Gender Roles In Magazine Advertising

Magazine advertising is commonly singled out for the role it plays in providing and transmitting standards and ideals. Williams (1980) argues advertising’s primary goal is to teach social and personal values, including gender construction (in Pillar, 2001). Specific to gender, although not exclusive to it, advertisements use stereotypes to quickly convey messages and ideas. Feminist scholars have written extensively about advertisers’ use of sex-role “stereotypes to instantly and non-verbally communicate with target audiences” (Buttle, 1989, p. 9). Butler (1997) argues that the visual embodiment practices of advertisements are central to construction of identities because the body is “the rhetorical instrument of expression” (p. 152; in Pillar, 2001, p. 171). At issue is the narrow and limiting role women are boxed into— sexualized ideals. Images contribute to gender roles that are generally unconscious and subtle but constrain women from opportunities and advancement in the public sphere, including in business and government. …show more content…
In general, women are props. Images of women are good for selling lifestyle and fashion. Women are consciously selected to sell certain commodities that are in someway associated with sexiness. To satisfy this consumer desire, women are depersonalized through idealization, stately clothes, and cryptic thoughts. In a word, they are