Gender Images

Since there has been the assumption that gender images presented in advertisements influence members of the society, self-awareness and awareness of others, the socialisation process as well as the society's dominant stereotypes, attitudes, opinions, values and consumption traditions, it is very important to know which gender images are created in ads intended for Lithuanian consumers, how they are constructed, what their features are and what impact is sought in ads through specific images. This could serve as proof for the relevance of this bachelor's thesis ("Gender images in magazine ads").
The subject of this paper is gender images in magazine ads. The aim of this paper is to define prevailing gender images in the ads of Cosmopolitan,
Laima, FHM and A-Zet.
The key objectives of this paper are to define the idea of advertising, its functions, methods and measures of impact; to discuss society's prevalent gender images; to carry out an empirical examination of ads in Cosmopolitan, Laima, FHM and A-Zet; and to summarise the results.
Applying the method of percentage-based analysis of ad content, the tendentious model of ads in all four magazines was found. The model is as follows: ads of beauty products and perfumery intended for females or both genders with a passive white young woman (aged 18-35) on a neutral yet multi-coloured background doing nothing and wearing casual outfits. Thus the focus is on the woman depicted in the ad: neither her activity, nor the environment surrounding her are important. In this case the female in the ad is only a decoration or even a sex object.
The correlation analysis of ads revealed that men in ads work more often and quite a few are professional athletes and representatives in the show business. In addition, men wear formal clothes more often, they look important and are depicted in a working environment. A man's image in ads is also associated with intelligence and logical thinking, and he is independent and goal-seeking. Women in ads are normally featured in a non-worker's role, they are passive and ‘decorate' ads. Owing to this decorative role females in ads are rarely depicted in the working environment or public places and outdoors. They also rarely wear formal working or sport outfits and no attempts are made to bring about an important impression of
them.
The χ² criterion analysis lead to the conclusion that men in ads are portrayed both young and older and they wear formal or casual clothes more often. This is because men are more frequently featured in the worker's role, or on many occasions they are professional athletes, they entertain themselves and do sports more often and therefore are active. The image of a working, important and serious man is also supported by frequent depiction of the working environment on the grey and black backgrounds. The role of an active male engaged in some sort of activity is supported by public and outdoor environments. Women in ads are very rarely depicted at older age – the youth factor is important for their image. They are more often dressed in evening and celebration outfits. This is also influenced by the fact that they are normally portrayed in the decorative non-worker's role, therefore they are passive and do nothing. In these ads the background is often neutral, which implies a non-important context: all attention is focused on the woman's appearance.
Theoretical and practical significance of thesis. The generalised gender images defined and presented in the paper may be useful in further research on ads or gender image, they should also be beneficial and interesting to marketing managers, ad makers and sociologists. The results of this study could be of interest to professors and students in marketing, advertising and sociology.