English Gcse Media Essay

English GCSE Media Coursework

1. How does advertising reinforce gender stereotypes?

Today in the late 1990’s we can not escape advertising it bombards us from all types of media and every aspect of our lives. It is a multibillion-pound industry that stereotypes genders and tells us what we could become if we use certain products.
Men being portrayed as cool, tough, athletic and stylish reinforce the gender stereotypes. One advert I have studied which reinforces the male stereotype is an advertisement for ‘Old Spice, White Water’. The advertisement shows a businessman in a kyak kyacking down a white water rapid. This is stereotyping the male businessman by showing him as an adventurous and carefree person who wears ‘Old Spice, White Water’. So this campaign is obviously aimed at businessmen who see them selves as adventurous and care free.
Another advertisement I have chosen to study that reinforces the male stereotype is an advertisement for an eau de toilette by ‘Givenchy’. This advertisement reinforces the male stereotype by showing a man in a space suit in outer space looking up beyond infinity. So as space men are looked upon as top class people who have achieved many peoples ambition to look down on the world this what he is portrayed as in the advertisement. The two advertisements reinforce gender stereotypes by showing the men as successful, and fearless. One is a business man kyaking and the other is an astronaut. For males this is how advertisements reinforce gender stereotypes.
‘Givenchy’ stereotypes Women as elegant, perfect and classy as in an advertisement for a perfume called ’Organza’. The same stereotypical role is also taken up in most other advertisements aimed at women. The woman in the advertisement for ‘Organza’ is pictured next to an enlarged picture of the bottle for the perfume. Both look similar with the curves of the body being translated into...