The articles written by James B. Twitchell and Steve Craig are focused on the modern day use of advertising. Despite the fact that both authors discuss this same topic, they each have a different approach, and each address a specific characteristic of advertising. Twitchell focuses on the stereotypical categories of society used to manipulate advertising; while Craig focuses on the manipulation of gender identities in advertising. Although the categories discussed by Twitchell do exist in marketing, I feel the stronger argument was made by Craig and his analysis of gender identities as an advertising tactic. In his article “What We Are to Advertisers” James B. Twitchell discusses the “consumption communities” advertisers target
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Craig argues in “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” that advertisers take advantage of television demographics to appeal to a specific gender. He uses the example of commercials in his article, and how advertisers use these television demographics paired with a certain commercial to target the specific audiences they are attempting to sell their products to. From there, Craig goes even further into detail by explaining different types of commercials which appeal to each gender. He states that “Advertisers [have] concentrated their budgets on [the] programs which their target audience is most likely to view” (Craig, 187). Based on the use of these demographics advertisers have ultimately discovered that “daytime is the best time to reach [women]… and weekend sports periods… are the only time of the week when men outnumber women in the television audience” (Craig, 188). This evidence explains the advertising of products such as beer, trucks, and men’s jeans during televised sporting events. It also gives explanation to the advertising of cleaning products, beauty products, and diet pills during daytime …show more content…
Craig presents a more effective argument in his article with the use of evidence and analysis. He was able to support all the claims he made in his thesis with multiple examples and was also able to give an in depth analysis of these examples. This made the topic much simpler for the reader to understand. Craig’s organization also contributed to the effectiveness of his article. The flow and order of his article made it easy for the reader to understand the effects of gender on advertising. Even though Twitchell’s writing had its own redeeming qualities his small amounts of supporting evidence and generalizations resulted in his article being much less effective than Craig’s. Overall both articles provide the reader with an understanding of the ways advertising manipulates gender and stereotypes in order to effectively market their
Craig argues in “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” that advertisers take advantage of television demographics to appeal to a specific gender. He uses the example of commercials in his article, and how advertisers use these television demographics paired with a certain commercial to target the specific audiences they are attempting to sell their products to. From there, Craig goes even further into detail by explaining different types of commercials which appeal to each gender. He states that “Advertisers [have] concentrated their budgets on [the] programs which their target audience is most likely to view” (Craig, 187). Based on the use of these demographics advertisers have ultimately discovered that “daytime is the best time to reach [women]… and weekend sports periods… are the only time of the week when men outnumber women in the television audience” (Craig, 188). This evidence explains the advertising of products such as beer, trucks, and men’s jeans during televised sporting events. It also gives explanation to the advertising of cleaning products, beauty products, and diet pills during daytime …show more content…
Craig presents a more effective argument in his article with the use of evidence and analysis. He was able to support all the claims he made in his thesis with multiple examples and was also able to give an in depth analysis of these examples. This made the topic much simpler for the reader to understand. Craig’s organization also contributed to the effectiveness of his article. The flow and order of his article made it easy for the reader to understand the effects of gender on advertising. Even though Twitchell’s writing had its own redeeming qualities his small amounts of supporting evidence and generalizations resulted in his article being much less effective than Craig’s. Overall both articles provide the reader with an understanding of the ways advertising manipulates gender and stereotypes in order to effectively market their