1 The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective Author: Amanda Zimmerman & John Dahlberg Instructor: Kate Chen Student: Erin November 23, 2009

2 Contents  Introduction  Effects on attitude  Methodology  Results  Discussion  Conclusion

3 Introduction 1. Back of the study 2. Statement of the problems 3. Purpose of the study

4 Back of the study Since the rebirth of the women’s movement in the 1960’s, critics consistently raged against the way advertising treats women.

5 Back of the study For women born in the early 1980s, sex is everywhere, and sex in the media (TV programs, movies, music videos, magazine articles, and ads) has been a constant companion.

6 Statement of the problems Today’s respondents agreed females were portrayed as sex objects in advertisements, but were less offended by these portrayals than female respondents in 1991.

7 Statement of the problems Today’s female’s attitudes toward the advertisement have little effect on purchase intention, a highly significant change from attitudes of women in 1991.

8 Purpose of the study To examine how today’s generation of young, educated female feels about the portrayal of woman in advertisement and consequences of attitude.

9 Effects on attitude The result of the 1991 study showed:  women were still critical of the way in which they were portrayed in advertising. (Ford, LaTour, and Lindstrom, 1991)  women still thought that advertisements treated them mainly as sex objects, showed them as fundamentally dependent on men.

10 Effects on attitude According to this sample of woman, an offensive advertising campaign would have a negative effect on company image and purchase intention.

11 Effects on attitude Attitudes of today’s women toward advertising can be directly correlated with the changes that have occurred in feminism. This feminism embrace sexuality, it views sex as power, it separates women from men and sees woman as the dominant sex.

12 Effects on attitude Sexually objectified portrayals of women in advertisements also affect views of sex, girls exposed to these images become more sexually aggressive, and sexual experimentation is beginning earlier.

13 Effects on attitude Based on the preponderance of sexual content in the media, its effect on attitudes of young women, the authors explored the impact of advertising on attitudes, and examine if: H1: young, educated women will agree that the specific advertisement viewed in this study uses sex, but they will find it culturally acceptable (i.e., not perceive it as offensive it negative.)

14 Methodology This sample used female students from a co-educational private college in the Mid-Atlantic region. AD

15 Methodology Table 1: Attitudes towards the Specific Advertisement. Table 2: Attitudes towards Sex in the Media.

16 Methodology All statements were measured on a 7-point Likert scale, and probed attitudes toward role portrayals of woman in advertisements.

17 Results Regarding the specific advertisement, participants found the advertisement contained a great deal of sex (M=5.681). ( Table 1)

18 Results Respondents had a neutral response to the question of whether sex was used tastefully in the advertisement (M=3.894). (Table 1)

19 Results The majority of the statements produced neutral answers. Items that leaned neutral toward slightly positive were: ( Table 1) acceptable to me and my family (M=3.798), interesting (M=3.394), good (M=3.957), not offensive at all (M=3.734).

20 Results The rest of the items skewed neutral to slightly negative. These were: ( Table 1) unethical (M=4.074) morally wrong (M=4.096) traditionally inacceptable (M=4.564) unlikable irritating (M=4.468) very unlikable (M=4.184)

21 Results The most interesting category was: ( Table 1) culturally acceptable (M=2.713).

22 Results The attitudinal section, young, educated women were neutral to slightly agreed that there was too much sex on TV programs (M=3.787). There was too much degradation of women and men as sex objects in the media (M=4.277). They disagreed that they like or accepted the use of sex in advertising (M=2.564). ( Table 2)

23 Results Based on data, we were able to accept Hypothesis H1. H1: Young, educated women will agree that the specific advertisement viewed in this study uses sex, but they will find it culturally acceptable (i.e., not perceive it as offensive it negative.)

24 Discussion Respondents agreed the displayed advertisement was highly sexualized, yet they did not think it was offensive, extremely irritating, or unethical. As predicted, the means showed college female’s indifference toward women's portrayal in advertising.

25 Discussion Today’s young women see so many sex object images every day that it did not negatively affect them. Their attitude toward the brand is much more important than their attitude toward the advertisement.

26 Conclusion Young women in this study indicated that advertising was less offensive than the 1991 sample.

27 Conclusion Today’s college females were raised in a very sexualized world, sexual content dominates the media, and new feminists see female sexuality as power.

28 Conclusion Young, educated women toady appear less offended by the portrayal if women as sex objects in advertisements than women in past generations, and it seems largely due to our culture.

29 Thank you for your listening!