Societal Expectations Of Women, And Its Influence On Advertising
Social expectations of women have changed drastically over the years and could be seen as the change in rights and expectations. Changes in women within society started after the Second World War and became more popular within the last few years. My aim of the investigation was to evaluate the relationship between advertising and women’s role in society and within the home as well as in general society. To achieve the outcome of this investigation, I will collect two advertisement videos/posters from the nineteen fifties and from twenty-seventeen. The collection of the analysis will determine the results of my investigation and can highlight the changes in society as well as within women. The evaluation will then be examined to establish a correlation between women and societies views of women.
Literature Review
To many, women featuring in advertising may take a back seat to other issues experience by women such as the Gender Pay Gap. However, a woman’s role in advertising is commonly unobserved by wider society due to the focus being within the product being sold. However, women in society and within advertising is argued by some to be used to maintain the social order and patriarchal society which is currently experienced. Sociologists such as Bourdieu would argue that society is experiencing a “social unconscious” due to the failure in producing an egalitarian society. Bourdieu studied society and discovered that “cultural socialisation places individuals and groups within competitive status hierarchies and groups in struggle over valued resources”. Rosaldo (1974) agrees with Bourdieu as she argues that “women may be important, powerful and influential, but it seems that, relative to men of their age and social status, women everywhere lack generally recognised and culturally valued authority. ” Previous lack of importance of women’s independence and the lack of equilibrium between the sexes acknowledges the idea of an idea of social oppression where women must fill a specific role in wider society. This role in modern years has been expanded to maintain a full-time job whilst also maintaining the childcare and family life.
Methods
The role of media and the influence on wider society is an interest due to the impact the media has. The replication of the view point within media over time can establish and interesting study due to views being engraved into history. By examining the image and video of the advertising I was able to draw a comparison as to how women are used in advertising to promote food items and whether it reflects the attitude of wider society. By collecting two examples of advertising from 1950 and 2017, allowed the observation that changes in societies’ views on women and observe whether these traditional ideas of women being at home were continuing in modern society.
Hudson (1995) argues that “industrialisation destroyed the family economy where work was centred on the home, carried out with domestic patriarchal social relations”. This theory accepts the changes promoted by women that societally is becoming more accepted yet still remains incomparable to men as more end up in the primary labour market. Hudson also allowed the idea of women joining the workforce allowed the change away from a traditional housewife and towards economically independent women who have limited the control of the patriarch. However, although the observation has factual integrity, the evidence is based on one interpretation of the matter which could not be generalised about everyone within society today and then. Furthermore, in the influence of modern society and the standards of equality within society could affect the interpretation of the advert due to having opposite and challenging views of the role of women in society.
Critical Analysis
Both of the advertisement, as seen in the appendix, contains the same project where a comparison can be drawn. The subliminal message which replicates traditional ideas of women being in the kitchen have remained within society today. Despite the introduction of women into the work place and fulfilling “men’s roles” whilst also maintaining the household and the welfare of the children. The aim within both adverts, is focused towards women to purchase the product but for several reasons including: to maintain the happiness of the husband and reduce the threat of domestic violence whereas within figure 1 it is used to think that the Heinz soup will benefit their children and their lives in cold climates. Within Figure 1, the woman is responsible for the child in the twenty second advert yet the advert is majority aimed at the product itself. Figure 2 presents no man within the advert which can be argued to be aimed at women to look after their kids which reintroduces the idea of a patriarchal system today. Figure 2 and the use of the women wanting to please her ‘bored’ husband as “most men have stopped beating their wives” highlights the standards that men had for women to be and how they should be treated in society. Although the advertisement is based on Heinz soup, Figure 2 introduces two advertisements, with one aimed at cooking and with other aimed at maintaining a happy marriage in the eyes of the man. In comparison, Figure 1 features the soup with the slogan “made with great” featuring as the only text throughout the advertisement.
The difference between the two figures establishes the prominent sexist theme within the nineteen fifties which is less prominent in the modern advertisement. However, due to the change after the war and the beginning of women within full time work, advertising began to replicate the changes and moved towards the messages that are continued today. However, changes between the advertisement, signifies that society has remained within a “social unconscious” state due to subliminal messages produced by the media. Despite the changes in legislation to provide women with equal chances (such as the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act of the 1970s), the perception of women remains traditional in many aspects of society. The stigma attached to “stay at home dads” due to the defiance of the ‘masculine’ image enables the public to expect this process as the norm. The norms have therefore built the framework experience of wider society today and affects the newer generations in their understanding of right and wrong.
On the other hand, the sexualising of both genders within modern advertising highlights the disparities as well as the limited numbers of advertising involving men and food without the model commonly being undressed. The sexualisation of advertising has seen the move away from women being subservient but a move towards the idea of products only being sold if the advert contains an interest of wider society which refers back to an idea of socially constructed ideas that benefit advertising companies.
With the introduction of a limited amount of men featuring in adverts containing food, many could argue the society has seen the continuous exploitation of the traditional role of females rather than changing the expectations that women have. The reintroduction of women being within a kitchen and involved within cooking maintains the previous socially constructed ideas of women as a whole. Despite this, advertising in the fifties also contributed to the social expectations of women and how they would be seen. Overall, women were seen then as a gender who were unfit to fulfil masculine roles and who should do the “wifely” thing of maintain the household despite having worked through the years of the war in traditionally ‘male’ jobs. Overall, the expectation of women has been changed yet there is still a gap between the genders that has not been challenged or has been forced into changing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the advertising shows that the theories of past were correct as society does ignore social ques left in media about the role of women. The influence that media would have on society questions the ideals that traditionally would have been accepted yet are being questioned in today’s society due to the fight for equality. Additionally, the role of the patriarchy is still prevalent in society due to males filling the Chief Executive Officer roles whilst women are continuously overlooked. The idea of women maintaining a job and caring for children still remains in media which is beginning to properly be challenged.
The role of women in the workplace as well as the home has been continued yet the idea of being nurturing is continued in modern society despite the change in policy involving the vote. Despite the rise in men taking over the role of caring in the home and helping, men still control the power due to higher positions and an economic advantage in wages. The advertisement shows that there has been a change from obvious sexism in mainstream traditional media but remains unobtrusive in advertising and media in recent years. Therefore, in conclusion this report has highlighted the challenges and flaws of the system which previously have been unnoticed and has encouraged the idea of feminism which is still needed in today’s male dominated society.
