Section 1: Introduction
The topic that I chose to explore has to do with advertising and
gender. After thinking and researching more about the issue, I was able to
formulate a more specific topic that falls under this main category. My
research question is as follows:
"How do the concepts that are being sold through new media
advertising, the strategies/mediums used, and the outcomes of the
advertisements on consumers influence male and female consumers differently? Do they influence them differently? What comparisons and contrasts can be drawn in regards to the above aspects of
advertising?"
My Character Map
Here is a small image outlining the main thoughts that I want to
explore for this topic and how they relate to one another:
Section 2: What I Learned
Television shows, T.V commercials, radio programs and ads, the web, magazines, newspapers, cell phone apps, internet radio, YouTube, etc.: the list goes on and on of the multiple forms by which individuals are constantly exposed to advertising and marketing. Unless one lives in pure wilderness, existing in an environment completely isolated from the rest of world is virtually impossible in today’s generation. Therefore, whether one likes it or not, the world of advertising and marketing does have an effect on the lives of most individuals, yet despite its widespread influence, by no means must it bombard or maintain an unwarranted tight hold on audiences. Therefore, by examining the elements of advertising such as the concepts being sold, the strategies/mediums used, and the general outcomes of advertisements, both male and female consumers can better assess the impact of the advertising and marketing world on their lives and society as a whole; by gaining new awareness of the influences, specifically on how the ads are geared towards and influence males and females differently, individuals may develop important insights, thus giving them greater control over the degree by which advertising affects them.
First, male
and female consumers must explore what concepts advertisers and marketers are
utilizing to sell products in order to better assess the impact they are making
on consumers. Although the concepts are numerous, there are a few key ideas
advertisements generally share addressed to both men and women. One of the main
topics covered is on human sexuality and typically ads make broad stereotypes assigning
the role of females and males. For instance, in an article by William O’Barr,
entitled “Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Advertisements”, the
author discusses the traits that ads give males and females. In the case of
women, for example, O’Barr shares how woman are “invariably
depicted as sexual objects for men. Their bodies are scantily clothed, breasts
are well-developed, and the women are young and sexually attractive. Theorists
distinguish between visual representations in terms of the ideal spectator for
them. This terminology does not refer to who actually sees them in real life,
but rather to the type of spectator the image seems to have been created for”
(O’Barr). In a broad context, therefore, advertisements often assign the role
of a woman to be represented in a sexual manner. In the case of men in
advertisements, certainly the same applies, yet other concepts are present such
as identifying men with the traditional ideals of strength, prowess, and other cliché
manly attributes. O’Barr describes the contrast in representations between
females and males, particularly by describing the differences through distinct
ad images, stating that “While young adult
women are assuming these provocative postures in ads that emphasize their
sexuality, young men continue to express their masculinity in physical ways.
The cyclist in Figure 36 demonstrates his strength, energy, and fortitude” (O’Barr).
Therefore, despite the presence of several other concepts that advertisements
may sell, a central focus is through the idea of reinforcing traditional ideals
of masculinity and femininity and emphasizing those traits in a physical
manner.
Next,
in addition to exploring the ideas shared through the marketing and advertising
world for customers to gain improved insight, having an increased understanding
of the mediums and strategies used raises consumer awareness. In one regard,
the mediums used are numerous such as the various forms of media, like
television commercials and programs, films, radio ads and shows, newspapers,
magazines, and more. By the constant display of ads in various forms, both male
and female consumers are continually exposed to messages geared towards selling
ideas that sell products. While the mediums apply to both men and women, the
strategies used on males and females may be both similar and dissimilar. For
instance, seeking to evoke an emotional (pathos) reaction or sensibility to an
ad is a method by which advertisers attempt to sell products. In one case study
entitled, “Emotion as a Mediator of the Influence of Gender Advertising Effectiveness:
Gender Differences in Online Self-Reports”, by the University of Michigan,
David J. Moore reports and notes that “Previous research has shown that women
are more likely than men to report more frequently and with greater levels of
intensity feelings of empathy and sympathy and positive emotions like joy,
love, affection, and warmth” and moreover, “women are also more likely than men
to report negative emotions like sadness, disgust, fear, and hurt” (205).
Overall, the article points out how numerous “findings strongly suggest that
women will report stronger emotions than men when exposed to affectively
charged advertising stimuli” (Moore 205). Therefore, one affective and commonly
utilized advertising strategy on both men and women is emotion-provoking ads,
yet, women tend to be more strongly impacted by this method then men are as a
whole. Furthermore, other strategies practiced on men and women are who
presents the product, gender-role orientation of the consumer, and the gender
of the advert presenter. For instance, according to one case study called the “Effects
of Gender-Role Orientation, Sex of Advert Presenter and Product Type on
Advertising Effectiveness, Owolabi Benjamin Ademola reports how ads are often
geared towards portraying genders in specific roles in order to engage the
attention of males and females based on their gender-role orientation, sharing,
“For example, men are more often
portrayed in career activities and more often shown outdoors than women
(Cantor, 1988). When depicted as buyers, women are most often shown purchasing
relatively inexpensive items, such as cosmetics and cleaning products, whereas
men are more likely to be shown making weighty or expensive purchases, such as
automobiles or financial services (Klassen, Jasper and Schwartz, 1993). When
women are shown as experts on an advertised product—most often when endorsing
women’s product on television—the advertisements are typically backed by an
authoritative male, thus giving men the final word in such commercials (Lovdal,
1989)” (538).
Therefore, the strategy of displaying men and woman in certain gender-role
stereotypes helps to reach out to some males and females that are more
gender-role orientated consumers, yet gender-role orientation does not have the
most impact on advertising effectiveness. In fact, according to the study, findings
support that “advertising effectiveness is enhanced when role-portrayals are consistent
with the role orientation of the receiver” ( Ademola 541). Thus, when the characters
in the ad or the masculine or feminine features/association of a product are in
line with a consumer’s gender-role view, then the ad tends to be more
influential. Finally, another tactic explored in “Deberec et al’s (1986)
findings suggest that a spokes-person’s gender cannot only alter a product’s
gender-image, but can also result in more positive attitudes and product usage
intention when the gender of the spokesperson and the product’s gender differ”
(Ademola 541). Therefore, emotional tactics, the gender-role orientation of
consumers, product type, and the sex of the advert presenter, are all
influential methods by which to promote advertisements.
In
addition to studying the concepts sold and the strategies used in advertising, male
and female consumers must inform themselves of the general outcomes of advertisements
geared towards gender. While the actual stereotypes in ads affect men and women
differently, certain overriding outcomes from advertising exist that apply to
both genders, that being mainly that research about gender related advertising
is still fairly new and scarce, where “Studies on gender and advertising are of
recent origin (dating back to the early seventies) and cut across a variety of
disciplines” (Artz and Venkatesh 618). Therefore, it is important to note that
advertising certainly plays an important role in the life of the average consumer
as well as in society as a whole, yet more information over a larger context of
time may be valuable in giving a greater assessment of the lasting impact of
advertising and gender and how it impacts the average person on an individual
level.
Finally,
the topic of advertising and how it relates to both males and females in
regards to the influence it has in the average consumer’s life is an issue of
great significance; by researching the ideas sold through ads, the mediums and
strategies utilized, as well as the overriding outcome of the advertising
industry, the public may learn how to more easily take charge over the degree
to which the industry influences them. Overall, the value of careful study on a
topic such as this one is great, for it is an unavoidable part of each
individual’s life.
Section 3: What I Would Like to Learn More About
First,
based on the research I gathered, it is clear there are universal ideas
advertisers aim to share with consumers regardless of gender, but I would like
to know what concepts advertisers strategically try to sell to men to get them
to buy a product and how those concepts differ from ads geared towards women.
For instance, the research I found did share certain traditional and
non-traditional ideas about masculinity and femininity that ads use, yet I want
to know the bigger picture. What are the overarching concepts behind selling an
ad to do with traditional masculinity, for instance? Are marketers saying that
if a man buys their product he will become manlier, or is it more? Perhaps, if
the reasoning is if a man buys their product he will become—or at least
appear—more manly which will in turn attract the opposite sex, making him more
confident with himself and more satisfied with life or maybe just more socially
accepted in the world? It is possible that the main thinking behind the ads for
men is to tell men that once they have a particular product, they will come one
step closer to claiming a stake in the world (ex. owning their own house, car,
or having something to protect and provide for their family like insurance,
etc.), which will give them more lasting fulfillment. Ultimately, ideas are
endless, but there must be a few central ideas that advertisers and marketers
lean on in order to effectively sell products. Therefore, I am curious to find
more research regarding the ideologies behind advertisements geared towards
males that will better explain the “why” of why the ads are effective as a
whole.
Next, I would like to know more
about the “how”, meaning what strategies or mediums are specific towards
advertising geared towards males. While I am aware of the various forms of media
and print that advertisers utilize to sell products, I would like to know what
specific forms are most effective on male consumers in general, be it certain
print magazines (i.e. ads in men’s magazine’s), apps, events with marketing
activities, etc. Basically, what form of media do men typically use the most
and respond to the most, and consequently, do the ads on those mediums sell
more than they would normally because they are being sold on that specific
medium? Additionally, I would like to know if there exist differences in
advertising tactics for men then there are for women, and why those particular
strategies are effective on men.
Moreover, I am interested to
discover more about the distinct outcomes of advertising for men. Do the
outcomes affect men the most? How much does it affect women? Does the effect on
women come directly or is it an indirect influence? How do the ads impact
society as a whole, and what kind of image of men are the ads sharing? Overall,
I would like to know the kind of influence and to what degree of influence does
the world of advertising has on men, women, and society.
Finally, the main knowledge that I
would like to attain is about how the concepts being shared, the
strategies/mediums being used, and the overall outcomes from advertising geared
towards men makes an impact and to see the extent to which the advertising
influences consumers. The information that I want to seek is mainly qualitative
rather than quantitative. Obviously when numbers are not the priority, the
research becomes more subjective, therefore the kind of questions I am asking
will not apply to all consumers and may perhaps possess some bias.
Additionally, there may not exist sufficient information for the questions I do
have, and the search for it may be extremely challenging to find, but the
topic-area is certainly valuable and worth studying because it does either
directly or indirectly affect all members of society on some level.
Section 4: My Video Exercises
Introduction
The goal of me learning more about video use or video "literacy" is for me to be able to not only meet the set out goals f the DMA course, but especially in order to help me to advance my career in the arts. By knowing how to work with basic video editing software, I will be better equipped to make my own dance reels for auditions, choreographic works, and more (all necessary skills in the dance world). Additionally, by living in this day and age (especially as a college student), video literacy is basically a must or basic skill to have has a student and individual.
Reflection
The process went fairly smoothly for me (surprisingly). The program itself was pretty self-explanatory and I found the video tutorials to be incredibly helpful. Overall, I did not find the program to be too complicated to use, and I really enjoyed it. I particularly liked how many options were available, and I liked how it sparked my creativity (I feel). There were a few times when I did have to be repetitive and work tediously, but I did not really mind. I think it comes with the territory of video editing--particularly for any good video editing. I also believe that I met my goal to make a slightly abstract video clip about childhood, imagination, play, fun, creativity, chaos, dreaming, and Disney. I used the song from Peter Pan that is sung by the Lost Boys called "Following the Leader", along with the video and audio from an old Betty Boop Cinderella cartoon and an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. I also played with transition effects, opacity levels, and audio levels. Ultimately, I enjoyed the process and look forward to exploring Camtasia and video editing software some more.
Double-Exposure Video Clip
Parallel Edit Video Clip
Section 5: My Project Video Composition
For this assignment, I found it very difficult to find the kind of sources that I wanted using the Internet Archive website, but I stuck to it because I knew that would guarantee a place for me to find public domain material. I specifically wanted to find educational, news, or radio resources that were about the role of advertising on men and women (separately). It was difficult to find a way to phrase that when searching or using keywords, plus, the topic itself was more specific than I thought. I did, however, end up finding two pieces of material that I really enjoyed and considered to be incredibly insightful and engaging. The first is a parody video that is set in the 1950s era and basically makes fun of the clichés in advertisements/the advertising industry. The whole video was a spoof, using "The Clichés Family in Television-land". The other video I chose was the full-length version of a talk used as one of the example resources on the DMA course site for the topic of Advertising and Gender. The more I watched this, I realized how informative it was, and how fitting it was for my topic, so I thought it was an appropriate choice. I felt that both videos helped to demonstrate in entertaining, yet educational ways, some of the kinds of concepts/ideas being sold through advertisements, some of the kinds of strategies/mediums they employ to sell the concepts, and what some of the outcomes are. While the sources did not elaborate too much on the differences in advertising geared toward males and females (the source from the talk was specifically geared toward advertising's role on women and society as a whole), they did support my overriding goal: to demonstrate that advertising does have a strong impact on individuals and society in general. The specific editing techniques I used in Camtasia were parallel editing, transition effects, audio adjustments, splitting, cropping, and a little bit of double -exposure (playing with opacity levels) at one point in the video. Additionally, I learned a new technique of incorporating captions, which I did use twice in the video. In the end, while the process was lengthy for me, it was mainly because I was working with a really long video clip that was over 30 minutes long, so it took me a while to narrow it down to what I wanted to use. It was especially challenging because I liked all parts of both videos and could see how they all could be valid to incorporate in the video. This process, however, was much easier for me this time around because I am now more familiar with Camtasia. Once more, I really enjoyed working on this assignment and using this program. Overall, I like the idea behind my video, and while it is long, I think it is engaging. It certainly has room for improvement, and more time could be spent enhancing it, smoothing out transitions, and editing the material down.
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