Gender Roles In Advertising

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A wide variety of advertisements have been creating plentiful images of men and women for years now regarding gender roles and sex diversity. Ford (2008) explains the advertising industry in particular has formed the impression that “sex sells,” now using women’s bodies as sex objects. In addition to this, previous research has also shown men are being outstripped when it comes to women being sexualized (Ford, 2008). More importantly, the advertising industry has shown what the “accurate” gender roles for men and women are to be. Men are to be dominant, tough, strong, independent, and detached. Contrastingly, women are to be dependent, loving mothers and wives, concerned with beauty, and emotional. This literature review will look at the ways …show more content…
Conversely, it has been shown customary interpretations of women are decreasing and portrayals of equality among men and women are escalating (Klassen, Jasper, & Schwartz, 1993). Magazine advertisements seem to targeting males and females by showing a sense of equality in the work place, home environment, and so on. Doring and Poschl (2006) conducted a study and found traditional patterns may be dwindling, but women are still depicted in settings other than professional such as relaxing or ornamental. Also, they appear in nude or revealing images of their bodies more than men (Zotos & Tsichla, …show more content…
As a result, this goes to show consumers pay attention to the symbolic values (Law, Wong & Yip, 2012). Moreover, in a recent study (Budgeon 2003; Davis, 2002; Kimmel and Messner, 2004; Vigorito and Curry, 1998) found advertisements have made males more self-conscious about their bodies and appearance and influencing their self-identification through their bodies such as by their fashion, level of fitness, and how they evaluate themselves (Tan, Shaw, Cheng, & Kim, 2013). Advertisements are more detailed for women than for men. Furthermore, women notice the diminutive details in the ads, while men focus on the actual product itself. Magazine advertisements have an understanding men do not want to be perceived by other man as caring too much about their fashion or how they dress. Instead of magazine advertisements selling fashion in a direct way such as with females, advertisers much sell fashion and/or their product in a subtle way (Ifezue, 2010). Men are respected by what they think and women are seen as respected by what they look

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