Woman more than Sex? NO WAY

Although I wish I could say that gender stereotyping was a thing of the past I can assure you that it is not. Companies and products want to appeal to certain demographics so they aim their campaign ads to either men or women or both. In aiming someone to the opposite sex one of them is going to get downplayed. For example, if you are advertising hard liquor you will probably see a beautiful woman at a mans feet. If you are advertising Skinny Girls Margarita mix the women will more than likely be the main focus of the ad. In my last post mentioned that stereotyping was a thing of the past but after doing further research I have changed my mind. Let me show you some examples.

 These are both ads for alcohol one of from the1950's and the other is from the 2000's. As you can see not much has really changed. In the picture on the right the woman is half naked, showing of her figure, her hair is blonde, insinuating purity and softness, and looks very provocative. In the picture on the right again, you see a blonde woman practically naked with a man standing over her. The man standing over shows his dominance and her submissiveness. In both ads the woman is being used as a sex symbol downplaying her intelligence.
Again, with the ads on the left women are being sterotyped as unintelligent and weak. The top picture reads " The Mini Automatic For Simple driving". This is insinuating women are not capable of driving. Women need something simple and not complicated so that our little pea brains can understand.
The lower picture reads " You mean a woman can open it"? Women are as weak or maybe even weaker than a twig, we have trouble opening anything that does not include our makeup or diaper bags.

 The ad reads "Pamper your man... and the whole family too"! The picture that is shown is a man in a suite looking straight forward with a masculine stature. The woman is smaller and lower than him in the image, she's wearing house clothes and is not looking at him directly in the eyes because she is not equal to him.








This is a more recent ad for a microwave oven. There is a woman laying in a grass field throwing up a microwave oven for a mothers-day campaign. Although this ad is a a lot more subtle than the previous one it is insinuating that any woman would absolutely love a microwave oven as a gift because the only thing we are good for is cleaning, cooking and making babies.

So there you have it! Gender stereotyping might be done a little more subtly these days but it is definitely still in full effect. I personally don't take offense to these type of ads because women have proven to be much more than just a housewife. These types of ads should be taken with a grain of salt because the company is just trying to sell a product and create a buzz. Ads like this shouldn't be taken seriously or to the heart. 

Leave it in the Past

        In my opinion, I don't not think it is right to racially stereotype. I think people are so concerned with being politically correct these days that it does not happen as much as it might have in the past. Companies are also a lot more concerned with their reputations and making money, if they were to be racist they would lose revenue and probably get a lot of bad press,which is something a corporation never wants to have. These days, if any group of people finds somethig racist or offensive they will probably protest and create a buzz about it making the corporation extract whatever the racist or offensive ad or commercial may be.
      I also believe companies want to appeal to the majority of people so that their products can be successful. Again, with trying to be politically correct companies usually so not want to offend anyone causing their product to down spiral. For example, make-up lines like Cover Girl and Maybelline. I have seen ads for both companies which contain Asian women, Hispanic women, African American women and Caucasian. They want their product to appeal to a massive group of people so they incorporate all races to show that anyone can use what they are selling.
     Another good example is Gap. Gap, unlike other clothing companies like Tommy Hilfigure, always do a good job of incorporating all races and ethnicities in their ads. They want to include all races so that everyone can feel comfortable wearing their clothes. In the pictures to the right we see a compilation of races. What companies have also gotten better at is pulling ads or products that are found offensive. A while ago Gap put out a shirt that read

"Manifest Destiny" across the chest. “This article of clothing promotes a belief that has resulted in the mass genocide of indigenous people, and it serves to normalize oppression,” the petition to recall the shirt read.The shirt’s designer, the iconic fashion designer Mark McNairy, took to Twitter to, at first, boast about the slogan. “MANIFEST DESTINY. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST,” he wrote, then later deleted. “I AM SORRY FOR MY SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST COMMENT. IT HURT ME DEEPLY TO BE CALLED A RACIST AS THAT IS NOT ME. I REACTED WITHOUT THINKING,” he tweeted in all caps days later.

     Moreover, as I previously mentioned, companies have to worry about their images and keeping a good, clean, trusting relationship with their audience. When their biggest concern is making money and pleasing the customer  it does not leave room for racism and stereotyping. 

Applying semiotic to the real world

An example of semiotic in a print ad could be the Garnier Fructis pages. In these ads we typically see a pretty girl with long, shiny, healthy, voluminous, luscious hair. The signifier would be the bottle of shampoo and conditioner in the ad, but the signified is the way the girls hair looks. Garnier Fructis is implying that when you use their shampoo your hair will be like the models hair in the ad.

A television add that uses the method of semiotics would be the Old Spice deodorant commercials. In these ads we see a manly man doing things like riding a horse on sunset beaches. Old Spice is signifying that you can be a manly man and do rugged things but you can also smell good while doing them. The signifier could be the actual  bottle of deodorant while the signified is what comes along with the bottle, which would be smelling good while still being manly.

An outdoor symbol could be those signs in neighborhoods that read "children at play". This is letting people know to be a little more careful about their driving because more than likely there are kids around the area. When there are little kids playing outside they do not always tend to be aware of their surroundings so it is your job to be cautious. The signifier is obviously the sign and what is says but the signified is what the sign implies, and that is to more careful and cautious.

BrandsBrands Brands!!

 I think a brand represents a type of life-style a person lives or likes to portray. Wether we like to admit it or not we tend to judge people based on the brands they use or wear. A brand has the ability to portray anything they wish. How the brand decides to portray itself with the type of advertising and campaigning they do dictates what the consumer thinks about them and who will be their biggest market. A good example of this was the one we talked about in class. Dre Beats Vs. Bose Headphones. The type of image that Beats portrays is for the more urban, hip person while the Bose headphones are for the older, classier, more sophisticated user. Another good example would be the oh so chic and elegant brand of shoes every girl would die for called LOUBOUTIN'S. When women see other women with the distinguishable red bottoms we automatically think wealth, style and high fashion.