Stereotyping of Gender in Advertisements

The advertising industry is one of the prime culprits in promoting stereotypical gender stereotypes and specific gender roles. Advertisers don’t shy away from promoting gender stereotypes because they make their cash register ring. I would argue that the advertisement industry is obsessed with gender, mainly because gender roles can be used to establish relations of one gender with another.

There are plenty of vintage advertisements that show men as big, tall, assertive, in dominant positions and women as small, submissive, affectionate, and lovely, never complaining to their male counterparts.

Today’s advertising inherits the same stereotypes from the 1950s. Women are shown in homes, and men are shown outside of homes. Men are advertised as breadwinners and women as homemakers. Let’s take examples of ads from specific industries.

Cleaning ads are no stranger. Here’s a Bonus ad that shows how women are induced with satisfaction when husbands admire the cleanliness of clothes.

The female characters are heavily used in fashion and beauty advertisements with impossible beauty standards and ideal body types. The advertisement industry doesn’t realize that they are limiting men and women to specific roles, trapping them inside bubbles. Long-term exposure to these stereotypes could result in distorted perceptions about genders and gender roles.