David Gauntlett’s theory of identity suggests that we are now living in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open.
To what extent do you agree with this hypothesis in relation to print advertisements in the UK?
Advertising in the modern day, while having views of gender
roles move in a better direction, have not strayed far from the stereotypical
gender roles perceived by society. Although men are no longer expected to be tough,
masculine money earners, and women to be weak, pretty house-wives, these gender
roles can be subtly connoted within modern advertisements.
Advertisements in the past would be plastered with ideas
about promoting being skinny, pretty, and looking perfect. These old advertisements
consisted of women playing the role of the ‘house-wife’ and being undeniably gorgeous,
with men fawning over them. The older advertisements also heavily promoted the concept
of being skinny through the use of the two advertisements shown below. The first
one, showing three images of a woman putting on jeans connotates the idea that her
body is the only acceptable type, and anything else is deemed to be unflattering.
The words that are used, ‘You can do it. We can help.’, also connotate ideas
that if you look like anything other than the woman shown, you are not accepted
by society. The second advertisement shown here also implies the idea that Pepsi
wants to decrease the population of people who don’t fit into their ideal body type,
by using the words ‘Help reduce the population.’ Furthermore, Pepsi’s use of ‘There’s
only one calorie in a can.’ at the bottom of each advert suggests that this is what
they should be drinking to lose weight and look like the skinny girls they are
promoting, as the fact that there is ‘only one calorie in a can’ makes it seem
healthier. These adverts help Pepsi to establish an idea that drinking Diet Pepsi
will help you to lose weight and look more desirable to the male eye.
Modern day advertisements, although more open to blurring the
stereotypical gender roles, still connote ideas about the perfect looking woman.
These advertisements tend to use images of scantily-clad women as both sex
appeal and role models for other women. One advertisement in particular, promoting
‘the new skinny can’ presents a young, tanned, pretty woman, drinking this Diet
Pepsi. The skinny can is centred directly in front of her, indicating the idea
that the skinny can represents her body, which further connotes an ideal of society’s
most acceptable body type and her being skinny. Similarly, this Coca-Cola advert
has also not strayed away from the familiar womanizing stereotype, by showing another
young woman as the focus rather than the product. Both of these advertisements
present young, pretty women as the main focus of the advert, accentuating their
best features to make them look gorgeous and skinny, and appealing both as role
models and the male gaze.
Although these modern advertisements are much subtler than the older ones, the same intention is presented within each different one. I believe that although the world has become a place where gender has become more open, it still hasn’t gotten to a place where women are no longer sexualised or put down for not being society’s acceptable weight.
