Advertising, Gender Images in

Marc Jung-Whan de Jong

It is estimated that the average American is exposed to over 40,000 television commercials per year. When the even larger amount of print advertisements are considered, it is easy to understand why so many scholars of gender and media studies are concerned about the omnipresent effect of media advertisements on gender stereotyping. Because of the limited amount of time allocated to television commercials and the short attention span of the audience, advertisers often rely on highly visual and easily recognizable images and situations to promote their products and services. Often, these messages contain gender, class, and racial stereotypes that reinforce social perceptions of already marginalized groups by the use of widely held inaccurate and overly simplified images and conceptions. Social learning theory best explains the impact of advertisements on audiences and suggests that audiences are more likely to identify with an advertisement's preferred meaning and persuaded to purchase a product ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.