Moulding Women Into Contemporary Advertising

In today’s advertising, women are shown to be constantly empowered by everything that they do. It is not the typical depiction of power; women are not necessarily shown as the front-runners in a political campaign, cooped up in a lab, searching for a cure for every incurable disease under the sun, or even saving endangered species in the Amazon. A lot of the time, we see the Sex and the City type women; the ones that go to lunch at classy cafés on 5^th Avenue, the ones that spend $800 on a pair of sparkly Jimmy Choos, or the ones that go get their nails done on their lunch breaks from their fabulous jobs. There has been a shift in power for women today, suggests Rosalind Gill, author of Empowerment/Sexism: Figuring Female Sexual Agency in Contemporary Advertising.

In the 1960s, women began to gain freedom from men, whether it was by showing that a woman does not have to be married to make something of herself, like Mary Tyler Moore did in the early 1970s, or by smoking Virginia Slims, which was formerly unacceptable by society. The image of ‘being a woman’ no longer depended solely on being the good mother or the cook that has dinner on the table for her hard-working businessman of a husband when he comes home every night. Women were strutting confidently in those high heeled shoes that are more painful to wear than any man would ever know, but made her look like a supermodel straight from the runway of Chanel’s spring collection. From this sudden shift in empowerment and what it meant to be a strong, self-assured woman, came three ‘moulds’ that women in advertising were being cast into.

The first, referred to as the “Midriff”, was presented as the young, pretty, and flirty woman who intentionally uses her sexuality to get what she wants, because she knows that she can. When an ad such as the one produced by Wonderbra first appeared in magazines, it created tension. And why wouldn’t it? In an age when a woman was considered to be the caretaker of the household, the one that had the kids’ lunches packed in little brown bags before school every morning, and the one that wore traditional dresses no shorter than her knee, seeing a pouty 20-something in nothing but a black bra on a big billboard would be pretty shocking. And not only that, but she doesn’t care that she can’t cook! Oh, what a tragedy. But I’m sure Wonderbra made record sales that season.

Next was “The Vengeful Woman” persona. This woman was strong, bitter, and out to get payback on that douchebag of a boyfriend that took her car for a spin without permission. The battle of the sexes is very evident in this type of advertising and it looks as though women are getting the upper hand. In the same way as the Virginia Slims ad that says “you’ve come a long way baby”, freedom and empowerment are generated through it, but isn’t it also expressing liberation by giving into consumption? It was said that we are one of the most disciplined societies in centuries, that we get up to work every morning, we obey authority, and do as we are told. Well, most of the time. But then there is the hedonistic, selfish part of us that just wants to spend, indulge, and be as reckless as possible. According to the capitalist theory, for the market to be successful, we need to be ruthless but disciplined. Contradictory? Maybe, but it sells cigarettes!

Last but not least was the “Hot Lesbian”. What used to be under-represented in advertising was now making its way into the mainstream with  no one to stop her. This edgy, slender, and manipulative being strips away the traditional representation of lesbians, which were shown to be butch and robust. Generally, we find the gorgeous lesbian with her identical (yet opposite) double. This image is set out to live up to the male fantasy. According to the common Western perception, it’s a man’s world out there, and women are trying to get their foot in the door. Like any system that’s already working, why would you try and fix it? That would probably be the view of this ‘man-world’ if women decided to step in. As a result, the image of women became one of a sexual or pornographic nature and their identities became reconstructed into a very narrow path. From this came the matter of objectification of women in advertising.

The feminist acts stepped in and said that women are being used as objects to sell things to men. Although it may sometimes push the limits of what is acceptable in, let’s say, middle-America, what’s wrong with a little objectification? Coming back to the topic of the Sex and the City girls, who think of their empowerment in terms of the number of D&G heels sitting in their closets, and the brand names on their jackets, aren’t we taking away from this strong, independent, feminist point of view by claiming power through shopping? These representations may be significantly more sexual than those shown in the 1960s, but they give women
character. They are no longer the perfect, almost robotic, housewives; they are smart, attractive, and powerful objects. This shift may be good or bad, depending on everyone’s personal opinion, but it works. Let it will be, as Madonna said in one of her songs, advertising is only trying to keep up with what is truly happening in our present-day society.