Download Impact of media in the commoditization of women ?

Commoditization of Women
by the Media
by
Viniti Chandiramani
PGPCM – II
(2003-05)
Submitted to
Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Post Graduate Programme Diploma
in Communications Management
Dissertation Supervisor
Ms. Chandrika Parmar
MICA
Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
February 2005
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of Indian consumers’
perceptions of the portrayal of woman as a commodity in advertising; and how it
influences the society in terms of how they perceive a woman. It also deals with
the risks and disadvantages associated with advertising of this nature. The scope
of the study is to answer five research questions. Firstly, Is the media a reflection
of the contemporary woman or is it molding the woman to suit its needs?
Whether the portrayal of women is in-keeping with the psychographic, social &
economic reality of the female viewer-ship? Secondly, whether there has been
any significant change in the level of sexism portrayed over the past 10 years?
Thirdly, the research aimed to explore the existence of the dominant negative
stereotypes in advertising. Fourthly, it attempted to answer the question of the
kind of woman acceptable to the Indian society today ? ( weak, dependant or
strong independent). The last research objective is to understand whether
women are buying the message that advertisers are trying to sell ?
The study, which has a qualitative approach, is conducted mainly with a
descriptive purpose. The chosen research strategy included collecting the major
part of primary data through 6 focus group interviews along with 30 personal
interviews. 3 age brackets were chosen (25-30, 35-40, 45-50) and 3 groups each
of men and women were formed. A combination of direct and participant
observations has also been used for primary data collection, while secondary
data was collected in the form of documentation. Results show that there are
gender differences in the way Indian consumers’ perceive the portrayal of women
in advertising, suggesting that men are more tolerant toward images of sexual
appeals and body ideals than women are. The younger generations of women
are more accepting of the portrayal of women as sex objects than the older
generation. Although the level of sexism has gradually increased over the past
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ten years, most men would not buy a product just because of a skimpily clad
woman is advertising for it, even though they might find the advertisement
appealing. Amongst the many dominant negative stereotypes in television
commercials, the two main ones are the portrayal of woman as a housewife or as
a sex object. It also sets the norms of what a beautiful girl must look like. One
possible risk with this kind of advertising is that it may contribute to people,
especially young women, developing distorted body ideals, which could result in
eating disorders. Women may not believe all the messages that advertisement
try to convey. However, it does reinforce their roles as a house-wife and also as
a pretty mannequin to be looked upon and admired.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my guide, Ms Chandrika Parmar, for her enduring patience
and understanding…..
I would like to thank my closest friends in MICA, Traptika, Yamini, Megha, Anuj
and Rashmi for holding on to me at all those times when I feared I’d fall….
I would like to thank my parents and my big sister, for reasons I can never
possibly justly list down and for which I shall be indebted forever….
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION……..6
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE…..8
3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES……..11
4. METHODOLOGY…..12
4.1 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH…..12
4.2 RESEARCH APPROACH……. 14
4.3 RESEARCH STRATEGY……..14
4.4 DATA COLLECTION…….15
4.5 SAMPLE SELECTION….. 18
4.6 Choice of respondents….18
4.7 QUALITY STANDARDS – VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY….19
5. EMPIRICAL DATA….22
5.1 CASE ONE: FEMALE RESPONDENTS……22
5.2 CASE TWO: MALE RESPONDENTS …….29
5.3 SUMMARY……….34
6. ANALYSIS ……...35
7. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ……..69
7.1 IS THE MEDIA A REFLECTION OF SOCIETY…….70
7.2 EXPLORING THE EXISTANCE OF DOMINAN NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES?......71
7.3 CHANGE IN THE LEVEL OF SEXISM?.........72
7.4 THE KIND OF WOMAN ACCEPTABLE TO THE INDIAN SOCIETY TODAY…..73
7.5 ARE WOMEN BUYING THE MESSAGE ADVERTISERS ARE TRYING TO SELL ?....74
7.6 IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS….75
APPENDICES 1
APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW GUIDES ….77
APPENDIX 2: ADVERTISEMENT FOR AC BLACK…79
APPENDIX 3: ADVERTISEMENT FOR AXE ….80
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INTRODUCTION
Television is widely known to represent and reinforce the conventional ideology
of contemporary culture: patriarchy. While television representations of women
have changed greatly in the last twenty years alone, in order to accommodate
the changing role of women in society, one is led to ask how much the ideology
has changed behind the more modern representations of women. Television is
regarded by many viewers to be the most 'real' form of media. If this is the case,
then it is important for us to question how real the representations of women are
on television and how this affects the attitudes of those who watch.
Men also control the production side of television, so it is not a matter of surprise
then, that the masculine or patriarchal ideology is presented as the standard
norm, when women are so outnumbered by men on screen, and behind the
scenes in television. Therefore, what the television presents to its audience is a
very masculine perspective.
Sex role stereotyping reflects the alterations in beliefs about the value of family,
child care, the role of the woman in marriage and the possibility of self-fulfillment
through work. By and large, in the world of television, women are inclined to be
confined to a life dominated by the family and personal relationships far more
than men, outside the home, as well as in it. .
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Invariably masculine personality attributes are emphasized and women, in the
world of television, are presented in roles of a domestic help, a wife, a mother
etc. They are projected as submissive and suffering type engrossed in common
family affections and duties, the most common-place being child care and family
nurturing. As against this, men are depicted as employed, competitive and those
who are seen calling the shot in the society. Such figures among women who are
shown in similar competing roles with men are far less in number and are
considered to be eccentricities and deviations from the norm. Trait-wise too there
is a stereotype portrayal of women being congenitally much more emotional than
men.
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REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In her book “Embodiment : essays on gender and identity”, Meenakshi Thapan
explains how the separation of the physiological and cultural is duplicated on the
conceptual level in the distinction between sex and gender in feminist
anthropology. ‘Sex’ is everything that is concerned with the physiological
differences between a man and a woman, while ‘gender’ is about the cultural
elaboration of these differences.
Simon de Beauvoir had once formulated the notion that ‘one is not born, but
rather becomes a woman’. Inspired by this, Judith Butler attempted to develop
a theory on gender identity, in which he proposes to see gender ‘as the corporeal
locus of cultural meanings both received and innovated’. In Butler’s view, the
body and gender are closely related, because, ‘….gender is instituted through
the stylization of the body, and hence, must be understood as the mundane way
in which bodily gestures, movements and enactments of various kinds constitute
the illusion of an abiding gendered self’….‘Consider gender, for instance, as a
physical style, an ‘act’, as it were, which is both deliberate and performative ,
where ‘performative’ itself carries a double meaning of ‘theatrical’ and ‘nonreferential’. The idea of gender as a performative act offers the possibility of
looking at the ways in which individuals live their bodies, thereby constituting
gender.
“City Flicks”, edited by Preben Kaarsholm, explains ‘Masquerade’ in the context
of the impact of television on the audiences. Well known writers such as Laura
Mulvey and Mary ann Doane have put forward theories of female spectatorship .
In classic Hollywood cinema, the gaze of the camera is congruent to the male
gaze and the spectator gaze of popular narrative film is a masculine one. This
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assertion is premised on the to-be-looked-at-ness and glamour/seductive framing
of the female star. Doane talks about hoe theories of femininity constantly
foreground the almost ‘claustrophobic closeness’ of the woman to her
body/image, a closeness which has severe implications for her to even see
herself. The necessity of creating distance between the self and image allows for
the possibility of understanding femininity as a masquerade. The masquerade is
seen as a reaction against the persistent female desire to be a man, a desire at
the heart of the cultural construct of femininity. The excessive femininity
repressed by masquerade is seen as a form of resistance to patriarchal
positioning. Thus by ‘flaunting femininity’, the woman is creating a distance
between herself and her image, denying their seeming convergence.
‘Transnational Television, Culture Identity and Change: When Star Came To
India’, by Melissa Butcher, constitutes not just of the history of the development
of television in India, nor is it solely an examination of its impact. Melissa Butcher
also studies the mechanisms of change measured out in the continuity and
disjunction of cultural boundaries. Focusing on young people—who are often
considered to be the most vulnerable to change or ‘cultural degeneration’—the
book demonstrates that the resilience of youth is at times underestimated, as is
the impact of other changes in India brought about by economic liberalisation and
state policies in areas such as education.
The book is based on extensive fieldwork in various parts of India, in both rural
and urban settings. The author conducted focus groups with young people, and
in-depth interviews with older generations and with more than 40 leading players
in India’s television industry. The book additionally provides a historical context to
contemporary media debates by examining the literature stretching back to the
1940s.
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’Media, Gender and Identity’, by David Gauntlett provides a new introduction to,
and analysis of, the relationship between the media and gender identities today.
From the time when numerous of the key texts on media and gender were
written, a lot has changed. 'Girl power' has risen and better roles for women in
TV and film have been created, whilst we hear that masculinity is 'in crisis'. New
identities abound, but some traditional images persist too.
Within this landscape of complex media messages, there are individuals trying to
establish their own identities, to feel comfortable in themselves and as part of
society. Media influences are clearly subtle and indirect. David Gauntlett
proposes a new route to understanding this, by providing clear chapters on
theorists Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, to show how
recent ideas in identity negotiation and queer theory can be used to understand
the place of popular media in people's lives.
Merging accounts of previous studies and theorists with all-new research and
interviews, Gauntlett explores the gender landscape of contemporary movies and
TV, and shows how a range of media - including men's magazines, women's
magazines, pop music and self-help books - are used in people's shaping of selfidentity.
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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1. Is the media a reflection of the contemporary woman or is it molding the woman
to suit its needs ?Whether the portrayal of women is in-keeping with the
psychographic, social & economic reality of the female viewership
2. Has there been any significant change in the level of sexism portrayed over the
past 10 years?
3. Exploring the existence of the dominant negative stereotypes
4. What kind of woman is acceptable to the Indian society today ? ( weak,
dependant or strong independent)
5. Are women buying the message that advertisers are trying to sell ?
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METHODOLOGY
Purpose of the research
Stating the purpose of the research means informing the reader about what one wants to achieve,
and how the result can be used. The intention or purpose of a research can be divided into
different groups. The following groups have been chosen, where the purpose can be to
explore, describe, or explain.
When the purpose of the study is to explore, it is called exploratory or preparatory. This
kind of research is used when one wants to:
- formulate and precise a problem,
- give the researcher an orientation in the framing of the research questions,
- give the researcher an orientation about what is previously known within the subject,
- achieve a precised and coherent research plan.
Exploratory studies are commonly conducted through expert interviews, literature
studies, and case studies. If the researcher’s purpose is to describe, the study is
descriptive. Descriptive research can be of varying character; one can for example
describe conditions, events, courses of events, or actions. However, descriptions are
not unprejudiced, since descriptive research is conducted from different kinds of starting
points. Describing involves a choice of perspective, aspects, level, terms and concepts,
as well as to observe, registrate, systematize, classify, and interpret. A good description
is usually a necessary foundation when the researcher wants to explain, understand,
predict, or decide. When the purpose of the research is to explain, the study is called
explanatory. To explain means to analyze causes and connections. The researcher
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also tries to identify factors that together cause a certain phenomenon. Explanations are
made from different kinds of starting points, in the same way as descriptive research.
These starting points have to be precise, and they have to inform the reader about what
the explanation is going to be used for and to whom it is aimed. When explaining a
certain phenomenon, there is not one single model that is the correct one to use, which
means that the researcher has to consider using different models. This also means that
using one single model will not be sufficient to reach a complete explanation.
It is however not necessary to choose one of these purposes for the research.
suggests a compound procedure, which divides the research into three different stages.
These stages consist of exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory studies, as described
above. In the exploratory stage, the research is conducted with the purpose to develop
thought-provoking ideas. Here, it is important that the research is flexible and that it
gives guidelines, which can be followed during the next stage. In the descriptive stage,
then, the goal is to develop thorough descriptions about patterns that were foreseen
during the exploratory research. Descriptive studies are useful when the researcher has
an accurate idea what the description will be used for, and what knowledge he/she
wants to achieve. This means that every description must have a purpose in order to be
meaningful. At the explanatory stage, the researcher is looking for a cause and effect
relationship. The aim is to provide the researcher with a cycle of theory construction,
theory testing, and finally a theory reformulation .
With respect to the above discussion, we can state that our study at its introductory
stage is exploratory. It is initially aiming to formulate and precise problems, to give us as
researchers an orientation in the question at issue, and to provide an orientation about
existing theories in the subject of the study. However, the focus of our research is
descriptive, as we will document, as well as identify the findings of our research. This
will help us to fulfill the purpose of the study,. In addition, the research questions are
formulated as “How can (…) be described?”, which emphasizes the descriptive stage of
the study. A good description also provides a foundation for the explanatory stage. The
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study will have some explanatory features, with respect to answering the research
questions at the end.
Research approach
Studies can be divided into quantitative and qualitative research, based on the
research’s type of data. Quantitative research tries to explain phenomena with numbers
to obtain results, thus basing the conclusions on data that can be quantified. This type
of research is characterized by distance and selection, which means that a limited
amount of information is gathered from many research units using systematic and
structured observations
In qualitative research, the conclusions are based on non-quantifiable data, such as
attitudes, values, or perceptions. It could however be possible to quantify these data as
well. Qualitative research is characterized by closeness to the studied object. It
also means that the researcher wants to gain plentiful information from few research
units. The researcher is therefore not aiming to generalize; instead, the purpose with the
qualitative approach is to gain a deeper understanding of the studied area.
The choice of approach should be based on the purpose of the research. We find that it
is important to achieve a closer contact with our studied objects in order to gain a
deeper understanding of our purpose, especially since we are studying people’s
attitudes and perceptions.
Therefore, we have chosen a qualitative approach that enables us to obtain more indepth information.
Research strategy
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The research strategy included having 6 focus group discussions along with
personal interviews to understand the impact of commercials in depth.
Data collection
The research in a report can be based on primary and/or secondary data. Primary data
is collected for the first time and for a specific purpose, while secondary data consists of
existing information collected by other researchers. As it is easier to use already
existing information, secondary data are usually used initially.
Data collection methods
The information that can be collected through case studies can emanate from six
different sources: documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observations,
participant observations, and physical artefacts. No single source has an
advantage over the others. Rather, the different sources of evidence complement
each other, since they all have various strengths and weaknesses.
Data collection for the case study has been through interviews, documentation and
observations. The interview is chosen as the major primary data collection method
because of its strength to focus directly on the topic of the case study. The potential
disadvantages with an interview are that it can be biased by poorly constructed
questions and that there is a risk for reflexivity, i.e. that the interviewee tells the
interviewer only what he/she wants to hear. There are three different types of
interviews: open-ended, focused, and structured.
The most commonly used interview method is the open-ended, where the researcher
asks the respondent unstructured questions, thus allowing the interview to be more of a
discussion. The purpose of unstructured interviews is to get the respondent to discuss
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his/her own values, attitudes, and perceptions. In a focused interview, the respondent is
interviewed during a brief period of time Still, the character of the interview is open, and
it may be conducted by a conversation between the respondent and the researcher.
However, the researcher is most probably following a questionnaire. The purpose with a
focused interview could be to confirm certain facts that are already known to the
researcher. Finally, the structured interview contains structured questions similar to a
survey. These questions, as well as the purpose of the interview, are completely
outlined before the interview takes place. The questions are constructed in a
way that allows the researcher to systematically go through of the areas of interest.
The type of interview that will be used in this study is the focused interview. An interview
guide (provided in Appendix 1) to be able to discuss a limited number of issues . This
way, the focused interview can be used to confirm or dismiss certain facts, or in this
case, theories. In general, a focused interview can be conducted by telephone or in
person. Telephone interviews are less costly and time consuming, which makes them
useful when contacting a distant respondent. Generally, personal interviews can be
longer than telephone interviews and include more complex questions. The personal
contact during a face-to-face interview enables a better feedback from the respondent.
However, the focused interview will be conducted through the use of six focus group
interview sessions.
A focus group generally consists of six to ten people led by an interviewer (usually
referred to as the moderator), and the length of the interview is usually about 1 – 2
hours. The rule of thumb regarding size is conditioned by that the group must be
small enough for everyone to have opportunity to share insights and yet large enough to
provide diversity of perceptions. Focus groups are composed by people who are similar
to each other. The nature of this homogeneity is determined by the purpose of the study
and is a basis for recruitment. The homogeneity allows for more free-flowing
conversation among participants within groups, and it facilitates analyses that examine
differences in perspective between groups. Focus groups produce qualitative data that
provide insights to the attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of participants. An essential
feature of the focus group is the use of interaction between research participants to
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generate data. Participants are brought together to engage in a focused discussion
around a specific topic or issue and the results are used to increase understanding of
that particular subject. Focus groups are not intended to develop consensus, to arrive at
an agreeable plan, or to make decisions about which course of action to take. If
conducted properly, focus groups can capture the meaningful experiences and ideas of
the participants on a given topic relative to the Research study.
Methodology
The success of the focus group interview largely depends on the kind of questions
asked to the respondents, but another ingredient is essential, namely a skilful
moderator. Ideally, the moderator should be neutral and non-judgemental, and this
should be obvious to participants. The focus group can also be run by a moderator
team. Then, the principal moderator is concerned with facilitating the discussion,
keeping conversation flowing, and taking a few notes. The assistant moderator takes
comprehensive notes, operates the recording equipment, and deals with environmental
factors
The primary reason to why focus group interviews was chosen was because of their
ability to provide insights into the attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of respondents.
Also, participants are assembled to engage in a focused discussion around the
research topic, and the data collected during this discussion will be used to increase an
understanding of that particular subject. This will help in fulfilling the stated purpose of
the study in the best way, in order to gain a better understanding of consumers’
perceptions, using a qualitative approach. In addition to the focus group interviews,
documentation in the form of print advertisements will be used, which will be shown to
the group participants, in order to stimulate discussion. As these advertisements are
produced by someone else, and for a different purpose, the documentation is regarded
as secondary data. Observations are usually conducted when studying different
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behavior or role issues. A combination of direct observations and participant
observations will be included as a primary data collection method to a certain extent.
The interaction and behavior of the focus group participants will be observed and noted
by the assistant moderator, who then is conducting some direct observations. As the
principal moderator guides the group discussion, and thereby is not only silently
watching, this observation can also be seen as participant. This will help us to gain
some insight into interpersonal behavior and motives.
Sample selection
The purpose of this section is to explain how the respondents have been sampled for
the focus group interviews, as well as the advertisements shown during the focus group
sessions.
Choice of respondents
The choice of respondents is based on their accessibility and their relative homogeneity
regarding e.g. age, economic situation, and lifestyle.
It has been taken into
consideration that the participants must feel able to talk to each other, and wide gaps in
social background or lifestyle can defeat this requirement. The goal is homogeneity in
background, not in attitudes. The sampling was conducted by ensuring that the
participants were not acquainted with each other. In all, there were 6 focus groups. 3 of
men of the ages 25-30, 35-40 and 45-50; and three of women of the same age bracket.
The aim was to have at least six participants in each group.
It is believed that the sexes interact differently in mixed groups than in single-sex
groups, leading to suggestions of single-sex focus groups. Segmentation by sex is
especially useful when the issues raised by a given topic correspond to differences in
perspectives between men and women, which we have found to be the case, regarding
many of the issues, that are included in the conceptual framework of this study. Such
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differences in perspectives may either reduce the comfort level in the discussion, or
affect how clearly either perspective gets discussed.
Quality standards – validity and reliability
When conducting empirical studies, it is vital that questions and data collection are
thoroughly prepared, in order to avoid systematic and random errors and to increase the
quality of the research. Two important factors in this context are validity and reliability,
since they determine the quality standard of the research. Validity is as a measuring
instrument’s ability to measure what it is supposed to measure. The term can be divided
into internal and external validity. Internal validity means the correspondence between
the terms and the operational (measurable) definitions of them. It is rarely possible to
reach 100 % internal validity. However, in most studies (especially causal and
explanatory) it is important to clarify the degree of internal validity. Also, one must be
aware of to what extent the measuring instrument measures too much, too little, or the
wrong things. External validity refers to the correspondence between reality and
the value received when using an operational definition. It is independent of the internal
validity, and it cannot be estimated without knowing how the empirical material has
been collected and what it looks like. Validity is the most important demand on a
measuring instrument. If the instrument does not measure what it is supposed to, then it
will not matter if the measurement itself is good. A further demand, or way of estimating
the quality standard, is reliability. This means that the measuring instrument (e.g. a
questionnaire) gives accurate and stable results. A research with good reliability
involves that another investigator would get the same results if he/she used the same
methods at another point of time and with another sample. In other words, to reach
high reliability the method should be independent of the researcher and the investigated
units.
Four specific tests can be conducted in order to judge the quality of empirical research
namely:
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- Construct validity: Establishing correct operational measures for the concepts being
studied.
- Internal validity: Establishing causal relationships whereby certain conditions are
shown to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships.
- External validity: Establishing the domain to which a study’s findings can be
generalized.
- Reliability: Demonstrating that the operations of a study can be repeated with the
same results.
Multiple sources of evidence (documentation, direct and participant observation,
and interviews) have been used to increase the construct validity of the research.
Issues regarding the construct validity also arise due to the use of focus group
interviews. It can be debated whether the focus group procedure really shows the
participants’ true perceptions, or if the results are artificially developed by the interaction
of group participants. The extent of this kind of method problem is hard to estimate,
since it is very difficult to know if, or how, participants (intentionally or unintentionally)
influence each other. An interview guide in the form of a questioning route was used as
a basis for the focus group discussions, which also enhances validity. The questioning
route is a sequence of structured questions written in complete sentences, thus offering
greater control over variation and thereby allowing more efficient analysis. The very act
of asking questions signals the moderator’s basic control over the content and direction
of the group’s discussion. The other possible way to construct an interview guide is
to make it a topic guide, which consists of key words or phrases serving as a reminder
or cue to the moderator. This format has not been chosen, since this would have
increased the risk for lowered validity.
The internal validity was strengthened by the use of pattern-matching during the
analysis, that is, the empirically based pattern was compared with the pattern predicted
in the conceptualized theories. Since the internal validity is mostly of concern for
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causal and explanatory studies, this is applicable on the drawing of conclusions at the
end of the study.
External validity deals with the degree of generalization that can be derived from the
research. As were stated in the overview of the specific strengths and weaknesses of
focus groups interviews, the results from these cannot be generalized. Moreover, the
initial choice of a qualitative approach also excludes the aim for generalization. The
external validity of this study is considered to be rather low, as it would be very difficult
to replicate the two case studies by collecting data through focus group interviews in
exactly the same way as has been done.
In order to increase the reliability, leading and subjective questions have tried to be
avoided. This was also facilitated by the choice of using the more structured questioning
route instead of the more “open” topic guide. It is however difficult to establish
reliability to any larger extent, since the case studies deal with people’s perceptions of
an intangible and varying subject. Moreover, people’s perceptions and views may
change over time, thus making it difficult for another researcher to achieve the same
results even with the same sample.
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EMPIRICAL DATA
In this chapter, the empirical data that was collected in order to answer the research
questions will be presented. The data collection was conducted through six focus group sessions,
of which each session constitutes one case. First, the empirical data attained in Case one, female
respondents. This will follow the order of the conceptual framework, thus using the topic area of
each research question as a sub-headline. The presentation therefore starts with data regarding
the perception of women being commoditized in advertising and then moving on to risks and
disadvantages with this kind of advertising,. Then, data from Case two, male respondents, are
presented in the same manner. The data has been presented in the form of a descriptive
summary. This means that each question or point of discussion begins with a summary
paragraph and then includes illustrative quotes. The quotes selected are intended to help the
reader understand the way in which respondents answered the question.
Case one: Female respondents ( 25- 30)
The first case study was conducted through a focus group interview with six women
between the ages of 25-30. The participants were working women in different areas.
The interview was conducted in a park, where people come regularly for walking and
exercising. Mineral water and cold drinks were served in order to help participants relax
and create a more informal atmosphere. Before starting the actual interview, the group
was informed about the purpose of our study, and how the focus group session would
be conducted. The participants were told that the aim of the session was to bring
forward their individual perceptions and attitudes regarding the studied subject, not to
reach consensus.
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Use of women as sex objects in advertising
Broadly speaking, the respondents initially commented why they felt it could be
unethical advertising:
“If it is at the expense of someone’s integrity, then the advertising is unethical.”
“It’s wrong if the advertising psychologically influences the youth at an impressionable
ages who have no conception of what is right or wrong.”
When showing the advertisements for Axe and Himalaya ( happy hair ) which were
mounted on the same cardboard, the respondents immediately reacted strongly against
the Axe ad, especially when they saw it at a closer range. The Himalaya ad did not stir
up negative emotions in the same way, as it was perceived to be sensual and beautiful.
Several of the respondents commented that the background and the music of this ad
contributed to the sensual impression. The strong reaction against the Axe ad led to a
longer and more intense discussion among the participants, compared to the other ad.
Some of the comments regarding these two ads are referred below.
Some responses to the Axe ad:
“This I find disgusting!”
“Sick advertising!”
“What’s the purpose?”
“Provocative.”
Responses to the Himalaya ad:
“OK, but take away the bottle you can’t see that it is shampoo that is advertised. It
doesn’t say anything about the shampoo till the end.”
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“If you use this perfume you’re going to have sex, or what?” Another respondent replied
to this: “Isn’t that what you want to achieve?”
“It’s not the amount of clothing that determines whether the ad is sexually explicit.”
“It alludes to the sexual…?”
“I think sensual is good, as long as it is used in the right way.”
“It’s appealing and it doesn’t offend anyone’s self-esteem.”
Sexual appeals
When the respondents were asked if they thought that males are more favorable to
nude women in ads, and vice versa, the majority spontaneously nodded.
“Ethically, it doesn’t matter if it is women or men that are presented in an undressed
way.”
“Women compare themselves with other women, which creates rivalry.”
“We look at for example advertising where a woman is in the skimpiest of clothes, then
this kind of advertising creates more debate than a guy in Jockey underwear”
“Guys are interested in women in advertising, but they are not interested in seeing men
in advertising, while women look at both men and women. Guys are dismissive…like,
‘no, that’s another man’, and then they don’t look.”
The participants were unanimously agreeing to that women are more negative against
strong sexual appeals in advertising than men are. This statement however did not
evoke any lengthy debate.
Some comments were:
“If it is tastefully done, it’s OK.”
“There should be something left to fantasize about.”
“Advertising is supposed to stimulate to purchase.”
24
“But companies are striving to provoke in order to make people remember the brand
name.”
Next, we showed advertisements for AC Black and Rupa Euro men’s wear The
reactions among the respondents were quite mixed. Regarding the AC Black ad,
several of the participants meant that it is the woman’s position that makes it
less appealing. One respondent said that if she had been sitting more upright , it would
have been more acceptable.
The ad for Rupa men’s wear first evoked laughter in the group. The first impression
according to a few respondents was that the ad was fun and fresh, and that it had nice
coloring. Another respondent said:
“It leaves something for the imagination.”
Having discussed the subject of sexual appeals in advertising, the respondents were
asked if they thought that there is too much of women being sexually portrayed in
advertising. The response was quite uncertain. Typical comments included:
“One doesn’t think about it anymore, so maybe you could say that it’s too common.”
“We are not reacting to sex. We’re getting numb because it’s so much sex.”
“They have to make the ads more coarse to get a reaction.”
“How she is presented is crucial.”
Some other general comments were :
“No, I’m not affected to the extent that I do not buy the advertised product.”
“You see and react, but then you buy the product anyway.”
“You’re more sensitive when you’re younger.”
“You thought that all girls looked like that.”
“From time to time I still compare myself with advertising images, even if it was worse
when I was younger. For a while, I was close to being anorexic.”
25
The group then engaged in a quite extensive discussion about teenage (and younger)
girls and their body ideals, model contests for children, and pictures in catalogues for
clothing where very young girls pose in an enticing manner. They also concluded that
the fashion nowadays is the same regardless of age, and that teenagers and children
are wearing the same type of clothing as adults. Some respondents meant that they still
compare themselves with idealized advertising images, exemplified by the following
comments:
“I compare myself all the time, but usually it’s unconsciously.”
“The fixation on body ideals is pretty widespread.”
“Unavoidably, you will be influenced, more or less.”
Some respondents also remarked that a person’s level of self-esteem is determining the
degree of comparison. Theories suggest that average looking models can be a better
choice than idealized (thin) models in advertising. This evoked an array of opinions,
some of which are cited below.
“Average people can create more attention since you’re so used to see these thin ideal
models.”
“It would probably work equally well.”
“It’s positive to see someone that looks more like yourself, and that models in different
sizes are used.”
“Fun when they use ‘plump’ models!”
“Usually, it’s not normal – either the models are too plump or too thin. There’s nothing in
between.”
“It’s something wrong when you react to that someone in an ad has a little roll of fat.”
“The values are directed at the thin ideal, that’s why you react when someone is
chubby.”
26
“Thin models can ‘destroy’ since the expectations become wrong. What looks good in
an ad doesn’t look that good at all when you try the clothes on.”
A final comment to this subject was: “I want to see all ages and all body shapes in
advertising, end of story.”
Risks and disadvantages with controversial advertising
The session then moved on to the subject of possible risks and disadvantages with this
kind of advertising. The respondents were quite hesitant to whether they would boycott
a product themselves if they thought that the advertising for it was unethical or
commoditized women. They did however think that drop of sales or boycott are in fact
risks that companies can be confronted with. Regarding the issue about whether
sexually charged advertising can contribute to sexual harassment, the initial response
was hesitation. A participant meant that it is not the advertising itself, but rather the
general norms in society, that influences harassment. During the discussion that
followed, the views among the respondents differed, as the following comments are
examples of:
“I don’t think so.”
“Sexual advertising contributes to make a certain behaviour a little bit more accepted.”
“It depends on the personality [of the persons that harass others].”
One participant thought that sexual appeals in advertising actually could contribute to
sexual harassment due to the frequent and consistent flow of advertising that people
are exposed to. Another said that her own experience is that sexually charged
advertising, as well as TV shows, can influence men to harass women, especially in
male-dominated environments. Then, the issue about whether or not sexual allusions in
advertising raise curiosity about the product, was introduced. Here, some different
opinions were expressed, as cited below.
“Sex sells!”
“Humour in combination with sex raises the curiosity.”
“Often, it’s difficult to see what the product is.”
27
“It depends on how the brand is exposed.”
Connected to this subject is the risk of not making a selling impression if the sexual
appeal is irrelevant to the product, which the group seemed to agree with. A few
comments to this were made:
“You only get irritated.”
“Irrelevant advertising can lead to that one doesn’t buy the product.”
All women thought that it is very likely that explicitly sexual advertising mixed with
violence contributes to sexual violence and hostility against women. They meant that
this could be true regarding people that already have violent tendencies, which the
following quote illustrates:
“Yes, if you have a tendency toward being violent, advertising could work as a trigger.”
Body ideals
The group was then guided into a discussion about risks or disadvantages with body
ideals in advertising. The first issue was the increasing norm of thinness in advertising
and its possible contribution to making women perceive themselves as overweight, as
well as increasing their desire to be thinner. In addition, it is said that women very
estimate others’ (both men’s and other women’s) preferences for thinness. An agreeing
mumble was immediately heard among the participants. The group commented the
subject in the following way:
“You believe that others think it’s better if you’re fit.”
“It is in the eyes of others I want to look beautiful. And it is before others I want to be
seen as sexy.”
“You think that others expect you to look in a certain way.”
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“Not a day goes by without one thinking about it.”
“Girls want to be smaller, and preferably disappear.”
“Yes, advertising contributes to anorexia and bulimia.”
“Young girls see the body ideals in advertising and strive for these ideals.”
“They are asking themselves what they can identify with.”
“The pressure in society increases the demands on youths and teenage girls.”
“Advertising is displayed on large outdoor posters. It’s hard not to be affected.”
Case two: Male respondents (25-30)
The second case study was also conducted through a focus group interview at the
same location. The participants were six men, all in their 20ies, with professions in
business and economics. This focus group session was conducted in the same manner
as the first one.
Use of women as sex objects in advertising
Broadly speaking, some of the male respondents identified with the subject in the
following way:
When showing the group the first two advertisements, Axe and Himalaya, the
participants’ first reaction was that there was nothing ethically wrong with any of these
ads. One respondent however said, when looking more closely at the Axe ad, that he
did not find it appealing. He also said “I wouldn’t buy Axe after having seen this ad.”
Other remarks were:
“Is it some kind of anti-advertising?”
29
“One suspects that it is advertising for clothes, but one is not sure.”
The responses to the Himalaya ad were exclusively positive. Some comments were:
“Sensual and tasteful.”
“This is more tasteful [than the Axe ad].”
Sexual appeals
All participants thought that men are more favorable to nude women in ads
The respondents pointed out that it is natural that guys look at nude women in
advertising.
“If you put in a naked girl, the guys are going to look at her.”
“If there are good looking girls in a TV series, guys automatically think that it’s a good
programme.”
In this context, a respondent mentioned the TV series Baywatch as an example.
The group did however not think that nudity in advertising automatically is effective, in
terms of stimulating purchase. One remark was, “No, it depends on the product.”
The group thought that older women are more negative to sex appeals in advertising
than younger women. They meant that nowadays there is no real difference between
younger men and women in their opinions about sex in advertising.
When discussing whether sexual allusions in advertising are more acceptable if it is
done tastefully, the participants stated that they preferred the tasteful approach. They
did however not have the opinion that sexual allusions otherwise are unethical, just that
a tastefully done sexual appeal in advertising is “nicer to look at”. One respondent
remarked, “It depends on the degree of sex that’s shown.”
30
The group was then showed the AC Black ad and the ad for Rupa Euro men’s
wear. The first reactions to the AC Black were that it was a quite beautiful picture.
One remark was that it is aesthetically attractive, and that it really was not a sexual ad.
“It simply looks good.”
One respondent did not find the ad acceptable.
Another participant commented, “How come it is easier to degrade women than men in
advertising? If the same thing was happening to a guy I would perceive that as playful
and humorous. But since its a girl… I don’t know why it is so, it just works that way.”
The response to the Rupa men’s wear ad was a bit mixed, as the following comments
reveal:
“A fun ad!”
Most respondents did not think that there is too much sex in advertising. The group’s
first reaction was an uncertain “no”. They seemed to be agreed on that sex sells
because it attracts attention. The participants also mentioned that sex in advertising has
become increasingly accepted. One participant expressed another opinion: “I actually
think that there is too much sex in advertising. They push it in everywhere just because
it ‘should’ be there.” “It becomes embarrassing.” [when sex is used in an irrelevant
manner] Another respondent brought up the issue of humour in combination with sexual
appeals:
“You can create lots of fun advertising using sex – it doesn’t always have to be so
serious.”
Another participant mentioned the TV commercial for the bisleri ad, where the boy
suddenly rushes to get something. It has been shot as though he wants to buy condoms
– but he actually gets is bisleri. The tagline is ‘play safe’.
Body ideals
The focus of discussion was then directed at body ideals in advertising.
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“Ten – fifteen years ago there wasn’t that much men in advertising.”
Age was also brought up by the participants as an important factor regarding the issue
of whether women compare themselves with idealized advertising images or not. The
group thought that women do compare themselves with such images, but that this is
related to age in the sense that older women can dismiss these advertisements as not
relevant to them. The following quotes illustrate the discussion:
“I think it’s worse for women.”
“How one reacts depends on what kind of person you are.”
“It’s easier to affect a young person.”
“Older people are safe in themselves.”
“Young girls are more fixated with their looks than young guys.”
The question about whether average models would be a better choice than idealized in
terms of attracting attention and influence to purchase, led to some differing opinions:
“It doesn’t make much difference.”
“For a while, maybe, but then we get used to these models as well.”
“You sell more using good looking, thin models.”
“This wouldn’t sell a tenth of what it does now if you or me was the model
Risks and disadvantages with controversial advertising
The group agreed that if people feel offended by advertising, this could result in a drop
of sales or boycott of the advertised product. They did however not feel that they
themselves would react in this way.
A few other comments regarding these risks were:
“If the advertising gets too coarse, it will strike back on the advertiser.”
“People can stop buying, and the sales will drop.”
Sexual appeals
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When introducing the question whether the participants thought that sexually charged
advertising could contribute to sexual harassment, they first asked for a definition of
sexual harassment, which they were provided. The responses to the issue was then
quite mixed. Comments included the following:
“Yes, I definitely think so. There are many nutcases in society that can copy a certain
behavior.”
“It [this type of advertising] contributes to make a behaviour more accepted. It becomes
more common in society at large.”
A participant that had worked in a strongly male dominated workplace seemed certain
of the connection between sexual appeals in ads and sexual harassment. He said, “At
male dominated workplaces it certainly contributes to harassment. There are advertising
images of nude girls everywhere. ”
Two of the participants however found the connection between sexually charged ads
and sexual harassment to be very far-fetched. The respondents in general did not agree
with the statement that sexual appeals rarely raise curiosity about the advertised
product. On the contrary they thought that you do remember the brand or company
behind the “sexy” ad. One participant said that this depends on the buying situation, in
the sense that if he is interested in the product, he does remember the ad and not only
the sexual appeal in it. But if the advertisement presents a product he has no interest in,
or use for, he would only remember the sex in it, and not the product. Other comments
were:
“It depends on how coarse it’s done.”
“It happens that you see the sex but not the product.”
The majority of the participants thought that companies could risk not making a selling
impression if sex is irrelevant to the advertised product. It was mentioned that it is quite
natural to advertise for example hair care products and perfume using sexual appeals.
“Advertising for car tires in combination with a naked girl is ridiculous.”
“I think it’s ethically OK, but it’s ridiculous. I don’t buy a car just because it’s
a naked girl in the ad.”
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One respondent thought that even if the sexual appeal has no natural connection to the
advertised product, this advertising still would have served its purpose since it attracts
attention.
Summary
In this chapter, empirical data have been presented. This data were collected through
conducting two focus group sessions, one with female participants and one with male. Each
focus group has provided empirical data to the case studies. First, the data gathered from the
female focus group session has been presented. The structure of the section followed the
conceptual framework and the interview guide. Then, data gathered from the male focus group
was presented in the same manner. The data collected from the remaining four groups have not
been mentioned as much in detail In the following chapter, these data will be analyzed through
comparison with the conceptual framework.
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Is the media a reflection of the contemporary woman or is it molding
the woman to suit its needs? Is the portrayal of women is in-keeping
with the psychographic, social & economic reality of the female
viewer-ship?
Theories on women and media
The hypodermic syringe
Amongst the number of about how the media work on the mass audience the
most simple to understand is perhaps the hypodermic syringe.
According to this theory the media is like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes
and beliefs into the audience who as a defenseless bunch have little choice but
to be influenced by what they see. In other words, if you watch something violent,
you may go and do something violent yourself; or if you see a woman washing
up on T.V., you will want to do the same yourself if you are a woman and if you
are a man you will expect women to do the washing up for you.
The Cultivation theory
According to this theory, while any single media text does not have too much
effect, years and years of watching more violence will make you less sensitive to
violence, years and years of watching women being ill-treated on television will
make you less concerned about it in real life.
35
This theory suggests that a massive exposure to television's rebuilt realities can
result in perceptions of reality which are very different from what they could have
been if viewers watched less television. In other words, the exceedingly stylized,
stereotyped, and recurring images depicted on television have been considered
a vital source of socialization and everyday information. Gerbner, Gross, Morgan,
and Signorielli (1994) defined cultivation as "the independent contributions
television viewing makes to viewer conceptions of social reality. The 'cultivation
differential' is the margin of difference in notions of reality between light and
heavy viewers in the same demographic subgroups"
Cultivation and Real-life Experiences
Morgan and Shanahan (1997) had suggested, "The forces that shape our beliefs
are many and varied; television is just one". To recognize how television's impact
interrelates with people's life experiences, cultivation theory claims two fairly
contradictory processes. Mainstreaming, the first process, refers to the
homogenization of people's opposing perceptions of social reality into a
convergent point of view. Mainstreaming apparently comes about through a
process of construction, where viewers gain knowledge of facts about the real
world by viewing the world of television. Recollections from watching television
are stored "relatively automatically." The other process requires the comparison
of the mainstream-constructed image of the world with one's own first hand
experience. If the constructed world and the actual world are highly similar, then
resonance takes place and the consequence is even stronger. Thus, real world
experiences interrelate with mediated experiences to produce a perception of the
world. Personal attitudes and beliefs are shaped not only by TV but also through
the interaction of directly experienced and mediated reality. Thus, disparity in
real-world experiences and the causes shaping such experiences add to the
variations in perceptions of reality. Both one's social reality (i.e., the society or
community in which one lives) and one's position in this society in terms of age
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and sex are important factors in shaping experiences. These factors should,
therefore, influence the resonance of TV images and their ability to nurture an
individual's world-view.
Uses and Gratifications
This is in all probability the most important theory on this subject. According to
uses and gratification theory, we all have diverse uses for the media and we
make choices over what we wish to watch. Thus, when we come across a media
text, it is not just some kind of mindless entertainment; we are ( either
consciously or unconsciously) expecting to get some kind of ratification from it. In
general four gratifications have been found.:
Information
We want to gratify our inquisitiveness by finding out about society and the world.
This is in he case of the news and documentaries which both furnish the
knowledge and learning about the world.
Personal Identity
Sometimes we might watch the television in order to look for models for our own
behavior. Therefore, we may identify with characters that we see. The characters
help us to come to a decision about what we feel about ourselves and if we
agree with their actions and they manage to succeed, the we feel all the better
about ourselves.
Integration and Social Interaction
37
Using the media allows us to find out more about the circumstances of other
people. Watching a show helps us to empathize and sympathize with the lives of
other people so that we may even end up thinking of the characters in
programme as friends even though we might not readily admit it ! At the same
time television may help us to get on with our real friends as we are able to talk
about the media with them.
Entertainment
At times we may simply use the media for enjoyment, relaxation or just to fill
time.
Reception analysis
In a way, this is an expansion of the uses and gratifications theory. Reception
analysis actually looks into the finer points about how people are using the media
in different ways and it concentrates on the audience themselves
Reception analysis is based on the idea that no text has one simple meaning.
Rather, reception analysis suggests that the audience themselves help to
produce the meaning of the text. We all decode the texts that we encounter in
our own individual ways which may be a consequence of our rearing, the frame
of mind that we are in, the place where we are at the time or in fact any mixture
of these and all kinds of other factors.
Reception analysis is all about trying to look at these kinds of disparities and to
appreciate them. What reception analysts have found is that factors such as a
gender, our place inside society, and the context of the time we are living in can
be extremely important when we formulate the meaning or a text.
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Usually when our outlooks of the media differ, it can speak as much about us as
it does about the media text itself. This kind of thing is often closer to psychology,
than media studies and can be very tricky to research. While quantitative
researchers simply count the number of people watching a program, reception
analysts make use of interviews in order to get some kind of idea of the
meanings that people affix to texts.
The ideas that reception theorists come up with are not so orderly and clear-cut
as those of other methodologies. Because reception theory focuses on the
individual it can never quite do this, since we are all different and no one theory
can discern that.
This can be seen as a strong point of the theory as it takes into account the
intricacy of our reaction to the media. However, at the same time the theory has
a weakness which is that it ignores the context of everyday life.
Gender differences
David Morley, a researcher, found in his research that there were clear
differences in the uses that people made of the media in their day-to-day lives
depending on their gender. He found that men were more likely to prefer factual
programmes (eg News and sports) while women preferred fiction Soaps and
other drama series. Also, men favored watching the programmes extensively
while women preferred doing something else at the same time. Another thing that
he found was that if someone had control over what the family was watching, it
was more prone to be the man with the remote control in his hand.
Of course, this does not necessarily mean that there are fundamental differences
men and women. This relates to the kinds of lives families are often leading. For
a man, working throughout the day outside of the home, television is seen as a
type of relaxation. On the other hand, for women, the home is often a place of
39
work and so it is likely that that work will have to continue during the evening's
television as well.
METHODOLOGY
In-depth interviews with female target audience between the age groups of 25-30, 35-40,
and 45-50 were conducted, asking them to themselves ( eg. ambitious, glamorous, homely
etc) They were then asked to describe the woman in the AC Black ad. They were also
asked to describe the women in the Fair and Lovely ad, the Wheel ad etc. Comparisons
were drawn between the way they advertised themselves and the way they described the
woman in the ad. They were then further probed on their perception of women in
commercials and the influences that it has on the society.
How women described themselves
The majority of women in the age group of 25-35, saw themselves as intelligent,
well read, capable of competing with men in the job front. Bhakti Roy Chowdhury
(31), working in an IT firm, felt she was an achiever for reaching where she had
today. However, she was resigned to the belief, that there was very little
possibility for her to rise any further – not because she was incompetent, but
because the patriarchal structure of the organization would not allow it.
Women, unwillingly gave in to the fact that they do take pains to look good. While
making regular visits to the parlor for facials and indulging in various home
remedies was common across all of them, very few went to the extent of joining
the gym to maintain their figures. Although, they were health conscious in varying
degrees, having a perfect body was not even in their consideration set. They felt
it was just a superficial look, which would not even last long and could be
obtained by going to extremes like starving with the end result being health
problems like anorexia.
40
One of the respondents confessed that she liked her husband dominating over
her and she could not and did not want to feel superior to him. She was happy
that he was in control.
Women’s reactions to the female roles seen in the advertisements
Women firstly, considered all the female models to be unrealistically beautiful.
“No one can be so naturally beautiful in real life – not even them”. The audience
now, is well aware of the tricks used by advertisers and knows that the drop dead
gorgeous look is the magic of make-up, and of course, the special camera
effects.
Moreover, the roles that women played were passive – completely deprived of
enthusiasm, action or ideas. They were nothing more than mannequins with no
goals or aspirations. Their only source of joy was the man in their lives and their
ambition started and ended at being desirable to him.
Older women were more ready to accept the women as a housewife, taking care
of her husband, rather than a sexy object, looked at lustfully as in the AC Black
ad and Hyundai Getz. They could not identify with this ‘vulgar’ image of a woman
and did not consider it to be applicable to them.
The younger women, held a different point of view. They felt the complete
devoted house-wife, in this age, was getting closer to a myth, atleast in their
society. They however, actively utilized the traditional glamorous roles of the
models and actresses by emulating them and challenged the traditional female
roles in order to assert their own standing in a hierarchal family structure.
One of the respondents said, “She looks different because I am a different
person. I don’t really compare to her.” When asked to “list the ideas you get from
the model on how you could improve the way you look,” she said, “I could never
look like her and will not try. I know that she has to be willing to work to look like
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she does. I don’t worry about the way I look, it’s just not at all that important to
me.” . . .
Stuck in the Model Trap
A rising concern in our society is the plight of female pre-adolescents and
adolescents as they grow up facing many obstacles, including receiving less
attention than boys in the classroom, unrealistic expectations of what they
can and cannot do, decreasing self-esteem, and being judged by their physical
appearance. In particular, girls are generally preoccupied with attempting
to become beautiful. Several interviews show that self-esteem drops to a much
greater extent for female than male pre-adolescents and adolescents, with selfperceptions of physical attractiveness contributing to the drop. Another growing
apprehension in our society is the role of advertising in contributing to those
obstacles. For example, advertising has been accused of unintentionally
imposing a “sense of inadequacy” on women’s self-concepts. Studies suggest
that advertising and the mass media may play a part in creating and reinforcing
a preoccupation with physical attractiveness and influence consumer perceptions
of what constitutes an acceptable level of physical attractiveness. Further,
studies
have
found
that
female
college
students,
adolescents,
and
preadolescents compare their physical attractiveness with that of models in ads
and that female pre-adolescents and adolescents have desires to be models. An
aspiring young model, for example, describes “the model trap”: Deep down
inside, I still want to be a supermodel . . . As long as they’re there, screaming at
me from the television, glaring at me from magazines, I’m stuck in the model
trap. Hate them first. Then grow to like them. Love them. Emulate them. Die to be
them. All the while praying this cycle will come to an end.
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Physical
Attractiveness
and
Self-Esteem
in
Children
and
Adolescents
The emphasis on being physically attractive begins in infancy and continues
throughout childhood and adolescence. How physically attractive a child or
adolescent perceives him/herself to be heavily influences his/her self-esteem,
particularly when they enter their teens. However, the effect of self-perceptions of
physical attractiveness on self-esteem differs between girls and boys. For
example, Harter, in a cross-sectional study of third through eleventh graders,
found that self-perceptions of physical attractiveness and levels of global selfesteem appeared to decline systematically over time in girls but not for boys.
Other researches have documented such decreases throughout adolescence for
girls. Boys’ self-esteem, in contrast, tends to increase from early through late
adolescence. The nature of physical attractiveness differs for male and female
children and adolescents as well. Girls tend to view their bodies as “objects,” and
their physical beauty determines how they and others judge their overall value.
Boys tend to view their bodies as “process,” and power and function are more
important criteria for evaluating their physical self.. The difference in body
orientation results in girls paying attention to individual body parts and boys
having a holistic body perspective. Because the ideal of attractiveness for girls is
more culturally significant, girls have a greater likelihood of being negatively
affected by the feminine ideal than boys have of being negatively affected by the
masculine ideal.
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The Indian Housewife
The traditional Indian Housewife is seen as homely and family centric. She has a
traditional, conservative and judgmental mindset, with clear definitions of right
and wrong, Home is her domain, out-of-home activities are mainly restricted to
shopping. Is inclined towards spiritual/devotional activities like attending satsang,
going to temples and also watching devotional channels
The changing wife …..
She has now left the boundaries of home and is ready to stand o her own feet.
She voices her opinion which are taken into consideration. Has confidence that is
wife is capable of understanding various issues, which he now feels comfortable
discussing with her.
Summary
Advertisements that repeatedly appear on the television have a penetrating
power into the psyche of the audience. On an average an adult spends about two
years of his life watching television adverts. Viewers of these adverts claim to be
influenced in terms of their attitudes and preferences. A study of women across
several advertisements shows that the probability of a women's appearance in
personal hygiene product adverts are much higher than those of the adverts in
other categories. Majority of all advertisements portray women for products used
in the bathroom or kitchen. Any advertisement for washing powders like Ariel,
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Wheel or Surf, enhance this belief that washing clothes is a woman’s job. There
was one exception in Arial’s ad in 1998, when the wife was not at home and the
husband had to wash the clothes. However, the man managed the job,
surprisingly well and ended with him expecting something in return from his wife
for performing this task. While men are presented in a variety of professions
across the ads, a woman in comparison are presented in far lesser professional
roles – her role mostly being confined to that of a housewife.
If a woman is presented in a position of power, the male audiences would not
consider the attributes of power and aggressiveness are portrayed as something
natural to a woman and would take it up as a challenge to the male ego. This is
because men are traditionally considered to be naturally much more powerful
than a woman.
Therefore to have men in inferior position to a female is
considered an oddity and can be upsetting to male psyche. A situation like this is
likely to be frowned upon by conventional viewers. Therefore, the most accepted
representation of a woman is a stereotype one, that is, a woman in the middle of
a domestic and her husband in an all-powerful role. The housewife is depicted
obsessed with personal hygiene, cleanliness and fresh fragrances. She likes
products which make her home environment more dirt free and germ free. She
happily performs all domestic chores with a smile and with the latest products
offering her a helping hand. Men are portrayed in domestic situations they are
presented as initially unskilled but they, however, have the potential learning the
tricks and taking a short cut to gain the desired outcome, thus instilling the belief
that in actual life situations, men are more manipulative and smarter than the
females.
In addition to this, a large number of advertisements across the television portray
women as housewives or sex objects. While portraying women as a sex object,
the concentration is on their conventional beauty perfect figure, perfect teeth,
well-set hair, shining skin etc. A woman's physical appearance and charm is
used to endorse ads concerning physical fitness products, cosmetics and those
that add to make her look more beautiful and appealing.
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If we take a look at the TV soaps, the fear that pervades is that these serials are
actually making people, especially women, change their lifestyles to certain
degrees. Each person in the audience is able, at some point, to identify with a
character in the serial. "TV is a one to one medium," says Akhila Sivadas of the
Media Advocacy Group. Sivadas feels that despite poor quality production, poor
dialogue and acting styles, these soaps have been able to impact the psyche of
many middle class women. "There are 10 to 12 characters and anyone of these
replicates life for most viewers. As analysts, we have found out in the last two
years, we have been missing the woods for the trees when we said that there
was a mass reaction to serials. This is not the case. Often, in this one to one
relationship, real and reel life do get blurred."
46
Has there been a significant change in the level of
sexism in the past 10 years ?
One of the main differences between the advertisements of the 1960s and the
1990s is in the portrayal of the "modern" woman. The woman in the 1950s was
either docile or a vamp—the former with a shy expression on a down-turned
face, fully clad in sari, adorned in flowers; where as the other in short "indecent"
attire, with a sensuous gaze and pouting smile. Since the 1990s the modern
woman is one who no longer wears the sari; a Hindu marker, thus affirming her
secularity, and she does not essentially sport a shy look. But her societal status
has not changed in any radical way as her roles are defined even now by men.
Washing machines and microwave ovens "liberate" Indian women by shaping
them into "perfect homemakers" (as the advertisement for a washing machine
says, "You and Videocon, the perfect homemakers").
What is sexism ?
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on gender. It is the attitude and
social practice that foster rigid roles based on gender and which tend to work to
the detriment of women.
Methodology
In order to understand the increase in the level of sexism over the past 10 years,
3 products were chosen and the depiction of women in their commercials were
analyzed over the past 10 years.
47
Analysis of these ads were done over the past 10 years in 4 levels
! Level 1 – Woman as two- dimensional non- thinking adornment
! Level 2 – Woman’s place is in the home
! Level 3 – Woman may be professional but her first place is at
home
! Level 4 – Women and men must be equals
Which brands were chosen and why ?
Thums Up, Fair & Lovely and Wheel detergent powder, were the three brands
chosen for this analysis.
Each of these ads were chosen for different reasons.
Thums Up, being a soft drink, should be neutrally appealing to both the genders.
However, due to the different platform it as chosen for its positioning it appears to
be a macho drink.
Fair & Lovely was chosen since it’s a beauty product and thus it was a good
brand to study to understand the strategy that advertisers adopted in order to
create a demand for the product.
In order to understand the domestic scene, Wheel detergent powder was an apt
choice since it has a daily household use
48
Analysis of the ads were done over the past 10 years
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Fair & Lovely
Thums Up
Wheel
'94
'95
'96
'97
'98
'99
'00
'01
'02
'03
In the above diagram, the four levels are depicted, by the following numbers :
0 – 25 : Level 1
25 – 50 : Level 2
50 – 75 : Level 3
75 – 100 : Level 4
49
The Thums Up commercial, has been analyzed over the past 10 years, in
order to understand the feel of the brand and how it chooses to appeal to
which section of society
Distribution of Dress by Gender of Model – Thums Up
Gender
Clothed
Suggestive
Partiallyclad
Total
Female
4
5
3
12
33.33%
41.66%
25%
100%
10
0
2
12
83.33%
0%
16.66
100%
14
5
5
24
58.33%
20.83%
20.83%
100%
Male
Total
This analysis revealed that while the male models were busy in action and
competition women were nothing more than a decorative piece. Throughout
the Thums Up commercials, one thing is evident – the woman hardly ever
speaks – all she does is look at the Thums Up man with awe and admiration,
being completely floored by his machismo. He is a hero – she is his
worshipper
50
The ‘attitude’ of advertisers
Prahlad Kakkar, owner of an advertising agency in North India, had stated
that, "The household image of woman is truly exploitative; showing women
as dowdy, unattractive housewives who slave for their families without any
personal ambition is enslaving." While this observation is perfectly true the
latter part of his argument is convoluted. He proceeds to proclaim, "Lalitha
(a woman character made popular by the advertisement for "Surf," a
detergent, where she is depicted as the smart housewife getting the best soap
powder for her family even while saving money) is far more exploitative
than a deadly bikini-clad woman on top of a Porsche. I truly believe that an
ad that shows a woman as a sex object is not exploitative, it is just blatant
and obvious. Yes, I exploit women because they are far more aesthetically
beautiful than men. Since men are the main purchasing power of India
today, the image of a scantily-clad woman will make them buy anything."
(Savvy, August 2000).
51
Exploring the existence of the dominant
negative stereotypes
Methodology
This consisted of an in-depth understanding of several advertisements on television
Distribution of Demeanor by Gender of Model
-
Fair & Lovely
Fair and Lovely was the brand chosen to analyze the amount of action
women actually indulge in during the advertisements
GENDER
Female
Male
DEMEANOR
Total
Passive
Active
6
6
12
50%
50%
100.0%
0
12
12
0%
100%
100%
This analysis showed that women were passive in their roles 50 % of the
time, where as, men were always performing an active role. Even in the
active roles, her action was mostly limited in taking an initiative to look
beautiful
52
FAIR & LOVELY ADS V/S THUMS UP ADS
!
In the majority of ads for both these ads it is found that men and women
look for validation from the opposite sex in different ways
!
In the case of thums up, men simply need women towards the end in
order to be accepted as the superior sex.
!
In the case of Fair & Lovely all the efforts that women make is for the men,
not for themselves
!
They willingly accept men being superior to them
!
Men in the thums up ads indulge in competitive activities – racing, biking,
bungee jumping
!
Men resort to vigorous physical activities in order to be a winner
!
For a woman, being a winner, is nothing more than attracting a man
!
F & L commoditizes women by making their faces their only source of
identity and reason for a happy existence, as though they do not possess
something called a mind. It however, doesn’t sexually exploit them
!
However, thums up on the other hand, does this and also depicts them in
suggestive attires and postures
6 advertisements have been analyzed to understand the existence of
dominant negative stereotypes
The purpose of study was to analyze brand communications that indicate that :
1.
Women seek approval from men in their lives
2.
They require certain brands to achieve this
3.
This plays on and reinforces insecurities
53
WHEEL Detergent
Wheel is a detergent brand that caters to the laundry needs of the mass market.
It was first launched in the year 1987. Wheel Green is the single largest (No 1 by
market share) detergent brand in India by value. It caters to the middle and lower
class households with a 250 grams of detergent bar costing as less as five
rupees. The target groups of the above brand are the housewives of the abovementioned homes. They are married women who have adopted home making as
their career and spend their time looking after their homes. The aim was to study
man woman relationships in Indian advertising. The following commercial is a
stark reflection of the man woman relations, as they exist in our Indian society
today. The couple shown in the advertisement belongs to a lower middle class
family. The husband is shown to be the earning member of the family. The
advertisement exposes the degree of respect and equality with which a
workingman treats his “housewife” wife. It showcases the value of such a wife in
the eyes of her husband and his expectations from her. It contrasts them with the
feelings of the wife towards her husband and the degree to which she reveres
him. The advertisement is a reflection of the man-woman relationship that exists
in our society today. The woman, who is the homemaker, is taken for granted by
the man. She only enjoys functional value. Her functions include managing the
home, the children and ensuring that all cooking and cleaning is done on time.
The husband views her only as utilitarian. She does not share and equal platform
with him in crucial matters of decision-making.
She has to keep things in perfect shape of invite her husband’s wrath. Moreover,
she cannot stand up and defend herself in the face of her husband’s fury. She
silently bears the brunt of his antagonism, listens to his admonishing (about the
unclean bed sheet) but cannot even retaliate. She cannot stand up and defend
herself. She cannot tell her husband the amount of effort that has gone into
managing the home. She is unable to take a stand. She bears the humiliation in
54
silence. Her only vent to the anger within her is the bar of soap that she holds
responsible for inviting her husband’s rage. She crushes it between her fingers in
a gesture that shows the extent of her anger. The advertisement highlights the
change that comes over the husband once the wife uses Wheel to set things
right. The bed sheet is not absolutely radiant. The husband is overjoyed because
he has created a fantastic impression on the prospective groom for his sister. He
is now full praise for his wife. It is similar to rewarding an employee for his good
performance. He comes riding on a white horse, dressed in an immaculate white
shirt and calls his wife ”Super Biwi”. The phrase reflects the way he treats his
wife. She becomes a super Biwi only after she produces the results he expected
out of her. It is only when she fulfills his wishes and works hard to achieve his
level of satisfaction does he acknowledge her efforts.
Clinic All Clear
Clinic All Clear, India's leading anti-dandruff shampoo from Hindustan Lever Ltd.,
uses the insecurity among women about their looks and the consequent attention
they get from men as a platform to sell their brand.
The following advertisement explores the man woman relationship among the
urban youth in our country. It highlights the superficiality of interest in a member
of the opposite sex, which borders totally on physical appearance but vanishes
entirely with the mere sign of dandruff. It also studies the psyche of a young
Indian woman who is obviously well educated, from a good family, modern in her
thought and action, independent and confident, but gets totally frazzled by the
spurning by a man just because of dandruff in her hair. Her ego is bruised. She is
unable to handle the rejection of a man. Hence, she goes out of her way to get
even with the stranger she met for less than five minutes at a pool table. She
buys an anti dandruff shampoo recommended by a friend to get rid of the
dandruff, she learns to master the game of pool (thanks to the same friend) just
to prove her worth to the unknown person she had been momentarily acquainted
with at the pool table.
55
There are two ways in which the advertisement can be studied:
The advertisement promotes a contradiction to the construct of the modern
Indian woman, which the other advertisements pretend to fervently construct. On
the one hand, the protagonist of the advertisement is portrayed as an
independent young woman, one who is accompanied by a female friend, i.e.
does not need a man just to enjoy herself, who is modern in her dress (western
outfit) and outlook (she takes the man’s interest in her with confident ease). Note
here that she has just noticed this man. However, the sudden and unexpected
lack of interest from the man, who was a stranger until less than a minute ago,
punctures her self-confidence completely. She is embarrassed beyond belief.
She is unable to bear the humiliation and plans to avenge her embarrassment.
That is where the brand “All Clear” steps in. it is her weapon on the battle of
winning her pride back. It removes all the dandruff from her hair so that she can
confidently release her locks in front of a stranger who was the cause of her
humiliation. She also learns to master the game of pool so that she can defeat
the man at his own game.
The argument can be put forward from a different dimension also. The woman is
hell bent on proving her worth to the man. The woman decides to avenge her
humiliation She gets rid of the dandruff and learns to play the game. When she
stuns the man with her winning shot she tops it up with the phrase “dho dala”. It
is an indication of how she has managed to stun the man with her superlative
performance. However, she also uses the double meaning phrase to thank her
“weapon of man destruction”, the brand “All clear” who has helped her save her
face. Hence though the advertisement highlights how the woman gets even with
a man it also underscores the fact that she could not have done so without the
use of the brand. Hence instead of her simply showing her prowess at the pool
table to avenge her humiliation, she does the theatrics of unlocking her tresses
for the male to gaze at and acknowledge. In other words, her act is a gesture of
seeking approval from the man that her hair is now perfect and dandruff free.
56
She wants his authorization. She could have simply beaten him at the game or
hit the winning shot without the initial exhibition of her lustrous improved hair. But
she did not. Hence the importance of the brand in making her score against the
man is highlighted.
Asain Paints
It shows a not-so well-to-do man enviously congratulating his rich neighbour,
Sunil-babu, on his new house (painted a spanking new yellow) and a lithe and
subservient new wife, dressed in nuptial red, serving her husband (an earlier
version of the ad showed a new car as well but that's been dropped). The next
shot shows the same neighbour, now visibly aged, admiring the house, which
looks as new as ever, even as Sunil-babu's wife has expanded and aged visibly,
though she's just as subservient.
It's the kind of commercial that attracts a smirk from most viewers, men and
women, and, because it is aired so frequently it's Wah, Sunil-babu! has become
part of contemporary lingo as so many ad-lines do these days.
But if you think about it, the implication is clearly that house and wife are passive
possessions that enjoy the same ranking, though one is an inanimate object and
the other is a human being.
To be fair the Sunil-babu of the ad also ages in the second shot, but that's okay,
he's expected to. Obviously his wife shouldn't — but alas, she's not as durable as
Asian Paint's long-lasting emulsion.
Harpic
The advertisement for "Harpic," a toilet cleaning liquid, begins with a grand
sequence of shots showing a group of masked commandos wearing thick
protective attire. They land from a plane and search the entire locality with
57
modern equipment. When they reach the toilet they find the place swarming with
germs. At this point their chief removes her facemask and we see an attractive
woman tossing her hair and smiling at the audience victoriously. Then comes the
caption with the declaration "Here comes the expert in cleaning toilets." After
zooming in on the smiling face of the woman, the Harpic container is shown on
the screen.
Axe Shaving Lotion
In the commercial for "Axe," a shaving lotion for men, a black woman in a skintight dress dances before the sharp gaze of a man. When she comes near him
she turns into the wick of a huge candle. His face is now enlarged and covers the
entire screen. He looks down at the candle in which the woman-turned-wick
keeps flickering in a dance of its own. The word "Voodoo" appears on the screen
along with the flame. With a look of contempt, he blows out the candle and as the
candle smoke dissolves in the air, smiles smugly at the audience. He is satisfied
at having put an end to a tempting woman, and the award for such a manly
achievement is "Axe," and now the conqueror from time immemorial grabs a
bottle of the lotion with a celebratory look.
Samsung Air Conditioners
In a popular television ad for Samsung air conditioners portrayed a group of
women falling all over a male stripper. The temperature (literally) heats up,
therefore necessitating turning on the air conditioner. The ad begins by showing
us a manicured finger turning on a CD player. As the music begins, the camera
pans to show us a group of young, elegantly dressed women having a party. A
handsome young man, wearing a black suit and with a large red bow tied around
his chest, walks into the room and is greeted with raucous cheers from the
women. They surround him in a circle and snap their fingers at him, as if to
command him. He momentarily covers his face in a mock feminine gesture of
58
bashfulness. The camera then zooms in to provide us with close-ups of the
expressions of some of the women who smile seductively, all the time continuing
to snap their fingers at him. The next frame consists of the young man gyrating to
the music, a red rose between his teeth, as he slowly starts taking off his jacket.
We see more close-ups of the women, arousal apparent all over their faces as
they watch him taking off his tie, followed by his shirt. Although the mood is
playful, there is no denying that the women are assertive, if not downright
aggressive, in expressing their erotic interest in him. Some of the women start to
fan themselves; the heat in the room has obviously gone up. The camera lingers
longingly on the male stripper’s upper body as he starts to unzip his trousers, all
the time dancing to the music. Our focus is then abruptly shifted to a
thermometer, and we see the mercury rising rapidly to 52 degrees Celsius. The
music screeches to a halt; the women faint because of the heat. The dancer
reaches for a remote and turns on the air conditioner—a Samsung air
conditioner. Next, we are shown the mercury in the thermometer dropping as
quickly as it had risen. The women wake up, and we see a close-up of one of
them languorously pushing back her long black hair. A male voiceover informs
us: “Samsung Instachill. With a unique rotary compressor. The only AC to be
effective at 52 degrees Celsius.” The music resumes as the women rise to their
feet, start converging on the dancer, and once again surround him in a circle.
They push him to the floor in their excitement. The next thing we see is that one
of them has flung his trousers into the air. The ad ends with images of air
conditioners in different sizes, as the voiceover proclaims: “Samsung Instachill.
Especially conditioned for the Indian summer.” Although this ad used humor to
mediate (and perhaps, to this extent, neutralize) its representation of women’s
erotic desires, its focus on women as agential subjects of erotic desire was
unmistakable.
59
Obstacles to the upliftment of women in the
media
Patriarchal societies: One of the biggest obstacles to women’s access,
participation and control of the media is the patriarchal structure of societies
where men continue to see women as subordinate to them. Patriarchal attitudes
of governments and media are manifest in their being predominantly male
institutions which tend to view women as an undifferentiated mass of low status
in society. Gender biases and gender-based discriminations therefore result in
stereotyped
attitudes,
sexual
harassment,
pay
inequities,
discriminatory
treatment in assignments and promotions, traditional gender hierarchies,
including a premium on family responsibilities, lack of support mechanisms for
working women and low education that deter women from joining the media or
assume decision-making positions.
Ownership of media. The threat to the democratic right of citizens to a plurality
of information sources and the means of expressing their viewpoints is
endangered by the power exerted by a few transnational media organisations
that control the different media. Ownership monopoly, control of media by men,
and cross-cutting corporate interests would inevitably influence media content
and policy. There is increased concern over the levels of media-industry
concentration being attained through the convergence of communication and
information technologies with other, more traditional media, bringing up issues of
control in many countries. Further, globalisation and monopolisation of media is
blurring the lines of accountability as sub-regional, regional and international
conglomerates buy and trade national broadcasting frequencies, print, television
60
programmes, cable and films with little or no accountability to government and
civil society. The possibility of citizens influencing mainstream media policy and
content is complicated when the decision-making centres are ever more distant
and unreachable, propelled by profit motives rather than social responsibility
considerations.
Lack of gender perspective on issues and gender bias. Few journalism
schools have incorporated gender issues in their curriculum. Journalists who
attempt to introduce a gender focus in their work often meet resistance or ridicule
from their colleagues or bosses. Women communicators point to discrimination
and sexual harassment to be among the main obstacles to professional
advancement. It is also extremely difficult to open a public debate on issues of
communication and democracy, codes of ethics or the social responsibility of the
media, when many media directors and even some journalists refuse to
recognise this responsibility, and very few are willing to air the issues publicly.
The continued projection of negative and degrading images of women, of gender
stereotypes and violent and/or pornographic examples in media have an overall
negative impact and thus hinders women's full participation in society.
Lack of women’s access to and growth in media institutions. As gender
issues are not seen as important or profitable, women face difficulties in entering
media institutions and organisations. Opportunities for women within the media
industry, in employment and decision-making, continue to be limited. Not enough
women in media organisations have attained senior programming positions as
these opportunities are not yet open to women based on a routine but fair
professional upgrading. Even the few women who exercise some control in
media organizations operate within patriarchal systems of management and are
dictated to follow the interest of profit margins. While it would be naive to state
that profit is not important, the current situation of media is one of
commoditization, commercialization and consumerism.
61
Lack of women’s full participation in media processes. The participation of
women in communication processes is largely related to their economic status,
geographic locations and ethnic identities. Women who suffer economic, racial or
other forms of exclusion are usually also excluded from the means to
communicate. National and international regulatory bodies are commonly
conceived as technical entities, in many cases with no space for citizens to
participate or express their opinion. Even where such spaces exist, women's
organisations are often not aware of them. At another level, significant areas of
journalism
are
still
male
preserves
and
inherent
gender biases
and
discriminations within the system constrain women media practitioners from
participating fully in shaping media content. Another point to note is the relative
isolation of women media practitioners. Many of them work within patriarchal
structures and do not often have links with the women’s movement in their
countries. Even if they do, they risk being marginalized within corporate
organizations.
Lack of effective media policies. Media policies against sexist and stereotyped
coverage, representation and portrayal of women remain as a big gap. Existing
media codes and guidelines are mainly concerned with "lewd", "obscene",
"indecent" exposure of human bodies, "immoral" sexual relations, sexually
"provocative" material, and pornographic content. Current policies are framed
around questions of morality, rather than recognizing sexual violence against
women as a violation of human rights. There have been some efforts to establish
or maintain self-regulatory mechanisms on media content. Governments in
general take little responsibility for regulation of media industries with regard to
gender stereotyping. Action is left to voluntary measures on the part of media
enterprises or insufficiently effective national compliance/complaints authorities,
who often lack monitoring capabilities and whose legal framework often lack
gender-equal policies. To this end, there is no practical monitoring or
enforcement of government requirements in many countries and where
62
standards exist, they are often not upheld. Too often, the task is left to private
citizens to watch, challenge and litigate.
Lack of effective sanctions against violators. Although calls have been made
for codes of conduct with minimum international standards and requirements to
be instituted at the international level, the failure to respond to this need bears on
the continuing absence of sanctions against violators of women’s human rights in
the media.
Systemic challenges. In many countries issues agreed to in Section J are not
that straightforwardly easy to put into action and often require radical
transformations of existing systems. For example, concepts such as increasing
women’s participation or contribution can often be misinterpreted by the public as
women’s desire for domination or control. As a consequence, calls by women for
greater participation and positive portrayal are trivialized in government
consultative and policy making processes.
Threats to media practitioners. In several countries, there had been threats
against community radio and TV stations. In some cases, such as Paraguay and
Uruguay, people in charge of them were threatened with imprisonment, as if they
had committed a serious crime.
63
What kind of woman is acceptable to the Indian
society today ?
Methodology
3 FGDs of men of the age groups 25-30, 35-40 and 45-50 were taken, focusing on the
depiction of women on television commercials and their perceptions of it. Whether the
kind of woman they would like to spend their lives with is influenced by the kind of ads
they see on TV
Men admitted being influenced about their perceptions of what a woman should
be like, by what they view on television man and a few even accepted that the
skimpily dressed model crept into their heads as the ideal dream woman. The
beauty queens rapidly increasing all over India have already fascinated the
minds of thousands of young men and women as to what should be the size and
weight of an ultimate woman.
64
100
80
60
25-30
40
35-40
45-50
20
0
Pretty
Sexy
Intelligent
Subm issive
100
80
60
25-30
35-40
40
45-50
20
0
Independent
Traditional
Fashional
Well-spoken
The younger respondents said that they would prefer seeing a women being
portrayed in a way that would prove to be more gender-balanced. The stereotypical images of women being weak, suppressed and highly emotional, needs
down playing. . They were in ready to watch women in bold and assertive roles.
On one hand they felt that women were depicted as self-sacrificing with no
identity of their own. On the other hand were the working women who were
shown to be alienated from their husbands and children. This depiction did tend
to influence the older men that the idea of a successful career woman is
irreconcilable with the ideal wife and mother.
65
Professional women are mostly identified as fashion models, teachers and
doctors whereas men are projected as politicians, national heroes and highranking government officials. A 25 year old respondent believed that if the media
tried to project men as supportive and caring, then it would be easier to free
women from culturally sanctioned roles on television.
None of the respondents felt that women are represented in a wholly accurate
manner. Another respondent ( 29) that he felt that television dictates what type of
woman he should be attracted to, but despite that, he felt that the representations
of women are getting better all the time. On referring to the roles of men and
women, he states that; "..Usually, the men are the hunters and have to provide,
and women are the care-takers." He also stated that he tends to associate
shallowness with beautiful women (the mannequin).
From these interviews, it can be concluded that men consider television
representations of women to be truer than do the women. Even though everyone
admitted that they are not wholly representative, these portrayals still have some
effect on the views that the respondents hold about women.
Therefore we can see the different roles that women are shown to fill. While
television can be said to reflect the changing roles of women, it seems to portray
them in a light of approval or disapproval, positive or negative according to the
roles that patriarchy favors: the housewife is favored, where as the woman in
power is often shown to be the villain. More importantly, women are often
represented as not being as intelligent as men, and having to be dependant on
them. It is also shown that a woman is either intelligent or beautiful; but rarely
both. It is important to note also, the effects that these portrayals have on people,
and while these interviews are by no means representative of the population, it
proves that they do affect peoples views of what women are really like.
66
Are women buying the message that advertisers
are trying to sell ?
Methodology
3 FGDs of women of the ages 25-30, 35-40 and 45-50, were taken. These discussions
focused on their perception of the kind of image of the present day woman, advertisers are trying
portray? Whether this portrayal have any influence in their purchase decisions?
During the research, a broad understanding of the use and perception of women as
sex-objects in advertising was gained, which were provided to us by participants in the
focus groups. According to them, advertising at the expense of someone’s integrity
makes it unpleasant or if it exploits other people’s unhappiness, or if it is aimed to
minors who have no conception of what is right or wrong. In order to narrow the scope
of the study, to the focus would be on sexual appeals and body ideals in advertising.
Therefore, the findings and conclusions will focus on these areas.
When looking at advertising images, it can be concluded that women hold a more
positive attitude toward male nudity than men, while men are more favorable toward
female nudity than women. Thus, there is a larger chance that an ad containing a nude
model is viewed as ethically correct if the viewer is of the opposite sex. However, it
seems like neither men nor women think that it is the actual nudity that makes the
advertising unethical. It has also been discovered that women seem to interpret the
advertising image in more detail than men do. Women pay attention to what they
perceive to be sexist or degrading features in the picture. It seems to us that men in
general only see the actual picture, which does not necessarily represent some kind of
action. It has also been found that men are more tolerant regarding the level of sexual
67
appeals in advertising than women. Even though females may not spontaneously define
a sexually explicit advertisement as “unethical” very often, they do not feel
uncomfortable in using the term. Men, on the other hand, are very reluctant to say that
any sexual appeals in advertising are unethical even when they express negative
opinions about an advertisement. Rather than classifying a sexually explicit ad as
unethical, they prefer to call it bad, ridiculous or distasteful. The reasons for this
difference in perceptions between genders are probably deeply rooted psychologically
and biologically, and are clearly beyond the scope of this study. Regarding the concept
of tastefulness in the use of sexual appeals, a sensual impression seems to be equal to
tasteful. Both men and women appreciate a sensual touch in advertising, and they find
tasteful sexual allusions to be much more appealing than less tasteful allusions. Women
emphasize that it is more tasteful if there is something to fantasize about, that is, the
sexual appeals should leave something for the imagination. The use of humorous
angles in advertising seems to change the impact of sexual appeals in a positive way
when used in combination with them, as the focus of the advertising is lifted from the
sexual to the humor, thus increasing curiosity about the product. Therefore, we find
that the use of humor in combination with sexual appeals might contribute to making the
advertising less ethically sensitive.
Women, especially very young women, frequently compare themselves with
idealized images in advertising. The level of comparison seems to decrease as
the woman grows older and becomes more secure in herself. As this kind of
comparison with advertised body ideals is very likely to be harmful to the selfesteem, a way of counteracting this could be to use more average looking
models. This would make advertising more ethically correct, but it would probably
not be as effective when it comes to stimulating purchase as the idealized
models. Thus, whether average looking or idealized models should be used may
become an ethical dilemma for the advertiser
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Findings and Conclusions
In this final chapter, the research questions that were posed in Chapter 1 will be answered by
expressing the findings. During the work with this thesis, different views and perceptions have
been provided by the focus group participants. In some cases, they agreed with existing theories,
and sometimes they did not. In some instances, other interesting issues, which were not covered
in the conceptual framework, were brought up. Since the aim of this chapter is to answer the five
research questions and thereby fulfilling the purpose of the study, all findings that are relevant to
the stated purpose, research questions and demarcations will be presented, regardless if they
match existing theories or not. Therefore, specific conclusions will be drawn on the basis of the
empirical data, the analysis and the findings. Each of the research questions will be answered in
separate sections. Thereafter, general conclusions regarding issues that have arised during the
study will be presented. Finally, implications for practitioners, for theory, will be suggested
.
The media channel seems to have a large influence on whether people remember the
advertising or not. Almost all examples of good advertising mentioned by participants
were TV commercials. It can therefore be concluded that the intrusiveness of the TV
medium seems to be higher than the intrusiveness of print media, and that people
remember and refer to TV commercials to a larger extent than they remember print
advertisements. This means that it seems more likely to find objectionable advertising in
print media, since advertising in television has a much higher penetrative power and
thereby is more likely to cause a negative debate if it is perceived as unethical.
With the basis in the analysis and the findings, the following specific conclusions
regarding the first research question:
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Is the media a reflection of the contemporary woman or is it molding the
woman to suit its needs? Is the portrayal of women is in-keeping with the
psychographic, social & economic reality of the female viewer-ship?
The 'New Woman'
In 1987 and again in 1993, the market research agency 'Pathfinders:India'
carried out two detailed polls. Called the SNAP polls (the Study of the Nation's
Attitudes and Psychographics), they covered 10,000 urban Indian housewives in
36 towns across classes and zones. The numbers of the "contemporary
housewife", defined as "generally better educated, with a higher proportion of
working women...a more active lifestyle...more into all types of media..." showed
an increase from 19.2% in 1987 to 22.1% in 1993. This "purchase-prone
attitudinal cluster" (particularly in relation to high value durables and personal
products) registered a jump from 49.3% in 1987 to 53.6% in 1993 - a 4.3%
increase. Advertising in India too shows this trend. It is however interesting to
note a dichotomy. Advertisements portray a woman who is more in control,
knows her mind, yet negotiates her newly emerging position within the context of
her household and family life. This so-called 'New Woman' in advertising reflects
two concurrent trends. While reflecting India's changing climate of economic
liberalization and a consequent aspirational attitude towards a better lifestyle, it
also reflects the fact that such changes get incorporated within the system
without replacing them entirely.
70
Exploring the existence of the dominant negative stereotypes
Women who find fulfillment in a professional career and women presented as sexual
beings are never seen in laundry detergent or margarine commercials. "Traditional"
women are usually filmed without make-up, dressed in baggy clothes in pastel colors,
and typically at home (in a kitchen or bathroom), or in exceptional cases, in shops. The
principle of "identifying with the commercial's character" is employed in such cases.
Commercial characters must not "be better than we are." On the other hand, modern
women wear make-up and sexy clothes, they are dynamic and shown in non-domestic
settings.
Location and placement often differentiate the sexes in commercials. Women are
stereotypically placed in areas "appropriate" for a wife: a closed kitchen door,
bathroom, children's room, or a shop. Men, however, are found on the couch, in
an office, or in a open space. In addition, women are often presented in
abnormally large rooms, artificially creating a space to make the woman's social
role look more significant. Bathrooms and kitchens are typically twice as large as
normal.
Relationships with people are another category of sex differentiation in
commercials. In opposition to men, women are always shown as emotional,
open, talkative, and prone to feelings of envy. Authors of detergent commercials
often employ the use of envy: if a woman performs her chores better than other
women, it upgrades her in the eyes of her female friends, her mother-in-law, and,
of course, her husband. Such an image is quite controversial and female
audiences often oppose it. At present, fewer commercials utilize this type of
scenario.
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The level of sexism in advertisements
- Neither men nor women think that it is the actual nudity that makes the advertising
unethical
- There is a larger chance that an ad containing a nude model is viewed as ethically
correct if the viewer is of the opposite sex
- Women seem to interpret advertising images in more detail than men do
- Men are more tolerant regarding the level of sexual appeals in advertising than women
- Men, in contrast to women, are very reluctant to say that any sexual appeals in
advertising are unethical, even when they express negative opinions about an
advertisement
- If an advertisement that alludes to sex gives a sensual impression, it is regarded to be
tasteful
- The use of humour in combination with sexual appeals might contribute to making the
advertising less ethically sensitive
- Women, especially very young women, frequently compare themselves with idealized
images in advertising, but the level of comparison seems to decrease as the woman
grows older and becomes more secure in herself
- It seems more likely to find unethical advertising in print media, since advertising in
television has a much higher penetrative power and thereby is more likely to cause a
negative debate if it is perceived as unethical
- Both men and women are affected by the current slim and fit body ideals in
advertising. This often seems to cause women to perceive themselves as overweight
and it makes them want to be thinner, while men see themselves as underweight and
want to be larger, i.e. more muscular.
- In addition, both men and women tend to overestimate other people’s preferences
regarding their looks. That is, they feel that it is in the eyes of others they want to be
seen as beautiful and fit. This influence exerted by body ideals seems to be larger
during teenage and adolescence, when girls and boys seek ideals to identify
themselves with. The sensitivity of young people may result in that the current body
ideals in advertising influence them to diet and exercise excessively, thus increasing the
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risk for eating disorders. It seems like the level of comparison with advertising images,
and thereby also the risk of negative effects, is decreasing as people grow older and
become more secure about themselves.
- If people perceive advertising as unethical, sales may drop or the product may be
entirely boycotted. This risk is most likely to be valid in older age segments
- People in general are getting “numb” – sex has become so commonplace in
advertising today that consumers do not react anymore, thus, advertisers may test the
limits by making the advertising more and more coarse in order to attract attention
- There is a substantial risk that an advertisement containing sexual appeals is
perceived as ridiculous and/or unethical if there is no natural connection between the
advertised product and the sexual appeals
- The influence exerted by body ideals in advertising seems to be larger during teenage
and adolescence, when girls and boys seek ideals to identify themselves with
What kind of woman is acceptable to the Indian society today ?
From the interviews conducted, it can be concluded that the younger generation
of men, prefer a multi-faceted woman who can look physically attractive and also
have a good standing in society ( in terms of her over all personality and her
profession ) as it serves to lift his status even more. The older men preferred
wives who would be submissive to their orders and take their husbands words as
the final say. They did not emphasize on their wives being pretty as long as she
was neat and presentable. According to them if a woman is not an expert at
household chores, she would never make a good wife. This was slightly different
from what the younger men wanted, because they believed that for a marriage to
be successful, the woman did not have to be subservient to a man. Rather, she
had to respect herself, so that he could respect her too.
In the context of advertisements, the older men did not mind women being
portrayed as sex objects. For them it was entertaining as they somehow could
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not construe it as ‘real’. They considered the model in the ad, as much a
commodity as the product itself.
The younger men find such ads more appealing as it draws and holds their
attention. They however felt that it was being overdone, and as long as it’s used
within limits its okay.
Are women buying the message that advertisers are trying to sell ?
Interviews with women and men revealed that both place the highest value on
happy family life and satisfaction with children. Commercials create an illusion of
such happiness. They depict an ideal world, where everything is clear, simple,
and requires no effort. They glamorize every day life, making a woman's
domestic chores look more beautiful than they really are. It is particularly visible
in commercials portraying a vision of a happy family, where the audience is
presented with a model couple, surrounded by children and animals, living in a
beautiful house. Women filling traditional gender roles find a symbolic, and often
only symbolic, gratification in such images. Another risk caused by commercials
is that they give a false dimension to a hierarchy of values. Women, to whom
commercials are directed, are attacked with spots promoting newer and newer
laundry detergents and household cleaning chemicals. Commercials aim to sell
new products that hardly differ from others. In a consumer society with a vast
array of goods, commercials create needs. Creating the need among the
members of a target group becomes the method for a company to reach their
objective. Thus, the commercial stimulates not only the need to possess certain
things, but also a particular lifestyle. In a patriarchal society, women face a twofolded attack. First, advertisements target women's feeling of responsibility;
second, they appeal to women's traditional mission to guard cleanliness, just as
they should guard their homes. Only a sterile bathroom and kitchen prove their
fulfillment of the socially accepted roles of mother and housewife Women have
accepted this message.
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Implications for practitioners
The implications for practitioners can be seen as advise to advertisers – within
companies or on external advertising agencies. The following implications are based on
the empirical data, analysis and conclusions conducted during this study. They are
focusing on perceptions and views among Indian consumers that may affect the way
advertising messages are received and decoded, and also some possible feedback that
advertisers should consider.
When targeting women, advertisers should be aware of that their tolerance for sexual
appeals in advertising is lower than men’s, and also that they interpret the content of the
advertising image in more detail than men do. There is however a larger chance that an
ad containing a nude model is viewed as ethically correct if the viewer is of the opposite
sex, which means that a female target audience will appreciate sexual appeals more if
the advertising shows a man rather than a woman. The opposite is also true, that is,
men are more positive to female nudity in advertising than women are. Moreover, it is
good to know that if the sexual allusions in the advertisement make a sensual
impression, both men and women regard it as tasteful. Advertisers should also avoid
using sexual appeals when there is no natural connection between the advertised
product and these appeals, as the risk is large that the advertisement will be perceived
as ridiculous and/or unethical. The use of humour in combination with sexual appeals
can be recommended (if done tastefully), as it may contribute to make the advertising
less ethically sensitive and also raise curiosity about the advertised product. Advertisers
should be careful with which body ideals they promote through advertising, as both men
and women, but especially very young women, frequently compare themselves with
idealized images in advertising. The influence exerted by body ideals in advertising
seems to be larger during teenage and adolescence, when girls and boys seek ideals to
identify themselves with. The sensitivity of young people may result in that the current
body ideals in advertising influence them to diet and exercise excessively, thus
increasing the risk for eating disorders. Therefore, advertisers should choose media
75
vehicle carefully, in order not to expose sensitive groups to thin body ideals. Another
issue regarding the choice of media is that advertising in television has a much higher
penetrative power than print media. It is therefore more likely that a negative debate
arises if the TV advertising is perceived as unethical. Thus, advertisers should be
especially careful when promoting products through TV commercials. In general, there
is a risk of drop of sales or entire boycotting of the advertised product if people perceive
the advertising as unethical.
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Appendix
INTERVIEW GUIDE
RQ 1: How do think women are portrayed in TV commercials?
What is your opinion about the following statements/theories?
- Males are more favourable than females to ads containing female nudity, but females
are also more favourable than are males toward an ad containing a nude male
- Women hold a significantly more negative attitude toward strong overt sexual appeals
in advertising than men
- Sex appeals in advertising are acceptable if done tastefully
- Many people think that there is too much sex in advertising
- Women may dismiss idealized (that is, thin) models in advertising as not relevant for
comparison. In contrast, it is also said to be usual and normal for adolescent girls and
young women to compare their bodies with advertised images
- Average looking models might be a better choice than idealized models in ads, in
terms of attracting attention and influencing purchases
Would you like to add anything regarding this topic?
RQ 2: How can the risks/disadvantages with portraying women in
this manner ?
What is your opinion about the following statements/theories?
- Offending the public can result in a drop of sales or even a boycotting of the advertised
product
- It is relatively common that women and men feel that sexually charged ads can
promote sexual harassment
- Sexual appeals in advertising seem to interfere with message comprehension, which
means that they rarely encourage curiosity about the product
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- The risk of not making a selling impression is even higher if the sexual appeal is not
relevant to the advertised product
- Sexually explicit advertising that is mixed with violence may contribute to sexual
violence and hostility toward women
- Due to the increasing norm of thinness in advertising, women consistently perceive
themselves as overweight and want to be thinner. They also overestimate both men’s
and other women’s preferences for female thinness
- Advertising that portray especially attractive, athletic or muscular men may cause men
to feel insecure about their bodies
- The use of thin models in advertising is partly to blame for the increasing incidence of
eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, as it works as a catalyst for such
diseases
Would you like to add anything regarding this topic?
78
Appendix – 2
79
Appendex – 3
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Bibliography
Books
1. “Off the beaten track- rethinking gender justice for Indian women”-Madhu
Kishwar
2. “Embodiment”-Meenakshi Thapan
3. “Transnational Television: When STAR came to India”-Melissa Butcher
4. “Identity and Difference”-Kathryn Woodward
5. “Gendered Lives”-Julia T. Woodward
6. “Feminist Terrains In Legal Domain”- Ratna Kapur
7. “Bridging World”-Sally J.M. Sutherland
8. “From Independence towards Freedom”-Bharati Ray and Aparna Basu
9. “From Myth to Markets”- Kumkum Sangari and Uma Chakravarti
10. “Women Television and Rural Dvelopment” – Binod Agarwal and Kumkum
Rai
Television. Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies
Feminist Theory and Television Studies – Laura Stempel Mumford
11. “Feminism, Multiculturalism and the Media – Global Diversities” – Edited by
Angharad N Valdivia
12. “Whose news ? the media and women's issues”-edited by Ammu Joseph and
Kalpana Sharma
13. “Turning it on : a reader in women and media”- edited by Helen Baehr and
Ann
Gray
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Articles
1. “Mirror of Society”- Suchitra Behal (The Hindu, January 6, 2000)
2. Dangerous Desires: Television and Erotics in Late Twentieth- Century India
- PURNIMA MANKEKAR
Websites
1. http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/iiasn5/munshi.html
2. http://www.hindu.com/br/2005/01/04/stories/2005010400291500.htm
3. http://www.sancharika.org/sas_activities/spotlight.htm
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