Exploring the Sexual Portrayal of Women in Media Adverts: A feministic perspective

International Journal of Advanced Information in Arts Science & Management ISSN: xxxx: xxxx Vol.3., No.3., January 2015

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Exploring the Sexual Portrayal of Women in

Media Adverts: A feministic perspective

Tazanfal Tehseem

Lecturer/Department of English,

University of Sargodha, Sargodha-

Pakistan.

[[email protected]]

Iqra Riaz

Undergraduate student/Department of

English, University of Sargodha-

Pakistan.

[[email protected]]

Abstract--This paper aims to explore the sexual representation of women in media

adverts. It focuses on negative portrayal of women often in social media using them as a

sex object. They display female body in order to sell a product. It is quite difficult for viewers not to be affected by the strong

appeal made by media to present women as sex object. This paper is also a comparative

analysis of different adverts in which women are negatively portrayed.

This research is based on Sara Mill‟s theory of Feminist Stylistics followed by

Fairclough model. Highlighting the striking underrepresentation of women who determine the content of news, literature,

television and film entertainment. Female stereotypes in the media tend to undervalue

women as a whole, and diminish them to sexual objects and passive human beings. Objectifying women in commercials and

advertisements for products has desensitized people towards violence perpetrated against

women. They used women as sex objects to enhance sales. They take different provocative postures of women in order to

attract the attention of viewers. We can see women in each and every thing related to

media for example TV, magazines

newspaper, internet, video games, movies;

books and they are portrayed negatively just as sex symbol that are only can be used to attract attention of men. It seems like that

women are just poetic creation and weaker sex who can‟t protect their self from

harassment and sexual assault just because of negative portrayal.

Purpose is to highlight the unnecessary

portrayal of women in adverts which aims

just to tempt males, and is really inhuman.

There is a frequent exposure of polarized

gender roles in media which is causing

negative impact on society and increasing

problems for women specially. This

negative portrayal is the sole cause of high

rate of crimes committed by men against

women.

I. Introduction:-

In this paper we have analysed

underrepresentation of women in media

specifically in adverts. How society

perceives this representation of gender

differently. Actually gender is sociological

term given to man and women because of

their biological differences and distinct

societal roles. Gender is something which

divides entire human race into two groups

“man” and “women” and this division is

universal. This is significant how power

relations are distributed in society among

man and woman. Actually society is

structured according to these power relations


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how one gender is dominating over other.

However, gender role varies from society to

society and culture to culture.

The research problem concerns with

negative representation of women in media,

or the discourse analysis of gender. In our

daily life while watching TV, reading

newspaper, doing internet surfing, watching

different billboards or neon signs, or any

other stuff like this we always saw images of

men and women specially women. Such

kind of images influences us directly or in

directly present in adverts movies or TV

series. We all are aware of this fact that

media is a greater part of our daily life it

reflects our ideas because media has the

power to shape our thought and ideology so

we perceives thing how media portray them

for example objectifying the women. Images

in which women portrayed negatively

influence people‟s thoughts and they tend to

build their ideology. It is not possible to

infer that media has no effect on people‟s

life, ideas or the way they think about the

world around them.

The sole cause behind doing this research is

to highlight the role of media in negative

representation of women in different adverts

by applying discourse analysis. How

political problems are interestingly

associated with this issue “feminism”,

“gender” or “exploitation of women”. We

can observe that there is a significant rise in

slogans like “women‟s equal rights” or

movements for the rights of women or the

number of NGO‟s working for the rights of

women. Such kind of things also influenced

this issue “negative portrayal of women in

adverts”. I will analyse a number of adverts

in this research paper specifically adverts of

perfumes and shaving cream. It is a fact that

these adverts has been seen by a number of

people who frequently read newspapers,

magazines and watch TV, so it is obvious

that people love to see women portrayed

negatively and these adverts are also liked

by them. When people like to see things like

this it influence their current culture.

Representation of women and gender roles

are important and they should play positive

role in any culture or society because it

influence minds of people their thought,

identity and perception.

Women always portrayed in adverts as

weaker sex who is supposed to serve men.

Advertisers tend to portray them as sex

objects and dependent who are just there to

appeal men sexually. Another thing which is

associated with women is to play roles like

mothers, carers, house wives and

homemakers in order to satisfy male

dominance and privilege. By means of

research, TV programs and seminars it is

proved that such power relations in terms of

gender are diminished, but the question is,

are they really diminished? We can see

almost all kind of adverts for example

shaving cream, perfumes, cars motorbikes or

adverts related to diet, beauty or sex are not

complete without portraying women in them

either positively or negatively. As time has

progressed, advertisers have started to use

younger, taller, and thinner models. These

models are typically younger than the

audience that the product is intended for.

Gender studies in media are a wide topic of

research that includes many different types

of media prime-time television, radio and


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more recently, the internet. It is a constantly

growing field of study and is important for

many reasons. Different ideologies

concerning gender representation can be

seen in various adverts. A wide range of

methods in researching have been applied to

the field as well. The most common methods

have been quantitative content analysis and

discourse analysis.

Studies on gender roles in media show that

women are underrepresented in adverts, and

that they are represented in a different way

than men. Men tend to be portrayed as

having higher and longer lasting career

based on their success, while women have

lower and shorter career status based on

their youth or looks and attraction. Although

gender studies show that gender concerns

both femininity and masculinity, it is rare

that both sides are discussed at the same

time. Gender studies in media mostly

concern the feminine perspective, and how

women are portrayed. Women are mostly

portrayed negatively their portrayal is rarely

positive or productive but portrayal of men

is not focussed. In addition, media is the

greater source which is producing data

regarding gender issues which can be easily

collected and then analysed by applying

different methods like discourse analysis.

We can see a lot of adverts and other

programs produced by media they are

changing in subject but always centred

around a woman in order to propagate.

Media is the central figure making right

things in a wrong way like negative

representation of women in media is but

selling product in order to persuade viewer

is somehow right. Media has the power to

represent things in a way which is socially

legitimate and publically acceptable and

according to the will and demand of people.

It is also interesting to know that these

representations are also political in term of

power relation. So this research is conducted

to analyse representations of men and

women specifically women in different

adverts.

At first I have introduced the topic and some

other details about the topic called

introduction then I have presented literature

review so that one could get the idea about

the research and know about the gist of

previous research have which been done

about representation of gender in media

specifically in adverts.Different theories are

discussed because this research is done with

the help of these theories in order to

interpret the ideas and text for example

Fairclough modal and Feministic stylistics.

Different questions are answered through

discourse analysis and then conclusion is

drawn on the basis of results.

II. Methodology:-

A qualitative analysis is made in order to

investigate how women are portrayed

negatively in different adverts. Gender roles

are analysed how media represent them,

specifically how role of women is just

limited to sex object. Norman Fairclough‟s

three dimensional critical discourse analysis

framework and Sara Mill‟s feministic

stylistics are used for analysing the data of

research. This framework was first

conceptualised to study the connection

between the use of language and through it,

the assertion of power (Fairclough 1989).

Later, Fairclough redefined his CDA


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framework to specifically use it as a tool to

analyse media texts.

III. Theories used in research:-

Fairclough gave three dimensional

theoretical framework in order to analyse the

text it‟s three dimensions are text which is

either written or spoken, discourse practice

and social practice. In discourse practice

production, consumption and interpretation

of text is involved. Social practice involved

what happening in particular sociocultural

structure it is also concerned with power

relations in society. This research is carried

out in order to analyse media texts and

images of different adverts by applying

discourse analysis.

This kind of analysis, which considers what

discourses are available to which speakers,

and their relative authority within a society,

is an important element of my feminist

stylisticsframework. Fairclough has also

considered how texts address readers, and

how readers are positioned in an interactive

framework by a text, which as we will see is

highly relevant to the analysis of texts such

as advertisements (Fairclough 1989:132–

3).This feminist model takes into account

the interactional nature of the relation

between texts and their context. By using

such a model, it is possible to discuss the

ways in which texts are determined by a

wide range of pressures on their processes of

production and reception, and also how they

have an effect on their audience and on the

processes of production of further texts.

IV. Representation:-

Our first and primary way of expression is

language. It is the basic medium which is

necessary to communicate with each other.

We express our ideas, thoughts and

emotions more effectively by using

language in different ways. Language is also

a basic medium to write research papers,

journals, articles, thesis works and other

things related to written expression so that

others can read and understand. It is

interesting to know how language expresses

meaning and how same words give different

meaning in different contexts. Language is

not only based upon words but different

signs symbols and images that also come in

fold of language called representational

attributes of language. The following quote

is a significant way of describing language

and its importance overall.

Language, then, is the property of neither

the sender nor the receiver of meanings. It is

the shared cultural space in which the

production of meaning through language -

that is, representation – takes place (Hall

1997, p. 10).

In representational analysis we can study

two social constructive approaches one is

semiotic approach and other is discursive

approach.

V. The Semiotic Approach

The semiotic approach pertains the meaning

of language and individual texts parole,

which considers the analysis of texts an

important feature in the cultural analysis of

media (Lacey 2000, p. 238. Fairclough

1995, p. 24). Signs are major part of

language, a language carries different kind


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of signs in it for example images, sounds

and words all come in fold of sign. This

approach that language is system of is

influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure theory

concerning the form, sign signified and

signifier. Signifier is the word or image of

the object signified is the object itself for

example image of the tree is signifier and

tree itself is signified. But according to

Saussure sign is not consists of fixed

meaning. When describing social

constructivism overall: it is ever changing

and adapting to the time period wherein it is

being used. Furthermore, what signify are

things differences, for example the colour

red, what is not red makes it possible to

signify what is red. The simplest way to

show these differences is to pair things or

words with other things and words that

mean the opposite, for example black or

white, day or night and masculine or

feminine etc.

VI. The Discursive Approach

The term discourse includes two senses of

meanings: one is discourse as social action

and interaction which is of great significance

in linguistic studies; the other one is

discourse as a social construction of reality

as well as a form of knowledge, which is the

main force in post-structuralist social theory

studies. Therefore, discourse analysis can be

viewed as a way to show systematic

relationships between socio-cultural

practices, discourse practices e.g.

intertextual analysis as well as texts,

including linguistic, spoken and written

languages as well as visual images and

sound effects (Fairclough 1995, p. 17-18).

The discursive approach is influenced by

Michel Foucault. It is not focused as much

on the semiotics, language side of things.

Rather it is focused more on the production

of knowledge and meaning. Foucault„s

discourse approach is a bit wider than

Saussure‟s semiotic approach, in the sense

that it also incorporates power or knowledge

in correlation with history and historical

events. The interesting questions worth

being looked at are: what the statements

about gender are, what the used rules are

when speaking about gender, what we are

allowed to think and say concerning the

concept gender and how the concept is dealt

with in institutions.

What should not be ignored is that there are

two different categories of discourses:

genres and discourses. A discourse is the

language used in representing a given social

practice from a particular point of view.

Discourses appertain broadly to knowledge

and knowledge construction. (Fairclough

1995, p.56).A genre is a way of using

language which corresponds to the nature of

the social practice that is being engaged

in.(Fairclough 1995, p. 76). Therefore, to

make contributions from discourse analysis

to social and cultural analysis, the way of

combining these insights with textual

analysis is strongly needed, which aims at

making them operational, usable as well as

matching specific cases (Fairclough 1995, p.

54).

VII. Literature Review:-

Feminist analysis aims to draw attention to

and change the way that gender is

represented, since it is clear that a great


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many of these representational practices are

not in the interests of either women or men.

Thus, feminist stylistic analysis is concerned

not only to describe sexism in a text, but

also to analyse the way that point of view,

agency, metaphor, or transitivity are

unexpectedly closely related to matters of

gender, to discover whether women‟s

writing practices can be described, and so

on. By close reading, using techniques from

a range of linguistic and literary

backgrounds, aim is to present readers with

a vocabulary to describe what is going on in

texts and what is going on in the readers

themselves when they read Norman

Fairclough states in his book Language and

Power that his objective is „to help increase

consciousness of language and power, and

particularly of how language contributes to

the domination of some people by others‟

(Fairclough 1989:4).Ideologies related to

gender issues are mostly considered

oppressive, if a reader analyse the language

he will aware about these ideologies. But

this is not only aim, since ideologies of

gender are not solely oppressive, and they

are not simply imposed on women by men.

It is a common belief of almost all feminists

that treatment with women is different and

oppressive as compare to men. There is

obvious discrimination can be observed with

women from personal and institutional point

of view. It is also claimed by feminists that

behaviour of society with women is different

and it works in a way which tend to

facilitate men not women so we are living in

a patriarchal society from feministic point of

view. Stylistics is the analysis of literary

texts and their language and it takes

different theoretical linguistics models for

analysis. As Simpson states, „stylistics uses

linguistic analysis to provide a window on

the devices which characterize a particular

work‟ (Simpson 1992:48).

Geoffrey Leech and Michael Short supply a

fuller definition:

“In general, literary stylistics has, implicitly

or explicitly, the goal of explaining the

relation between language and artistic

function. The motivating questions are not

so much what, as why and how. From the

linguist‟s angle, it is „why does the author

here choose to express himself in this

particular way?‟. From the critic‟s viewpoint

it is „how is such-and-such an aesthetic

effect achieved through language?” (Leech

and Short 1981:13). But feminist stylistics is

concerned with the general emphasis

outlined by Leech and Short, that is, how

writers have chosen specific ways in order

to express them and why they not go for

other ways? How they achieved effects

according to their will by manipulating

language.

Any work on gender and text analysis has to

take into account contemporary feminist

work in sociolinguistics, the major figures in

British sociolinguistics being Deborah

Cameron and Jennifer Coates. Both these

linguists approach their work with the

supposed facts that there are features carried

by language which explains only gender.

This is an increasing area of research, which

embraces a wide spectrum of approaches.

Two aspects of this area of work which are

of particular relevance to feminist stylistics

are the strength of the stereotypes and


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beliefs regarding what is „typical‟ male or

female usage, and the difference in

interactive norms found in all- female and

all-male groups. Edelsky research shows

that at an early age children have

internalized ideas of what is a „typical‟ word

for a man to use rather than a woman (e.g.

strong swear words), or for a woman to use

rather than a man (e.g. milder expletives

such as „oh dear‟), showing how ingrained

are stereotypes of gendered language.

Coates (Ibid), on the other hand, has

investigated the differences in the way all-

woman groups handle topic selection and

development, and turn- taking, amongst

other features of talk. These studies show

how gender is a variable affecting both our

language competence and our beliefs and

expectations about language-use.

Cameron‟s work includes analyses of the

way women and men are represented in

language, investigating terms such as „false

generics‟, i.e. how a general term can be

used as specific sub-group of that word, as

in this example: „A coloured South African

who was subject to racial abuse by his

neighbours went berserk with a machete and

killed his next-door neighbour‟s wife‟. In

this example, the generic word „neighbour‟

which is usually thought to include male and

female clearly refers only to the male

neighbour; otherwise, the additional term

„wife‟ would not have been necessary. Close

language analysis such as this feminist work

emphasizes the importance of studying

language and „common sense‟ views of it,

and of taking gender issues into account

when constructing theories of what language

is and how it works.

„In advertisements it is possible to see that

women or girls are represented and analysed

in a different way compared to men‟ (Carter

& Steiner 2004). For example, during

interwar period three different kinds of

portrayals used in advertisement discourse

related to women identities, which are the

capable household manager, guilt ridden

mother and the flapper (Carter & Steiner

2004, p. 44-45). A more recent example on

how this type of discourse is still alive is a

study conducted by Goodin from 2011,

showing that self- objectification is a

discussed concept when it comes to how

women and children are portrayed by the

way they dress in advertisements and

magazines, as well as outside of these

medias. Furthermore how women dress has

been a topic of discussion in various ways in

describing them negatively or positively. An

example on how the analysis of women and

girls dress is conducted is by looking at their

clothing„s shape, colours and so forth

(Goodin 2011).

Feminist Stylistics also aims to show that

gender is foregrounded in texts at certain

key moments and is usually dealt with in

ways which can be predicted. These

moments often appear to be common sense

but foregrounding them enables us to read

them differently. It intends to look at texts

which appear to be explicitly dealing with

gender issues; for example, love scenes in

books, differential usage of terms for men

and women, sexism and so on. But it will

also analyse those elements which do not at

first sight seem to have anything to do with

gender; for example, metaphor, narrative

and focalization.


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VIII. Advertisements:-

Advertising is necessary for the sustenance of many manufacturing companies.

According to Asemah (2011b) include: (a) It serves a marketing function by helping

companies that provide products or services to sell their products. Advertising works With other forms of marketing

communication like personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, etc, to sell

ideas, goods and services.

(b) Advertising induces the firm's cost of

production per unit output. This is because, advertising increases demand for the firm's output, thereby, encouraging manufacturers

to manufacture more products.

(c) Advertising makes the public to be loyal

to a product.

(d) Through advertising, companies that are new in business can easily penetrate the market. Advertising is pro-competitive.

Thus, it helps the new organizations with a new product or service to take on the giants

in the industry and carve out a niche for itself in the market.

(e) Advertising informs the consumers about products in the market. This will enable the consumers to make more intelligent choices

in the market place. Thus, advertising aids the competitive process.

(f) Advertising increases usage of product.

(g) Directs the public to areas where they

can get products.

(h) Helps the public to identify products and differentiate them from others.

Anyacho (2007, p.9) says most commercial oriented companies advertise to achieve the

following results: (a) Create awareness for new products. This helps to expose the brand and the

uniqueness of the product;

(b) Sustain interests and helps to alleviate cognitive dissonance by constantly reinforcing the unique qualities of the

product and services; (c) Fight competition to secure the desired

market share;

(d) Increase profit, thereby ensuring the

continued life of the business;

(e) Increase sales turn over;

(f) Induce higher production volume resulting from increase in demand

(g) Get more efficient in the utilization of resources as a result of increase in

profitability; (h) Invest in research and development; (i) Lower prices and get more competitive;

and (j) Expansion of market.

According to Puranik (2011), advertising is nothing, but a paid form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, goods or

services by an identified sponsor with a view to disseminate information concerning

an idea, product or service. The message which is presented or disseminated is called advertisement. Advertising is the structured

and composed non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products,

services and ideas, by identified sponsors, through various mass media. Arens (2008,

p.7) Several studies have shown that women are traditionally portrayed in advertising in

stereotypical roles or in ways that do not necessarily match reality. These often

negative representations of women in advertising and its effect on young women is a source of concern for many researchers

(Matlin, 1987). Ferrante, Haynes and Kingsley (1988, p.231) stated that the

portrayal of women in television advertisements is criticised by many who believe that women‟s depicted roles in


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commercials have not kept pace with women‟s changing roles in society. Ferrante, Haynes and Kingsley (1988) found that

women traditionally have been overrepresented in the home and

underrepresented outdoors and in business settings. Whipple and Courtney‟s (1985, p.4) research found that there is evidence

that advertising presents a traditionally stereotyped portrayal of women and that

demography and attitudes have changed dramatically over the past decade. Bardwick and Schumann (1976) analysed

the portrayal of women in commercials and

found that at astonishing level, women are

preoccupied with dirt. Visual advertisements

are bombarded with images and slogans

portraying women.

One of the first studies that talked about the

image of women in television commercials

was by Bardwick and Schumann (1967).

Bardwick and Schumann (1967) analysed

male and female role portrayals in television

commercials and concluded that women are

portrayed primarily as homebound or as

housewives. Courtney and Whipple (1974)

studied the portrayal of women in television

commercials and found significant

differences between men and women.

Women were over-represented in

advertisements for cosmetics and were less

likely to appear in advertisements for cars,

trucks and related products. Seventy-five

present of all advertisements using women

were for products found in the kitchen or

bathroom, reinforcing the stereotype that a

woman‟s place is in the home. Women as

compared to men were portrayed mostly in

house settings, rather than business settings.

Women did not make important decisions

and lastly, women were depicted as

dependent on men and were regarded

primarily as sexual objects. Courtney and

Whipple (1974) defined sexual objects as,

where women had no role in the

commercial, but appeared as an item of

decoration. In most advertising, women are

generally portrayed as subordinate to men or

merely as a decorative item.

IX. Use of theories:-

With the help of theory of representation

function of language is explained that how it

is part of culture and a basic medium of

interaction and communication with the

people around us. Meanings are manipulated

by use of language in different ways, text,

spoken and written or visual images are the

ways of expression of language. In terms of

semiotic approach which is helpful for the

analysis of visual images because it links the

terms signifier and signified. With the help

of discourse analysis I tried to explain how

ideas of power and ideology are manipulated

by means of language. How meanings are

constructed and perceived is the point of

focus. Analysis of adverts is based

theoretical research and understandings.

Fairclough‟s model, theories of

representation and semiotics are taken as

independent variables, because by means of

these theories and model it is possible to

understand how language is used not only as

medium to convey meaning but also its

manipulation in order to get intentional

meanings to convince other. Portrayal of

women in adverts negatively is dependent

variable because it depends on these theories

for analysis of adverts in research.


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X. Aim of research:-

Our aim of research is of wider significance

to highlight the thing that negative portrayal

of women in adverts just to capture the

attention of viewers is really inhuman and

immoral. Theories are applied to show how

women are represented in adverts, how

viewers are manipulated and forced to buy

the product.

XI. Research questions:-

We carried out our research on the lines of

the following questions that direct us

towards the main aim.

1. How the women are portrayed in

media adverts to exhibit negative

traits?

2. What the power relationships are

construed between men and women

in the media adverts?

3. How does the sexual portrayal of

women tempt people towards certain

products?

XII. Analysis:-

This is a Gillette advert a shaving cream and

male specific brand. In image two identical

twin brothers are shown, one brother is

doing wet shave and other is doing dry

shave, 40 girls are invited in order to

differentiate between the two brothers the

way they shaved and who is “sexier”??

opening words of advert are “shave sexy”

“shave” is written with blue colour and

“sexy” with red colour .The two boys who

are doing shave are without shirts, girls are

watching them with great excitement. They

draw comparison between two kinds of

shave. The statement “reframing wet

shaving from inconvenient to sexy” implies

that wet shaving is very inconvenient but for

dry shaving word “sexy” is used instead of

convenient or comfortable. So by compare

and contrast strategy they are trying to prove

that dry shaving is more convenient. The

purpose of dry shaving is that you can

appeal a girl easily for sex. In this advert the

role of women is limited just for temptation

and sex. The word “sex” is used thrice in

the text of advert. The word “convenient” is

used in comparison with “sex”.

Initial words of advert are of large font

because of their significance and attraction

for viewer “shave sexy” the next thing

which one can notice easily are the colours

of these two words the red colour is

prominent and used to highlight the word

“sexy” and word sexy is more prominent in

order to tempt the viewers. Infront of these

two words, image of a girl is portrayed as

sex object, which is also of red colour. This

is foregrounding and there are many other

things which are in background. No doubt

the context of this advert is to increase the

demand of product but the whole advert is

based on the idea „how to appeal sexually?‟


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by limiting the role of women just for sex

object.

The language and choice of words is open.

Why they have used word “sexy” that is

easily replaceable. Other words, synonyms

and connotations can be used instead of this

word sexy for example shave impressive,

shave attractive, shave young, shave

infatuative , shave seductive. But it is up to

you that by using single word and not the

other words like this, what kind of meaning

you are implying. The word “sexy” has

negative connotations as compared to the

words like “attractive”, “impressive”,

“young‟‟.

In the statement “reframing wet shaving

from inconvenient to sexy”, why there is

word “sexy” instead of “convenient”? To

attract viewers in order tempt the females

for sex through dry shave. The only

difference the way they shaved: who is

“sexier‟‟?? The next statement is giving

viewers a chance to select which type of

shaving is more “sexier” instead of using

words impressive or attractive. In very open

word choices they have just used the word

“sex”.

This advertisement is promoting shaving

product: a shaving cream aimed at men and

one aimed at women. In image there has

been a representation of two people: the

woman engages the eye-contact of the men

by watching him in mirror and the man

seems to be looking more at the magazine

holding in his hand. The woman has long

hair, she is wearing makeup and she is

actually attractive. Her look, smile and her

hair are attractive. Her one hand is on the

shoulder of the man and with other hand she

is shaving. In background many other girls

are doing shave. Girls are used as attractive

objects in order to sale the product and to

attract the men towards their product.

In this advert of Gillette, apparently girls are

doing shave of men in a very comfortable

environment. They are smiling and friendly

and doing shave of men, their customers are

sitting in a very comfortable manner. But

actually the girls are used to attract the

customers and to increase the product sale.

Colour scheme which is used is white and

blue both these colours are causing soothing

effect one can also notice easily that the men

is also sitting in a very relaxing manner and

reading magazine peacefully. No

ideologically contested word are used no

slogans, but through visual image meaning

is conveyed.


22

This is another advert of a shaving product

of Gillette in which a female model can be

seen in a very seductive appearance sitting

on a couch and as a perfect sex object. The

women engage the eye contact of the viewer

her hair are blond, her pout and her very first

look is sexual. In her background blue water

pool is present and its evening time. This

whole scenario is depicting that she wants to

tempt a man but who is with perfect smooth

body.

A prominent sign is a white round circle

signifying the thoughts of girl but it‟s up to

viewer how he would interpret it. White

bubble is present above her head in which

ambiguous and senseless writing can be seen

and it is up to the viewer how he would

perceive what she is thinking. Of course she

is longing for a perfect smooth men body

which he can only gain by using Gillette.

Language used in this advert is somewhat

riddle like rhetoric and astonishing,

convincing a viewer to think about what this

sexy girl is longing for? Above her there is

also a statement, “how does Kate Upton like

her man‟s body styled? Read her mind”.

Through this statement viewer has a chance

to think actually what she is longing for?

Focus is on what she is thinking? In this

advert Kate is a perfect sex object in order to

attract the men sexually. In bottom of the

advert details of product are given, that by

using it men can easily catch the attention of

what Kate is longing. Because this product

is a tool to trim shave and edge your body

the way she likes. At the end there is a

statement “the best a man can get”. There

can be two interpretations of this statement:

first is how a man can get best shave, trim

and can edge his body in a best possible way

and second interpretation which contextual,

is by using his well shaved smooth body

how he can tempt a beautiful sexy girl and

of course can get the best.

This is face book page of Gillette in order to

advertise the product worldwide. On cover

photo of this page three sexy girls are

present. The girl with more tempting figure

is more prominent than the other two with

blond hairs while other two girls have dark

hair, and also she is present in the middle in

order to make her the centre of attention.

These three girls are present for promoting

Gillette advert for man body styling.

Although it is man specific brand but

presence of these three girls is to tempt the

attention of viewers. The dress of two girls

present on right is very sexy and dress

colour is white, and the colour of writing in

which Gillette is written is also white such

type of matching colour scheme which is

very eye catching .The names of girls are

written in capital letters and are more

prominent than rest of text. They have

shown 1,424,274 likes of their official page

because rating of their page is high due to

presence of sexy and attractive girls like

KATE, HANNAH and GENESIS. Viewers


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will easily tempt due to presence of three

beautiful and sexy girls on men body

styling. In this advert again female figure is

present just as a sex symbol and objectified

in order to increase the rating of product.

This advertisement is promoting a perfume

product one man and woman is shown. It

has been a representation of two nude

people locked in an embrace. The woman

engages the eye-contact of the reader and

the man seems to be attentive more at the

woman. Both the man and the woman are

represented as stereotypically heterosexually

feminine and masculine: the woman has

grey attractive eyes, is wearing makeup and

is classically attractive. Her look, pout and

tousled hair are sexual. The male is also

stereotypically represented since he is

rugged in appearance: he has an unkempt

beard and moustache and is kissing the

woman. He is also holding the woman

tightly in his flexed muscular arms, whereas

her arm is gently laid on him. What is

naturalized in this representation is the

common sensual and unmarked nature of

both heterosexuality and portraying women

as sex object.

These are the two adverts of perfumes in

right side a beautiful girl with metallic make

up maintaining eye contact with viewer her

pout and standing style is very sensuous and

tempting. Colour of perfume is also metallic

violet. There is sight of evening in

background, colour of her dress and

background colour is same and it seems like

fire behind her implying the meaning that by

using this perfume your emotions will be on

fire. Her silky dress is fluttering in wind.

The whole scene is perfectly romantic,

tempting and convincing. The colour of

other advert is black and white that one

advert is causing prominence of other. Both

man and woman are standing near to each

other. Both are shirtless and completely lost

in each other. White is more prominent

colour of their dress and perfume is also

white. Appearance of woman is very sexy

and tempting one can easily interpret that

both of them are sexually involved. Perfume

is women specific and the advert of perfume

implying that a woman can tempt her male

partner sexually by using this perfume.

The name of perfume is romance and it is

women specific. The name of perfume and

appearance of woman is depicting the

purpose of advert denoting the associations

of perfume with female figure, romance and

sex.


24

This is another advert of perfume in which a

man and woman are standing very close to

each other locked in embrace. Both wearing

dresses of white colour, on the whole colour

of advert is also black and white. Hairs of

women are waving in air and her hands are

around the face of man, man has placed his

one hand around the waist of women and

other hand is on her buttocks.Man is about

to kiss the women. Woman is presented as a

sex object to increase the appeal of product.

The written text accompanies the image,

“eSCENTial” is stressed. The text therefore

does not present in front of us with any

simple message, they have used the word

essential in a very interesting way. They

mould this word according to their will and

with different font and colours. They

introduced word scent in this word to denote

fragrance, and “escential perfumes” showing

that these perfumes are essential, but

indirectly implying the meaning that this

fragrance is essential to tempt your partner

sexually. Next thing is why they have used

word “essential” and ignored its other

synonyms? Like “necessary”, “compulsory”,

“important”. They use this word “essential”

because by using it they can mould it

according to the need of their product so this

how the ideology is shaped by means of

language.

This is advert of a perfume in whicha

woman is shown with half open mouth and

as about to kiss the man. She is looking on

the face of man but man is maintaining eye

contact with viewer. Both of them are nude.

Background colour is black and colour of

perfume is also black depicting the meaning

that they could have great sex by using this

perfume in night.

At the same time as the message „guilty‟ is

written with name of the product in advert.

The advertisers would presumably claim

that the „guilty‟ refer to “justly chargeable

with a particular fault” or “responsible for a

specified wrong doing”, but the advert

seems to play on the possibility of their

product bringing about the situation where a

woman may want to be guilty of something

wrong perhaps related to seduction because

her expressions and body posture is

extremely seductive. Thus, in a wide range

of cultural images and texts there seems to

be a message that women want things which


25

are not in their interests and things related to

wrong doings they are „asking for it‟. Last

statement “a new fragrance for him” is

clearly depicting the intentions for which

purpose she can use the perfume. She can

use perfume for him for sex.

These are the two adverts of same product.

First advert is black and white in which a

woman is shown in white dress, laughing

confidently. She is accompanied by two men

present on her left and right sides both of

them holding her hands. She is looking

dominant and prominent among these two

men. It seems like that they want to depict

boldness and confidence of women who

have used this perfume “channel”. The font

of the language in which “channel” is

written is large as compare to the statement

written above this name. Woman is more

prominent in advert than men in order to

increase viewership of men and women and

is objectified in order to sale the product.

In second advert again a very confident

women is shown in a very convincing

manner. She is smiling confidently and

holding the head of a man forcefully. She

has placed her hands on face of man and he

is laughing because of her bold act. Her

portrayal in advert is more prominent than

man. She is looking more confident,

composed and dominant as compared to

man. A viewer can be easily got attracted

towards advert because of confident

appearance of woman.

The language used in this advert is very

interesting and appealing for viewers.

“Every woman alive loves channel 5”

interesting rhyming is present in this

statement. In this statement word “alive” is

very significant. The selection of this word

signifies many things one can predict from

this statement “every woman alive to tempt

men because of fragrance she uses” and here

“alive” also signifying “confidence”,

“boldness”, “dominance” and “liveliness”.

So that Woman would be bold and can

choose her partner confidently by using this

perfume.

The language used in second advert is really

convincing, persuasive and interesting than

first advert. A statement is written at the top

“the outspoken channel” depicting the

meaning being confident, bold and ruthless

but more interestingly these connotations is

for women not for men. In bottom they have

used words like witty and confident and they

relate them in a very positive manner with

woman that witty and confident woman uses

Channel 19. But last word “devastatingly” is

more interesting and negative that she can

ruin or paralyze the senses of men by her

attraction by just using Channel 19.


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This is the advert of after shave and cologne

and both of these products are male specific.

A nude man is standing and behind him a

girl is present she has placed her arm around

the man‟s neck, her lips are half open and it

seems like that she is about to kiss the man.

As it is male specific product so presence of

girl is depicting that males can use this

product in order to tempt the woman. The

text is written in different font in order to

stress the words on which they want viewers

to focus. Girl is present in this advert just as

sex symbol and in order to attract the

attention of customers.

The language is manipulated in the advert in

a very attractive manner. “Very convincing”

is written in bold and in a very prominent

manner. As the word “convincing” is

assuring the viewer that after using this after

shave and cologne, they can attract woman

in a very convincing manner. The text

written below this in which “same

unmistakable intentions” is written that their

after shave is also with same qualities as

their cologne was. Unmistakable intentions

depicting sexual intentions one can be

fulfilled after using this after shave.

“Sensuous man” present in text clearly

showing that it is all about sexual attraction.

A man who is longing for sex can use this

cologne and after shave he can attract

women towards himself certainly. Word

“deep”, “mysterious” and “long lasting”

signifies enormous emotions possessed by

sensuous man, “Definitely male” showing

“maleness”, and “zest” of man for sex.

XIII. Results:-

Different negative and positive adjectives

are used for example “sexier”, “convincing”,

“guilty”, “out spoken”, “alive”,

“mysterious”, “confident”, “devastatingly”,

“witty”, “sexy”, “essential”, “romance”,

“best”. These words are used as emotive

words also to manipulate viewers.

Different discourse strategies are used in

adverts like celebrity endorsement,

comparison and contrast, positive self-

representation different vocabulary items are

used so that viewers get attracted. All these

adverts evoke desire in viewers and

construct the ideology.

Advert analysis clearly depicting that

women are represented in a very negative

manner in adverts. In adverts of Gillette

which is male specific brand women are

portrayed as sex symbol and women is

objectified. In all adverts of Gillette, women

are presented just in order to attract viewers

towards their product, because there is no

significance of woman in a brand which is

male specific.

In adverts of perfumes women are present,

specifically in those perfumes which are

male specific. In adverts of perfumes

women are openly portrayed an object to


27

fulfil sexual desires. The images of mostly

girls are nude.

So it is clear that portrayal of women in

adverts limits their role just as sex symbol so

that they can attract viewers by their looks

and physical attraction and nothing else

which is highly immoral and against

humanity.

XIV. Conclusion:-

Representation of gender in media is of

great significance because it influences the

perception and ideology of people it affects

their lives. Research on adverts in which

women are represented negatively is

important to see the society‟s view on

gender. By mean of above discussion I am

able to answer research questions which I

have made in order to solve research

problem. The very first question “why

women are represented in adverts

negatively?” it is because advertisers want to

sell products by portraying women

negatively in order to attract viewers. Next

question is how viewers are manipulated to

buy a product? When viewers see women in

adverts as sex objects they persuaded to buy

product because in most adverts it is shown

and proved that women get attracted towards

those men who use the product of which

advert viewer is watching so they convinced

to buy it. Next question why women treated

differently in social media as compare to

men? It depicts unequal status that exists

between men and women and shows that

women are just to entertain men and nothing

else at least in social media, because we see

women in meaningless and glamorous roles

but men in meaningful roles. Soon the

behalf of above discussion we can say

advertisers have made this necessary that

women are inevitable in adverts in order to

catch attention of viewers and sell product.

Most of the adverts tend to portray women

negatively and as a sex object in order to

increase the product appeal. Women are

represented in male specific brands just as

sex symbol although there is no need to

represent them in such a manner because

these brands are specifically related with

men. Negative portrayal of women in

adverts for the sale of products caused a

tendency of crimes and violence against

women. When women are portrayed as sex

objects and helpless poetic creatures in

adverts that are just there to entertain men

confirms the idea that men are superior then

women and it is male-oriented society. Fight

for equal rights of women, slogans made by

NGOs and debates of feminists in favour of

women are not sufficient because women

are still marginalized by men in society.

Negative portrayal of women also affects the

gender roles. Women are mostly supposed

to behave and in a way which is more in

favour of men like „carers‟ and „nurturers‟

and men‟s supposedly natural function as

„provider‟ and „breadwinners‟. Media

negative portrayal of women as sex objects

is causing bad influence on society‟s girls

and on their expectations. Above discussion

on negative portrayal of women shows that

objectifying women in media dehumanize

them badly. So such type of portrayal of

women should be prohibited in adverts.

References:-


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Exploring the Sexual Portrayal of Women in Media Adverts: A feministic perspective

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