Social Attitudes Towards Race, Gender, Family and Class, Essay Example

One of the most explicit forms of the perpetuation of race and gender roles in contemporary society is presented in advertising. As Coombs and Batcehlor argue, on the basis of empirical research, “the majority of ads reinforce expected gender roles.” (93) From one perspective, the link between advertisements and the perpetuation of gender roles is entirely intuitive: in so far as gender roles are, as Coombs and Batchelor note “expected” — namely, they are the products of a preexisting social discourse which categorizes men and women, for example, according to specific desirable “roles” –, then advertising will speak to these already existing roles, in order to promote the sales of a given product. This is not to say, however, that advertising or gender roles are static in character. For example, the fact that some advertisements from the mid-twentieth century are now viewed from today’s perspective as overtly sexist demonstrates the dynamic and shifting status of gender roles. However, such changes also provide support for the notion that such gender roles, such as what an ideal picture of female beauty is, are socially constructed as opposed to, for example, consequences of biological determinism: in sum, if these roles were not socially constructed, then it would not be possible for the early twenty-first century viewer of advertisements from the mid-twentieth century to critique these same advertisements based on criteria such as an overt discrimination of gender roles.

In this regard, the Olive and Palm Oils ad with the advertising slogan “I pledge myself to guard every bit of Beauty that he cherishes in me” clearly evinces the extent to which gender roles are socially constructed. Namely, a viewer of the ad who is “outside” of the historical period in which the ad was created may detect clear gender biases at stake in the presentation. In the first instance, the gender role of the woman is entirely determined by a concept of “beauty” and thus, in the context of the ad, a concept of physical beauty. An attractive young blonde woman is presented in the ad as the prototype of such beauty. Yet the clear social production of gender roles is also at play in the ad: namely, the woman’s beauty is determined by the man, such that the female endeavors to project an image of beauty which the man is said to “cherish.” Female beauty in this ad is thus not the production of the autonomous will of the female, but the result of male expectations as to what female physical beauty entails. The ad accordingly demonstrates the clear presence of a patriarchic determination of gender roles.

The advertisement for the Dyson “Speedy Vacume” repeats these same motifs, although from a male perspective. Here, the male as an earner of capital is enticed with the slogan “why spend all that time vacuuming when she still has time to cook your dinner.” The marketing appeals to the male gender role as holder of capital and consumer, but so as to re-enforce expectations of female labor, above all determined by domestic labor. The ideal wife is presented in this ad as one who is able to perform housework for the husband: here, the gender roles remain dominated by a patriarchic conception of gender, but in a form that is intended for a male audience. The effect, however, is to maintain the same gender roles as in the previous ad.

Simultaneously, this is not to say that men are excluded from the perpetuation of gender roles. The Chevy Cat automobile ad from 1957 lucidly portrays the ideal ambitions of a heterosexual male: to own an automobile of the quality of the Chevy Cat. Accordingly, to the extent that a male does not aspire to this dream, his own status as a male in society is questioned. The ad thus demonstrates how presupposed male gender roles also exist in a patriarchic male dominated society.

Yet what is once again crucial in this regard is that the very fact that one can view such ads as “archaic” is evidence that such gender roles are socially produced, and therefore conditioned by very distinct and particular socio-historical conditions. However, this is not to suggest that the fact that we can identify such ads as explicitly containing preconceived patriarchic gender roles does not mean that these same advertising techniques are not used in our era. Rather, these techniques have become more implicit or have changed to suit the times. For example, the 2013 Superbowl ad for the Godaddy.com Internet company explicitly featured a scantily clad supermodel, Bar Refeali. This led some to boycott the product, viewing it as an archaic and outdated from of sexist advertising. Whereas such ads re-define gender roles in a manner that makes them more contemporary – for example, Refeali kisses a stereotyped version of a “computer geek” in the ad, thus perhaps arguing that women are above men and reversing the traditional hierarchy – the “supermodel” image of the woman shows how very little images of female beauty have changed from the aforementioned earlier ads. From this perspective, the ad subtly manipulates social trends to avoid being explicitly sexist in character, whereas it still maintains the same gender roles of ads from over half a century ago.

On the one hand, these ads all demonstrate the fact that gender roles are socially constructed. If they were not socially constructed, one could not detect elements of sexism. However, on the other hand, the ads also demonstrate the extent to which such gender roles remain prevalent in society. From this regard, advertising, in so far as it aims for pre-programmed audiences with pre-programmed expectations, remains one of the worst offenders in the perpetuation of gender roles.

Works Cited

Coombs, Danielle Sarver & Batchelor, Bob. We Are What We Sell: How Advertising

Shapes American Life and Always Has. Belmont, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014.