The Role of Women In Advertisements
Gone are the days when women stay at home, taking care of the house and looking after the children. Compared to previous generations, women today have been given a bigger role in society and entrusted with more responsibility. Women have advanced into major positions within the workplace in order to help support their family, but also still retained the position of managing the home almost exclusively. Women today show fortitude and intellect in juggling both spheres of life, the home front and their careers outside of the home. However, in an age when women are increasingly taking on more powerful roles within society, advertisers have continued to generate ads, which women are shown in purely decorative roles, whose only purpose is to be sexy and alluring.
Advertisements today suggest that women should value being beautiful and admired above all else. Women are often depicted in ads as sexual objects, displayed for the pleasure of the viewer.
An 1890s advertisement showing model Hilda Clark i...
Advertising
A Volvo B9TL(SBS7357B) operating on Svc. 196 at Be...Advertisers use this approach to appeal to a women's need to be noticed and desired. This need for "attention", which is described in Jib Fowles' essay "Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals", as "The desire to exhibit ourselves in such a way as to make others look at us". (65), is clearly represented in Sam Edelman's ad featured in In Style magazine. The ad shows a beautiful woman lying across a chaise lounge that is facing mirrored doors, wearing a sheer black negligee and studded stilettos. She is gazing back at herself with rapture as she admires her reflection. This image of seduction and vanity suggests to the viewer, that by wearing Sam Edelman's shoes, not only will they be desired by others, but also see in themselves something to adore. Advertisements like these draw a parallel between...