Essay on Using women as a tool in advertising for men products
The main objective of advertising is to have emotional and psychological impact on a person in order to proceed in the direction of persuasion – to buy goods, use service, make political choices, etc. (Berger, 2001). The authors of the majority of modern researches share common opinion that by means of an advertised product the impact on the recipient is realized, i.e. through the promotional offer the formation of mass consciousness is implemented, and the ideals, attitudes and knowledge introduced by the addresser are spread (Weeks, 2007; Sivulka, 2008; An & Kim, 2007; Kilbourne, 1999; Jansson-Boyd, 2010).
At the same time, since the start of the production of full-fledged advertising campaigns in the 1960’s, there appeared a tendency to build brands by gender characteristic (Gobé, 2010). Nowadays, there is already no doubt that gender influences the choice of the source of advertising, the degree of trust towards it, the nature of selectivity of the details of an advertising offer both in terms of content and expression (Jay, 2011; Furnham & Paltzer, 2010).
Advertising designed for men mostly touches upon the professional sphere, sphere of education, consulting services, which confirms the aspiration of men to reach career success and raise their professional level (Gill, 2007). Advertising of technologies such as computers, cell phones, office equipment, and cars is usually done for men, according to the stereotypical perception that a man is a symbol of reliability, stability, professionalism, etc., and also reflects the traditional idea that technology, including automobiles is a sphere of male interests, as well as extreme sports, alcohol and cigarettes (Jay, 2011; Gill, 2007; Tungate, 2008).
It is obvious that the key to the successful performance of advertising in its impact on male consumers is its tempting-seductive nature. Advertising not only promises the obtainment of pleasure with the acquisition of the product, but also creates the desire itself (Gobé, 2010). The first step in this direction is the creation of the desired object. In male advertising, this object is typically a woman or woman body, which according to the research of Nigam and Jha (2007), surpasses children, animals, especially pets and male images on the strength of the effect of attractiveness.
Thus, one of the most alluring and desirable and, accordingly, one of the main symbols in advertising the consumption for men has become a woman, her image, including her body, which is now used both as the tool and means. Further in this work, we’ll focus on analyzing the existing female images in advertising of products for men, discover the mechanisms of their influence and the ways of perception by men, in an attempt of theoretizing the methods of influence and practical application of female images in advertising.
Female images in advertising
Speaking of women in advertising, the basic methods of “gender” advertising can be observed, such as attention to breasts, feet, attention to the genitals, sex (Greer, 1999). Looking more subtle, it is possible to see such subtypes of using women as the metamorphosis of the female body in the product sold, woman-man relationships, woman and water, reducing women to their parts (reductionism), caught women, and many others (Greer, 1999; Lavine et al., 1999; Conley & Ramsey, 2011).
Advertising with the male recipient offers a variety of psychological images, as well as different gender roles. These can be images of a gentle, dreamy girl or bright, carefree, joyful girls, or strict, independent, strong and purposeful woman. This may be a young mother, caring wife, a businesswoman. But as Morrison & Shaffer (2003) claim, the main will still be the image of an attractive, carefree girl, concerned with her appearance and popularity among men. In general, in advertising intended for male audiences, several images of women can be distinguished.
The image, which can often be found in advertising designed for men is a silly, short-sighted woman. Most often this image is displayed by the young blondes or housewives who need advice or assistance from men. This image can be found in advertising of home appliances and cars. Often the advertisement shows the inequality between men and women (Nigam & Jha, 2007; Sivulka, 2008; Yanni, 1990).
The next female image found in the men’s advertising is the image of his beloved and loving wife or a woman who cares about the man. Typically, these materials are illustrated by photographs of couples in which a woman with love in the eyes looks faithfully at her partner (Sivulka, 2008; Macdonald, 1995; Yanni, 1990).
But the most important and most common female image in advertisement for men is the image of a sexual woman. The lion’s share of the advertised products is demonstrated near beautiful women, women’s bodies or their parts. According to Lazar (2006), as well as the number of other authors (Macdonald, 1995; Rosewarne, 2007; Yanni, 1990, Cortese, 2007), woman, her body shape, etc., able to not only encourage but also to evoke, often in somewhat perverse way, the buyer’s demands, are used in advertising as subjects of sexual exploitation, driving force of the needs of buyers, a catalyst for sales of goods and services.
Mechanisms and methods of influence of female images on men’s perception of advertising
As the desire brings profit in the consumer society, woman bodies historically identified with sexuality and nature today bears fruit not only in different promotional products, but also in political, economic, and social relations, by means of the body language presented in the gender-specific body-advertising socialization (Jay, 2011).
Although it is impossible to say that women are more beautiful or more desirable than men, but in most cases, women are more open to being desirable (An & Kim, 2007). Despite recent radical changes in social life, woman continues to look at herself “through the eyes of men,” presenting herself as an object of his desires (Amy-Chinn, 2006; Milburn et al., 2001).
Fully in the spirit of advertising is an image of female identity used as a device for playing gestures, a kind of physical clowning (Nigam & Jha, 2007). A common technique of this kind is the corresponding placement of human figure in the space. In social situations, beds and floors are the places where the lying persons will be lower than those who sit or stand (Lazar, 2006). In addition, the lying position is one of those in which physical self-defense is less convenient and, therefore, this provision suggests that a person in such position is rather dependent on the generosity of others (Jansson-Boyd, 2010). According to Lavine et al. (1999), women (68.8% of promotional products) are more often portrayed in the lying position on the floor, in bed, or on the sofa, which is a classic universal technique in mirroring the established in the real society model of the “man-woman” relationship, i.e. the model of superiority of one sex over the other. Moreover, women are often portrayed with legs bent at the knees, which is a traditional expression of sexual availability, and once again confirms their subordinate and dependent position (Rosewarne, 2007).
Use of this erotic female image is more often met in the advertising of cars, alcohol, after shave lotion, cigarettes, etc. (Tungate, 2008). At the same time, according to Amy-Chinn (2006), a woman not only sells, but she is often sold herself. Researches show that for many men, a naked woman is the most beautiful sight ever to appear in front of their eyes (Dianoux & Linhart, 2010). Woman body is subtly expressed in all the items of the available product range, whether it’s a pack of cigarettes, silky to touch as a girl’s skin, or seductive-rounded shape of a car. A woman in such advertisements is sexy, internally free; she looks like a toy in the hands of men (Aharon et al., 2001; Gill, 2003; Beetles & Harris, 2005).
Often female image in advertising is used as a symbol of beauty (Aharon et al., 2001; Greer, 1999; Berger, 2001). Woman body produces an entirely different, not previously familiar, new cult of health, hygiene, emancipation, youth, and, finally, the beauty. Beauty is now seen not as a unity of image, but allows men to select certain parts of the female body (Greer, 1999). The beauty of the desired woman brings thoughts of certain parts of her body, the most covered, the most animal (Conley & Ramsey, 2011).
The use of this element in advertising is based on the fact that the visual analyzer is the most sensual erotic channel of men (Jansson-Boyd, 2010). Showing a shoulder or decollate stimulates the imagination of man to independent completion of the scene provoked by the advertising, the missing segment of the advertising gender construct, involving the viewer in this way in a game including the advertised goods (Gill, 2003). In other words, the female image, body, shape, etc., are often able to evoke in some perverse way the needs of the buyer. As a result, woman body in advertising for man is an appeal to what they should do: buy and possess.
The study of Wilson and Daly (2004) confirms that the use of female images in advertising indeed compels men to fork up. During the experimental procedure the researchers first asked the opinion of male students on what they would prefer – $19 today, or $25, but tomorrow. After being shown cute female faces, students started to increasingly agree to get less money, but immediately (Wilson & Daly, 2004). Such behavior may have an evolutionary explanation – it is easier to get a female for rich males (Wilson & Daly, 2004). Another conclusion is that the brain regions responding to attractive female faces are associated with those responsible for determining the consequences of actions (Aharon et al., 2001).
The saddest case of emergence of woman’s image in advertising is when it doesn’t symbolize anything, except for advertiser’s holy faith that such advertising will work best (Rosewarne, 2007; Plous & Neptune, 1997; Dianoux & Linhart, 2010). Currently, sexual configurations, gestures and postures appearing in advertisement become extremely realistic, and the sexual identity of advertising female models is obvious: advertising pornographic genre with a female body is the most candid and apocalyptic of all carnal discourses (Rosewarne, 2007; Weeks, 2007; Gill, 2003).
A careful analysis of verbal and nonverbal elements of advertising images reveals the ambiguity of look thrown by the audience on an advertising model, and by the model on the viewer (Cortese, 2007). According to Hogg and Garrow (2003) the look of the model pierces (castrates) the viewer, breaking his “sexual fixation”. If the eyes of the model are closed or deliberately not fixed by the camera, then undoubtedly, an advertising frame highlights the details which have an impact on the viewer: pointed, bulging breasts visible through the transparent thin clothes, high heels, long fingers with sharp and colorful nails, half-opened mouth with bright moist lips, tense body accenting all sorts of curves, and similar non-verbal gestural elements (Amy-Chinn, 2006; Beetles & Harris, 2005; Jansson-Boyd, 2010). A similar role in the sexualization of female body is played by red color on women lips, nails and accessories, playfully creating the associations with the archetypes of female power (Sivulka, 2008).
The gender display presented through the advertised products, or, according to Weeks (2007), the “theater” of gender relations and gender strategies, above all, bears now an erotic character, reducing everything to the technique of “flirting”, secretly diverting a woman the traditional role of the object of male desire, and a man – a the tireless role of a sexual hunter (Conley et al., 2011; Furnham & Paltzer, 2010; Kilbourne, 1999; Morrison & Shaffer, 2003). In fact, the aspect of gender relations is much broader, more multi-dimensional, much deeper and more complex. Moreover, with the participation of advertising, these relations themselves may also be turning into a commodity (Kilbourne, 1999).
Female images in event industry advertising
In general, we can formulate a generic and balanced image of a woman, which may be positively perceived by a male-customer or potential customer of certain event services. Thus, with all the variations in views on the ideal, the female body is always seen through the image of a gentle, slim, petite woman without body hair, with weak muscles, whose shape are rounded and faired, with soft and smooth skin. This body must not give evidence of any power, strength, independence or courage.
That is why advertising campaigns in event-business find wide and many-sided application to the female body, as if made of transparent plastic or constantly flashing, thus giving an idea of both female beauty and the advertised product. Generally, the modern principle of attractiveness destroys women’s self-consciousness, extending its influence to the core of female power, to female sexual potency. Any sign of an autonomous female sexuality is either rejected or replaced by its patriarchal symbol of sex appeal. The current double standard allows interpreting identical gestures, patterns of behavior of genders in many ways, i.e. in fact we do not talk about a single language of genders, but about its two separate dialects complementary to each other.
We can conclude that in the gender advertising field, the behavior of men in choosing event services cannot be completely reduced to the notion of gender; rather it will be an expression of their social status and personality.
Conclusion
Inclusion of one or another product in a symbolic exchange occurs simultaneously with the objectification of the abstract values, dominating in the society. Thus, the secret of success of the majority of promotional products aimed rather at the sale of lifestyle than the sale of goods will directly depend, first of all, on the reference to well-established gender stereotypes and constructs, as well as patterns of our perception of intersexual relations yet unconscious on a rational level, “social archetypes” of a human.
In this perspective, nowadays, the sexuality of women is continuously exploited for advertising male categories of goods, from hygiene products and underwear up to insurance and banking services. A female body becomes a masterpiece of market design, prompting everyone to take action: women in advertising become the object of desire, the ideal of beauty, the synonym of male power, toys in men hands, or the representation of status. In some cases, a woman may serve as a vampire, distracting the viewer from the advertised goods, especially if the advertised product or service does not combine well enough with a nude or half-nude model. In any case, women images effectively serve for making men feel the necessity to obtain products.
In addition, the success of advertising depends on how successful or unsuccessful the identification of the potential consumer with the situation and/or identity offered to him. From this point of view, it does not matter in which way the identification succeeds: either through metaphorical imagination or practical metonymical implementation. The important thing is that the notional consumption of female images in the first case and the practical consumption of specific “status” male goods in the second case use identity dynamics as the initial basis, which in its turn is defined and then constantly reproduced in commercials.
