The Representation of Gender Roles in Advertising

Gender roles in society means how we are expected to dress, speak, and act based on our assigned sex. For example, men are expected to be aggressive, bold, and strong, and women are expected to be polite and dress in typically feminine ways. Every different culture, ethnic group, or society has different gender role expectations. 

The base concept of gender and gender roles is taught to students at schools from their very beginning, and they continue to build that knowledge till the end of college. They constantly write papers and essay samples on this topic as part of their education. In any school gender roles in society essay, you can find examples about the different range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered appropriate and acceptable for a person based on that person's biological sex.These attitudes form students' understanding of gender in general and the gender roles that people play.

Gender roles have been a common part of advertising since the start. Gender advertisement refers to the images in advertising that represent stereotypical gender roles. The Gender displays are overused in advertising to successfully establish the role of one gender. Advertisers stay focused on relationships with gender because gender can be understood with just one look, making it easy for them to use it for their work. 

Gender and advertising also has a big impact on body image. Because nowadays the body image and the media are closely related due to the fact that hundreds of advertisements all around the world contain messages about beauty and attractiveness. Women and Men are specifically represented in every advertisement based on the definition of masculinity and femininity, with no room for variation. The following are some examples of male vs. female advertising. 

Showing men as brave and adventurous and women as submissive and powerless are examples of gender stereotypes in advertising. 

Gender stereotypes in the past are obvious after just a bit of research. Women were promised to become successful if they wore makeup, if they were slim, and waited on their husbands' hands. And man ware promised to be successful if they did hard labor jobs, drank expensive alcohol, and joined the military. Although back in the 19th and 20th century the common belief was that the man should provide for the family and the woman should stay at home. So at the beginning of the advertising, companies reflected on the then-common realities, but they also continued to follow them, due to the fact that hundreds and thousands of people regularly saw and studied those kinds of advertisements all around them, it is no surprise that gender stereotypes ware formed. 

The gender stereotypes reached their end at the beginning of the 20th century. The female image started to shift from a submissive image towards one that is driven by looks. Man image was also changed, they were no longer strictly targeted for ads about fixing things and tools, but they were targeted for ads that sold cologne, underwear, and cars. Just like women, they also had to sell the specific image of sexiness. Over time gender stereotypes become less obvious. However, the message still remained the same. Every gender had a role, and people needed to stick to that role because others would judge them if they didn’t. 

That was until social media took place. Social media completely changed the field of advertising and the gender stereotypes that they used to sell products. Social media has become the best tool to increase self-confidence and uplift others, allowing people to take control of how they look at themselves. Body confidence, self-love, and diversities were empowered. And more and more authentic and realistic representations of people are included in advertising. 

Society nowadays does not react the same as it used to years ago. People now question everything that they see and why things are the way that they are. Yes, gender stereotypes still exist in television, movies, and advertisement. But so do male homemakers and career-oriented independent women. This is just the new normal, and advertisers simply need to keep up with the time.