Advertising and stereotypes

introduction Marketers are constantly seeking ways to make their products more easily identifiable to specific groups of end users. In some cases, they may intentionally or unintentionally use stereotyping to show a product as appealing to their desired target market or in an attempt to interject humor into the ad. Advertising stereotypes are often race- or gender-based in nature.

Stereotyping commercials Commercials are the vast source of gender stereotyping, because they are adapted to the specific, either male or female target, and are “the reflection of the recipient”. The aim of the modern commercial is not only the satisfaction of needs but also their creation.

Women are more often presented in commercials, because they are seen as responsible for making everyday purchases. Men generally advertise cars, cigarettes, business products or investments, whereas women are shown rather in the commercials with cosmetics and domestic products. They are also more likely portrayed in the home environment, unlike men, who are shown outdoors. Another important distinction is the face-ism phenomenon in the commercials, which consists in showing the entire figure in case of women and close-up shots in case of men.

Stereotyping can occur in advertisements geared toward and containing children. Boys are often portrayed as rough or aggressive, while girls are portrayed as more dainty or feminine. Girls are shown as babysitters nursing dolls or cleaning house with a pink cleaning kit, whereas boys do sports or play computer games.

Some advertisements play to the stereotype of young men as shallow and superficial. Beer commercials, for instance, often show males as engaging in sophomoric pranks or actions in an effort to impress women. With married couples in the process of making a household decision, the husband may be portrayed as a somewhat dim individual who means well but is essentially incompetent. The wife, on the other hand, is depicted as the one who is really in control of the situation and knows how to rectify the problem by using the advertised product.

Male stereotypes are also various. The first model is “a real man”, athletic, successful, professional, seducer with a beautiful woman by his side. He also has a branded car and a smartphone.

The other type is less popular and presents men devoted to their families who can save enough time for them. Men are very rarely presented during housecleaning. And if they are, it is rather a satirical image – e.g. in the Mr. Muscle commercial – or they appear as the experts and they advise women, for instance, how to do laundry properly.

Advertising specialists also use the stereotype of male friendship, which can be called “buddy narratives”; men are presented as acting together, for instance by going to a football match or to the pub. They share the same interests and opinions, and they enjoy spending time together by doing something extremely interesting and adventurous

A housewife obsessed by a steam on a new tablecloth or a woman whose main problem is lack of ideas for dinner.

The other examples are less traditional, however, they are still very stereotypical. One can distinguish commercials with female vamps – sexy seductresses, the objects of desire of every man. They mostly advertise cosmetics, but they also appear in the commercials directed to men. When a beautiful woman accepts and praises the male cosmetics, it is treated by men as a guarantee of its quality.

Another type is a woman, whose major concern is to preserve her beauty. Hence, she presents a healthy life style, is physically active, uses a wide range of body and facial cosmetics. However, one can observe mainly the presence of very thin actresses in this type of commercials, which can lead to the assumption, that only thin women can be beautiful and healthy. As a result, many female receivers fall into the obsession with their weight, which sometimes can have negative effects.

Domesticated Female Even in a time when many women work outside the home, they are still depicted as being in charge of all the domestic chores in the household. Ads for products like soap, laundry detergent, toilet tissue and child care items depict the women as having the ultimate responsibility for making the buying decisions for these products. Women are also shown as being in charge of food selection and meal preparation in the home.

Advertising can also perpetuate racial stereotypes that have lasted for generations. As an example, McDonald's came under heavy criticism for creating an advertisement depicting Chinese people who had difficulty pronouncing the letter "r." In England, the Advertising Standards Authority banned an ad showing a black man playing a ukulele and repeating every word a white man says, saying that the ad could be seen as showing blacks as subservient or inferior to whites.

Breaking gender stereotypes In spite of significant presence of the stereotypes in commercials, advertising specialists more and more often use non-schematic ideas of the promotion of products and services. Women are presented as liberated, strong and independent of social expectations and men are shown while washing or cleaning.

Male roles in advertising are redefined as well – British commercial of a cleanser called Ajax presents handsome men cleaning kitchen with this product; in the other example a man is striping for his girlfriend and then throws his clothes in the washing machine called Ariston. This situation is opposite to the traditional scheme, in which a girl is a seductress and a man is a viewer.

The most popular, non-stereotypical commercial is Dove campaign aimed at women at every age and with different kinds of figures. It emphasizes natural beauty instead of perfect shapes. The female viewers prefer to watch women, with whom they can identify, thus the campaign proved to be a great success.

Informed viewers rather than manipulated consumers If we become aware of the stereotypes and teach critical viewing skills to our children, perhaps we will become informed viewers instead of manipulated consumers”. Moreover, the commercials evolve along with the development of a society and are the answer to many social and political changes, such as emancipation of women, growing role of individualism, globalization and revaluation of patterns and social roles. More and more advertising specialists produce non-stereotypical commercials.

But what is the message now???? However, the attempts to break down the stereotypes threaten to reject the message; they affect security and well- established knowledge about the world. Hence, a society has to achieve an adequate level of social readiness, so that messages breaking gender stereotypes could be effective.