Advertising

Danielle K. Schwartz

Advertising typically associates products with lifestyle choices and seeks to influence individual and social-group behavior through appeals to mass audiences. In doing so, advertising also shapes gender identities by conforming to, and producing expectations about, male and female behavior. Through simplified and idealized images of masculinity—often presented as realistic through the use of photography, testimonials, and other techniques—advertising aimed at men has defined manhood and confirmed traditional male authority and dominance by associating consumer products with success and power. In particular, advertisements have identified men with public authority and women with the home, family, and emotions. They have represented the male as expert in the worlds of business, technology, and science; presented white businessmen and professionals as typical representatives of masculinity; and associated masculine success with the acquisition of money and the exercise of power over women. Although advertising began in the 1980s and 1990s to broaden its depictions of ...

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