From housekeeper to status-oriented consumer and hyper-sexual imagery: images of alcohol targeted to Italian women from the 1960s to the 2000s

Abstract

Advertisements not only mirror ideals of masculinity and femininity that prevail in a specific place and time, but also contribute to influencing them. This article analyses alcohol-related advertisements published in women’s magazines from 1967 to 2008 in Italy. The main aim is to understand cultural processes that underlie gender differences in drinking and more generally in Italian society. The sample consists of 376 direct and indirect advertisements collected from well-established women’s magazines. The study identifies continuities and changes in women’s subject positions in alcohol-related advertisements. Italian advertisements of the 1960s and 1970s still reflect a female condition that entails no recognition of women’s own desires and tastes. Advertisements from the 1980s and 1990s reflect a more complex representation of female consumers, associating them with their own desires and pleasures. In the 2000s, the focus on women’s physical appearance and social image has become the prevailing feature. In conclusion, the study shows that changes in female representations in advertisements in the last 50 years do not represent a shift toward a more balanced gender representation. The insistence on women’s appearance, with a correlated predominance of bodily pleasures and attractiveness, reproduces old stereotypes about drinking women.