Stereotypical+Views+of+Women+in+Advertising

toc =**__Stereotypical Views of Women in Advertising__**= Television remains of the most predominant mediums which promote stereotypical views about gender roles in contemporary advertising. “Media is very effective at creating stereotypes because they are some times the only source of information we have about other groups and they often represent a distorted view of those groups” (Straubhaar 2004). NO matter what type of life a women lives, there will always be a certain stereotype about her within society. Women in commercials are confined into what roles they can play on television commercials. In most advertisements in which women act in, the commercial is set out to capture the interests of stereotypical women’s hobbies and interests. A stereotype would be best described as when one ignores diversity and makes sweeping generalizations about a group’s values, behaviour, and beliefs (Straubhaar 2004). Commericals remain mirrored in outdated gender stereotypes by portraying women as having an ideal body image, many eating disorders and acting as sex symbols.

__Ideal Body Image__
Commercials today elicit many perceived ideals of a selective body image in which women must strive to attain ultimate perfection. Many commercials that exist today have many stereotypical views about women and one is having an ideal body image. Women in the media are seen as the Barbie doll figure which has been proven to have negative effects on the average women. Women in commercials operate as a role model for other women and adolescents that view television advertisements on a continuum, which in turn affects the way women are represented. A study done by D. Hargreaves and M. Tiggemann show that women and adolescents that had exposure tom commercials that consist of ideal media images were dissatisfied with their bodies (Hargreaves and Tiggemann,469). This experiment consisted of 80 women and adolescents, some exposed to 20 images of the thin ideal media and the other 20 non thin ideal media. This study concluded that after two years it was shown that the group that viewed the thin ideal body images was more dissatisfied with their body image. Women strive to obtain an ideal body image because they want to be perceived as having an attractive body that resembles the prefect bodies which are repeatedly shown on television. As shown in Hargreaves and Tiggemann experiment, commercials that have outdated gender stereotypes are still prominent in contemporary advertisements today. Take for example a perfume advertisement. In stead of focusing on the actual product; emphasis is placed on the model/actress who is representing the product and she is clearly underweight to present the desire thin and attractive body image. Consequently, women and adolescents that view this advertisement believe that if they buy this product and wear it they will attain this ideal body image portrayed in the advertisement. Television is no-doubt one of the most important mediums that affect the way women and adolescents perceive themselves because of its audiovisual nature.

__Eating Disorders__
In society today, self esteem is placed as one of the most important issues that affect women. Advertisements still support stereotypes in projecting a thin ideal view and therefore, may led to anorexia and bulimia among female viewers. Female viewers watch this advertisement and therefore they want to obtain it. As they women try to find ways to obtain this ideal, they discover that they have one of two paths to follow. First option is hard work and exercise on their body or they can do a yo-yo diet. Women usually opt for the yo-yo diet because they have many other pressures riding on them and believe that this will be a quick and easy solution to their problem. Without knowing it, some of these women become anorexic and bulimic because of the unrealistic desire to look perfect. Studies done by Myers and Biocca show those commercials which attain ideal body images have an indirect effect on anorexia and bulimia. The two variables that had an effect on self perception were ideal-body programming and ideal-body commercials. This result found that only did this lead to eating disorders but also to depression and a self-perceived body image. Myers and Biocca concluded that just thirty minutes a day can change the perception of a person’s body image. A great example of this is seen in our society today with the Olsen twins. Mary Kate suffers from anorexia. She is adored and coveted by young females worldwide and also in a lot of media spotlight. Due to many of the situation’s just like Mary Kate which the media has embellished in her mind, it leads to issues surrounding her self esteem and in turn creates a major problem for women everywhere.

__Sex Symbols__
Women are portrayed as sex symbols in the media in order to sell products in which they are advertising. Female sex symbols are features in commercials, support the fact that commercials are still mired in outdate gender stereotypes by producing commercials and advertisements in which are desirable sex objects to men. Most producers assume that if they want to sell a certain product to a male audience, the best way to do so is to appeal to them with sexuality. A content analysis that was done by Gad Saad suggests that over a time period of fifteen years, Ms. Magazine demonstrated an increase in the portrayal of women as sexual symbols (Gad Saad 601). Let’s take for an example a beer commercial. Generally speaking, we can assume that the majority of beer drinkers are men. The producer or director will link the product to some thing else those men like to sell it, a female. By including attractive women in beer advertisements, the underlying message is that if men drink a certain type of beer they will be able to attract a certain type of female. However, stereotypes can be deemed a powerful vector as they create inaccurate portrayals of individuals that affect the way a group is perceived.