Week #6 Comment

Author: Sky WonCreation date: Sunday, June 28, 2009 12:26:29 AM EDTDate last modified: Sunday, June 28, 2009 12:26:29 AM EDTTotal views: 5 Your views: 2
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How did I end up wanting to research gender issues in the world of advertising and marketing? In a word, awareness. This Gender and Communications course caused me to start doing double-takes on everything from social interactions with the opposite sex, to television shows and those never ending product ads. I never realized how much we are bombarded with advertisements that reinforce gender roles and I decided to take a historical look at this topic to see just how much progress has been made. Much to my disappointment, I realized four things: 1.) Although women control more and more of the family income in today’s society, not that much has changed in the way women are marketed to. 2.) Fundamentally, not that much has changed in the way women are portrayed in advertising. 3.) Sex has always and still does sell. 4.) How none of this bothered me, that is until this class.
Since advertisers need to sell their products to people that can actually buy them, I first researched at where the “buying power” was in a typical married couple household during the past 60 years. It was interesting to see how marketing to men was actually done through women when they did not necessarily bring in the income, but could obviously influence a man’s purchasing decisions. However, the way advertisers went about this was to define women in very subservient roles in order to make their housework easier and avoid conflict. From my research, I found that as the decades rolled on, not only did women bring in more of the total pie of family income, but they also started to take over a lot more of the buying decisions within a household. Although a few companies went directly after a woman’s ability to decide for herself in the late 60’s and 70‘s, most advertising gurus did not seem to get it (and still do not). As unlikely as it seems, even today not that much has changed in the way women are marketed to and portrayed in advertisements.
This topic related tour text Gendered Lives, specifically Chapter 11 – “Gendered Media” that discussed Gendered Messages in Advertising. I would like to think Julia T. Wood, would agree with my opinion, especially since I was able to support my ideas with concrete statistics. I could actually see her including my section on the Virginia Slims advertising campaign in this chapter in a future edition as one of those Info Boxes located throughout the book, and how it tried to capitalize on the feminist movement to sell cancer sticks.
A perfect follow-up to this project would be to do current research on the advertising industry for a period of time and try and determine the following: 1). What is the perceived total buying potential of women in the US (by the advertisers)? 2). What is the current real total buying potential of women in the US (actual)? a). Their income b). The portion of the husband’s income they control 3). Are there specific groups of products (or industries) that seem to be marketed to women better than others? 4). Do activists, feminists and watch dog groups have any influence on advertisers?As part of my research, I would include interviews with marketing executives, advertising firms, women, and those involved in with organizations trying to fight the negative portrayals of women in media.
Mario, in response to your reply.
Male bashing wasn’t my intention when I noted this cover in my introduction. It’s not personal, the point you obviously missed is the fact that people do not see what’s around them, and the point to the illustration is insulting to women by naming the movie Scent of a Women, would you say this is stereotyping? My statement wasn’t male bashing, my statement is stating the obvious, that men are around women and only see their physical being, that’s what my statement meant, men seem to forget at their convenience that there’s more to women than meets the eye. I believe care was taken when I wrote the introduction. If you can’t handle the truth, then so be it, but then again that’s why women are beginning to stand on their own two feet in all areas of their lives, it’s because of misinterpretations like this. You have to see both sides of the issue. What if the cover read (Scent of a Man), what would you say to that?

Mario, try harder to get out of your own way and see beyond your own experience which is clearly evident. I feel you missed the mark in interpreting my writing. Your interpretation of my work is clearly off the mark. You’re comparing the Athletes pictures and the sport they’re participating in, and the fact of the matter is, I’m comparing and shedding light on their salaries. Look at the heading “Gendered Salaries, Men vs. Women”. Then you stated Julia Wood wouldn’t think sports would be a good barometer for gender differences, your right, you stated maybe your wrong. YOU ARE.

And as far as my academic resources are concerned, the ones you thought were needed, they weren’t and that’s why this is Sky’s project, not mario’s project, some of us only know how to quote academic sources and some of us use our creative resources along with our academic resources. If you feel more academic resources are needed then when it’s your turn to illustrate a project on gendered salaries, you can construct it the way you want to. The same way you constructed your project you chose to use what you thought would get your point across, SO DID I.

Mario, what I truly enjoyed about this class is, one person’s opinion isn’t the only determinant of the issues, oh there’s something else, and being considerate concerning a fellow student’s work is the premise of the class, read your syllabus