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Thomas Aschnewitz, Sarah Laemmli, Kaitlyn Williams

Promotion

Gender Roles Project

Media’s Portrayal of Women in Advertising

Intro

Advertising is one of the most significant ways that a business can have an impact on

people in our commercialized society. All advertisements seek to satisfy consumer’s wants and

needs in any way they see fit. However, this is often at the expense of men and women’s

integrity. Since print advertising began stereotypical gender roles have been further developed

with each ad a person is exposed to, both negatively and positively. For this project, our group

focused primarily on the portrayal of women in advertising. This was achieved by conducting

secondary research on gender roles in advertising and conducting primary research by video-

taping a one-hour segment of prime time television to investigate the quantities and qualities of

advertising, as well as the gender roles found within the commercials we observe. Then, we offer

conclusions as to potential long-run ramifications that the trends in gender roles that our research

found will have on American culture.

Secondary Research Findings

In all of the stereotypes that have been allotted to women, sexuality is continually

present. Beginning with print advertising and spreading to all media channels today, experts

continually testify the good and bad aspects of using the sexuality of women to sell products.

This is not to say women are the only ones being sexualized, but for this paper, women in

advertising will be the focus.

One of the earliest roles of women up to and including the 21st century are women being

depicted as housewives. This has drastically changed as the standard family household becomes

less prominent from 44% in the 1940s to a mere 22% today (Froelich). Earlier ad’s feature

women in the traditional stereotypical role of fulfilling their husband’s needs and not pursuing

their own, if it does not relate to beauty.

However, what has changed in society has not changed in advertising. Contemporary

successful single women over 35 make up one third of all adult women are rarely focused on in

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advertising or media in general. (Froelich) Could it be because women at age 35 are not at their

sexiest?

As a testimony to the media becoming more concentrated with risqué images, the Journal

of Advertising Research states young women have become “more forgiving of companies that

portray females offensively,” realizing that this type of advertising is as common and normal as

celebrity endorsements (Zimmerman). However, commonality and acceptance does not

necessarily make these types of advertisements morally right. GoDaddy has moved away from

risqué ads in the last two years because of the growing number of women using their service.

Chief Marketing officer of GoDaddy Ms. Rechterman says “We are for the entrepreneur, we are

for women,” concluding that the company who so famously used risqué ads felt the need to

proclaim that women are valued for more than their sexuality (Elliott).

Jean Kilbourne, an accomplished lecturer on women in advertising states “Ad’s sell more

than products. They sell values. “(Killing Us Softly) Values like the importance of appearance.

Advertising often shows women to have the flawless body and face, inherently pushing that

standard to both men and women exposed to the ads. Kilbourne addresses the frequent use of

advertisers piecing together female figures and faces who do not exist in real life as well as

altering those that do. Alongside this comes the emphasis of individual body parts, especially

breasts. Advertising’s push on the value of perfection contributed to the number of cosmetic

procedures performed on women. These have risen from 2.1 million in 1997 to 11.7 million in

2007. Kilbourne also states that receiving breast implants moves a women from “a subject to

being an object” by adding or subtracting what is naturally a part of a human for the benefit of

image. (Killing Us Softly).

This objectifying of women continues into Michelob and Budweiser turning women into

a beer bottles, while Heineken turns a woman into a keg of beer. The same type of adding or

subtracting a women’s body for the benefit of an image. Advertisements like this dehumanize

women. When a person is demoted to an object, the rate of violence naturally rises. Advertisers

often “make light of sexual violence of women” in order to promote their product (Green).

However, there are two sides to this statement. Educated women have recognized, even those

where women are objectified, do not reflect reality, but instead are using creativity to sell a

product (Zimmerman). Although ad’s such as Fetish perfume featuring copy that reads “He can

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smell your scent as you shake your head no” screams morally wrong to many viewers

(Sociological Images).

Primary research methodology

Prime-time television is traditionally defined at the period of television aired Monday through

Friday between the times of 8 and 11 PM. Our group chose a time slot between 8 and 9 PM on

Tuesday, February 17th of 2015. The channel our group chose for this project was Fox. The

night that we recorded, there were two new shows airing within the hour. The shows were “New

Girl” and “The Mindy Project”. Following these two new programs, the 9 O’clock news aired.

An article from Time identified that the two programs that we recorded were heavily marketed

towards women. After going through the recording, we were able to break up the amount of time

the actual show consumed versus the amount of time spent on commercials. We entered every

commercial into a spreadsheet and then calculated the total show time, total commercial time,

average commercial length, number of commercials, maximum and minimum commercial

length, and the percent of time taken by commercials and the shows themselves.

Primary research results

PRIME TIME TV:

Time and Length of Commercials:

1. First commercials at 6 min 43 second into the show

1. Movie Trailer for Focus: 6.43 - 7.13 30 seconds

2. Revlon 7.13 - 7.43 (sexual- addicted to love) 30 seconds

3. Android 7.43 - 8.43 (be together, not the same) 60 seconds

4. American Idol 8.41 - 9.01 20 seconds

5. Weird Loners tv show 9.01 - 9.16 15 seconds

2. Second commercials at 13.55

1. Degree 13.55 -14.25 30 seconds

2. Yoplait 14.25 -14.40 15 seconds

3. Lincoln car (w/ Matthew McConaughey) 14.40 -15.10 30 seconds

4. Fuji water 15.10 -15.25 15 seconds

5. The Mindy Project tv show 15.25 -15.30 5 seconds

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6. Hyundai car 15.30 -16.00 30 seconds

7. McDonald’s 16.00 -16.30 30 seconds

8. BMW 16.30 -17.00 30 seconds

9. 9 o’clock news 17.00 -17.30 30 seconds

10. Premier Chappie w/ Fox 17.30 -17.32 2 seconds

3. Third commercials at 22.08

1. Subaru 22.08 - 22.38 30 seconds

2. Taco Bell (be a man) 22.38 - 23.08 30 seconds

3. Bareminerals 23.08 - 23.38 30 seconds

4. Gotham tv show 23.38 - 23.48 10 seconds

5. Empire tv show 23.48 - 24.15 30 seconds

6. The Mindy Project tv show 24.15 - 24.25 10 seconds

4. Fourth commercials at 35.19

1. LG 35.19 - 35.48 30 seconds

2. Movie Trailer, The Duff 35.48 - 36.18 30 seconds

3. Domino’s 36.18 -36.49 30 seconds

4. Fuji water 36.49 - 37.04 15 seconds

5. Candy Crush 37.04 - 37.19 15 seconds

5. Fifth commercials at 43.52

1. Bareminerals 43.51 - 44.21 30 seconds

2. Lincoln car (Matthew McConaughey) 44.21 - 44.51 30 seconds

3. Straight Talk Wireless 44.51 - 45.21 30 seconds

4. Empire 45.21 - 45.41 20 seconds

5. Yoplait 45.41 - 46.11 30 seconds

6. McDonald’s 46.11 - 46.41 30 seconds

7. Time Warner Cable 46.41 - 47.11 30 seconds

8. Kansas City Convention Center 47.13 - 47.43 30 seconds

6. Sixth commercials at 54.27

1. Revlon 54.27 - 54.57 30 seconds

2. Nutella 54.57 - 55.12 15 seconds

3. Chevy (Colorado truck) 55.12 - 55.42 30 seconds

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4. Taco Bell 55.42 - 55.57 15 seconds

5. American Idol 55.56 - 56.16 20 seconds

6. 9 o'clock news 56.16 - 56.46 30 seconds

7. Shows end at 59.46

Total Show Time 43.3 minutes

Total Commercial Time 16.7 minutes

Average Commercial Length 25.2 seconds

Number of Commercials 40 commercials

Maximum/minimum length 60 seconds/ 2 seconds

Commercial time per 60 minute period 27.8%

Show time per 60 minute period 72.2%

We looked how the commercials we viewed during the hour of prime time related to our

secondary research. These where our results:

Women portrayed as housewives 2/40 commercials

Women portrayed with “ideal” body 8/40 commercials

Women portrayed as sexual objects 8/40 commercials

Primary Research Discussion

From our research, our group observed that thirty eight commercials aired during this

seventy minute period. During this seventy minutes of prime time, over twenty-five minutes

were spent on commercials. The actual shows made up less than 45 minutes of the actual prime

time slot. This leads to about 28% percent of that prime time slot was devoted solely to

commercials.

Of the 40 commercials the average length was about 25 second, but the lengths varied all

the way from sixty seconds down to two seconds. These commercials ranged from products and

services, to upcoming programs, to movie trailers, and local ads. During almost every segment of

commercials, Fox aired a commercial advertising one of their television shows or for the

upcoming nine o’clock news. The lengths that the actual program was airing were broken up in

to several short chunks. These chunks varied from four minutes to just over ten minutes. There

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was only one period of time when it was just over ten minutes and that was when “New Girl”

was ending and “The Mindy Project” was starting. The majority of the commercials were either

30 seconds long. A smaller portion were 15 seconds and 60 seconds. And there were only 3

commercials that were a length not mentioned.

When looking for gender roles portrayed in this set of commercials, some had people and

some didn’t. When the number of commercials that women portrayed as sexual objects or fitting

the “ideal” body type portrayed seem low, we had to take into consideration that many of the

commercials aired during this hour didn’t even feature people. Revlon was the first commercial

with a prominent women role, and the women in the ad were portrayed as sexual objects. All of

the women in the Revlon ad were the stereotypical “beautiful woman”. Any interaction the

women had with men in the Revlon commercial was focused around seduction. It was a makeup

commercial targeting women viewers. This exact commercial was aired twice in the 60 minute

segment of prime time. When women were featured as sexual objects they were always fitting

the “ideal” body type.

Android's “be together not the same” commercial portrayed roles of men and women very

well. The women in this Android ad were “real” and portrayed as strong, athletic, and on the

same level as the men in the ad. We think the Android commercial took a big step away from the

traditional gender roles seen in advertising- they really evened up the playing field between men

and women and didn’t portray gender superiority in this specific ad.

In the Degree women’s deodorant commercial several races of women are portrayed but

they all have the same body type, tall and very skinny). We saw this in almost all of the women

in the commercials that aired during this slot- regardless of who the ad was targeted ad. In the

Fuji water commercials there aren’t any people, but a young girl’s voice is used to get a powerful

message to the audience. The Yoplait yogurt commercial also didn’t display any women but a

strong woman's voice was used. In Time Warner Cable’s commercial the women bring the man

sitting on the couch a snack, fitting traditional stereotypes in that commercial. In the Nutella

commercial, the women eating it is in a business suit implying that she is a working business

woman- taking a step away from the housewife stereotype. All of the other women in the Nutella

commercial are also out and about and not falling into the “typical” women image. They have

curly red hair, glasses, and aren't’ stick thin. Several of the commercials in this segment featured

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working women, I would say either an equal amount or more than portrayed as housewives. So

at least in this one hour segment we saw a transition away from that gender roll.

We noticed that all of the car/truck commercials featured during this time slot only

featured men and that they were predominantly targeted towards men. There was one car

commercial for BMW that showed a women driving, the dad as the passenger and an annoying

old granny in the back. The husband and wife appear to be equal in this ad, it is rare to see the

women driving an entire family. The Taco Bell commercial portrayed this “ideal man” but then

said you didn’t have to be any of those things to be a real man you just needed to eat their steak

flatbread sandwich- pretty much mocking all those stereotypical things that make a “real man”

(abs, big trucks, girls, lifting). The only commercial that featured a celebrity was the Lincoln

commercial with Matthew McConaughey.

We compared how women were portray in the Revlon commercial versus the Bare

Minerals. Like we mentioned above, the women in the Revlon ad were portrayed as sexual

objects. The ad was very seductive- focusing mostly on the lips. In the Revlon ad women were

interacting with men, like makeup would get them any men. In the Bare Minerals commercial

they focused on the entire face and more empowering concepts towards women.

Conclusion

As we saw in the commercials during prime time, advertisements seek to satisfy

consumer’s wants and needs. These companies are attempting this in any way they see fit and

there are certainly times when they are coming at the cost of women’s integrity. Stereotypes we

mentioned are still vividly evident but some companies have taken positive steps away from

these stereotypes. We saw an example of this step away from classical stereotypes in the Android

commercial. Women are still being portrayed as housewives, sexual objects and with the “ideal”

body. We gained insight to how genders are being portrayed first through secondary research,

followed by primary research, and finally discussion. We have concluded that steps are being

taken away from harsh stereotypes but they are still very much present in current advertising.

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