Advertisements Are Specifically Designed to Lure Select Term Paper

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advertisements are specifically designed to lure select audiences -- such as the use of Joe Camel to entice youth to smoke. The article "Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising" concerns a study that looked at whether or not this problem with stereotyped advertising has grown. Are the racial and gender biases in magazine advertisements increasing, and, if so, to what extent? To determine the answer, authors S. Plous and Dominque Nepture of Wesleyan University conducted content analyses of ten years of fashion advertisements geared toward white women, black females or white men. In total, 1000 ads were studied that ran in 1985 to 1994 publications. The researchers found a) except for black females in white women's magazines, African-Americans were underrepresented in white magazines; b) female body exposure was greater than male body exposure, and white female body exposure rose significantly during the ten years; c) white women were shown in low-status positions nearly twice as often as were other models; and d) black women wore the majority of animal prints, most of which were patterned after a predatory animal.

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Such results as these by Plouse unfortunately substantiate the saying, "the more things change, the more they are the same," or even become worse. Despite the fact that the 1990s were supposed to promote women's equality among men, these advertisements show differently.

As the authors note, over 184 billion classified and 12 billion display ads bombard people of all ages and backgrounds in the United States every day. This is addition to billion advertisements in magazines and other periodicals, 2.6 billion commercials on the radio and another 330 commercials on television.

These advertisements act as a window, displaying societal values. At the same time, they promote these values to the most vulnerable audience -- the American youth. U.S. teenagers view about 350,000 TV commercials by the age of 18.

Although it is impossible to measure the exact impact these ads have on changing children and youth, several studies on gender stereotyping conclude that such ads significantly effect how people perceive and relate toward one another.

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Is it any surprise that many men still demean women, considering all the biased ads they see on a regular basis? The study by Rudman and Borgida compared members of a control group with male interviewers who had watched sexist television commercials. Those seeing the TV ads judged a female job applicant less competent, remembered less biographical information about her, and remembered more about her physical appearance.

According to a content analysis done by Courtney and Lockeretz in 1971, magazine advertisements reflected four biases about women: 1) "A woman's place is in the home," 2)"Women do not make important decisions or do important things,"

3) "Women are dependent and need men's protection," and 4) "Men regard women primarily as sex objects; they are not interested in women as people. Such findings are not too unusual for the 1970s, since this was only the beginning of the women's liberation movement. More disconcerting is the conclusion of present studies, which show that only one of these myths has since been eliminated -- the idea of women always being in the house, since large numbers are employed. Yet, despite that over 50% of women are in the job force, they are still seen as sex symbols.

Similarly, it is clear why ads in the late 1940s and early 1950s were biased against blacks: the black freedom movement was only in its infancy. But what about today's biased advertisements? Although African-Americans are not portrayed as much as servants and skilled laborers, they are stereotyped as athletes, entertainers and recipients of charity.

What the media says about promoting equality between the sexes and races, and what they print and air in advertisements and commercials are two different things. However, when held….....

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