Western Culture. Portrayal Of Gender In Ads Essay

horse opera Culture. Portrayal Of sexual practice In Ads - Essay ExampleMany scholars and researchers of popular cultural depth psychology argue that advertize has contributed to Western societys beliefs and values of gender roles, sex and sexuality. Further, that advertisements re pass on across the decades reflect the ideals, activities and behaviors of Western culture that has adopted as its well-disposed norms, and so reflects the expectations of the genders within these societies (Hogg and Garrow, 2003). They contend that cultural constructions of gender impact on the lives of all passel within a society, and that these cultural constructions cannot be differentiated from the lives and images of each gender. Importantly, that is essential for society to understand how advertising can contribute to attitudes about gender relations and the expected gender roles, as well as how these factors impact on individuals constructing their identities and sense of place. However, argu ments exist within current discourse of cultural text analysis that advertising over the years has been over-analyzed, so that interpretations of stumps and limiting of gender roles are exaggerated (Lukas, 2006). This paper aims to present a visual and textual analysis of advertisements over the past six decades, contending that ads dumbfound predominantly unimaginative and objectified women and men.Popular culture contributes to the ways in which society constructs the roles and identities of women and men on a day-to-day basis. In general, individuals within Western society tend to be unable to comprehend the significance of our cultural values as portrayed in advertising. Also, when a person is able to understand the underlying cultural meanings of an ad, they often do not have access to knowledge that would enable them to effectively respond to advertisements that objectify or stereotype gender relationships. Without active cultivation of an individuals cultural literacy, by way of critiquing and reflecting upon advertisements presentation of gender relationships, meaningful social change is constrained. Hence, to live in a truly democratic society that values equality, respect for differences and the granting immunity of rights for all, small and reflective skills need to be learnt by all members of society. An example of a lack of critical insight into the cultural values upheld in advertising is the argument that states Ads are fun (Lukas, 2006). From this point of view, ads are not meant to be taken seriously as they are merely fun forms of entertainment. However, it is evident that many fun ads have underlying messages that reflect and maintain unequal gender relations. In the 1940s it was not uncommon for women to be portrayed as being stupid (see Figure 1, Appendix). During this era women were typically illustrated as belonging to the domestic realm, and as being intellectually inferior to men. To emphasize this characteristic of women, they we re visually presented with faces that suggested stupidity. Text accompanying the ad beef up the message that women say stupid things, or are unable to think for themselves, requiring a man to serve them. For example the text for Figure 1 reads as You mean a woman can hand it In contrast, men during the decade of 1940-1950 were presented as having authoritarian, dominant and controlling roles as reflected in ads. Especially, they were depicted as being intelligent and as in control (see Figures 2 and 3, Appendix). Women were viewed as subordinate to men, and as having to touch themselves with what the male of the household thought of their efforts to maintain their appearance. As well, women were predominantly concerned with pleasing their man by