Blog 5: Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotyping is a quick and easy way for advertisers to send a strategic message to their audience while relying on and further enforcing cultural myths surrounding men and women.

There are thousands and thousands of commercials, print ads, and billboards that can attest to this; we're inundated with countless images every day telling us that men need to be strong, rich, handsome, capable and women need to sexy, domestic, quiet, thin, fit and the like. It's a lot to keep up with.

Instead of just focusing on the fact that these stereotypes exist, I'd like to look at it through the lens of this year's Always Super Bowl ad, "Like A Girl". The ad is below:

There are several layers that I'd like to look at within this advertisement. I've dubbed this advertisers strategically crafted message in terms of "the bait, the hook, and the kill". 

"What does it mean to run 'like a girl'?" The phrase echoes in your ears as you see a teenage girl pretend to incompetently run in place. However, it's clear she doesn't even realize she's mocking herself. That's the bait: the advertisers draw you in by highlighting that this stereotype exists so deeply in our culture that it no longer phases us as individuals; it's taken as a cultural norm. 

The point is hammered home when the young boy is asked, "Did you just insult your sister?" He's caught off guard. It is an insult, isn't it? But of course he wasn't saying that about someone he actually knows, it's just a generalization about other girls! It is so clear that although we live day to day with these stereotypes, these subliminal insults about gender, we don't think about them actually applying to ourselves or people we know. We think about them as the generalized "other", so it's harmless. Right?

The overall story is tied together when the young girl, Dakota, comes into picture. When asked how to do things "like a girl", she doesn't put on some type of facade or pretend to be anything other than herself. While the ad is focusing on the fact that girls struggle with self esteem during puberty, the fact is that they are too young to either fully understand or have been exposed to this particular stereotyped cliche. By this point, you were fully engaged in the commercial, we all were. That's the kill, the advertiser has now not only made you feel aware of the injustice but you believe that this brand is out to change the world. Clever marketing for a good cause, I'd say job well done in terms of advertising. 

It's a powerful ad and they play with gender stereotypes in an interesting and counter cultural way. They go on to ask the girls why they did what they did and almost make them guilty for falling for the ploy; however, it drives the message home that these stereotypes are deeply and firmly engrained into our subconscious. It takes active exposure and examination of these subtle phrases to bring awareness to just how powerful stereotypes show up in everyday advertisements.