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Gender bias in advertising essay
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Gender bias in advertising essay
Gender roles in toys stereotype research
Sexism in american advertising
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Recommended: Gender bias in advertising essay
In the essay “Kid Kustomers” by Eric Schlosser, Schlosser discusses children advertising and its effectiveness. About twenty-five years ago, hardly any American company marketed towards children unlike today where the majority is directed towards children. According to an expert this era was known as “the decade of the child consumer.” Ad agencies implemented children into marketing in order to increase “consumption.” The Joe Camel ad campaign revealed how effortlessly children were impacted by ads, claiming it to be as well known as “Mickey Mouse.”
Gender stereotyping continues to boom in society today. The advertising and media world play a chief part in perpetuating the nature behind gender roles and it is society as a whole who choose to receive it as a norm. A wide scope of portrayals of men and women exists in advertising, however masculine imagery traditionally depicts athleticism, strength, activity and competitiveness whereas feminine images suggest submissiveness, beauty, dependency and sensitivity. The Britax Decathlon’s car seat advertisement and the Californian beach-estate property advertisement both exemplify the stereotyped representation of gender roles in society: the female toddler dresses up in pink, is only concerned with her accessories and plays inside, where as
Kids can be taught that what’s on an ad isn’t necessarily what they need.” At the end, marketers must maintain an appropriate structure or strategy without using people in a bad way. If it’s possible for a child being obsessed with a toy and food box, then it’s possible for him to like a sweet fruit box with an interesting book or comics, magazines etc. if we can support or teach them. We must accept that healthy food, exercising, protecting environment, enjoying beautiful sides of life, even choosing the best music or watching the proper advertisement - they are the best solutions for a good future even though they may be hard for some people to adapt.
In particular, young girls and women still continue to struggle with this issue. Numerous companies are taking a stand against this matter. In the article “Marketers Go Soft on Feminism” the authors Natalie Zmuda and Ann-Christine Diaz state, “Ads from industry stalwarts--Always, Verizon and Pantene, to name a few--are celebrating girls and women as smart and capable, racking up millions of online views and sparking important conversations in the process. Marketers are challenging cultural norms and notions about how we talk about--and to—women”.
Although the intentions of the “Dads Who Play Barbie“ advertisement were meant to challenge gender roles, the introduction of fathers who play will dolls inherently exhibited the problems with the social views of gender. In the advertisement, fathers present how active they are within their daughters’ lives, yet this activity only appears when dolls are involved. Such an idea reinforces two misconstrued conceptions: girls are meant to only play with dolls while boys are meant to never play with dolls. This historical view of assigned gender roles cause the advertisement to become distant to its possibly intentions, making it exclusive to gender challenges. One idea cemented by the campaign is that girls are solely meant to play with dolls.
Over the past twenty years, the amount at which advertisers are advertising to children is astonishing. Advertising directed towards children has estimated at over 15 million annually that’s almost three times more than what it was 26 years ago! Toy companies, fast food places, and retail stores are very eager to target children-maybe even a little too eager. Advertisers are consciously targeting children. Most advertisers are targeting children because they're easier to get hooked on a product.
Gender roles have been noticeable in Disney films especially the Disney Princess series. Women are typically portrayed as a princess, homemaker, or queen while men are portrayed as strong, dominant and authority characters. The portrayal of the prince or knights in the movies usually highlighted with the strong and powerful characteristic, whereas the Disney princesses are weak, vulnerable and being protected. According to Tiffany, gender stereotypes and behaviours illustrations are very common in Disney culture and their depictions have become sophisticated over the years especially those of female characters.
Gender Stereotypes is one of the most important topic we should be able to recognize and disengage ourselves from the cynical roles. We are constantly being told that who we are and our appearances isn’t just good enough, rather it’s the healthy body image that’s all important. This case study would help us in understanding how gender stereotyping works in a better context. We all grew up watching Disney films, the story lines and characters are quite fresh in our heads throughout these years.
The development of kids is directly impacted by gender stereotypes in toys. Toys can help children develop certain skills and functions. Play helps kids learn how to solve problems, get along with others, and develop motor skills (“Children”). Toys can help kids develop physical skills, cognitive concepts, language skills, and social skills (“Children”). Gender stereotypes negatively impact a child’s development.
Extra curricular groups such as Women in Animation, Women in Gaming and colleges such as CalArts, are striving to change culture by increasing the amount of women working in the animation industry. Though animation has a history of being a male dominated field and portraying mainly male points of views, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of growth and changes. In more contemporary work, there is a growing need for positive female voices with realistic ideas by current American consumers and critics. For example, there are few animations from the early and mid-1900s that question forms of identity in a woman. This demand for change does not occur until the 1980s when the A.I.D.s movement takes place and the discussion of identity
If stores market toys for a specific gender they will prevent children from having this. 6th grader at Plainview Old Bethpage middle school Carly Barca says that “when kids see a toy they want but it’s labeled for just a girl or for just a boy it can make them feel down because if they want a toy and it’s labeled for a specific gender it can make them think that they cannot do what they want and they have to follow the “tradition” of what is considered for boys or for girls”. When toys are marketed for a specific gender they suggest what children should like to do and who they should aspire to be before they’ve had an opportunity to figure that out on their own. Children’s view of the world can be shaped based on what they do and what they play
For example Lego, Hasbro, Disney, Mattel, Barbie, Nerf, MEGA Bloks, and Fisher Price. Todays’ children “Generation-Z” have unique characteristics in many ways as compare to past generations. The ad film-makers, advertisers, and marketers always try to formulate new ways to attract their targeted customers, because of its rule the best way you attract to the customer and most likely to change their purchase intention and influence their decisions. The marketers and advertisers here use advertisement which targets the children are always based on anthropomorphism; using of non-living things like cartoons, animations, songs, logos, jingles, and different characters that advertisers keep in mind their audiences to attract the children, i.e. MacDonald, Disney, Barbie are the best example of
Gender roles and stereotypes are practiced everywhere. When a girl child is made to dress in a soft and frilly clothes and male child is bought a gun, when girls are admonished for behaving like boys or boys are teased for being timid like girls, they are forced to “perform” their gender roles and stereotyped as Judith Butler in his From Interiority to Gender Perfomatives writes “Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed”, he also adds that “When we say gender is performed, we usually mean that we have taken on a role or we are acting in some way and that our acting or our role playing is crucial to the gender that we are and the gender that we present to that world.” The society not only allocate specific and distinctive roles to male and female sexes but it also impose different sets of expectations on them, this imposition also implies that these attributes and roles may not be easily exchanged. In other words, the boys and girls are expected to be distingushed through their physical markers such as clothings, behaviours and by the way they are brought up.
This has all created a gender stereotype. The media are a forceful source of gender stereotyping. In adverts women are portrayed as the unintelligent consumer, socially conscious of her purchases, dependant on men and sex objects whereas men are perceived as a figure of authority, handy men and intelligent decision makers. Advertisements try to persuade the public into believing this is how women and men are, want to be or should be.
The representation of gender in mass communications has been a hugely debated topic for years and will continue to be one for many more years to come. The media plays a big role in how they want to portray a gender to the public. They create certain stereotypes through the role of a gender in order to attract a large audience and interest to sell a product, brand or image. Media is so important in today’s society, people spend hours and hours each day watching TV, browsing the Internet and reading magazines. There are so many images of men and women in the media today that it certainly has an impact on the viewer’s thoughts and sense of identity.