Representation of ‘Women’ in Advertisement

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Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Name: Gohil Devikaba J

Roll No: 05

Paper No: 15

Paper Name: Mass Communication & Media Studies

Assignment Topic: Representation of Women in Advertisements

Representation of ‘Women’ in Advertisement:

We all know that in 21^st century advertisement field is emerging as the prominent market. If any company or any brand wants to sell their products then they will definitely advertise their products. And in the 21^st century advertisement is also one of the important sector. We are living in that era that we can’t think without advertisement. During our day to day life we can feel that we are surrounded by advertisement everywhere.

So first, let’s see in brief about the meaning of advertisement. When we search in google about advertisement at that in result we will find like this:

In short, we can say that advertisements means to recommend something, a brand or service or products etc. through public sectors. Now a day advertisement has become one of the important right of customers because through advertisements as a customer we come to know more about the product. There are different kinds of advertisements like broadcast, print advertisement etc. With the changing time the advertisement are also becoming more and more creative. Now a day the advertisement are merely not for the information but it also serves the customers’ purpose of entertainment. So we can say that the advertisements are now infotainment.

Information + Entertainment = Infotainment

With this ‘Target Audience’ is also important. And according to Target Audience the advertisements are becoming more and more creative. We have to see how children, women, men are depicted in the advertisements. Here at length I will talk about ‘How Women are presented in the Advertisements.’ We know that a coin have two side the same way the women are presented in the advertisements. Some are the positive effects whereas some are the negative effects.

It is said that ‘Literature is the Mirror of the Society’ now a day the rhymes are used for advertisement like this that ‘Advertisements are the Mirror of the Society.’ As I already said that advertisement sector is emerging as one of the prominent market. It captures each and every movements of the society, faster than any other sectors like cinema, literature etc. And to study society advertisements should be at centre. And it affects more than any other medium. For example the advertisements of Amul products are more effective and pleasurable because it not only gives us the information of its products but it also captures the political movements as well as social movements in it.

Portrayal of Women in Advertisements:

Whenever we think of a woman in advertising a picture of beautiful lady will emerges in our mind. It itself says that how the women are portrayed in the ads. They are used as an object rather than a living human being. Sometimes their entry and exit are also useless because even if they are not needed still even they are shown in the ads. Sometimes the women in the ads are bitterly critics for their clothes and physical appearance. Their thinking ability are questioned and they are shown as the ‘Showcase’ with the man.

Positive Side:

Here above very briefly I talked about the portrayal of the women in the ads but it doesn’t mean that there are always only negative influences only. Some positive influences are also there like with the changing time they are portrayed as more independent and free thinkers and carrier oriented. Here I would like to give the example of ‘Fair & Lovely’ ad. In this ad the girl is trying to convince her dad that first she wants to do her job, she wants her own house and then she will think about her marriage. The other positive side which I found in the ads is that the girls are portrayed as ever ready and can do anything. Like in the ads of ‘Sunsilk’. The girl is T.V reporter, the bot is sarcastically saying that now the girl arrive and will take lots of time for preparing herself, or rather we can say that beautifying herself. The girl arrives and says that I am all ready. This not only surprise the boy but also the entire team. It clearly shows that the girls are not an object and the second thing is that they also can do the tough job like journalism which needs more field work. If we talk about other ads like ‘Fastrack’ then these ads are also quite creative in its way. They always gives equal weightage to women. Because the girls in the ads are depicted as the important characters. Then the ads about ‘Scooty’ it shows that the not only the boys but the girls are also equally important in a college campus. And even the tagline of the ‘Pleasure Scooty’ is like this ‘Why should always boys have all the fun?’

The women are always depicted as the inferior to men in the physical strength, so this myth is also falsify in the ad of ‘Nirma’. An ambulance was stuck in the mud. Four women in the clean outfits comes forward and help the ambulance to come out from the mud. Whereas the rest of the people there were watching the ambulance. Which clearly shows the women empowerment. It also shows that the women are becoming more and more aware about their role in the society. If we talk about another ads like any beauty products then it also shows that the women are now more aware about their beauty. They are beautifying themselves not for other but their self.

Negative Side:

Though there are this many positive influence but there are many negative influences like the body of the woman is objectified openly. Sometimes the role of the women is stereotyped. The body of the woman is served to attract particular mass. ‘Scopophilic’ is a term to describe this kind of desires. This representation of female body in advertisement is stereotyped. It is because women are always shown as if they are subordinate, subjugate, inferior, weak, dominated, dependent, demure and more importantly as pleasing objects. On the other hand, male decide their self-worth. Every time females are objects. (Pokharel)

When the ads are made they try to gain a kind of faith in the products from the audiences, but sometime they portray the women for male gaze only. It will focus more on the female’s body rather than the product. One deceitful and convincing aspect in advertising is the use of today’s technology of Photoshop. Photoshop is a crucial part of the media and helps sell a woman’s body even more. These photo-shopped advertisements of the perfect body and look on a woman affect the lives of everyday people. Girls tend to learn from an early age what the ideal female beauty is depicted as, which in return can lead to obsessions and health problems, such as anorexia and bulimia. (Sharma)

Again here I would like to give example of all the fairness creams. Because these ads try to create an image of the female face as well as female body. Through the photo-shop they creates the image in which the female is having wrinkleless skin, spotless face, face having no dark circles at all, and flawless and glowing skin. Which is not possible in the real life. In one the ‘Fair & Lovely’ ad it was shown that because of her ugly look the girl was not able to find the job and suddenly she saw the ad about fair & lovely, she apply it on her skin. Now she is having the white skin and she was selected because of her look rather than her intellectual. Sometime the girls are depicted as the dumb kind of fellow who doesn’t know much about their self. Here I would like to give example of deodorants. 

                                   
A man apply the deodorants and suddenly the angles (female only) starts falling from the sky just because of the fragrance. If we talk about the cosmetic products then there also the women are presented as an object only.

There are many apples conveyed by the different ads. When the women are presented in the ads then that ad becomes more sex applying than any other. It sometimes also provide the emotional apple. But in ads generally the role of the mother is portrayed as the barrier in the carrier of the children. For example if the boy wants to go somewhere for the job or studies the mother will deny to let him go. Here again the women are not presented in good connotation rather they are depicted as the too much emotional and dumb about the changing time requirements. Sometimes their role is within the four wall only. Sometimes they are shown in the ads just for ‘Showcasing’ the ad.

Conclusion:

Representations of women in the media have become a serious problem in today’s world. As we become a more technology-advanced society, women become more falsely advertised, dehumanized, and hyper sexualized. “Advertising is one powerful force that keeps us trapped in very rigid roles and in very crippling definitions of femininity and masculinity.” (Sharma)

Works Cited

Pokharel, Pratima. Academia. n.d. 27 3 2016. <http://www.academia.edu/1929940/Stereotype_representation_of_female_body_in_advertisement.........>.

Sharma. APA340. 20 2 2013. 27 3 2026. <https://apa340.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/representation-of-women-in-advertisements/>.

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