Gender Representations in Contemporary Marketing

Men and women in advertisements are often presented through simplistic and stereotypical representation. Although gender representation in marketing has improved, negative portrayal is evident in the 21st century. This blogpost will reflect on how women and men are represented in contemporary marketing, before discussing the ethical issues and implications of these representations.

Gender representation has been a subject to change, and transformed drastically in the last century. Still, the sexualisation and exploitation of women in marketing is apparent. There is a notion that sex appeal sells in marketing (Reichert & Lambiase, 2006). For example, Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana exploited sexual imagery and controversial adverts to attract consumer attention (Picture 1 & 2). I can recall these images from when they were released as they are clearly sexually suggestive where harassment and victimisation of women is implied. Such adverts might trigger distorted attitudes, values and perceptions, which further have a negative effect on mental and physical health, especially for young girls (BBC, 2007).

Picture: 1

Picture: 2

Men have usually been portrayed to reflect notions of masculinity and dominance, which puts a pressure on men to act in accordance to these notions. Today gender equality is centralised and women are increasingly being brought into the public sphere and labour market. These change the concept of masculinity and feminise men as they are forced to take up some of the responsibility that used to belong to women. However, marketing still enhances traditional dominant masculine portrayals, which generates a discourse that does not correspond with norms in the modern world. Thus, this potentially leads to confusion concerning the performance of male roles in society.

Such gendered representations are of pressing matter. Marketers have the potential to exercise power, which can have a detrimental impact on human health and our social worlds. Marketing shapes society's perception of femininity and masculinity. This power comes with a responsibility, which marketing needs to consider more carefully. Recently, girls have been exposing themselves on social media by posting sexualised images. One can question whether this is an effect of the female objectification present in media and marketing, which further normalises and reinforces the sexualisation of women to male viewers. This issue has been on the ethical marketing agenda for quite some time. Still, its presence is still apparent and the marketplace has a long way to go to achieve “healthy” gender representation. In the future increased regulation of ethical marketing practices that protect consumers from gender distortions is needed. The influence of marketing on public health must be considered to a greater extent to assure that appropriate actions are taken.

Marketers possess excessive power to influence gender perception. There is a need for increased responsibility and ethical consideration to protect consumers’ health. The sexualisation of females and dominance of men that appear through marketing must be reduced through stricter regulations. Hopefully, marketing can portray men and women in a healthy way, thus positively impact individuals.

References:

BBC (2007) Sexualisation 'harms' young girls. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm [Accessed 8th October 2014].

Reichert, T. & Lambiase, J. (2006) Sex in Consumer Culture: The Erotic Content of Media and Marketing. New York: Routledge.

Picture Credit:

Picture 1: https://womenleadingchange.wordpress.com/tag/sexualisation/

Picture 2: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/lara-stone-new-calvin-klein-ad-banned-standards-board-image-promotes-violence-rape-article-1.188948