Gender Advertisements Research Articles

Virtual Discrimination - Advertisements and Self Image

The internet has taken our world by storm. Personal branding and self-image, theway we think we need to look is always a passing thought for everyone of us. Advertisementshave a way of grabbing the attention of a target audience and are so catchy that they linger inour thoughts long after we first see them. Many of them dictate the way we often see andportray ourselves. They advocate the use of certain products, cell phones, branded apparel,and footwear – all in the name of conspicuous consumption that can set a tone for our imageand personal branding which is regarded as ‘acceptable’ by society. Only in recent times,however, have many of these advertisements been called out for their sexist and racialovertones/undertones that have a mental, physical as well as an emotional effect on the livesof individuals. Adolescents and adults alike, people are becoming more and more aware thatthe way the media portrays their models overshadows our everyday lives. This study aims toexamine and investigate how advertisements can influence the way human beings seethemselves. It will trace the influence of advertisements over the years and the role it plays intoday’s world – one where access to information is so easily available and at a time wherepeople are questioning so many archaic norms. With special reference to Erving Goffman’sfamous work – Gender Advertisements (1976) – and other secondary sources of data likejournals and articles, this study seeks to correlate theory with real life examples from theEntertainment Industry.

Selfies as Practices of Care-Taking (and Giving)

Research on selfies finds that negative feedback in comments and the currency of likes reinforce and police dominant feminine or masculine beauty ideals, including binary gender ideals. For example, Döring et al. (2016) analysed 500 Instagram selfies to explore if they conform to gender stereotypes as identified in Erving Goffman’s 1976 Gender Advertisements. The study revealed that gender stereotypical behaviours found in adverts are repeated in selfies, and that some of the behaviours feature in selfies more frequently than in magazine adverts. The prevalence of dominant beauty ideals in selfies is demonstrated in #bodypositivity and #curvyfit posts that tend to depict slender female and muscular male bodies (Webb et al, 2017). However, selfies are an important mode of self-presentation. Research on queer and fat activist selfies has highlighted their role in enhancing visibility, raising awareness of oppression and challenging stereotypes. In research with trans and gender-fluid Tumblr users, Vivienne (2017) found positive comments on selfies helped promote body acceptance and that users viewed trans and gender-fluid selfies as defying industries that promote binary beauty ideals and capitalise on consumer’s insecurities. In my book Consuming the Body: Capitalism, Social Media and Commodification I argue that fat activist selfies challenge dominant modes of self-presentation and looking. This paper will draw on my research into selfie taking practices, and also a participatory research project around queering the gender binary (Bois of Isolation co-produced with Dr AC Davidson) to identify methods of producing creative selfies that evade commoditisation and discipline (#EmpoweringPresence, new project), and consider selfie taking and sharing as practices of care.

Key Concepts in Advertising: Objectification

Abstract: Key Concepts in Advertising articles provide short lectures on an important concept to help understand advertising’s place in society, culture, history, and the economy. This article focuses on the concept of objectification. This term is addressed within the disciplines of women’s studies, sociology, philosophy, visual culture, and advertising; in the latter field, feminist Jean Kilbourne has used the term for decades in her critique of modern advertising and its use of sexuality. Other scholars have also used the work of sociologist Erving Goffman, especially Gender Advertisements (1979), to discuss the ways that objectification works within ads through gendered and racialized depictions of models. A series of short videos define objectification and provide background information about Kilbourne’s and Goffman’s work, among other theorists. After several ads are deconstructed, viewers are encouraged to analyze an ad, using these terms to unpack the meaning within advertising in the ways it treats women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Two media scholars join the authors to help with these analyses. The last video in the series looks ahead at challenges for the industry, in terms of self-objectification, depictions of transgender people, and the use of Big Data. A recommended reading list provides other sources for learning more about objectification, self-objectification in the age of selfies, and sexuality in advertising.

Polysemic Interpretations: Examining How Women with Visual Impairments Incorporate, Resist, and Subvert Advertising Content

This article takes a feminist disability studies approach to the analysis of the responses of women with visual impairments to representations of blindness, disability, and gender in advertising. Empirical data gathered via semi-structured interviews with women who are visually impaired (N = 5) enhances existing understandings of oppressed audiences’ polysemic interpretations of advertisements. The research findings reveal participants’ subversion of stereotypical approaches to visual impairments, ocularcentrism, and gendered constructions of blindness, which are found in advertisements (N = 3) produced post-2000 in the United Kingdom and United States. Participants highlighted subtle stereotyping in advertisements through exploring the intersecting nature of disability and gender identities. Advertisements were used by participants as prompts for reasserting their affirmative senses of self and as a means of critiquing sociocultural attitudes toward women with visual impairments. Recommendations for future research and practice in relation to advertising polysemy and the representation of disabled women in advertising are provided.

Prosthetic Soul Mates: Sex Robots as Media for Companionship

Prosthetic Soul Mates: Sex Robots as Media for Companionship

Gitamahatmya! Paratexts in Miniature Bhagavad Gitas with Special Reference to Pictures and Gender

This article studies paratextuality - epigraphs, prefaces, illustrations etc. - in four miniature Bhagavad Gitas. The analysis focuses particular on format, illustrations and gender. In addition to Gerard Genette’s concept of paratexts, the theory includes Roland Barthes’ “Rhetoric of the image” and Ervin Goffman’s Gender Advertisements. The study shows that some publishers have prioritized readability while others have chosen smaller amuletic versions that are more difficult to read. The physical presence of the holy Gita is considered valuable in any case, and even the tiny editions are readable. With one exception, the world is to a large extent seen from a male perspective. However, the gender ideology is presented in a rather indirect way. In one publication, a gender and class hierarchy is reflected in a couple of illustrations. Two other publications have added mantras and ritual prescription that are hardly meant for women. One publisher have only included portions of the Bhagavad Gita, and stanzas where females are described as inferior to males as well as stanzas that explicitly address the four classes, are omitted.

Goffman als basis voor frame-analyse en framingonderzoek

Goffman, frames and framing research Fred Wester Somewhere in the last 15 years the English word ‘framing’ came to be used in the Dutch language, mostly in the context of politics or media, to define a communication strategy. It refers to the use of specific phrases, words, or images that focus on specific characteristics and connect positive or negative connotations to a subject in discussion. The frames we may find in management reports and media are related but different from the general term ‘frame’ that Goffman used in his book Frame Analysis (1974). In this article, Goffman’s perspective is presented using his study Gender Advertisements as an example and the differences are discussed with the media framing perspective.

A critical examination of visualized femininity: selective inheritance and intensification of gender posing from historical painting to contemporary advertising

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the visual correspondences of gender posing behaviors, specifically exhibited by female figures, between historical European painting and contemporary American photographic advertising. While utilizing Erving Goffman’s Gender Advertisements as an analytical framework, the study focuses on the visual legacy of gender ritualization that is salient in contemporary mass media, proposing five semiotic codes to concretely analyze it. Although Goffman’s gender posing is traditionally associated with female vulnerability and indolence, the study proposes that such qualities are exploited as indicators of luxury within Western visual culture and advertising specifically. It seeks to deconstruct and re-frame the interconnected connotations of luxury and gender display, both expanding Goffman’s framework and providing a unique interpretive resource for critical readers of media texts.

Gender models: changing representations and intersecting roles in Dutch and Italian fashion magazines, 1982–2011

This article presents a comparative content analysis of gender representation in fashion magazines in Italy and the Netherlands. Updating Goffman’s classic study of Gender Advertisements, we study the intersections of gender, professional role, country and time in media representation. Thus, we combine and confront quantitative content analysis with insights from critical gender studies on polysemy and intersectionality. Analyzing a sample of 5840 images from mainstream, commercial and high fashion magazines published in 1982, 1996 and 2011, we find that gender representation strongly intersects with time, place, and notably: professional role. Models, who represent the specific ‘aesthetic capital’ of the fashion field, are portrayed in highly specific ways. Over time, gender differences in representation become stronger in Italy, while in the Netherlands male and female representation converges towards conventionally ‘feminine’ styles. In both countries, we find increasing prominence of (North-American) Goffmanian gender conventions and a new ‘withdrawn’ gendered style emerging in the early 2000s. This new style employs new signs and conventions to denote gender and professional status: it separates men from women, and models from non-models. Our analysis shows, first, that gender representation does not directly reflect gender inequality. Second, it demonstrates the impact of globalization on gender representation. Third, it highlights the polysemy and cultural specificity of visual signs: gender difference can be ‘ritualized’ and ‘stylized’ in various ways. These diverse gendered conventions intersect with other characteristics, and may convey diverse, and changing messages about the relation between gender and sexuality, power, aesthetics and (visual) pleasure.

Interpretation of female images in advertising among Chinese adolescents

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to examine how Chinese adolescent girls and boys interpret female images in gendered advertisements based on Tobinet al.’s (2010) gender self-socialization model (GSSM).Design/methodology/approach– In total, 48 Hong Kong adolescents studying in high schools or university year one participated in a focus group study. Four advertisements with different types of female images were presented. Interviewees were asked to discuss the appearance, the personality and the work and family life of the female characters in the advertisements. Interviewers then asked them to select the one most closely representing their ideal female image.Findings– Most of the interviewees chose an urban sophisticate as the character closest to their ideal female image. Female interviewees identified with the urban sophisticate and aspired to the cultured nurturer image. However, they rejected the strong woman and the “flower vase” female images.Research limitations/implications– The generalizability of the findings was limited because of the small sample size and non-probability sampling.Practical implications– When targeting adolescents, advertisers should consider using female images displaying a personality that is neither too strong nor too weak.Originality/value– This is the first study to investigate how Hong Kong adolescents interpret female images from gendered advertisements. This study also clarifies the gender concepts to explain how adolescents perceive gendered advertisements.

Do females in advertisements reflect adolescents’ ideal female images?

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate how Chinese adolescent girls and boys construct their own ideal female images in response to gendered advertisements based on Arnett’s (1995) theory of self-socialization and Hirschman and Thompson’s (1997) three interpretive strategies. A qualitative interview study was conducted for this purpose. Design/methodology/approach – Altogether, 32 adolescents aged 15-19 living in 16 different provinces in China were recruited for a face-to-face interview. Three advertisements were shown depicting an elegant woman, an urban sophisticated female and a strong woman, and interviewees were asked to describe the appearance, the personality and the work and family life of the female character in each advertisement. They were asked to choose one of them as most closely representing their ideal female image. Findings – The interviewees constructed their ideal female images from the advertisement that best suited their ideal appearance, personality and work and family life. Female interviewees aspired to be like the elegant woman, identified with the urban sophisticated female and rejected the strong woman in the ads. Male interviewees appreciated the urban sophisticated female but rejected the strong woman. Research limitations/implications – With just 32 interviewees, the generalizability of the findings is limited. Practical implications – Female central characters in advertisements should be pilot-tested among the target audience to maximize levels of aspiration and identification. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine ideal female images from gendered advertisements among adolescent boys and girls in China.

Athletic or Sexy? A Comparison of Female Athletes and Fashion Models in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues

Using a modified version of Goffman’s (Gender advertisements. Harper Colophon, New York, 1976) gender display as a conceptual framework, this study examined the gendered body images of female athletes and female fashion models. We investigated sexualized female body images by comparing athletes with fashion models in Sports Illustrated (SI) swimsuit issues. Specifically, we used images of female athletes and female fashion models from SI swimsuit issues (n = 1,099) over the past 15 years (1997–2011). The variables analyzed included four photographic image categories: photo shot location, facial expression, body display, and hand display. The findings revealed few differences in sexual portrayals between female athletes and female fashion models.

Erving Goffman: Theorizing the Self in the Age of Advanced Consumer Capitalism

AbstractThe authors argue that Erving Goffman developed concepts that contribute to an understanding of historical changes in the construction of the self and enable us to see the new forms that self‐construction is taking in a society driven by consumption, marketing, and media. These concepts include: commercial realism; dramatic scripting; hyper‐ritualization; the glimpse; and the dissolution or undermining of the real, the authentic, and the autonomous. By placing Goffman's under‐discussed work, Gender Advertisements, in rapprochement with the work of Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, and Fredric Jameson, we draw out shared concerns over the ways that the self becomes externally defined and incoherent in advanced consumer capitalism. We then turn to Goffman's “Territories of the Self” (in which Goffman discusses the self in terms of the spatial concepts of “preserves” and “markers”) in order to show that Goffman balances his historicist analysis with a theory of a self that can maintain its coherence amidst the fragmenting forces of the media and the consumer society. Thus we document the continuing relevance of Goffman's thought for cultural and media analysis in contemporary consumer society.

Goffman e as relações de poder na vida cotidiana

Este artigo busca explorar parte da obra do sociólogo canadense Erving Goffman, a propósito do tratamento dado por este autor acerca das relações de poder na vida cotidiana. Esse tema encontra-se difuso ao longo de toda a obra de Goffman, e evidencia uma perspectiva política da ordem da interação social. Analiso particularmente os livros The presentation of self in everyday life, de 1959, e Gender advertisements, de 1979, abordando temas como "definição de situação", "coerção social", "gênero" e "mídia".

Scenes of Everyday Life: Solidarity Rituals and Shared Reality Constructs in Erving Goffman's Excellent Social Psychology

Erving Goffman was one of the leading figures in the Symbolic Interactionist movement in modern sociology and social psychology. He died in November, 1982 leaving behind a brilliant body of work which continues to be read and studied in universities around the world. From The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life to Forms of Talk and Gender Advertisements that cover subjects as diverse as self image, mental illness institutions, gambling casinos, restaurants, espionage tactics, physical deformity and surgery room conversations, Goffman's work written with sly humor and great insight expanded the paradigms of social science beyond their conventional boundaries and canons.

Images of Men and Women in Mobile Phone Advertisements: A Content Analysis of Advertisements for Mobile Communication Systems in Selected Popular Magazines

The present study was designed to analyze gender stereotypes in print advertisements for mobile communication systems in German popular magazines intended for men, women, and general readership. Depictions of both women and men are addressed. A total of 288 depictions were examined using Goffman’s (Gender advertisements, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979) framework for content analysis. Other variables studied were the setting in which men and women are depicted and the different types of magazines in which the advertisements appeared. It is shown that certain means of emphasizing stereotypes (such as Feminine Touch) are still widely used, at least in mobile phone advertising, whereas others have decreased in frequency since Goffman’s time (for example, Function Ranking).

Goffman’s Gender Advertisements revisited: combining content analysis with semiotic analysis

An analysis of 827 advertisements from a representative sample of magazines demonstrates that an abstract framework from Systemic Functional Analysis can be used to identify the semiotic resources which are the basis for gender stereotypes. Resources such as perspectival angle, plane of composition and gaze are used to investigate stereotyped portrayals of males and females. Goffman’s work, Gender Advertisements, forms the basis for hypotheses about how male and female participants would be represented in terms of eight dimensions of visual structure, derived from Kress and Van Leeuwen’s system of analysis. Hypotheses were largely confirmed, indicating that gender stereotyping was still significant in the sample of Australian magazines analysed more than two decades after Goffman’s analysis was first published. However, several results did not confirm the hypotheses or were contrary to the direction of differences predicted. Three types of explanations for exceptions to the hypotheses are discussed: first, the need for some degree of supplementary macrocosmic or contextual analysis; second, the possibility of socially determined changes in some features of stereotyped portrayals; and third, limitations in the functional semiotic framework of analysis adopted in this study.

Resignification and Cultural Re/Production in Japanese Television Commercials

Resignification and Cultural Re/Production in Japanese Television Commercials

Pretty and powerless: nurses in advertisements, 1930-1950.

Images of nurses in pictorial advertisements from all issues of hospital administration journals published in 1930, 1940, and 1950 (N = 598) were examined. Content analysis of the data was based on Goffman's classic 1979 study on gender advertisements. Nurses also were compared with other figures in the advertisements and nursing activities were described. Nurses were predominantly portrayed as female, young, eager to please, and without the appearance of wisdom. In group scenes, nurses were placed as subordinate to physicians and hospital administrators. Nurses in 1940 performed more complex, autonomous activities than in 1930 and 1950. These findings support previous research focused on more recent portrayals of women and nurses in communication media. The overt and subtle subordinate representation of nurses in these advertisements, compared with physicians and administrators, reveals one facet of nursing's heritage as a woman's profession.

Gender Advertisements in Magazines Aimed at African Americans: A Comparison to Their Occurrence in Magazines Aimed at Caucasians

Advertisements from magazines aimed at AfricanAmericans were compared to ads from magazines aimedpredominantly at Whites. Over 200 magazineadvertisements were analyzed according to Goffman's(1976) rubrics of licensed withdrawal, function ranking,relative size, ritualization of subordination, femininetouch, and the family. Results indicated that the adsfrom White-oriented magazines were characterized by relatively frequent displays of licensedwithdrawal and ritualization of subordination. Thoseaimed at African Americans, however, were characterizedby more frequent portrayals of the family. Almost half of each sample were classified into an“other” category which followed none ofGoffman's rubrics. Results are discussed in terms of thedemand characteristics implicit in gender advertisements and in terms of cultural differences in genderrole expectations.