Analysis on Sexism in Contemporary American Advertisements

Thesis statement: Sexism in American advertisements does great harm to society in

many aspects; therefore, there must be some ways to eliminate sexism.
Ⅰ. Introduction
Ⅱ. Development of American Contemporary Advertisement
Ⅲ. Sexism in American society
A. Sexism in society
B. Reasons of sexism
Ⅳ. Sexism in American Advertisements
A. Reasons of Sexism in American Advertisements
a. driving by commercial profits
b. women’s sex appeal in advertisements
c. traditional culture and conception
B. Influence of Sexism in American Advertisements
a. solidifying the conception that men are superior to women
b. ignoring women’s contribution to society
c. having bad influence on youngsters
d. misleading the criterion of beauty
C. Ways to Eliminate Sexism in American Advertisements
Ⅴ. Conclusion: It is the time women were treated equally to men in American
advertisement.
Abstract: Sexism is very common in daily life. Women are discriminated in
language, in career, and in payment. In this paper, sexism in American advertisements
will be discussed, and focused on the reason and bad effects of such advertisements.
Key Words: sexism, American advertisement, reason, influence, eliminate

Acknowledgements
 This thesis could not have been completed without the time, help, advice and
energy of numerous people.
I am extremely indebted to Zhou Shipei, my supervisor, whose academic
support and emotional encouragement are helpful for me. I would like to thank him
for providing valuable guidance, advice and suggestions, for enlightening me on the
subject of Analysis on Sexism in Contemporary American Advertisements, for
answering my troublesome questions, for letting me realize that even the slightest
mistake is not permissible in paper writing. I am very grateful to his kind and
generous help.
I would like to thank my friend, Chen Xiao, for borrowing me books and
materials from his library in Xiamen University, for sharing his thesis-writing
experience with me. I’d like to thank my classmate, Xu Rongping, for answering my
email messages, for handing my typescript in, for all his help.
My special thanks are due to my parents. Their material and spiritual support is
the power with which I can go through the toughest moment not only in writing this
paper but also in my life.

Analysis on Sexism in Contemporary American Advertisements

Ⅰ. Introduction
 As we all know, sexism is always a serious problem all over the world, even in
the United States. Since females are exposed to sexism at an early age, it doesn’t
bother them anymore, because they think it isn’t seriously being committed.
Many famous theses on sexism have been written. Some discuss the sexism in
languages, some focus on the history, some care about the society, and so on. I have
read some relative theses and learnt something from them. This article analyses on
sexism in Contemporary American Advertisements from various angles.

Ⅱ. Development of American Contemporary Advertisements

As mass communication develops rapidly, advertisements become all-pervasive.
It is safe to say that where there are people there are advertisements. We can hardly
image what it would be if there are no advertisements in manufacture and distribution.
Presently, advertising has replaced tourism and become the biggest smokeless industry
in the world. According to statistics released by International Herald Tribune, in 1992,
ad-investment of American in 1992 was 134.6 billion dollars, which, by proportion,
was almost half of the investment of the whole world. Now, World Wide Web covers all
over the world, provides advertising another working field. According to a research that
up to 2004 American annual ad-investment on Internet reached 22 billion, which was as
much as on TV. It is no exaggeration to say that advertising of America is changing
with every passing day.

Ⅲ. Sexism in American society

A. Sexism in society
American is a state highly which calls for human rights and equality. But what’s
the true situation of women in American? According to reports from all walks of life,
women in all areas, career women, housewives, schoolgirls, and nuns receive
discrimination or maltreatment in their workplace. Outwardly, women appear equally
in all departments of American government, Secretary of State, Ministry of Labor,
and Congress. On different occasions, you hear “ladies and gentlemen”, but not
“gentlemen and ladies”. Ladies always come first. When walk on the way, gentlemen
will give way to ladies. When taking a bus, the seats are surely given up to ladies.
Women are so respected in society that can you say women are discriminated in
America? As a matter of fact, women are generally unequal on employment. Women,
even with the same degree and do the same job, they cannot get the same salary with
men. If a male staff will get 1dollar per hour, a female staff can only get 0.77 dollar
per hour. Compared with male, female get one quarter salary less than male do. As to
the total income of a person’s whole life, there is a discrepancy of 700 thousand to 2
million dollars between female and male of all the professions, arranging from low
salary worker like cleaners and waiters to high salary vocations like doctors and
lawyers.
In the famous Wal-Mart lawsuit, a woman employee declares that since 1976,
no matter in which position, women have earned less than men for doing equal work.
In Wal-Mart, 70% workers are women, in order to reduce cost on salary, managers
hold on a policy which discriminates against women on salary. Experts figure that the
long shaped concept is the reason of women’s low salary in Wal-Mart.
Sexism can be found in other fields. In college, woman professors are to be
belittled. Their achievements are less important compared to man professors’. In
companies, woman employees find difficult to get promotion, just because she is
female. For the sake of expressing their deprecation, about 27% electorates claim that
they will vote for a woman candidate, no matter which party she is representative of.
(Associated Press)
Woman’s rights emancipation indeed enables women to be equal in some
aspects. However, sexism is still in existence in American. Especially in employment,
women are receiving unfair treatment.

B. Reasons of sexism
According to American Traditional Dictionary, sexism refers to discrimination
based on gender, especially discrimination against women: attitudes, conditions, or
behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. Traditional
sexism is common in both eastern and western world. Some experts believe that
sexism originates in family. If there is only one chance for education, this chance is
surely given to boys in the family. In their youth, girls have to help their mother with
housework. After they get married, they must take care of their father and mother.
Later, taking care of the children is part of their job. Very often, wealth, resource and
authority are under men’s control, women are chronically in a subordinate position. In
drastic social competition, women are always in an inferior position. In this case,
woman’s value is submerged in their dual-role in family and society.
The main reason of sexism is the physiological difference between male and
female. Such difference leads to different labor distribution, especially in primary
society when social productivity of labor is in a low level. In modern society, the
distribution of power in society is still dominated by men － men earn more money
than women; men own more property, men take out many more mortgages than
women and men are still seen as physically stronger. Most companies prefer male
staff to female staff. In economic activities such as production, distribution, exchange
and consumption of materials information, women have been in a subordinate
position. Consequently, status of women is improved quite slowly, that is why sexism
has been always a big problem in society.

Ⅳ. Sexism in American Advertisements

Sexism is everywhere, but the most common place is in the media, particularly
in advertisements. Women’s bodies have been used whole, or in parts, to promote
everything from brassieres to monkey wrenches. In advertisement women play a role
of bait. Some products have nothing to do with woman, such as wine, drinking, food,
car, but woman is involved in its advertisements of promotion. The images of sex and
sexual pleasure are used to sell their products.
Sexism can be shown in another way. Some women in advertisement are nearly
naked and that goes beyond the masses’ acceptance. “There just seems to be a trend in
advertising that is creeping back into society... a sort of insidious sexism that demeans
women.” Says Rachael Wynn Barton Del Mundo, a former international swimsuit
model. She returned to New Zealand recently after more than a decade working as a
"body" model in the United States, Australia and Asia. Now she is calling for a
boycott of companies that use scantily-clad women to sell their products. She says
that she is horrified by the number of local businesses using nearly-naked women to
advertise everything from beer to flavored milk, cell phones and hamburgers.
This phenomenon is ubiquitous in American advertisements. In an
advertisement of Primo flavored milk, a young, bikini-clad woman bounces around on
inflatable rubber balls. Burger King Promotions featuring three similarly garbed, and
bouncing, females on horseback. As another example, a Tui beer advertisement where
skimpily-clad women frolic in a river (Julie Jacobson, 2007).

A. Reasons of Sexism in American Advertisements

Why does advertising create gender stereotypes? Sell products, of course.
Before 1925 advertisements focused on the actual properties of the products being
sold, but at about that time corporations realized that method did not generate enough
capital so they tried a different approach: relating products to real human desires and
emotions (Trisha Grover/Duluth YSA). In these days, whenever you read a
newspaper, watch TV or get any information form any media, you cannot avoid
advertisements. In all kinds of advertisements, you can see beautiful ladies. Woman
image is subject matter in all ages. In modern society, women’s image in
advertisements has significant business value, social value and aesthetic value. A
“3B” principle is popular in advertising. “3B” refers to beauty, baby and beast.
Women are charming as long as they have beautiful appearance. Even a feminist says
that female is lovelier than male. So one of the reasons of sexism in American
advertisements is the skin beauty of women.
In the interest of promoting their products, advertising creates an image of the
perfect woman or man. The women in advertising are representative of the standards
of beauty. They are incredibly thin, with big breasts, and flawless skin. However, in
reality, almost always a person with a thin body is not born with big breasts, so most
of the images we see with this body type have had plastic surgery. Not only this, but
people in advertisements are air brushed and doctored to appear “perfect”. With this in
mind, women are given an unobtainable ideal. The average woman can never look
like this, so how is she able to? By buying the products of course. Advertising needs
women to feel insecure about themselves or they will not bring more profits, and that
is what the system is about.
Advertising is not only a tool of promotion, but a kind of culture that
strengthens the appeal of the product. A successful advertisement always combines
the culture and aesthetics beautifully. More often than not, the picture of a happy
family seems it never fails to touch the customers. The most typical beatific family is
one with lovely children, able father and virtuous mother of course. In advertisements,
women are responsible for her husband and children’s daily life, from preparing
breakfast to washing clothes. When watch the advertisements, we have the impression
that career is men’s whole world, while family is women’s whole world. Men are
leading actors of advertisements for high technical product, but women are frequently
related to such products as washing machine, refrigerator, monosodium glutamate,
etc.

B. Influence of Sexism in American Advertisements

While advertisements on the surface sell products, they also impose some ideas
and concepts on the audience. Commonweal advertisements deliver virtue to the
mass, and bring the mass to the correct path. However, sexism in advertisements
leaves many negative effects to the society.
Some advertisements demean women and neglect women’s contribution to
society. These advertisements circumscribe women’s lives in kitchen and bedroom.
One study of magazine advertisements from 1960 to 1979 when women entered the
workforce in unprecedented numbers found that advertisements failed to depict a
significant increase in women's employment outside the home (Michael F.
Jacobsen&Laurie Anne Mazur). The study also noted that women in advertisements
were apt to be, portrayed in traditional female roles: cooking, cleaning, and caring for
children. On the contrary, the way men are portrayed in advertising is quite the
opposite. They are most often shown in an active profile: legs apart, firmly on the
ground, with arms crossed. If they are not standing, they are portrayed doing
something active, like sports, or taking hold of a pretty woman. That women are so
frequently displayed as passive sexual objects has negative effects on women in real
life. Such advertisements lessen women’s status; meanwhile magnify men’s ability
blindly. This will further superiority complex of men. When such conception is
embedded into the mass’s mind, they would take for granted that women are inferior
to men. Even women themselves are willing to be subject to men. Their potential will
decrease during the process.
Images of sexuality in advertisements encourage us to think of sex as a
commodity or regard women as objects that can be bought and sold, taken and used.
Women are not on display as a full person, but rather her legs, waist, butt, or breasts.
Women's faces and bodies appeared in Coca-Cola calendars in the 1890s and have
been employed to sell virtually everything since. Sexual imagery in nowadays
advertising has become more common, more explicit, more exploitative, and more
violent. Many ads have crossed the line. For instance, an advertisement for Calvin
Mein's Obsession shows a naked man and woman on a swing, pressed against each
other. An advertisement for Candies shoes features a naked man in a chair with a
naked woman sitting astride him. A Wilke-Rodriguez clothing advertisement features
an obvious simulation of intercourse on a city rooftop. A woman in nothing but high
heels straddles a man in jeans.
Sexualized images do harm to the youngsters. They are a danger to little girls
who lack the ability of defending themselves. They are less likely to distinguish
between fact and advertising fiction. 450,000 American children were reported as
victims of sexual abuse in 1993 (Michael F. Jacobsen&Laurie Anne Mazur). Girls and
teenagers are perhaps most vulnerable to beauty-industry propaganda. For them,
advertising is a window into adult life, teaching them how to be a woman.
As mentioned above, a sexy lady even appears in hamburger advertisements.
American mothers are concerned about the effect the ads are having on youngsters.
"I've got a 12-year-old-son. I don't want him to see this sort of thing and accept it as
being all right"(Julie Jacobson, 2007). She turned the television off when the
advertisements were screened, and the family no longer ate at Burger King.
Some advertisements mislead the standards of beauty. As we all know, we
cannot judge a person from his appearance. However, in many advertisements,
woman’s exterior beauty goes beyond the internal virtues. What’s more, the exterior
beauty criterion is decided by man. It seems that only those women who are young,
beautiful, slim but plump can be called beauty. As a matter of fact, most fashion
models are thinner than 98% of American women. The ideal image of the models in
American advertisements can hardly be achieved by average people. Consequently,
there are women continually on diet. According to statistics released in the article
“Advertising: System of Sexist Oppression”:
42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.’
81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat.
The average American woman is 5’4" tall and weighs 140 pounds. The
average American model is 5’11" tall and weighs 117 pounds.
46% of 9-11 year olds are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets, and 82%
of their families are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets.
91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to
control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted "often" or "always"
(Trisha Grover/Duluth YSA).
Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year. In
order to lose weight, some women use all kinds of methods, right or wrong, scientific
or unscientific. They eat disorderly, or take diet pills which have side effect.
Therefore, sexism in advertisements not only misinterprets the criterion of beauty, but
affects women’s health indirectly.

C. Ways to Eliminate Sexism in American Advertisements

In order to eliminate sexism in advertisements, the conception that man is
superior to woman must be corrected. People with such conception will deny
women’s ability no matter what contribution women have done to society. And
Managers and higher-ups with such conception will not give woman the chance to
show their ability and wisdom. What’s worse, when discrimination is rooted in
conception, discrimination in behavior will come into being. This change then comes
into advertisement. So it is very important to establish female awareness that means to
think woman as a self-governed person, rather than attachment to man. This can be
done by the mass media. As an American scholar put it, “mass media can work for
evil as well as virtue”. Sexism can be spread by the mass media. In the same way, we
can promote female awareness through mass communication.
The society should encourage activities about women’s striving for their own
rights. A woman professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose
achievement was captured by other man professor called for another 14 woman
professors to write a complaint to the president. In that case, school board set up a
special committee to investigate this problem. Afterwards, they worked out several
measures, aiming at settling the unfair treatment women professor received. These
measures do work. There are no more cases of sexism in MIT. When other
universities learned the way MIT solve the problem, they establish the same
committee to ravel out sexism issue.
In addition, we can encourage the campus communities to hold activities to
educate the mass. For example, each year we can hold a sexism in advertising
campaign on the cultural impact of sexist and misogynistic imagery. We can call for
volunteers to select the ten most sexist and ten most progressive advertisements of
this year and we write letters to those companies. These letters are signed by
members of the campus communities and describe why we find the advertisement
particularly offensive or empowering. We then send the letters out by the hundreds
and await the companies’ responses.

Ⅴ. Conclusion
This essay only deals with sexism in American advertisements. But sexism is a
common phenomenon all over the world. It is the time women were treated equally to
men. The only winners in these types of advertisements are the advertisers
themselves, who make money when you buy the product. There needs to be a public
awakening, for sexism should not be used in any situation, especially not to sell
products. Advertisers need to take responsibility for their own actions and to end this
type of exploitation. If they do not, consumers can always force them. After all, we
have the sense and the right to decide to buy or not. Women are just as capable as any
man when doing any job, whether it is logical, physical or skilful. Women do have
opinions and ideas and can easily and quickly apply themselves to any situation of
task that faces them. I think that both men and women should put an end to sexism, so
future generations can live better without the discrimination against women that we
have currently.
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