Gianna Barabasch Edinburgh Napier University | Business School

Gender stereotypes encounter women in everyday life. Girls should only like the colors pink
and red, because other colors are not typically associated with femininity. They should have a
certain female body type, usually appearing as slim, and should dress up to get classified as
pretty, or the pressure to follow traditional women job descriptions such as saleswomen,
nurse or housewife because other jobs would not be fitting for womanhood (Examples of
Gender Stereotypes, n.d.).

Since advertising, especially with Social Media, is so much more approachable to every person,
these certain images have the possibility to be used for advertisers marketing advantages and
in return change the perspective on women in society even more. As a matter of that, I want
to discuss and analyze the question in which ways social media advertising stereotypes
women.

In todays social media advertisements gender stereotypes as certain gender roles for men and
women are portrayed to differentiate and show typical attributes of both (Ward & Grower,
2020). Therefore, advertising has the possibility to influence society by showing a picture on
how someone should be and look like, which can be dangerous because „consumers make
sense of their identities using messages in Advertising“ (Zayer & Coleman, 2015, page 266).
But what exactly are “gender stereotypes”? The United Nations Human Rights describe it as
“a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that
are or ought to be possessed by women and men, or the roles that are or should be
performed by men and women” (Women’s Rights and Gender Section, OHCHR Research
and Right to Development Division Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch,
2014). Thereby is also highlighted, that stereotypes in general can be harmful because they
are based on assumptions while it limits the life of the stereotyped person for example
their abilities, choices or aspirations. By this means, gender stereotypes can cause unfair and
unequal treatment in society, as they are ideological.

Gender stereotypes occur in advertising, “when gender-role depictions deviate from

reality” (Eisend, 2019, page 73). As an example, attributes and characteristics could be
physical, behavioral and vocational. Jhally (1987) mentions that “Advertising seems to be
obsessed with gender and sexuality” (page 135) and in addition to that, there is often the
misinterpretation of these parts, which leads to wrong perceptions in society while people
stay complex.

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By the understanding of that, it is important to illuminate the role advertising plays in

consumer culture to realize the issue of false stereotyping in society. For me, good
Marketing is always about creating a need, that the buyer didn’t even know of before
seeing the advertisement and therefore, triggering a constant desire for new things.
Hereby, the advertisement has the power to create a symbol for the buyer trough the right
use of color, words, images and sound. Consumption creates a certain status and identity,
to show of and distinguish us from others with that our constant fear of social failure can
be overcome. The main problem regarding the consumer culture and advertising is, that
the “Modern consumers consume meanings along with the physical commodities”
(Hadaway, 2019, page 2).

Social Media Advertising offers “worldwide coverage of advertising messages and projecting
corporate images” (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008, page 101). Regarding that, it has the possibility
to influence millions of people with the power of representing brand narratives. Therefore,
online advertising can also “reshape societal norms and beliefs regarding gender equity and
depiction of sexuality“ (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008, page 101). Stereotypes in advertising often
represent the costumer base as the consumer receives a feeling of identification, while getting
wrong societal pictures proposed, which can be confusing as you try to define yourself in
society. As our exposure to the internet raises daily, especially for the younger generation,
these false images can make their way into “the belief systems of the society” (Kang, 1997,
page 980) and change their “perception of social reality“ (Grau & Zotos, 2016, page 762).
Especially since consumers in digital media not only “receive but also (whether to) actively
seek out and partake in advertising” (Dahlen & Rosengren, 2016, page 336) nowadays. Herby,
not only the perception about oneself but also the behavior in relationships can be influenced
by false portrayed advertisement (Giddens, 1991).

Especially social media advertising has the possibility to be diverse and make an input for
coming generations. Sadly, some brands still choose stereotyped roles of women for their
advertisements by showing sexism, which can be understood as “the portrayal of women in
an inferior way relative to their capabilities and potential, and is manifested in the depiction
of women in cliche´d traditional and decorative roles in advertising” (Lysonski, 1985; Pollay,
1986).

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An example is the use of the female body as an advertising medium. Illustration 1 shows an
advertisement by the brand “Bicky Burger”, which uses the butt of a woman to illustrate their
burger buns. As a caption they choose a sexist comment regarding the butt of the woman
describing it as “big” and that they “like” it that way. With regards to that, women and their
bodies in general get sexualized as well as used as a decorative object, while showing sexual
body parts rather than the whole person.

Illustration 1: Bicky Burger

But this was not the first time the brand made some negative arousements with their social
media advertising. Another typical female stereotype was promoted by the brand shown in
Illustration 2, where you can not only see their marketing as physical violence against women
but furthermore, as gender prejudice and traditional distribution of tasks regarding women
and men.

Illustration 2: Bicky Burger 2

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This ad advertises with domestic violence. The woman is certainly weak and submissive to her
husband, as the husband slaps his wife just because she brought him the wrong burger, you
receive this information from the speech bubble. The female stereotype is represented as
strongly derogatory, in this case to the husband. The domestic behavior shown, regarding the
woman is, that she has to provide food for her husband. Surprisingly, the women still looks
perfect as she falls down with a lot of clipping, in a pretty red dress, beautiful jewelry and
makeup. You can often observe in social media advertisements, that the women is always
presented in her “role as sexy and alluring” (Kang, 1997, page 982) no matter the situation.
Another example for that and how people, especially men react to such presented roles,
shows the social media advertisement in Illustration 3.

Illustration 3: Craftirishwhiskeyco

Here, the women and her body is directly in the foreground. The presentation of the women
is an instant eye-catcher. She wears a sexy and body-hugging black dress. Her makeup looks
perfect as well as her hair. Her body is the promotion material while it represents everything
man desire, underlining the male gaze and therefore, objectifying the woman.

As I mentioned before, we as human beings and our relationships can be influenced by

advertisements, which is shown with a glimpse in the comments under this post (Giddens,
1991). One man writes „My wife looks like that after a few glasses too“ and another questions
“does it come with the same rapping as the one in the foto”. These comments show that the
woman is highly sexualized as well as used for decorative purposes, to sell the product.

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Another used stereotyped role for women in social media advertisements is the relationship
between the genders. Often, the women seems dependent on the men’s protection,
exemplary shown in Illustration 4. Here, it seems like the men is protecting and carrying the
women, while she embraces his strong figure. The visible height difference and how the
women is laying her head on the naked men’s body is signifying who has the authority and is
therefore, more dominant. Hereby, another form of submissive behavior, without violence, is
expressed.

Illustration 4: Pacorabanne

Regardless women are not always shown submissive in social media advertising, but rather as
desirable objects. However, this does not imply that women are superior’s to men but instead
depending on the desire to satisfy them. The advertisement video for “Paco Rabanne
Olympéa” (Flaconi, 2015) clarifies this interplay. The women, smaller than all men shown in
the advertisement, which symbolizes her disadvantage to them, is tracked by sexual glances
while she walks down the stairs. Two other women shown in the advertisement drop dishes,
portraying on the one hand women’s weakness and clumsiness as a personality trait and on
the other hand the stereotyped domestic behavior to clean as women. Moreover, the typical
beauty standards for women, like being really skinny and beautiful are met. Hereby, women
get sexualized and simultaneously weakened by highlighting outdated and stereotyped
gender roles.

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As already teasered, women’s physical appearance always needs to appear perfect in

advertisements, which can be seen as another form of stereotyping them. Especially sex sells
”as it touches on humans’ most basic, primal instincts” (Burnie, 2020) show young, flawless
and slim women to meet society’s beauty ideals and standards. To bring over these kind of
sex sells even more, women often have little to no fabric on their bodies. According to Reichert
(2002) nudity in advertising pictures physically attractive models, usually appearing as thin,
who wear few clothes thus emphasizing their bodies and making it more attractive, especially
for the male consumer.

The brand “Missguided” has now reached a limit with it’s sex sells since they are not longer
allowed to broadcast sexist advertisements (Karg, 2019). Although, the brand focuses
exclusively on women's clothing, they present women misogynistically and oversexualized
(Missguided, 2019).

The same form of advertising is seen for the Kardashian family. Especially Kim Kardashian has
branded her name around being sexy, showing skin and embodying unnatural beauty
standards (Sastre, 2014). This branding is also reflected in the advertising for her brand SKIMS,
shown in Illustration 5.

Illustration 5: Skims
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At a glance you see much nakedness, uncomfortable positioning for the body and “perfect”
bodies without any blemishes. Kim Kardashian herself advertises her body in a decorative and
sexual way, to get the attention of the consumer by portraying women as consumer articles.
She reduces herself to sexuality, while playing with the objectification of her and other bodies.
Therefore, she plays directly into the cards of stereotyping women in sexual ways by
portraying them as the perfect ideals of beauty.

Another form of female gender stereotypes seen in many adverts is the use of concrete style
devices to sexualize women in a child-like way (Schweiz, n.d.). A good example for that, are
advertisements for Ariana Grande fragrances. Illustration 6 shows a representative example
on how women are weakened by social media advertising portrayals, in this case the feminine
touch. The consumer receives the feeling, that she’s not fully in the situation. Moreover, I see
that portrayal as a form of sexualization since women touching themselves in feminine ways,
here portrayed as touching the sides of the face and showing the tongue in a sexual manner,
seems quite arousing. Another form of showing stereotyping of women in advertising is the
look into the distance as woman gain a repellent appearance.

Another withdrawn look can be found in Illustration 8. Here, the tilted head supports the
absence of Grande’s presence even more. Furthermore, she represents untrue beauty
standards by showing extreme slimness and child-like appearance. This is underpinned by the
typical pink color scheme, which can be associated with femininity and therefore, the typical
female gender role. This style device is also used in Illustration 7, where all of the above
mentioned findings of this paragraph apply. The finger in the mouth, seems quite seductive
while the body language makes her appear innocent and submissive, undermined by laying
on the floor and looking uncomfortable and narrow.

Illustration 6: Ariana Grande 1

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Illustration 7: Ariana Grande 2

Illustration 8: Ariana Grande 3

The last feature for how women get stereotyped in social media advertisements I want to
show exemplary, is the sexist use of body language. Giorgio Armani puts women in
uncomfortable seating positions for their advertisement, seen in Illustration 9 and 10. The
women in Illustration 9 looks lean and has an extra seductive look. Her body language implies
weakness and embarrassment, thus she crosses her arms and legs. The other women in
Illustration 10 seems like she’s not really present as her look is withdrawn. Her body language
seems quite sexualized as her legs are opened and she’s in an uncomfortable looking position.

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Illustration 9: Giorgio Armani 1

Illustration 10: Giorgio Armani 2

The preceded findings show, that sexist women stereotypes that are shown in „traditional
media such as TV and print ads“ get represented as well in social media advertising
(Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008, page 101). Women in social media advertising are shown as
decorative, submissive and sexualized beings without being dependent if the brand itself is
women orientated or men orientated. Personally, I often feel like advertisements I see on

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platforms like Instagram or YouTube are misogynistic and not representative of women’s
diversity in shape, color and personality. Therefore, I maintain the opinion, that gender
stereotyped advertisements should be under stronger regulation. The Advertising Standards
Authority in the United Kingdom has already banned “harmful gender stereotypes” as it is
“limiting people’s potential” (BBC News, 2019). My wish for our society is, that these
regulations come into effect in almost every country and especially for social media
advertising, because it offers the possibility to delimit the spread of gender stereotypes
deliberately to young people, that grow up with these pictures influencing their life.

For me, these advertisements show an outdated picture of women and therefore I strongly
advocate, that more women in business get into advertising agencies in different industries to
contribute their role to positive change on how social media advertisements are developed in
the future.

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Illustrations

Illustration 1: Bicky Burger. (2019, July 12). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzz81BTAmqJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/q7ngRS0CLSkqh2Sz5FwpoA--

/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media-mbst-

pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-10/dd351a70-eb40-

11e9-b73f-84ded3034746

Illustration 3: Craftirishwhiskeyco. (2021, November 19). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWdPyM_M94s/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 4: Pacorabanne. (2022, February 7). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZry5VNqu9D/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 5: Skims. (n.d.). Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/skims/

Illustration 6: Ariana Grande 1. (2020, December 4). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIYoht5F_wo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 7: Ariana Grande 2. (2019, August 12). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1EwkoYFDXb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 8: Ariana Grande 3. (2019, August 6). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B01MRillD5I/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 9: Giorgio Armani 1. (2022, August 17). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ChXB4qfKxPv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Illustration 10: Giorgio Armani 2. (2022, September 16). Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CikStVGIeba/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Videos

Missguided. (2019, June 11). We’ve got you covered, kind of ;) | Missguided. [Video].

YouTube. Retrieved 26 September 2022, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6tU8O45GGDk&feature=youtu.be

Flaconi. (2015, July 20). Paco Rabanne Olympéa (Parfum Werbung feat. Luma Grothe).

[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved 26 September 2022, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g9wmya2D1E&feature=youtu.be

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