Gender Role Stereotypes, Sexual Objectification, and Power in Advertising

Gender displays are used heavily in advertising in order to establish the role of one gender
in relation with the other. These days, we know that the media and body image are closely related.
Particularly, the body image advertising affects the way a person view his or her own body image.
This is because thousands of advertisements contain messages about physical attractiveness and
beauty.

Our society has a set of ideas about how men and women are expected to dress, behave
and conduct themselves based on their assigned sex. These are excessively emphasized by the ads
displayed all over the media. Women are programmed to be ‘Barbie dolls’ by the society which
makes them no less than objects. Men are also commonly projected to be masculine—which is
either determined by having a muscular and burly body. Because of these inaccurate depictions,
most people strive to be like the models they see on endorsements which make them loose
contentment on what characteristics they possess.

Beauty can be defined largely as a perception. It is a group of social norms that interpret a
particular form of appearance that is valued. Since almost four decades ago, people have been
expected to conform to a particular body image and to behave in a certain manner of which would
ultimately decipher and enforce their femininity and musculinity (Bordo, 1997, p. 94). Both men
and women strive to achieve this beauty which influences them to shape themselves and alter their
appearance in order to conform to those norms. These norms are largely derived from the media's
presentation of models and well known stars through advertisements for products and magazine
covers.

Advertisements highlighting a thin, attractive female model or a bulky, muscular male

yield greater self-objectification and the process of inspecting this type of advertisement can
encourage both genders to think about their physical appearance as if looking on as a critical
observer. Studies have shown that consuming advertisements that contain ideal body image leads
to an increase in body dissatisfaction (Pellitier, 2007).
 Bordo, Susan (1997). Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Cultural Images from
Plato to O.J. Berkeley: U of California P. p. 94.

Pellitier, Luc G (2007). "AN EXAMINATION OF GENERAL AND SPECIFIC

MOTIVATIONAL MECHANISMS FOR THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BODY
DISSATISFACTION AND EATING BEHAVIORS". Journal of Social & Clinical
Psychology.