Gender Stereotypes Vs. Women: Gender Differences In Advertising

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Today's society is littered with advertisements and marketing messages and Americans are bombarded by thousands of ads every day. Such advertisements are not limited to a particular audience; men and women are equally likely to be targeted, often in very similar ways. The two images for the Pepsi promotion displayed above demonstrate how similar products can be marketed effectively toward two different audiences. These advertisements exploit the gender differences in their target audience and use strategic imagery and textual techniques to achieve gender-specific attention.
Although the advertisements are aimed at diverse audiences, they utilize many identical techniques for marketing. Both commercials utilize images of prominent celebrities. …show more content…

The overall look of the Diet Pepsi advertisement is sleek and soft that would appeal to women. Whereas the appearance of the second advertisement is sharp and bold, that would attract a man's attention. These distinctions target general assumptions based on how gender is constructed and performed: women are softer, emotionally and physically, while men are hard and sharp. As a whole, the first ad appears softer and more subtly powerful, as compared to the second ad, which is further abrupt and compelling.
It's novel to notice that, despite the use of several gender-specific techniques, the designers remain successful in drawing the audience's attention to Pepsi. First of all, the can in the first image and the symbol resembling the Pepsi logo in the second picture are placed in the center of the ad, accentuating the product Pepsi. Secondly, the models in both pictures are dressed in a common and found color in the traditional Pepsi logo and this highlights the importance of Pepsi. Last but not the least, nowhere in both images is explained what exactly Pepsi is, emphasizing the popularity of the