Stereotypes Of Women In Advertising

Introduction In the 21st century the human society has developed in what we believe is a modern and democratic civilisation where women are no longer objectified and considered secondary members of the community. Numerous organisations protect their rights and the number of female participants in the fields of economy, politics or science has greatly increased in the past century. But an important question lays unanswered. Have we truly managed to leave behind the negative stereotypes that were created throughout history about females? The odds that females are presented without speaking in advertisement are four times the odds for males. Advertising is a dominant and influential aspect of media which sometimes promotes stereotypical representations

Not many years ago, before the feminist movements and the women empowerment female gender was portrayed as the weaker one, with females mainly presented in the roles of mother, daughter or wife and sometimes even sexualising them. However female stereotyping is not only a phenomenon of the past century but rather a contemporary issue that needs to be resolved. In the 1960s the feminist movement addressed the ads as negative in portraying women and promoting sexism and stereotypes. The findings from the research of Belkaoui and the study of Sexton and Heberman as well as studies conducted two decades later indicated the presence of traditional and decorative roles of women in advertising. Females were associated with domestic tasks and their main priority was physical attractiveness and maintaining the household. (Plakoyiannaki & Zotos,

as human beings we want to fit in the community surrounding us as well having a desire to be unique and stand out for our positive features which in turn increases people self-esteem (2014). To achieve this people are willing to change their behavior and replicate the attitude and image of others by changing their wardrobe, joining special groups or in some more extreme cases even increase alcohol consumption. In the study conveyed the participants were tested whether they would be influenced from a series of advertisements and the testers ensured that in two from the five advertisements the idealized body type of a thin woman was included. The women tending to fit in society by following specific models showed a higher percentage of pursuing the idealized thin body type. In the experiment they showed a stronger preference for the products and healthy food related with the ad representing the idealized body type. These women engaged in behavior agreeing to the advertisements and the message it conveyed by having a stronger preference for healthy food and decreased snack food consumption. (Williams et al., 2014) In the same article from Williams et al. it is noted that physical image is a highly efficient form of gaining popularity and acceptance and these individuals are treated better than their counterparts. (2004) Advertising is highly influential in deciding what is socially acceptable and popular as well as it implies what is the ‘perfect