We need to learn how adverts represent different people and groups and also how these representations have changed over time. Today, the focus is on the representation of women and the gender stereotypes that appear in many adverts. This builds on our work on social and cultural contexts - the way the media influences people, society and British culture.
Key words
Representation: the way a group or individual is portrayed in the media.
Normalised: when something becomes considered ‘normal’ or ‘usual’
Stereotype: viewing a group or individual in a fixed, over-simplified way.
Conventions: typical features of a media product.
Reinforce a stereotype: the representation supports our usual expectations.
Subvert a stereotype: the representation goes against our usual expectations.
Social, Cultural and Historical contexts
Another aspect we have to consider whenever we study a media product is how it reflects British society and what message it may be sending to audiences. Our exam board AQA calls this 'social and cultural contexts' and those words will appear in several exam questions in our final exams. Similarly, when we study media products from history, we will also need to consider historical contexts - how the media product reflects the time period in which it was created. These are the key questions to ask:
Social contexts: How do media products influence or affect people in society?
Cultural contexts: How the media reflects the typical ideas, opinions and beliefs in society and the media industries.
Historical contexts: How has society (and the type of media product) changed over time?
The representation of women in advertising is a great example of all three of these contexts. The way women are presented in adverts says a lot about the culture the advert is created in, it may well affect the way both women and men feel and behave in society and it also has changed over time.
How are women represented in advertising?
The stereotype of women in advertising is often negative. Representations through the history of advertising have suggested that women are inferior to men, bad drivers, powerless, sexualised or focused on domestic work (e.g. cleaning). This potentially influences media audiences and the views in wider society.
Oxo TV adverts
Explore how the representations of women have changed through these two adverts for Oxo. Are they really as different as they first appear?
1980s Oxo advert
2017 Oxo advert: Change of Plan
Unfortunately, this advert is no longer on YouTube but can be watched on the Ads of the World website here or alternatively on Google Drive here (using your Greenford Google login).
Gender representation in advertising: blog tasks
Create a new blogpost called 'Gender representation in advertising'.
1) Find three adverts featuring women that are from the 1950s or 1960s. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post. Hint: You may wish to look at car, perfume or cleaning products but can use any product you wish.
2) Find three adverts featuring women that are from post-2000. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post.
3) What stereotypes of women can you find in the 1950s and 1960s adverts? Give specific examples.
4) What stereotypes of women can you find in the post-2000s adverts? Give specific examples.
5) How do your chosen adverts suggest representations of gender have changed over the last 60 years?
Extension tasks
Gender representation in advertising: blog tasks
Create a new blogpost called 'Gender representation in advertising'.
1) Find three adverts featuring women that are from the 1950s or 1960s. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post. Hint: You may wish to look at car, perfume or cleaning products but can use any product you wish.
2) Find three adverts featuring women that are from post-2000. Save the images to your Media folder as jpegs and then import them into your blog post.
3) What stereotypes of women can you find in the 1950s and 1960s adverts? Give specific examples.
4) What stereotypes of women can you find in the post-2000s adverts? Give specific examples.
5) How do your chosen adverts suggest representations of gender have changed over the last 60 years?
Extension tasks
Find three adverts that subvert gender stereotypes, post the images/links to your blog and write a paragraph about how they subvert the way women or men are usually represented in the media.
Read this Guardian article on seven female stereotypes that were identified in Australian adverts. Do you recognise the stereotypes that the article discusses?
This Guardian article reports the first adverts banned for using negative gender stereotypes. Do you think the ASA was right to ban them?
Due date: on Google Classroom.
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