Women in Media
“Portrayals of Women Internationally”
Women are portrayed in advertising all over the globe. They are represented in television commercials, billboards, and magazine ads; however different countries have variations on the ways in which these women are presented. The reasoning as to why these portrays vary from country to country is due to both cultural reasons, societal reasons, and even legal reasons in some cases. But despite all the diversity in the world women are still being stereotyped into certain roles that are not properly representing them. This is an issue that can be found in virtually every country even ones that consider themselves progressive and “gender equal”.
There are seven general roles that women in advertising are typically classified as, decorative, homemaker, work-related, sex object, social being, wife/mother, and product user. The sex object is one of the more widely used roles, it can be described as a women dressed in sexually appealing clothing usually in provocative poses, the product and the women typically have no correlation. The decorative role which is very similar to the sex object role simply is using a women to represent a product or service simply because she is attractive but not necessarily sexual. The wife/mother role represents the ideal wife/mother and is usually characterized with traits such as kind, virtuous, and well mannered. The homemaker role portrays a women in a home setting usually cooking and/or cleaning, this is differentiated from the wife/mother role due to the absence of children.The product user role is when a women is using or demonstrating the advertised product or service. The social being role usually portrays the women at some type of event such as a party or sporting event where she interacts with the product as well as other people. Finally the most under used role is the work-related role, this is any advertisement where the women is in a professional, academic, or occupational role
Women are portrayed in advertising all over the globe. They are represented in television commercials, billboards, and magazine ads; however different countries have variations on the ways in which these women are presented. The reasoning as to why these portrays vary from country to country is due to both cultural reasons, societal reasons, and even legal reasons in some cases. But despite all the diversity in the world women are still being stereotyped into certain roles that are not properly representing them. This is an issue that can be found in virtually every country even ones that consider themselves progressive and “gender equal”.
There are seven general roles that women in advertising are typically classified as, decorative, homemaker, work-related, sex object, social being, wife/mother, and product user. The sex object is one of the more widely used roles, it can be described as a women dressed in sexually appealing clothing usually in provocative poses, the product and the women typically have no correlation. The decorative role which is very similar to the sex object role simply is using a women to represent a product or service simply because she is attractive but not necessarily sexual. The wife/mother role represents the ideal wife/mother and is usually characterized with traits such as kind, virtuous, and well mannered. The homemaker role portrays a women in a home setting usually cooking and/or cleaning, this is differentiated from the wife/mother role due to the absence of children.The product user role is when a women is using or demonstrating the advertised product or service. The social being role usually portrays the women at some type of event such as a party or sporting event where she interacts with the product as well as other people. Finally the most under used role is the work-related role, this is any advertisement where the women is in a professional, academic, or occupational role