Initial Triangulation and Referencing essay

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

Advertising is the audio or visual form of marketing communication and with Yankelovich’s research estimating that the average person living in an urban centre sees over 5000 ads per day, the socially constructed messages can be damaging if they are not reflective of realities. Advertisements are used to sell a service, product or idea by also reflecting the characteristics and beliefs of the company. 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. It has also been questioned as to whether or not fashion brands are solely focused on selling the products, or also in promoting the idea of what a perfect lifestyle is and how body image is the way to achieve this “ideal”.

Advertisers aim to reflect the realities of female body shape, but in doing so are imposing some unrealistic expectations of the female body size. The female models chosen 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 those casting the models. This is not reflective of the realities of the female body shape in the UK as the survey by ‘yougov’ found 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.

David Gauntlett observed that in advertisements since the industrial revolution, women were most commonly shown performing household tasks, looking ‘desirable’ or depending on the man for support. The feminist counter-attack in the 1970s and 1980s published content such as ‘When I’m not lying on cars I’m a brain surgeon’ showing that advertising since the beginning has always sexualised women and not accurately reflected their body image or roles within society. The passiveness of women seems to have reduced over the years and women are no longer only expected to rely on the man to provide, but the focus has now been put on the appearance of women and less about their roles within society.

The cultural conspiracy about advertising suggests that we are made to feel as though we desire certain products and the purchasing of these made lead to the desirable lifestyle that is shown in the advertising campaign. 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 confirms the link between being physically attractive as socially more desirable as all of the models in advertisements adhere to a certain body size and shape that has been socially constructed as the most desirable form a woman’s body shape should be.

Feminist Naomi Wolf describes beauty as a normative value, an entirely socially constructed concept which is then reinforced within advertisements. 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. Naomi Wolf says that women are made to only feel attractive if they too look in this way. Judith Rodin says that women’s dieting has become a ‘normative obsession’ as an extreme way to embody these characteristics that men are being told to desire. The 2015 report commissioned by ‘Beat’ showed that over 725,000 people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, something we can assume may have been triggered by the unrealistic representations of females and the socially constructed ideals on what is seen to been attractive.

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. In terms of reliability, Naomi Wolf’s book is subjective as it is based upon her opinions. The opinions may be considered accurate though as she is an accredited feminist, so has a lot of knowledge and has completed a lot of research.

The Dolce and Gabbana advertisements artistically use sexually suggestive scenes to represent a particular setting on print. Men are often presented to have a power stance over a passive woman to show the sexual attraction. This is implying that the size 0 model in the image is seen to have the most desirable female figure. These advertisements continue to show that the gender representations within, are not accurate reflections of the realities. In response to negative comments on their advertisements, Dolce and Gabbana are working to improve the way in which they portray the ideal gender stereotypes to be. In the most recent advertisements, the sexual imagery has been lessened and there is more of a focus on ideal family lifestyle. The brand has always been known to play off of typical societal gender roles, now emphasising the idea that there is an equality between the man and woman within the household in the new adverts. The FW/2013 campaign show two parents in the family home surrounded by their children. Although the advert is not explicitly sexually suggestive, the female is sat in lingerie in the bedroom glazing over at the man. The gender stereotypes are still reflecting the idea of the traditional household in which the woman is dependent on the man. The gender representations within this campaign are still not reflective of the realities of female body size and continue to make many feel as though their current body form is not attractive.  

In conclusion, it is evident that the advertisements use models that do not reflect the gender stereotypes of the average female body shape. 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 models desirable and that women should desire 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’.