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Gender and
Advertising
Semiotic Analysis of Ads
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Semiotics: interprets messages in terms of their
signs and patterns of symbolism
Sign: a word, sound, or visual image.
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consists of two components--the signifier (the sound,
image, or word) and the signified, which is the
concept the signifier represents, or the meaning.
(Saussure)
relation between the signifier and the signified is
arbitrary and conventional (Berger)
• signs can mean anything we agree that they mean, and they
can mean different things to different people.
Sandra Moriarty, 'Visual Semiotics and the Production of
Meaning in Advertising' (1995)
Meanings of signs are iconic,
symbolic and indexical
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Iconic: sign looks like what it represents
Symbolic: meaning is determined by
convention – it is based upon agreement
and learned through experience
Indexical: meaning is connotative; sign is a
clue that links or connects things in nature.
Smoke, for example, is a sign of fire; icicles
mean cold.
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Most signs operate on several levels--iconic
as well as symbolic and/or indexical
Sandra Moriarty, 'Visual Semiotics and the
Production of Meaning in Advertising' (1995)
Erving Goffman, Gender Advertisments
(1979)
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Relative Size. Social weight (e.g., power, authority, rank, office, renown) is echoed
expressively in social situations is through relative size, especially height.
Feminine Touch. Women, more than men, are pictured using their fingers and hands to
trace the outlines of an object or to cradle it or to caress its surface or to effect a "just
barely touching." This ritualistic touching is to be distinguished from the utilitarian kind
that grasps, manipulates, or holds.
Function Ranking. When a man and a woman collaborate in an undertaking, the man is
likely to perform the executive role. This hierarchy of functions is pictured either within
an occupational frame or outside of occupational specializations.
Ritualization of Subordination. A classic stereotype of deference is that of lowering
oneself physically in some form or other of prostration. Correspondingly, holding the
body erect and the head high is stereotypically a mark of unashamedness, superiority,
and disdain. The configurations of canting postures can be read as an acceptance of
subordination, an expression of ingratiation, submissiveness, and appeasement.
Licensed Withdrawal. Women more than men are pictured engaged in involvements
which remove them psychologically from the social situation at large, leaving them
unoriented in it and to it, and dependent on the protectiveness of others who are
present. Turning one's gaze away from another's can be seen as having the
consequence of withdrawing from the current thrust of communication (p. 62). The
individual also can withdraw his/her gaze from the scene at large, and be
psychologically "away" from the scene. Maintaining a telephone conversation is another
sign of licensed withdrawal.
Relative
size
Ritualization of
subordination
Feminine
touch
Function
Ranking
Scott A. Lucas, “How to Read Ads,” The Gender Ads Project
Kilbourne, "The More You Subtract, the
More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to
Size"
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As Erving Goffman pointed out in Gender
Advertisements, we learn a great deal about
the disparate power of males and fmales
simply through the body language and
poses of advertising. (265)
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Girls try to make sense of the contradictory
expectations of themselves in a culture dominated
by advertising. Advertising is one of the most potent
messengers in a culture that can be toxic for girls’
self-esteem. Indeed, if we looked only at advertising
images, this would be bleak world for females.
(259)
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Girls of all ages get the message that they must be
flawlessly beautiful and, above all these days, they
must be thin. (260)
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Watch clips from The Ad and the Ego
featuring Kilbourne
Pat Kirkham and Alex Weller,
"Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study"
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Within the worlds of advertising and marketing, the
appearance and presentation of a product is at least
as important as the product itself. Advertising
conventions encourage the consumer to equate the
quality of the advertising with the quality of the
product itself. (268)
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The differences between advertisements for male
toiletries and those for female toiletries are marked
and, to a certain degree, conform to certain binary
oppositions which are generally accepted to relate
to men and women. (269)
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Look at images at www.clinique.com
Lee and Joo, “The Portrayal of Asian
Americans in Mainstream Magazine
Ads”
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…Asian women have been frequently
portrayed as passive, exotic, and humble,
or at the other extreme, as oversexualized,
treacherous, and evil. Asian women have
been extreme, as oversexualized,
treacherous, and evil. Asian men, on the
other hand, are often portrayed as
incompetent, asexual, and supremely wise,
or as martial arts experts. (654)
Lee and Joo discuss two theoretical
approaches to studying advertising and
race:
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Cultivation theory: “audience perceptions
toward a group are influenced by how the
group is portrayed in the media.
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If Asian Americans are stereotypically
portrayed in a consistent manner in
magazine ads, readers should depvelop
perceptions of Asian Americans that mirror
the way they are depicted. (655)
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Experience-violation theory: when an
individual’s characteristics violate
stereotype-based expectations, judgments
then to become more extreme in the
direction of the violated expectation. (655)
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Advertising is an influential social agent in
the development of our understanding of
social reality, and in particular, perceptions
of ethnic groups, both by group members
and by others. (656)