As I was racking my brain trying to come up with a new blog post for November, my mind wandered back to the topic of my very first test blog post that I wrote for LOUDwomen. I was reflecting on how my confidence has grown since being an ambassador and generally maturing as a human being, as well as all of the internal and external factors that continue to hinder it. I know I am not unique in my experience as a woman feeling that I will never be as liked, confident, or charismatic as a man because society will just never view me that way. I wrote a revised and extended part 2 of my first blog to bring further attention to the ever-continuing issue of sexism in marketing and how it seeps implicit sexist biases into our society.
The usage of damaging gender stereotypes in American advertising can most clearly be traced back to the early 20th century. At this time, after the Industrial Revolution, large corporations were becoming increasingly competitive and needed to weaponize strong marketing tactics to expand their customer base. One way that companies did this was by targeting women; specifically middle-class housewives. For example, a Kellogg ad from the 1930s depicts a housewife “happily cooking and cleaning,” while her wealthy husband looks at her adoringly. In the ad, when the husband asks his wife how she keeps up with all of her cooking and cleaning duties, the wife responds with, “Vitamins darling! I always get my vitamins.” Additionally, the advertisement contains a quote bubble saying, “So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!”
While some may view advertisements like this one as an innocent depiction of a sweet family dynamic, the underlying message perpetuates problematic social norms. For example, the woman is smiling while she wears an apron and holds her cleaning supplies. For Women viewing this advertisement, this sends a message that staying in the kitchen and doing traditionally female “wifely duties,” will make them happy. Additionally, the advertisement shows a husband holding and adoring his wife as she proudly announces her joy in cooking and cleaning. The underlying implications of this image are that being a good, traditional, and compliant housewife will gain the respect and admiration of husbands. Lastly, the phrase, “So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!” dramatically emphasizes physical appearance in addition to traditional feminine values. Statements like these push forward ideas that the value of a woman is primarily placed in how beautiful she is or how good of a housewife she is rather than placing importance on women’s personal characters, goals, and ambitions.
Furthermore, the real-world consequences of these advertisements are catastrophic. In the United States, 18% of girls report that by the age of 17, they have experienced sexual assault or abuse at the hands of another minor. A study by the American Psychological Association found that men exposed to sexually objectifying media were significantly more likely to accept myths about rape (beliefs that women invite rape or that sexual abuse can be blamed on women), interpersonal violence, sexual harassment, and many other alarming behaviors. Moreover, according to a Wesleyan study, 51.8 percent of magazine advertisements featuring women portrayed them as sex objects. When women are featured in men’s magazines, they are objectified 76 percent of the time. The connection between how women are portrayed in the media and the level of violence they are threatened with is obvious, and the effects of these portrayals are far-reaching.
Additionally, even with the rise of feminist movements, marketing strategies often misuse society’s support of female empowerment, and in an attempt to support women, they do the opposite. Authors of Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is Still Sexist and How to Fix It; Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts, spent over 10 years of research on the topic of modern feminism and how truly Western society has progressed towards gender equality. They argue that while fourth-wave feminism has brought in a new trend of “fempowerment” and “strong women” sentiments, there is still deep, subtle messaging from advertisers that continues to perpetuate gender inequality. Even in these seemingly “feminist” advertisements, 85% could be described as traditionally attractive, and 80% of women still believe that women in advertising are “very thin.”
Another problem with companies emphasizing gender roles in their advertising is that it has created unrealistic and constantly evolving beauty standards, especially for women. Throughout human history, the ideal of what a woman should look like has continuously changed. For example, from the 1920s-50s, a slim physique was preferred. Later in the 70s, eating disorders such as anorexia were being romanticized. However, the beauty standard is drastically different now and tends to celebrate curves and other features of women. Companies have used social media and marketing strategies to double down on this natural human trend to change beauty standards with time.
When companies use problematic gender stereotypes in their marketing, the effects are drastic and affect far more people than most realize. For young girls, in particular, there is a constant narrative being fed to them that they must be pretty but not too pretty, confident but not too confident, and the list goes on. This leads young girls to believe that all they have to offer the world is a pretty face and that physical appearance is a measure of their worth. When women grow up believing that beauty comes before all, they are less likely to focus on their personal ambitions and, as a result, don’t end up reaching their full potential.
While these alarming facts make it seem these issues are too big for anything to be done, there is a multitude of simple actions that can be taken to combat gender-stereotyped thinking in our society. In a world that puts unachievable pressure on women to look and be perfect, women must lift each other up and be conscious of the gender stereotypes that have been advertised. One thing that can be done to combat the problems caused by advertising is for women to be comfortable and confident in their own skin. Additionally, there are many organizations such as UNICEF, Together for Girls, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, and the 4 Every Girl campaign that is working to take steps towards improving gender representation, expanding education for girls, creating opportunities, and making the world a generally safer place for women.
Simple actions such as signing the 4 Every Girl Campaign petition, and calling on leaders of the entertainment industry to produce media that supports and empowers women is one example of a step in the right direction towards solving this problem. Furthermore, sites like the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media can be used as resources to educate individuals on the effects and unconscious biases that people have been programmed to believe by the marketing industry. In addition to larger-scale solutions that hold marketing corporations accountable, we can also take individual steps toward solutions. Shopping from female-owned brands is a great way to support women and see the female perspective of advertising. Conversely, while it is important to support women, it must be acknowledged that the issue of sexism can go both ways, and gender inequality hurts society as a whole.
It is clear that the issue of outdated gender stereotypes is alarming and must be consciously addressed to achieve societal equality. There are a variety of actions that can easily be taken by both men and women to solve these issues. Additionally, there are many things that companies can do to push for a more equal society through their advertisements and workplace policies. As a society, we must embrace the fact that it is natural not to to not have flawless skin, zero body hair, perfectly white teeth, etc. In a world of advertisements and marketing that creates unrealistic pressures to achieve perfection, it is important to lift up others for a better, more equal society.
Works Cited
Altman, Mara. “Yes, Marketing Is Still Sexist.” The New York Times, 26 August 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/us/marketing-industry-sexism-brandsplaining.html. Accessed 19 August 2023.
business insider. “These Modern Ads Are Even More Sexist Than Their 'Mad Men' Era Counterparts.” Business Insider, 10 April 2012, https://www.businessinsider.com/these-modern-ads-are-even-more-sexist-than-their-mad-men-era-counterparts-2012-4#today-women-get-the-shallow-part-in-the-relationship-progress-26. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Collins, Hill. “Sexualization of Girls 2010.” American Psychological Association, 2007, https://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Cunningham, Jane. “BITE Voices | Brandsplaining: why marketing is still sexist and how to fix it.” Creativebrief, 8 March 2021, https://www.creativebrief.com/bite/voices/brandsplaining-why-marketing-still-sexist-and-how-fix-it. Accessed 24 November 2023.
“18 Awful Vintage Ads From the 1900s.” Business Insider, 17 April 2016, https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-sexist-and-racist-ads-2016-4#a-kelloggs-ad-from-the-1930s-encourages-women-to-work-hard-around-the-house-4. Accessed 24 November 2023.
Engender. “Sexism in advertising, what can we do? | Engender blog.” Engender, 13 May 2016, https://www.engender.org.uk/news/blog/sexism-in-advertising-what-can-we-do/. Accessed 24 November 2023.
Finkelhor, David. “Sexual assault among adolescents: 6 facts.” The Conversation, 21 September 2018, https://theconversation.com/sexual-assault-among-adolescents-6-facts-103658. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Green David Institute. “If she can see it, she can be it.” Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, https://seejane.org/. Accessed 4 December 2023.
Howard, Jacqueline. “How the 'ideal' woman's body shape has changed throughout history.” CNN, 7 March 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/health/body-image-history-of-beauty-explainer-intl/index.html. Accessed 19 August 2023.
Swift, Jaimee, and Hannah Gould. “Ending exploitation of women and girls.” UNICEF USA, 11 January 2021, https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/not-object-sexualization-and-exploitation-women-and-girls-0. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Wesleyan. “\/.” YouTube, 16 June 2023, https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.465.4923&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Saatchi, Charles. “Racist, Sexist, Rude, Crude and Dishonest: The Golden Age of Madison.” The Standard, Evening Standard, 26 Jan. 2015, www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/racist-sexist-rude-crude-and-dishonest-the-golden-age-of-madison-avenue-10002459.html.
Anika Barua
11th Grade
Bentonville
Instagram- @anika.m.barua
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