FINAL triangulation and Referencing essay

Are the gender representations in advertising reflective of the realities of the female body shape in the UK?

Advertising is the audio or visual form of marketing communication and Yankelovich’s research is shown to estimate that the average person living in an urban centre is exposed to over 5000 ads per day. Botta (1999) believed that social comparison theory explains that comparisons to those that are similar to them, may make them thrive to be thinner as there is greater self-awareness of their own bodies; meaning that socially constructed messages are likely to be damaging if they are not reflective of the realities. Fashion advertising in particular has provoked a lot of debate on whether or not it is accurately representative of the female body shape, or just the societal desires of a woman and how body image is the only way to achieve these. The typical body images being sold as socially desirable by the advertising industry is ‘young, thin, white, and heterosexual’ according to ‘The journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour’.

Advertisers aim to reflect the realities of the female body shape, but in doing so are imposing some unrealistic expectations of the female body size as the average UK woman is not ‘young, thin, white …’ The female models chosen to be in most fashion advertisements must fall within the ‘association of model agents’ (AMA) guidelines to be at least 5’8” and a dress size 0-6, showing Jansson-Boyd’s statement that ‘physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable than those that are perceived as being unattractive’ to be considered true by the agents casting the models. This is not reflective of the realities of the female body shape in the UK as the survey by ‘yougov’ fund that the average dress size is a 16, more specifically an 8-10 for those aged 18-24 years old. The evidence supports the idea that gender representations in advertising are not reflective of the realities of the female body shape in the UK and that those not fitting the description of ‘young, thin, white, and heterosexual’ are likely to not consider themselves to be socially desirable.

The cultural conspiracy surrounding advertising suggests that the purchasing of a desired products will also result in the attainment of the desirable lifestyle often staged in many of the advertisement campaigns. Carl Rogers (1959) believes that the three components of the self-concept are self-image, self-esteem and the ideal self; suggesting that comparisons to others will be made so that the ideal self can be achieved. This supports the idea raised by Botta (1999) about social comparison theory and how many women will naturally make comparisons to the models in the campaigns, resulting in a want to be thinner which is considered to be socially desirable to both men and women.

There appears to be a link between physical attraction and social desirability because of the social constructs that have been created suggesting that the models in the advertisements have been chosen because they have the most desirable form of a woman’s body shape. This supports the research into the idea that ‘physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable than those that are perceived as being unattractive’ because the advertisement campaigns that the public are likely to compare themselves to only show models who do not reflect the realities of the average size 16 female body shape in the UK.

The idea that beauty is becoming a normative value, an entirely socially constructed concept which is the reinforced within advertisements, is supported by feminist Naomi Wolf who believes that women are only made to feel attractive if the too look in this way. The objective measurement of beauty seems to have been publicised by the media in magazines, movies, advertisements etc. which all show women to be young, slim and fashionable. ‘According to Groesz, Levine, and Murnen’s (2002) meta-analysis, women are significantly more body dissatisfied after viewing thin-and-beautiful media images versus average size, oversize, or nonbody images’. A reason for this could be the idea that the social constructs have lead people to believe that ‘physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable’ than any other body form because of the larger number of models who possess this body shape rather than any other in fashion advertisements. In terms of reliability, Naomi Wolf’s book is subjective as it is based upon her opinions. Her title as an accredited feminist, allows the assumption that her opinions are accurate and based upon research into the subject.

The socially constructed definition of beauty that is being reinforced in advertisement is thought, by Judith Rodin to be responsible for the ‘normative obsession’ of women’s dieting. It is believed that women see dieting as a quick solution to obtaining the socially desirable body form that advertising promotes to be the most desired by men and the companies selling the clothing. The 2015 report commissioned by ‘Beat’ showed that over 725,000 people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder. It may be assumed that these are triggered by our natural tendencies to make comparisons to the models in the campaigns, as discussed by Botta (1999).

The poster advertisement for the ‘Jimmy Choo Man’ fragrance shows a man sat with a woman’s leg over his body and in his possession. This is implying that men are desiring a woman who is sexually positioned but with a particular appearance. The slimness of this woman’s leg and provocative nature of her outfit does not fall in line with the reality of the average woman in the UK. Although the woman does not reflect the realities of the average female in the UK, it is important to remember that this advertisement is aiming to make the product look desirable and show the audience that the purchasing of said fragrance will enhance them in a positive way.

In conclusion, it is evident that the advertisements use models that do not reflect the gender stereotypes of the average female body shape in the UK. Our technologically advanced world now makes it difficult to avoid the increased amount of advertisements that we see daily. This increased exposure allows the inaccurate gender representations in advertising to lead men to believe that they should find the size zero model desirable and that women should aim to look like them to fulfil the social expectations that have been created. Jansson-Boyd’s statement is proven correct as advertising does show that ‘physically attractive individuals are perceived by most to be socially more desirable’.