in addition to this, he goes on to write, “The average American is exposed to some 500 ads daily” (Fowles 1). Subconsciously, we are impacted by advertising for all sorts of mediums, from television all the way to direct mail. Video game companies market their products differently depending on…

    • 1997 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1). Understanding the importance of how advertising affects society is essential to the advertiser and media specialist. Usually products of the news media will generate income from the advertisements. Television advertising has a big influence on the decisions and purchases consumers make. So therefore the news media and advertisers working together could prove to be beneficial for the news media, advertising companies, and the consumer.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Every day we are exposed to advertising, we drive down the highway and see billboards, we scroll down our news feed on Facebook and see side ads, and our favorite shows cut to commercials on television. According to Jean Kilbourne, advertising is an over 100 billion dollar a year industry and we are exposed to over 2000 ads a day. Advertisements don’t just sell us products, they sell images, values, and concepts of success, worth, love, sexuality, and normality. By doing so, they tell us what we should be. They set unrealistic standards, especially for women. The women in advertisements are more often than not young white women portrayed as beautiful housewives and sex objects, or in other words, these women are objectified. Advertisements should be critically analyzed because they are one of the main sources of influence for young people and what they teach may not be what is best for society.…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Advertisements help feed into the stereotypical image of women functioning as housewives and caretakers. One might ask: is advertising simply mirroring societies view on the roles of females, or are they part of the reason why America still labels women as domesticated? Printed advertisements portray women inferior to men by the use of their context, imagery, and content. Companies use the conventional view of women in marketing strategies in order to sell their products.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over 80% of Americans watch television daily. On average, these people watch over three hours per day.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    T.V. ads are ubiquities; they sell everything from products to politics, with some ads even becoming ingrained in our pop culture. With 98% of Americans owning televisions, we cannot refute the influence of these advertisements on social aspects such as gender. Commercials, however, don’t always reflect reality and often show stereotypical behavior. Look at the facts. As of 2003, men outnumbered women in all aspects of television commercials. 54% of the main roles in ads were dominated by men. (Scharver, Kim, Lim and Liu, 2006). Male voices off screen selling…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is of course gender based bias in the shows and commercials played on T.V. The fact that most are targeted towards the female audience establishes this. For the domestic diva’s who run the households across America there are the women dominated commercials for household cleaners and products that must be bought and that is why women are the primary shoppers of America. The media also sends the message that it is the woman who is ultimately responsible for home and family and their cleanliness and happiness. Commercials are still using this ploy to emphasize the age old stereotypes of women. Then there is the modern woman who is portrayed as beautiful, fit, extravagant and works for pleasure or for show. The media uses gender based shows and commercials to bring about the illusion of happiness. Have you ever seen a laundry soap commercial portraying a mother about to pull her hair out because she is fed up with doing the family laundry?…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics