Sex Sells — and Sexism even more?
Advertising has always been a good medium to find out more about society. What are ‘modern’ people’s opinions, needs, hopes and fears? The role of men and women are an important part of our society. We probably all know how sexist vintage ads could be and the macho culture of the advertising industry back then is best-known since at least the success of the TV-show Mad Men (a great series with great actors, by the way). Anyway, if we would compare such old ads with the ones of today, we are sure that we can find a huge difference between them. But did we, and our ads, really change that much?
‘Show her it’s a man’s world’. This is the slogan of an advertisement from 1951 by the tie company Van Heusen. The picture shows a man relaxing in bed while a woman is kneeling next to him, holding a tray in her hand. It obviously suggests that women are inferior and have to serve their husbands. This ad’s message is not only sexist but also extremely misogynistic. Sadly, this is only one example of many. In fact, there are ads that are even worse.
‘Is it always illegal to kill a woman?’ Unbelievably (well, maybe it is not really unbelievable), this is what an advertisement from the year 1947 says. It was created for the company Pitney-Bowes, which fabricated postage metres (Yes, even in an ad for postage meter it is possible to be misogynistic). What we can see here is misogyny at its highest level.
However, something like that might have been accepted in the 20th century, but not today, most people would say now. Offensive ads like that would be banned today, right? Well, nowadays people would probably protest such extremely discriminatory ads like these and, as a result, these ads would be banned immediately. In fact, something like that just happened recently, in 2016. The Irish campaign for Coca-Cola’s Sprite, using the hashtag ‘Totally refreshing’, featured slogans like ‘She’s seen more ceilings like Michelangelo’ or ‘You’re not popular, you’re easy.’ When it appeared on the Irish news website JOE.ie, an outcry was expressed in the social medias, the users found the campaign sexist and misogynist. So, it was no surprise that the campaign was ended.
Nevertheless, modern advertisements are certainly not sexism-free. In fact, we can find sexism quite often; and it doesn’t matter if we consider cosmetic ads, car ads or cleaning agent ads. Sometimes it is rather hidden, sometimes rather obvious. How often can we see half-naked women, who are advertising so any kind of product? Quite often. After all, sex sells. Women are still objectified by the advertising industry.
But not the only the objectification of women can be found in modern ads, but also gender stereotypes are still a huge element of our ads nowadays. This ranges from toys that are specially created for either boys or girls (normally with a lot of pink and glitter) to advertisements for cleaning agents or washing powder with mostly female actresses and to cosmetic ads suggesting that a woman has to look great all the time. Most of us take these things for granted and don’t even think about it. But it is not only women, who are forced into stereotypes. Men also have to face clichés in advertising. How often do we see the typical male stereotypes in ads (men have to be strong, masculine, maybe a bit immature and of course, they love women)? Yes, very often. The truth is, that stereotypes are much easier to understand for most people. Since these clichés are so common, the majority can relate to them.
Of course, sexism in advertisements is not a new topic at all and this article is not the first one talking this subject, but maybe it is still time to become more aware of overt and covert sexism in the ads we see every day. After all, it’s 2017, and starting to think a little bit different when it comes to gender roles, might be a good idea. I mean, it would probably be really interesting to rethink a little, wouldn’t it?
With thanks to Adele Irlam.
