In "Sex, Lies & Advertising," Gloria Steinem writes about her struggles as an editor of MS Magazine to secure untraditional advertisements targeted towards the unsteriotypical woman reader. She points out that most advertisements we see geared toward men, like cars, technology, and beer, are products in which women too are interested. In fact, there is data to support that nearly 50% of car buyers in the 1990s were women and readers of MS Magazine were put off by assumptions that their husbands would help them configure such devices as televisions and VCRs (3). We can also see today our women's magazines full of advertisements from companies that believe they can profit from women consumers as well as a lack of advertisements from companies that believe their products are best marketed towards men. For instance, we see more beauty products, diet supplements, and mainstream department stores advertised in traditional women's magazine, whereas televisions, cars, and beer fill the pages of men's magazines between articles about sports and pictures of half naked girls. Clearly, these representations in the media further gender steriotypes and alienate consumers.
I think that Steinem's attempts to change the way advertisers appeal to consumers was admirable and I think more attempts should be made by third party organizations in our own country to pull ads that appear to be sexist or further false gender steriotypes. In the article from 2007, Fashion ads touch a nerve in gender-concious Spain, Victoria Burnett explains how the Spanish government has begun to pull many ads from television that they deem sexist and further gender steriotypes. One Dolce & Gabbana ad pulled in March of 2007 by the Spanish Association of Media Users "showed a man pinning a woman to the ground by her wrist while four other men looked on" (Burnett). Other ads, like an ad featuring young girls in makeup for Giorgio Armani, were banned because of their explicit sexual connotation (Burnett). The Spanish government was did not just censor sexist ads towards women, but towards men too. In fact, in December of 2006, Maribel Montaño, the governing Socialist party's secretary general for gender equality, called on Burger King to remove an ad in which men were depicted like barbaric cavemen. Critics to the Spanish administration says that the government is being overly cautious, but it seems like the administration is doing a good job censoring advertisements that further Spain's "macho culture" and outdated female steriotypes. Furthermore, the government is doing a good job trying to combat the prevalence of domestic violence that has resulted from sexism, a cultured social problem.
Steinam, Gloria. "Sex, Lies & Advertising." MS Magazine, July/August 1990.
Burnett, Victoria. "Fashion ads touch and nerve in gender concious Spain." The New York Times, 25 March, 2007.
I think it is a shame that many products mentioned in this summary, such as : cars, beer, technology and sports are generally targeted at men. As a woman I can say that I love all of these, except for beer and would really appreciate if companies would take note of that fact. What makes me even more upset though is the stigma attached to women who enjoy such products. Yes, some men admire a girl who can hang with the guys, but I think overall it is not too accepted, because most men want their woman to act like a woman.... whatever that means. A perfect example of this stigma is when a girl tries to go to the Tv room in Frank Dining Hall. This is generally a place exclusively for men, of course this is more of an informal restriction. However, when a girl walks into the room she receives weird looks and is not really welcomed. Personally, I love to watch ESPN when eating meals- so why should I feel awkward when trying to do so?
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