A study on, 'The role of magazine advertising in gender socialisation'

Abstract

Abstract provided by author

On the basis of existing knowledge, this research's starting point was the idea that gender identity is not "given" by nature, but that males and females learn to behave differently through participation in social rituals. An important forum for learning gender identity in modern society is media presentations of sex models, which are especially prominent in advertisements

Goffman asks, "what such portrayals say about the relative social positions of men and women" (Leiss: 1985). In spring 2000. the advocacy group Children Now issued a report calling for advertisers to be more responsible in their portrayals of men and boys. Not only were men increasingly being shown as sex objects in print advertisements, but three distinct roles were found in television commercials: the daredevil. the nerd, and the wimp. Echoing the concerns of feminists about the effects of deceptions of women of women on girls, the group posed the question. "What is the impact on boys when they see traditional or stereotypical way men are shown in ads for ears. beer, or medication?" (Children Now: 2000)

The purpose, hence, of this paper was to probe the prevailing image of men in magazine advertisements of today. The investigation focused exclusively at those images that male readers would like to identify with. In this study, therefore, we were not contemplating the portrayal of men ads aimed at women, nor are considering negative images of men targeted to either sex. Instead, the paper looked through the advertising mirror at men's fantasies about who they are and who they would like to be ( the mirror metaphor is discussed by Fox (329) and Moog (35). In investigating the way men are portrayed, the research looked closely at their relationship with women. The nature of these relationships provided the guiding theme for the analysis of our sample of ads depicting men

The proliferation of magazines available on the market, at rates affordable to most young people, has only sparked further debate regarding advertising's influence on its audience. Opinions are widely divergent as to whether advertising is a negative or beneficial factor in these publications which the so-called "moral majority" rile as "hedonistic presentations of pleasure'', and for the bad role models that advertising presents" (Leiss: 1985)

The focus was on images of men in magazine ads because the researcher found them to convey an important ideological massage about men. women and gender relations. Reflected on the ad mirror, are popular male images imbedded both in the male consumer mind and in culture generally and that in turn may be responsible for the shape of social negotiation presently