Gender Inequality in Advertising
Advertising agencies around the world often speculate on the topic of gender inequality. Sexism, like any discrimination, is objectively harmful to society, almost a crime against the individual. It serves as a basis for conflicts, which is why it is still being used by some commercial brands in its advertising - to attract attention, create the provocation and start a conversation with the audience or competitors.
The Role of Women in Advertising
While women play a dominant role in the distribution of the home budget, advertising does not always expose them in a favorable light; it is full of gender stereotypes. The situation since the beginning of the zero has changed, for example, the Cannes lion was handed over for combating gender inequality, but vivid examples of sexist advertising continue to occur every year.
Sexism Between Brands
The constant heroes of the "Beeline" commercials, 4G Internet (Sergey) and Another Internet (Alla Mikheeva) are eternal antagonists, between which the struggle is transferred from the qualitative level to the war of the sexes. Another internet is always stupid, weak, slow and also a woman. Sexism is the basis not only for the conflict between heroes advertising one brand but also for a dispute between several brands. For example, "War is not West" is a sensational story among automobile manufacturers about the advantages of domestic and foreign brides. The heavy spot in the dispute was the video of the "President Media" agency, not confirmed by AvtoVAZ. Another example of sexism between brands can be considered the exploitation of the image from the clip "Exhibit." In a single spring, dozens of skits appeared on the video clip of Leningrad, while actress Julia Topolnitskaya managed to appear in several commercials, become the face of the new brand J7 Tonus, and then severely deal with the image of the hamovat and the near lady in Slim Bite advertising.
Fighting Against Sexist Advertising
The Union of German Feminists Terre des Femmes has been holding the Der Zornige Kaktus ("Angry Cactus") competition for the most sexist ads for two years in a row. At the same time, women's rights activists consider all advertising media for gender discrimination: from commercials to stickers. The following works received the anti-prize of 2015. A similar competition is being held in France by the association of feminists La Meute (translated as "dog pack"). The organization is fighting against sexism in advertising and the media. The name of the competition is Macho. However, French feminists also reward advertising, which showed the woman in the best light, this award is called Femino. For four years in Italy, struggling with manifestations of sexism in advertising, the club of art directors (Italian Art Directors Club, ADCI) more than 200 different organizations joined the voluntary refusal or restriction of use in the advertising of the female body, and a series of sexual scandals with the participation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi served as the reason for the beginning of the struggle.
Official Action Against Gender Stereotypes
Recently in the UK, they officially took up the fight against gender stereotypes in advertising. The Advertising standards authority (ASA), an advertising regulator in the United Kingdom has already banned advertising that uses pictures of unhealthy skinny and too sexy models.
Investigating Gender Stereotypes
The ASA working group plans to investigate gender stereotypes in advertising and asks the public for help. In its communication, ASA used as an example the Gucci campaign, which was banned in early April after the organization's complaint. ASA has long been dealing with cases of discrimination against women, but this line of action has become official only now.
Fashion Brands and Sexism
Fashion brands are regularly accused of sexism. For example, in March 2016 Calvin Klein was at the center of the scandal because of the advertising campaign for the new collection. Perturbation of the public caused a billboard on which actress Clara Kristin is sitting in a seductive pose with the signature "I'm seducing in # my kelvin." In February, the New York advertising agency Badger " Winters decided to fight sexism. The social campaign WomenNotObjects reveals the true value of the advertisement of Tom Ford, Balmain, American Apparel, Burger King, Carl's Jr.
Breaking Gender Stereotypes
The chain of retail stores for building materials Target refused to divide toys on a gender basis after the disgruntled visitor posted a photo with a sign saying "Construction toys for girls." We have already experienced a period of change in the traditional role settings of men and women in everyday life. Women have achieved equality in career and self-realization, in legal rights in a secular society. Feminism entered the series of global creative trends last year. A modern woman can be strong and natural. The kind she wants to be.
Works Cited
Stermer, S.Paul, and Melissa Burkley. "SeX-Box: Exposure to Sexist Video Games Predicts Benevolent Sexism." Psychology of Popular Media Culture, vol. 4, no. 1, 2015, pp. 47–55, doi:10.1037/a0028397.
Swami, Viren, and Martin Voracek. "Associations among Men's Sexist Attitudes, Objectification of Women, and Their Own Drive for Muscularity." Psychology of Men and Masculinity, vol. 14, no. 2, 2013, pp. 168–74, doi:10.1037/a0028437.
Douglas, Karen M., and Robbie M. Sutton. "‘A Giant Leap for Mankind' But What About Women? The Role of System-Justifying Ideologies in Predicting Attitudes Toward Sexist Language." Journal of Language and Social Psychology, vol. 33, no. 6, 2014, pp. 667–80, doi:10.1177/0261927X14538638.
