Sexism in Advertising

An article from Guardian.co.uk, Time to Kick Sexism out of Advertising discussed sexism issue in a WKD football ad and how are the responses from public and the ASA in UK.

Sexism is defined as discrimination against people according to their sex especially women in particular which includes female stereotypes and sexual appeals (Ford & La Tour, 1993; La Tour, 1990 cited by Chan et al., 2007). For example, female are portrayed as victim of violence, sexual toys, and different forms of inequality between sexes (White, 1990 cited by Chan et al., 2007). Sexism portrayal in advertisements becomes a very sensitive issue which many people find it offensive. Therefore, sexism in advertisements becomes a challenge faced by advertising practitioners (Boddewyn, 1990 cited by Hultin & Lundh, 2004).

For example, an ad from Issia Napoli which used sexual abuse as a selling point for their clothes. The ad portrayed a man having controlled on a woman, discriminating women in a weaker position.

(Source: SAPAC, 2007)


















In this DKNY ad, the model was encountered with stalking, a serious form of sexual abuse. Besides that, it also portrayed women in a weak and helplessness state.

(Source: SAPAC, 2007)

Besides that, an article ‘Sexism on Advertising’ published in BeyondJane by Shhark (2010) also stated that most famous advertisements designers often broadcast sexist advertisements, portraying women in a weak and fragile status. Sexism advertising occurs in any form of advertisements including the broadcast ads. ‘Does sexism still reign in TV advertising?’ by Edaburn (2009) had shown a few example of sexism ads from the TV. These ads are usually banned quickly from broadcasting on TV but can be found in the Internet, especially Youtube site.

However, consumers’ responses towards offensive advertisements depend on their cultural values. Chan et al. (2007) mentioned that whether a text is consider offensive depends on the parties and situation where is it released. Advertising code of ethics and cultural values should be considered by advertisers before releasing an ad. Boddewyn (1991) cited by Hultin & Lundh (2004) had provided five practices for advertisers to consider before releasing an ad both locally or internationally:
1. Identify the use of appropriate media and specific targeted audience, minimize oppositions by non-users of the products.
2. Educate employees about relevant ethical codes.
3. Test the advertisement in terms of sexism or decency before releasing and get consultation from the media and other agencies.
4. Participate in self-regulation to reduce dangers in compulsory controls.
5. Abandon advertisements which touch on sex or other objectionable appeals.

Sexism, a sensitive issue in advertising should be considered thoroughly by advertisers before designing and releasing an ad to avoid offensive opinions and responses.


References
1. Chan, K, Li, L, Diehl, S & Terlutter, R 2007, ‘Consumers’ response to offensive advertising: a cross cultural study,’ International Marketing Review, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 606-628, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0265-1335

2. Edaburn, P 2009, Does sexism still reign in TV advertising?, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://themoderatevoice.com/27132/does-sexism-still-reign-in-tv-advertising/

3. Hultin, M & Lundh, E 2004, ‘Sex in advertising: how it influences young men and women.’ Department of Business Administration and Social Science, Bachelor’s Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://epubl.ltu.se/1404-5508/2004/167/index-en.html

4. Perera, K 2010, Time to kick sexism out of advertising, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/29/kick-sexism-out-of-advertising

5. Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center 2007, Sexism in advertising 2007, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://www.umich.edu/~sapac/sia/2007/DKNY.html

6. Shhark 2010, Sexism in Advertising, viewed on 13/11/2010, retrieved from http://beyondjane.com/women/sexism-in-advertising/

New Media

New forms of media publishing are emerging and are substituting the old forms of media. When digital convergence, global networking and personal computing are combined together, there is a large impact on these new media formations (Naughton, 2006).

Broadcast TV and print media are no longer the dominating media whereas Interne had become a part of media publishing medium. There are few forms of new media which are dominating the media world now:

- Blogs (eg. Anwar Ibrahim, Jeff Ooi etc)

The emergence of blogging somehow affected the conventional print journalism (Naughton, 2006). What makes blogging different to the conventional journalism is that blogging is no longer a one-way-street (Naughton, 2006). Blogging provides people a platform to express their thoughts and ideas freely which is related to the public sphere. Habermas (1962) stated that public sphere is the "made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the needs of society with the state". It is important for people’s opinion to be heard by the authorities, whether it is for or against.

- Social Networking Sites (eg. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc)

Media publishing also occurs within these popular social networking sites. Hitiwise, an internet analysis firm had stated that Facebook had become the most visited sites in USA in March 2010 (Stuart, 2010). This gives that opportunity to organisations to publish news or information through these social networking sites. Publishers can connect with people faster and more convenient. People no longer need to wait for news to be printed on a newspaper whereas they can get the latest news in the shortest time through these social networking sites. Publishers also need not to wait for manual surveys to get the people’s feedback. Social networking sites allow them to get immediate response from people.

- Online newspaper (eg. Malaysiakini, The Star Online)

Online newspaper had challenged the print media. People can be updated every second and most of all, alternative online newspaper allows people to have an alternative opinion towards the authorities. Donald Graham, the CEO of The Washington Post (which has a print and online version) stated that during 2006, their print version had lost 3% of its readers and 14% of its ads revenue. This statistic would only increase as people had chosen the online version (Knowledge@Wharton, 2007). The print media had lost its market due to the emergence of online newspaper.

New forms of media had caused the media ecosystem to be more diverse, increase in communication speed, and more interaction among users (Naughton, 2006). But these new forms of media should be used wisely and not misused.

References

1. Knowledge@Wharton 2007, Web vs. Print: Online Successes at One Newspaper Raise More Questions Than They Answer, viewed on 30/9/2010, retrieved from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1699

2. Naughton, J 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, viewed on 30/9/2010, retrieved from http://www.google.com.my/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Freutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk%2Ffileadmin%2Fdocuments%2Fdiscussion%2Fblogging.pdf&rct=j&q=blogging%20and%20the%20emerging%20media%20ecosystem&ei=ypSkTMqXCoqIvgPxk7iHDQ&usg=AFQjCNFEM_IoINApK2_KXgbFdYFuJdQiPA&cad=rja

3. Stuart, D 2010, Networking sites help align publishers with customers, viewed on 30/9/2010, retrieved from http://www.researchinformation.info/features/feature.php?feature_id=272

4. Soules, M 2008, Jürgen Habermas and the Public Sphere, viewed on 30/9/2010, retrieved from http://records.viu.ca/~soules/media301/habermas.htm