User:BrittanyShen/Gender advertisement

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=== The gender advertisement in Television  === Advertising occupies a particular position in the economic organization of modern society. It is not only an economic entity. Advertising involves thoughts, attitudes, and values. Advertisement gives them a "cultural form" through its symbolic practice. Through this process, advertising spreads its meaning to the social belief system. Therefore, advertising must be considered according to cultural expectations. Gender relations are defined and constructed by society. By studying the gender roles in advertising, people can see the definition of gender in the media and the expectations of gender roles in the current society. The research on gender roles in advertising is evolving into a research field closely related to the current social and cultural changes. In this field, there are obvious differences between gender and gender. Gender stereotypes have a long history in advertising and are still often used in advertising.

The gender role in advertising is developing into a research field closely related to the current society and culture. Different cultures, countries, and communities want to convey different gender images. Overall, men are more likely to be described as successful and powerful; Women are more likely to be described as sexy or good at doing housework. However, there are many differences in the images of men and women in different cultures. The research shows that gender stereotypes are common in TV advertisements. For example, more women are depicted as young people, usually being watched at home. Male actors usually dress formally, while females often wear suggestive clothes. Men dominate the narrator, and the product category is closely related to gender. The following shows the impact of television advertising on gender images in four countries：

The United States
A study analyzed the gender representation differences of 394 Spanish and English TV advertisements in the United States in 2013. The results show that gender stereotypes are common in both samples. For example, more women are depicted as young people, usually at home. Males usually dress formally, while Females often wear suggestive clothes. Men obviously dominate the narrator, and the product category is closely related to gender. From the perspective of social cognitive theory, advertisements rarely depict women in the workplace, which may decrease interest in jobs traditionally related to the opposite sex.

In Spanish and English advertising samples, women are more described as wearing suggestive and sexy than men, and men are more fully dressed than women. In addition, male narrators were more than female speakers in English (male: 65.1%; female: 34.9%) and Spanish TV advertisements (male: 73.7%; female: 26.3%). The age of the protagonist has obvious gender division. More women would be younger than men. Society is more tolerant of men's aging. Sexual objectification of women may lead to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Women have increased the controling of their bodies and often compare themselves with the beautiful ideals, such as models and celebrities, which led to dissatisfaction with their body. At present, there still are TV advertisements regard models and celebrities as the beautiful ideas in America. The most obvious categories are luxury advertising and perfume advertising. The female advertising endorsers of those luxury good are tall and slender.

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Britain ===== Historically, Britain has set much higher standards for regulating the advertising industry. Advertisers and the government are pursuing gender role equality. Among British advertisements, there were no significant differences in the roles occupied by male and female lead characters. Females can also appear in some business or professional occasions like men. Also, Men can also take on family responsibilities. In the Britain advertisements from 2000 to 2001, the distribution of advertising clues of men (52%) and women (48%) was similar. There were 61% of male leads play professional roles, and 39% of women may play career and professional roles.

It is now illegal to use gender stereotypes to sell goods in Britain. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority announced the ban in December of 2019. The new regulation stipulates that “advertisements must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offense”, and also cannot shows “failing to achieve a task specifically because of their gender”. For example, the advertisers cannt show women have poor driving skills, or men do not do well in housework in the advertisement. The new regulation eliminates gender stereotypes in advertisements, and it plays a positive role in the publicity of gender equality.

Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's advertising spending is one of the fastest-growing countries globally. In advertising content, religion may be one of the most influential cultural variables. Saudi Arabia operates strictly according to Islamic law, which does not hold public elections, and men and women enjoy different rights. Also, there will be many bans on women appearing on TV. For example, women have many limitation on driving (Women to drive movement). Women are in a more dependent and submissive position, while men are more authoritative and controlling. This phenomenon has led to a reduction in the types of products advertised by women. Women are often emphasized on decorative features for traditional family roles. Most narrators tend to be male, and women are less likely to appear in professional situations or the workplace than men.

The environments and occasions in which men and women appear in advertisements are also very different. Women are more likely shown in families and indoors; Men are associated with outdoor, workplace, and leadership. The age range is very important in Saudi Arabia's advertisements because Islamic dress codes for women are more strict from adolescence. In the Saudi advertisements analyzed between 2000 and 2001, more than half (53%) of the advertisements are leaded by men, and 47% of the advertisements are leaded by women. In Saudi Arabia advertising, the frequency of male playing leisure roles (64% of male leads in leisure advertising) is significantly higher than that of female leads (36%). Female protagonists (88%) play family roles more frequently than male (12%). The probability of male protagonists in professional role-playing is 78%. While, 22% of women in Saudi Arabia advertising may play professional roles. Advertising in Saudi Arabia has traditional and regional characteristics, and the gender roles are also related to local traditions and culture.

=== The Gender Images in Print Advertisements === Advertising involves ideas and values and gives them a cultural form through symbolic practice. As a "symbolic practice", advertising gives meaning to words, products, and images. Through this process, advertising spreads its meaning to the social belief system. Secondly, advertising must be considered according to cultural expectations. Since things rarely have one single and fixed meaning, it needs cultural participants give them meaning. Advertising needs "shared meaning" as part of its construction and production. The images conveyed by advertisements have become complex and persuasive that they organize our experience and understanding in a significant way now. Modern print advertising depends on images. Images are kinds of symbols, which can convey meaning as effectively as language symbols. On the other hand, the extent to which women appear as sexual objects and victims in magazine advertisements. One in every two female advertisements portrays them as sexual objects in all magazine categories. Many women are described as "purely decorative roles". Three of the four female advertisements in men's magazines portray women as sexual objects. According to the data, in advertisements that present women as sexual objects, women's obedience seems pornographic.

Goffman mentioned that women are weakened by advertising portrayals five categories: relative size, feminine touch, function ranking ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdrawal. These five categories are the ideas put forward by Goffman in the 1990s. The following points are the categories that would be analyzed to learn the gender roles in print advertisement now:


 * 1) Height Relationship.
 * 2) Using Fingers and Hands to Cradle or Caress Objects.
 * 3) Self-Touching.
 * 4) Instructing Role.
 * 5) Serving Other Person.
 * 6) Conducting Superior Role.
 * 7) Lowering Oneself Physically.
 * 8) Bashful Knee Bend.
 * 9) Body Cant or Head Cant
 * 10) Lying or Sitting on Bed or Floor
 * 11) Expansive smile.
 * 12) Hand Covering Mouth or Face.
 * 13) Head or Eye Gaze Aversion.
 * 14) Maintaining Telephone Conversation.
 * 15) Withdrawal Gaze from Scene at Large.
 * 16) Body-Revealing Clothes or Nudity.
 * 17) Independence and Self-Assertiveness.