Advertising And Gender Stereotypes
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Advertising And Gender Stereotypes – The Hard Truth Advertising today is not merely changing our buying behavior, our perception of brands and products but is also fast influencing the cultural norms prevalent in a society. This holds for true for all almost all products that are using gender stereotype as a tool. The most controversial impact of advertising is felt on females where critics have time and again argued on the unreal depiction of female beauty and their behavior. This field is now more than companies marketing their products; it is a game of gender stereotypes. The advertisements we watch again and again and the messages they spread are in fact telling us who we are and more disturbingly how we should be. On an average, Americans view more than three thousand ads each day. We spend almost two years worth of our life watching advertisements and processing them subconsciously. For viewers, ignoring these ads is not only difficult but literally impossible. Companies are selling negative body images of women and are creating a toxic cultural environment that places more emphasis on profit than on health. A number of girls fall victim to these stereotypes, with over twenty percent growing up under the impression that they are too fat. What’s more is that women are now spending more money than ever before to buy products that they believe will help them meet these impossible standards of beauty. This unrealistic image of beauty that has been set for the women of our times is now forcing men to spend money on them; where many are now resorting to cosmetic surgeries. The idea of a perfectly beautiful face and skinny body is more ludicrous than ever. But believe it or not, it is happening now. The sad truth about our media is that the images and clips shown are mostly bogus. A number of these images and print ads are either edited via Photoshop or airbrushed in order to depict a flawless skin and features. This trend in turn is changing the expectations of men from women. These media ideals are now being looked upon by girls as young as twelve. Advertising impacts us in more than one ways and perhaps even with a greater impact than what we originally assumed. The advertising obsession with the female body is also promoting another negative view at a subconcious level. Women these days focus more on their physical attributes rather than focusing on more important aspects of their lives. Be it education or personal relationships, girls today are being targeted in regards to specific body images alone. The impact of this advertising on our generation therefore has been more damaging than ever. What we need at the moment is a strict regulation which forces models to support specific BMIs. Likewise, photo shopped images need to be banned for the betterment of the society. Gender stereotypes need to be addressed as a serious crime and a global demand for responsible marketing and advertising campaigns needs to come to the forefront. http://www.researchomatic.com/Gender-Stereotypes-In-Advertising-116242.html
Advertising And Gender Stereotypes
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