Gender Stereotyping in Advertising and its Dark Effect on Society
Sexism in advertising has been around for decades. Women have been portrayed as domesticated caretakers who clean, cook and take care of children all to please their husbands. In contrast, men have been characterized as the breadwinners who run the household and are in charge of their wives. As shown in the Van Heusen ad above, the husband is depicted as though he is a king and his wife is his all-adoring subject. The main hook of the advertisement blatantly states that we live in a “man’s world” as shown by the wife sitting on her knees after making breakfast for her husband, eager for this treatment. This illustration of outright sexism shows how in recent years, marketing has taken on a more modern and less traditional approach to how men and women are perceived in advertisements. However, although traditional gender roles are not illustrated in advertisements as obvious as they were in older ads like Van Heusen, it is still an extremely prevalent issue.
Recently, one controversial method of marketing is gender segmentation which is the process of targeting a specific gender through product design and advertising. This is often executed through gender-specific color schemes, product narratives, prices, and complexity between products. Unfortunately, it is not only adults that are targeted by their gender. One of the most susceptible and easily targeted markets is children who in recent years have been victims of gender segmentation. Moreover, the main controversy with gender targeting is the use of traditional and ignorant stereotyping. One example of this is shown in the Reddit thread “pointlesslygendered community” which is comprised of over one-hundred thousand members and thousands of pictures of gender-specific products and advertisements that are not only ridiculous but extremely sexist. Reddit user Piensapinky posted a picture of two magazines side-by-side that are targeted to girls and boys. Most reactions on this post are all in support of how ridiculously skewed these two magazines are. Overarchingly telling girls that they need to “look pretty” while boys need to “explore their futures”. Other examples on this thread were “princess goldfish”, which are pink goldfish designed specifically for girls and price sales specifically for “men’s umbrellas”.
The overall consensus seems to be that most people do not believe that gender stereotyping should be enforced in marketing. However, certain critics believe otherwise. A Facebook video “Should we Ban Ads for Stereotyping?” explains the use of certain stereotypes in advertising and the history behind it. Certain comments from Facebook users show that they do not think these stereotypes are harmful and instead consumers have a choice to believe them or not.
User Stella Elisebeth, who claims to work in market research believes that some ads that use traditional stereotypes might use this as a way to appeal to a certain target customer. Other critics of this video believe that society has become too sensitive and focuses on problems that are not important in the grand scheme of what is happening in the world. Additionally, they believe that the stereotypes portrayed in advertisements have no true effect. However, this is not the case. During childhood, children take in information and mimic behaviors and actions they see in others around them. Stereotyping has such an extreme impact on children because they are not able to differentiate between right and wrong. In turn, they believe these stereotypes to accurately reflect the real world and thus begin to carry them for the duration of their life unless they learn otherwise.
Gender stereotyping in advertising not only has a developmental effect on children, but it also leads to future gender gaps. One example of this is seen in the STEM field; The article, “How the Gender Gap in STEM Might Get its Start in Elementary School” by KQED News mentions how it is common for girls to excel in STEM up until the end of elementary school. Girls tend to be discouraged to enter this male-dominated field and this abruptly correlates to the gender roles that they perceive women and men take on, which is reflected heavily through advertising. Unfortunately, with the rapid access to online information and television, children are exposed to these stereotypes and gender roles every day.
Although this form of advertising enforces negative stereotypes, marketers continue to utilize this method daily. The main reason is because of cost and profit. Specifically targeting a segment of the market allows marketers to research one group rather than an entire population. Marketing experts can create an exact profile of interests and tailor unique preferences to that segment. Additionally, as far as costs, it is more cost-efficient to focus on one segment rather than a whole population.
At the end of the day, it comes down to ethics versus profit. Unfortunately, ethical marketing has been a recurring issue in the advertising world. One example of this is shown on a twitter feed under #EthicalMarketing where user Dr. Dave Stukus, a pediatrician and asthma specialist at the Nationwide Children’s hospital, known for dispelling health myths on twitter mentions his concerns over the marketing of GMO foods. He mentions that having a “Low #science literacy = marketing goldmine” in which he shares his anger that people believe GMO foods are unsafe when in reality they are “just as safe as any other food”. One twitter user under the name Kristen Goode replies with “Marketers, friendly reminder to use your powers for good, not corporate greed. #ethicalmarketing”.
Dr. Dave Stukus touches on a very important issue of ethics in marketing. Marketing experts take advantage of customers with low-knowledge on products and exploit them for as much money as they can. In this twitter post, expert marketers and researchers understand that most consumers are not educated in the science behind GMO and Non-GMO products and create false messages that consumers cannot tell from right and wrong. Unfortunately, ethics in marketing is a problem that may never be solved. It comes down to educating children and adults to become aware of these tactics and how to not fall into the traps that marketers create.
As this issue is starting to gain traction with policymakers, there have already been actions taken to prevent gender stereotyping in ads. In an ad by Philadelphia cream cheese, two dads are shown leaving their children on a restaurant conveyor belt while they are distracted by bagels with cream cheese. Many people were very upset by this misrepresentation of fathers and the use of “harmful gender stereotypes”.
Although this ad was created with humorous intentions, many viewers were personally offended by the stereotype that it creates for fathers. When the father portrayed in the commercial unintentionally forgets his child on the conveyer belt, it creates the stigma that fathers are irresponsible and forgetful. Later in the commercial, the father says “let’s not tell mom” implying that the mother would have been very upset with the father's behavior. Overall leading to the idea that fathers/men are irresponsible and careless while mothers/women are responsible and reliable.
Another ad done by VW shows a wife cleaning, cooking and looking after her child while her husband pursued his dream of becoming an astronaut, which had obvious backlash.
Both of these ads were banned in the U.K. from the creation of the new U.K. gender stereotyping rules. The Advertising Standards Authority mentioned that it causes “real-world harms” and that it is “limiting people’s potential”. Within the VW commercial explicitly, the ASA noted that the woman was “engaged in a stereotypical care-giving role” and that “becoming a parent was a life-changing experience that required significant adaptation, but taking care of children was a role that was stereotypically associated with women”.
Based off of these stereotypes, the ASA deemed the commercials too harmful to be seen on television and have been permanently removed. These sanctions have been placed all over television ads, social media, and online ads in the United Kingdom to promote increased equality and decrease negative portrayals of men and women. Hopefully, in the future, the U.S. and other countries can move to create policies such as these to stop the detrimental effects of these ads. One can only hope that policymakers will increase regulation within ethical marketing and marketers wake up to the negative stereotypes they are reinforcing on society.
