Gender in Advertising

“If the Individuals find themselves in the things which shape their life, they do so, not by giving, but by accepting the law of things – not the law of physics but the law of their society.” (Marcuse, 83)

Marcuse looks at the ways in which our society shapes one’s identity and the way that society views someone.  In the quote above we can understand how the ideologies of a society influence and shape the lives of the people living under their constraints on what is considered the norm and what isn’t.  In the article “Parents keeping child’s gender secret” it looks at the reasons to why parents would choose not to reveal their child’s sexual identity, as well as the struggles that come with not imposing gender norms on children.  Today in our society people are becoming more and more accepting of gender becoming more fluid between what was once considered for boys and what was once considered for girls.  However, many still look at families not imposing gender on their children as harmful, due to them saying it could cause bullying for these children later on.  We also see that even though our society is becoming more accepting about fluidity between boys and girls things, our society as a whole still views certain things as meant for boys or girls.  One area that we see gender stereotypes being played to is in advertisements. In the article “Parents keeping child’s gender a secret, “the moment a child’s sex is announced, so begins the parade of pink and barrage of blue.  Tutus and toy trucks aren’t far behind.” (Poisson)

For advertisers they play off of gender roles when marketing to children, which in retrospect makes sense.  Why wouldn’t a company advertise to their target audience and the group that they will most likely be able to persuade to buy their items?  However, the problem occurs when children of the opposite sex want items that are targeted towards the other sex, and then this child or parent suffers ridicule from some on not conforming or teaching their child gender norms.  In the article one can see the ways that these parents try not enforce gender on their children, however one has to realize that there are more forces out there then just parents influencing children on their genders.  Our society has created what we consider to be set norms of genders, such as girls like dolls or the color pink, and boys liking trucks, building and blue colors. Advertising is influenced greatly on our society’s expectations on norms because it is easier to sell to the audience that is considered the norm, then to sell to the one that isn’t.  Children are exposure to thousands of advertisements a day and through these advertisements they help establish gender norms in children. In the pictures located above we see how the advertisements targeted towards girls generally have the color pink represented in them.  These advertisements also show dolls, playing house and beauty items.  Whereas, the advertisements directed towards boys have blue in them or no color in the background even.  They show the boys building things, or having items that they can fight against each other.  These show not only how girls are viewed as being nurturing and caring about beauty, and boys being seen as being adventurous and competitive.

One of the advertisement campaigns that does a great job of marketing to both boys and girls is Lego. In the ad one can see how both a boy and a girl are represented in this ad and it states “Oh the fun of creating something you’re this proud of.” This show that no matter you gender you can play with Legos and create something that you can be proud of.  No where does the advertisement state girls can create girl like items and boys can create boy like items. Rather this advertisements shows that anyone can create whatever their imagination can create.

Like stated above, I understand why advertisements market towards their target audience in advertisements. However, I think if possible more advertisements should follow in Lego’s footsteps.  Specially when targeting towards young children, that way if any child is interested in a item then they can have it without feeling the pressures that society puts on them on whether or not that fits their gender.