Stereotypes Galore! Women’s Emancipation as Reflected in Advertising

Pre-University Paper from the year 2009 in the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, Maria-Ward-Gymnasium Augsburg, language: English, abstract: A woman rushes across the screen, cleaning the floor with the latest “turbo power 3”multifunction vacuum cleaner, feeds her baby with the new and improved baby formulaand marvels at her ...

Pre-University Paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, Maria-Ward-Gymnasium Augsburg, language: English, abstract: A woman rushes across the screen, cleaning the floor with the latest “turbo power 3”multifunction vacuum cleaner, feeds her baby with the new and improved baby formulaand marvels at her almost blindingly clean dishes, then turns to the camera with asmile on her face that suggests she could not imagine a more satisfying life. Thisdescription might sound a little old fashioned and restricting, but it is commonlyconveyed to us through advertising, even today. Is this truly the concept we have ofmodern women? Has not the women’s movement brought about more change than justin legal status? As advertising is one of the most powerful educational mediums inmodern society, the image of women it conveys is not only quite interesting, but also ofgreat importance. There is such an overload of advertising surrounding us; we’rebombarded daily with a vast amount on the radio, TV, online, on billboards, inmagazines, even on the most common things like a pen—there is no way to escape itsinfluence. Advertising’s key objective is making money; selling an image of perfection toconsumers makes great business sense, because it sends people on a never-endingquest, trying to achieve the impossible, all the while spending endless amounts ofmoney. Advertising does not only sell a product, but, through stereotyped charactersalso provides us with an exemplary way of life. The concepts of beauty, love, and normalcy it promotes, might have changed in the course of 40 years, but the centralmessage remains the same, “you have to buy this or otherwise you will beunacceptable”. It seems that in the 21st century, women’s emancipation is an issue that should longsince have been checked off the list as accomplished. The great effect of the feminist movement, with better educated, working women, participating in every aspect of life, is undeniable, yet theinfluence it has had on advertising’s portrayal of women remains questionable. Havestereotypes been banished, did they evolved or maybe even stay the same? The focusis on the 1950s and the 1990s as representative decades for the pre-and post-feministattitudes, in order to explore the truth of advertising and finally be able to answer thequestion: does advertising’s image of women match their place in society?