Mr clean mother's day ad

Gender and the Media

Presented by Learning Team B

Angela Munson, Bernadette Ocampo, Donnette Coward, Marc Jay, Orma Moorman,Stephanie Bush

SOC/ 333

Dr. Salamone

February 5, 2018

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Gender and the Media Introduction

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This advertisement represents a female as being motherly and caring figure. This ad depicts a woman and her child cleaning together. This shows that all woman whether they are young or old must learn and know how to clean.

The saying “This Mother’s Day, Get Back To The Job That Really Matters”. This is insinuating that even on a day that mothers are supposed to be celebrating, and even have the day off, herself and Mr. Clean are considered to be mandatory working, their job is never done.

Within this stereotype this image is showing that severity of sexist. All woman do are clean and take care of the home and they are teaching their children the same to continue a pattern.

This is an ad that I do not agree with, in the new era. So many things have changed from then until know; however, we are still trying to peruse the old era into today’s society. This ad is very appealing to men- their homes will always be clean, even on Mother’s Day.

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Gender Advertising - Male

First of all, I just want to say that the Adidas add above screams sex appeal. This ad reflects a gender stereotype. The ad shows a man and a woman from their knees down to their feet which a text caption “The first thing she notices…are your shoes”. The man is wearing brand new Adidas shoes with jeans. The woman, however, is wearing black high heels and her panties are at her ankles.

Adidas aimed this ad directly at men to buy Adidas shoes. The ad suggests that if you wear Adidas shoes you get women to take off their clothes. I believe the ad is aimed at young men, because hopefully a grown man would not fall for such ridiculousness.

As usual the media could have shown this ad in a different realm but it oozes sex appeal and this is what appeals to men and the focus is on the Adidas’ shoes not what the shoes the woman is wearing.

It is a very smart ad that will appeal to the young men. Women would notice the woman first as they are going to look at her black high heels and her panties.

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In this advertisement Paris Hilton catches the viewers attention with her sex appeal. The ad suggest “Size matters,” which is sexually appealing. The ad is designed to draw your attention first to the beautiful woman, and then you feast your eyes on a mouth watering Burger King burger. This ad can be used to target both sexes which is why I believe it fails to reflect a gender stereotype.

For example, a woman who sees this ad may think that she can eat Burger King and still be beautiful. For men however, the add draws them to the “size does matter”.

I disagree with the above statement, many women would not see this ad and feel she will still be beautiful. This ad is more addressed to men than women. If it was an ad of another woman, maybe women would feel that eating a Burger King they would still be beautiful. This ad only appeals to one sex –men.

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Source: Maximuscle. (September 27, 2012). Maxi-Milk. Retrieved from https://feministboyfriend.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/mile-for-real-men-and-the-universal-credit/

This very muscular, shirtless man is drinking the product advertised with one arm hanging onto treacherous cliff. This “Milk for Real Men” is supposed to give him the strength he would need to accomplish this feat. The information at the bottom of the ad reads: “Whether you’re halfway through a workout or halfway up a mountain, if you need a quick lift on the go- grab yourself a Maxi-Milk. It’s got 30 grams of high quality protein, so it’s great at building lean protein and helping you do manly things.” All athletes who perform athletic tasks such as climbing a mountain would need the protein and energy, not just a man. Protein to build lean muscle is needed by women also.

2012 presented a time of emphasis on health and fitness. It was a booming industry that emphasized being “fit” and attractive. According to a study in 2012, Campbell (2012) states, “More than four in five men (80.7%) talk in ways that promote anxiety about their body image, compared with 75% of women. Similarly, 38% of men would sacrifice at least a year of their life in exchange for a perfect body – again, a higher proportion than women.” Respondents blamed the media and celebrities for unhelpfully reinforcing unrealistic ideals of physical perfection. Girls wanted to be slim and males wanted to be big and lean, and while it is not a bad thing for people to want to look better, it had become more like a competition (Campbell, 2012).

While some men may be drawn to this product, others consider it a ploy into getting men to feel ashamed about their physical appearance to purchase this product. This product is directed at men and for men. It reinforces the “macho,” muscular image that has been the ideal for how men should look for decades. Researchers define these beliefs as components of “hypermasculinity,” an extreme gender ideal. As one article criticizing this ad stated: 1) Am I not a real man if I don’t drink milk whilst hanging off cliffs? 2) Am I not a real man if I’m not muscled up to the max or if I choose not to buy bulking products that will make me bigger? and 3) If I’m not a real man does this mean I’m a woman? Gasp! The horror of such a concept! (Sugget, 2012).

This ad would fit into the “Uses and Gratifications Theory” as described in the text (Barton, 2009). The theory describes how consumers are motivated to use various media and what gains, rewards, or gratifications they receive from such consumption (Ivy, 2012). A trend that lingered since the 1990s was the association of muscularity with ideal masculinity and this often recurred in all kinds of advertising into recent media in all forms of ads (Ivy, 2012). The emphasis on muscularity as ideally masculine objectifies men, as depicted above.

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Oldsmobile (1967). Toronado. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Toronado

This is ad is from Oldsmobile’s Toronado model from 1967. The ad verbiage reads: There are boy-type cars and there are man-type cars. And Toronado is all man, all the way. It’s styling is bold, brawny and massively male. The handling is authoritative-thanks to the pulling power of front wheel drive. It’s ride is revolutionary, more unique and different than any other car. The engine is the sharpest Rocket ever built, a bigger than ever 450 cubic inch V-8. Frankly, not everybody is cut out for a Toronado. But then, who wants to be everybody?

This car advertised by Oldsmobile was indisputably directed at the male car buyers. It appeals to this as a “man-type” car and as “man all the way.” A manly man is described as “brawny,” “bold,” and “authoritative.”

Advertisements for cars were mainly directed to men at this time because they were the “drivers” and women were the “passengers” in this era. Men usually owned the cars as they were the gender allowed to obtain financing. If women wanted to own a car, they would have to have a man sign for the purchase. Common belief was that men were the masters of auto technology in the 1960s (Walsh, 2004).

Negative stereotypes about women’s early automotive behavior was common. Many men were of the opinion that women were incapable of and temperamentally unsuited to driving cars (Walsh, 2004). Instead, women welcomed the possibility of relieving their isolation of staying home by driving into town to shop, to visit with friends, to go to work or take the children places. As attitudes began to shift toward women driving in the mid 1960s, Ford decided to set up an ad campaign for their Mustang directed to entice women to own one (Hagerty, 2012).

This type of advertising would fall under the Uses and Gratification Theory as one (a man) would be “gratified” by the styling and performance of this Olds Toronado. A male’s reaction to this ad would probably be that he could connect with the adjectives used to describe the car (to himself), and certainly would not want to be driving a “boy-type car.” Men who drove the sporty vehicles like this Toronado wanted a vehicle that appealed to their masculine preferences. The automotive industry largely has no idea how to market their products toward women, which is why you see a number of advertisements repeating trends that even exist today (Johnson, 2014). The business of producing and selling cars is still a male-dominated one.

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This advertisement is of a woman from the 1950’s-1960’s attempting to open a ketchup bottle. The ad suggest “You mean a woman can open it…?” that no matter how big or small the job may be a woman is suggested not to be able to do it. I believe this ad targets both genders, show men that a woman can’t do anything without them and for females, it shows, we can do the simplest things without a men.

The ad gives you a 1950’s-1960’s because it wants you to believe woman cannot operate with a man, because during that type period woman were brainwashed that they couldn’t do it without a man.

I agree with the ad above, woman can do the simplest task without the accompany of man. The ad will become more appealing to woman because it shows strength, no matte the capacity.

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Gender and the Media Conclusion

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References

Barton, K. M. (2009). Reality television programming and diverging gratifications: The influence of

content on gratifications obtained. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53, 460–476.

Campbell, D. (2012). Body image concerns more men than women, research finds. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/06/body-image-concerns-men-more-than-

women

Hagerty. (2012). Women at the Wheel. Retrieved from https://www.hagerty.com/articles-

videos/Articles/2012/10/24/Women-at-the-Wheel

Ivy, D. K. (2012). GenderSpeak: Personal effectiveness in gender communications (5th ed.). Boston,

MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Johnson, K. (2014). On Sexism in Car Commercials: Still Going Strong. Retrieved from

http://thenewswheel.com/on-sexism-in-car-commercials/

Sugget, P. (September, 2012). “Milk for Real Men” and the Universal Credit. Retrieved from

https://feministboyfriend.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/mile-for-real-men-and-the-universal-credit/

Walsh, M. (2004). Gender and the Automobile in the United States. Retrieved from

http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Gender/Walsh/G_Overview2.htm

Cowen, David (2015) Media Learning Blog: Gender Stereotypes

http://cbscmediadavidcowan.blogspot.com/2015/10/gender-women-i-am-investigating-typical.htm

Harmful to Society (2017) UK Eliminating Gender Stereotypes In Advertising, Saying They Are Harmful to Society.

http://girltalkhq.com/uk-eliminating-gender-stereotypes-advertising-saying-harmful-society/

https://jbridwell0961.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/advertising_concepts_all_day_i_dream_about_sex_by_ellusive.jpg

https://goo.gl/images/RbX7Yh