Representations of Gender and Power within Luxury Goods Advertising: Generating Marginalisation of Women

Megan Sirr

Abstract


The representation of gender power can be found in all areas of marketing communication but few are more prominent than the representation within luxury goods advertising.  Pollay  (2000) demonstrates the powerful mirroring effect (and indeed affect) of advertising in society; therefore I will be exploring the influence that advertising has on the marginalisation of women. This paper identifies how negative and stereotypical portrayals of women in advertising influences the marginalisation of women.  As a result of the analysis of three prominent advertisements I develop The Chain of Voicelessness identifying how the underlying message of all three examples generate unintended consequences and thus implications related to power relations for women as a group. It is clear that such a chain of events is still present and that advertising messages play a clear role in the early stages.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ad Week., 2014. These Stats Prove Femvertising Works [Online]. New York: Ad Week. Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/these-stats-prove-femvertising-works-160704 [Accessed 7 April 2015].

APA., 2011. Definition of Terms: Sex, Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation [online]. The Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, adopted by the APA Council of Representatives. US: American Psychological Society. Available from: http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/sexuality-definitions.pdf [Accessed 7 April 2015]

Canales,M.K., 2000. Othering: Toward an Understanding of Difference. Advances in Nursing Science, 2000 Jun; 22 (4): 16-31.

Chacko,R.,2014. The Mystery of Sex in Advertising [online]. US: Common Place. Available from: http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/5957 [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Cortese, A.J., 1999. Provocateur. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Davidson,L., 2015. Femvertising: Advertisers cash in on #feminism [Online]. London: The Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11312629/Femvertising-Advertisers-cash-in-on-feminism.html [Accessed 7 April 2015].

Denegri-Knott,J. and Zwick,D. and Schroeder,J.E., 2006. Mapping consumer power: an integrative framework for marketing and consumer research. European Journal of Marketing. Vol. 40 Iss 9/10 pp. 950 – 971.

Gerbner, G., 1972. Communication and Social Environment. Scientific American, Reprinted in Communication: A Scientific American Book. San Francisco: W.H.Freeman, 227(3), 152-160. p.g 111-118.

Gwynee,J. and Muller,N., 2013. Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Women's Studies International Forum [online]. Volume 44, p.g 198–199. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ISk0AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=suit+as+the+symbol+of+success&source=bl&ots=rTNbG24jQL&sig=Y0L05O8CAm4ZHuULhMZc8w3CB_U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jGK2VNucFc7laqrEgPAP&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=suit%20as%20the%20symbol%20of%20success&f=false [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Hindess, B., 1996. Discourses of Power, from Hobbes to Foucault. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hughes, K., 2015. Gender roles in the 19th Century [online]. UK: British Library. Available from: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century. [Accessed 7 April 2015].

Jhally, S. and Kline, S. and Leiss, W., 1997. Social Communications in Advertising. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

Jhally,S., 2009. The Codes of Gender [online]. Northampton: Media Education Foundation. Available from: http://www.mediaed.org/assets/products/238/transcript_238.pdf [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Johnston, H. and Klandermans, B., 1995. Social Movements and Culture [online]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Available from: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/theoryatmadison/papers/swidler02.pdf. [Accessed 7 April 2015].

Lavine, H. and Sweeney, D. and Wagner, S.H., 1999. Depicting Women as Sex Objects in Television Advertising: Effects on Body Dissatisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol 25(8), p.g 1049-1058.

McLeod,S., 2008. Cognitive Dissonance [Online]. US: Simple Psychology. Available from: http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html [ Accessed 14 January 2015].

Neumann,N.E.,1984.The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion -- Our social skin [Online]. Chicago: University of Chicago. Available from: http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/spiral_of_silence/ [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Oh, I., 2014. Honestly, Microsoft, Do You Even Want Women To Buy Your Computers? [online]. US: Huffington Post. Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/microsoft-women_n_4904259.html [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Pollay, Richard W. "The distorted mirror: Reflections on the unintended consequences of advertising." Advertising & Society Review 1.1 (2000).

Pratkanis, A. R.,2000. Altercasting as an influence tactic [Online]. In Terry,D.J. and Hagg, M. A. Attitudes, behaviour and social context: the role of norms and group membership. p.g. 201-226. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Ass. Available from: http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Media,%20Culture%20and%20Society/Altercasting/ [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Ramesh,R.,2011. UK Children Stuck in a ‘Materialistic Trap’[online]. London: The Guardian. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/sep/14/uk-children-stuck-materialistic-trap [accessed 5 January 2015]

Rodriguez, A., 2009. Ritualization of Subordination [online]. Massachusetts: Who sets the standards. Available from: https://alyssasblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/ritualization-of-subordination/ [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Shannon,C.E. and Weaver, W., 1949. The mathematical theory of communication. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Smith,G., 1996. Gender Advertisements Revisited: A Visual Sociology Classic. Goffman, E. (1976) Gender Advertisements. Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 3: 69-54. Available from: http://www.sociology.org/content/vol002.001/smith.html [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Snider, A.C., 2010. Compliance Gaining [Online]. Vermont: University of Vermont. Available from: http://persuasionuvm.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/compliance-gaining.html [Accessed 14 January 2015].

Tuchman, G., 1979. Womens depiction in the mass media [online]. Signs. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 4, No. 3 (Spring, 1979), pp. 528-542. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173399?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [Accessed 2 January 2015].

UCLA.,2009. What is Critical Race Theory? [online]. LA: UCLA School of Public Affairs. Available from: https://spacrs.wordpress.com/what-is-critical-race-theory/ [Accessed 10 January 2015]


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN 2516-9157