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Representation of women in advertising

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

The advertising became a lot more sexually-focused since 90s, there're also some homosexual images still dominated with heterosexual ads with stereotypical characters. 

2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

There was a lot of confusion when it came to role of women after the WW2, which escalated to a little identity crisis. Men, trying to keep their dominant position in society, tried to argue that working women have 'dangerous consequences to the home'.

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?


The second that women started to experiment with things like make-up and clothes that they enjoyed, the  'dressed up' woman was instantly portrait as brainless and an accessory. 

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

The theory of the 'male gaze' was created by Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way that all the advertising comes down to men's needs. 

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

There had been a lot of changes as  'changing reality of women's social position and of the influence of the women's movement' started to actually happening with the image of a 'New Woman'.

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

The idea of a stay at home wife was definitely not that popular, but working women were still portraied as a  'another happy occasion for women to dress up and present themselves.'

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

He suggests that after all these years women can comete with men without them feeling thretened.

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Dyer suggests that ads like that are an example of misrepresentation of women's liberation: agencies trying to accommodate new [feminist] attitudes in their campaigns, often miss the point and equate "liberation" with a type of aggressive sexuality and a very unliberated coy sexiness' .

Media Magazine: Beach Bodies v Real Women (MM54)

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature on Protein World's controversial 'Beach Bodies' marketing campaign in 2015. Read the feature and answer the questions below in the same blogpost as the questions above. 

1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

The campain talked about weight loss collection. What aroused controversies is the printed anvertisement in the tube that had a slim model on it with a slogan 'are you beach body ready?'

2) Why was it controversial?

It was controversial because the audience felt as if it was the stereotypical representation of a 'real woman'. The idea of an ad that uses old stereotypes and promotes the 'ideal' body type of a supermodel would obviously attract controversy.

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?


The ad was viewed as promoting the stereotypical views that a woman should be slim in order to feel confident and it's not possible for women with other body types to have a body 'required' in places like the beach.

4) How did some audiences react?

The reaction wan't positive at all; people were furious that people still think that was about body image. There was a lot of angry costumers that were offended by the poster.

5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?

The campaign promoted a healthy body image that featured every-day women. It contrasted the 'Beach Bodies' campaign completely. It showed that no matter what, everybody's perfect the way they are.

6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 

Advertising is a way of gaining audience's attention, but now audience can actually speak up about whether or not the reaction is negative or positive. 

7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?

van Zoonen was always convinced that nothing had changed when it comes to the image of women in advertisement, which can be applied to the 'Beach Bodies' campaign as it promotes the idea of a stereotypical image of women (they're there to be looked at)
As for Stuart Hall's reception theory, it could refer to the oppositional reading, the 'Beach Body' had a hugely negative response from the audience, when the dominant reading in the Dave campaign was well received. 
8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?

I feel like the representation has changed drastically, however there are still a lot of aspects that have me wondering whether or not we are still in the same position, but in a way that is not visible for us anymore. The idea of women being the accessory of men is still around the advertising industry, but there are examples that shows us just how independent we've become. 

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