Stereotypes Galore! Women’s Emancipation as Reflected in Advertising

Trabajo de Investigación (Colegio) , 2009 , 37 Páginas , Calificación: 1,0

Didáctica de la asignatura Inglés - Otros

A woman rushes across the screen, cleaning the floor with the latest “turbo power 3”
multifunction vacuum cleaner, feeds her baby with the new and improved baby formula
and marvels at her almost blindingly clean dishes, then turns to the camera with a
smile on her face that suggests she could not imagine a more satisfying life. This
description might sound a little old fashioned and restricting, but it is commonly
conveyed to us through advertising, even today. Is this truly the concept we have of
modern women? Has not the women’s movement brought about more change than just
in legal status? As advertising is one of the most powerful educational mediums in
modern society, the image of women it conveys is not only quite interesting, but also of
great importance. There is such an overload of advertising surrounding us; we’re
bombarded daily with a vast amount on the radio, TV, online, on billboards, in
magazines, even on the most common things like a pen—there is no way to escape its
influence. Advertising’s key objective is making money; selling an image of perfection to
consumers makes great business sense, because it sends people on a never-ending
quest, trying to achieve the impossible, all the while spending endless amounts of
money. Advertising does not only sell a product, but, through stereotyped characters,
also provides us with an exemplary way of life. The concepts of beauty, love, and normalcy it promotes, might have changed in the course of 40 years, but the central
message remains the same, “you have to buy this or otherwise you will be
unacceptable”. It seems that in the 21st century, women’s emancipation is an issue that should long
since have been checked off the list as accomplished. The great effect of the feminist movement, with better educated, working women, participating in every aspect of life, is undeniable, yet the
influence it has had on advertising’s portrayal of women remains questionable. Have
stereotypes been banished, did they evolved or maybe even stay the same? The focus
is on the 1950s and the 1990s as representative decades for the pre-and post-feminist
attitudes, in order to explore the truth of advertising and finally be able to answer the
question: does advertising’s image of women match their place in society?

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Women's Position in Society: American Social History
  • First-Wave Feminism: Women Gain the Right to Vote
  • Second-Wave Feminism: The Personal Becomes Political
  • Third-Wave Feminism: Finally Diversity
• Comparison of the Portrayal of Women in Advertising Campaigns of the 1950s and the 1990s
  • The Power of Advertising
  • In Search of Stereotypes: Advertising of the 1950s
    • A Woman's Worth: Beauty Etiquette and Proper Femininity
    • Women Portrayed as Inferior to Men
    • Women as Decorative Objects
    • Women Portrayed as Housewives and Mothers
    • Exclusively White
  • Constructive Criticism
  • The Old New Thing: Advertising of the 1990s
    • Sky-High Beauty Ideal
    • Women in Relation to Men
    • Oversexed and Underage
    • Housewife Turned Superwoman
    • Diversity
• Conclusion

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper aims to investigate the portrayal of women in advertising campaigns of the 1950s and the 1990s, analyzing how this representation reflects the social and cultural changes brought about by the women's movement. The main objective is to determine whether advertising's image of women aligns with their actual place in society.
Key themes explored in the work include:

• The impact of advertising on shaping perceptions of women
• The evolution of gender stereotypes in advertising over time
• The role of the women's movement in challenging traditional gender roles
• The influence of social and cultural contexts on advertising imagery
• The effectiveness of advertising in promoting or reinforcing societal norms

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The introduction lays out the central question of the paper: does advertising's image of women reflect their place in society? It argues that advertising, as a powerful educational medium, plays a significant role in shaping societal perceptions of women. The chapter highlights the persuasive power of advertising and its tendency to promote idealized, often unattainable, images of women. Chapter II provides a historical overview of women's position in American society, focusing on the three waves of feminism. It examines the social constraints imposed on women before the women's movement, emphasizing the limited opportunities and expectations for women in terms of education, work, and political participation. The chapter traces the origins of the women's movement, highlighting the key figures and events that contributed to its development. Chapter III delves into a comparative analysis of advertising campaigns from the 1950s and the 1990s, examining the portrayal of women in each decade. It explores the stereotypes prevalent in advertising of the 1950s, such as the emphasis on domesticity, beauty, and submissiveness. The chapter then analyzes how these stereotypes evolved in the 1990s, considering the impact of the women's movement and the changing social landscape.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The main keywords and focus topics of this paper include advertising, women's emancipation, gender stereotypes, feminist movement, social history, cultural context, image, representation, and societal norms. The work also explores the impact of advertising on shaping perceptions of women and the evolution of gender roles in advertising over time.

• Universidad: Maria-Ward-Gymnasium Augsburg
• Calificación: 1,0
• Autor: Gesa Biermann (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2009
• Páginas: 37
• No. de catálogo: V164821
• ISBN (Ebook): 9783640802821
• ISBN (Libro): 9783640802784
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: Emancipation, Stereotypes, Advertisement, Advertising, USA, Women's Rights, Womens' Emancipation, Women's Emancipation, Werbung, Amerika, Frauenrechte, Feminisim, Third Wave, Second Wave, First Wave, Portrayal of Women, Gender Studies, Diversity, Womens' Rights, 1950, 1950s, 50s, 1990s, 1990, 90s