My Thesis question:
How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?
How stereotypical advertisement in prints has influenced gender norms and led to the objectification of females from many visual and language aspects?
Jennie. “Sexist Vintage Ads: Mr. Leggs Slacks ~ The Housewife Modern.” The Housewife
Modern, 17 June 2016, www.thehousewifemodern.com/blog/sexist-vintage-ads-mr-
leggs-slacks/.
Of all the time since the application of the press, stereotypical advertisement in prints has influenced gender norms and led to the objectification of both female and male. Referencing one of the sexist advertisement from “Mr.Leggs Slacks” created from the 1970s, we can observe that its illustration represents female in a particular obedient, savage, and oppressed figure for industrialist’s self-gratification of earning profit and attention. The advertisement is originally published in newspapers by the brand Darcon. The advertisement represents the social group of the female in a distorted and superficial image to attract public attention, build sexual connections, and gain profit ultimately by depicting distinct and exaggerated roles for different gender in multiple forms. The advertisement implies certain effects on the construction of gender norms to represent the gender group, and its targeted audience is American male adults.
The print advertisement from “Mr.Leggs Slacks” represents a female character as a materialized animal rug made with a body of peeled-off tiger skin, and with a male character who dresses like an elite with his feet stepping on the female figure’s head to inform his superiority in the image to the audience. This advertisement depicts a submissive, obedient and weak female figure as an object for male’s gratification of sexual fantasy and positional dominance in the society. The advertisement grants male characters the twisted concept of power to control and be on top of women in both the picture and the real life. It delivers a negative message to the female by informing their untrue minority in society as compared to men. The advertisement also delivers its norm by representing females as controllable and nonpossessive objects to satisfy and serve themselves to males.
The main purpose of this in-print advertisement is to gain commercial profit by building a controversial and yet impactful brand image visually and connecting the unhealthy sexual relationship between each gender to attract greater attention and to trigger men’s lust of possession, which will lead them to purchase the product for obscene satisfaction. The layout of the image represents female groups by symbolizing them as a materialized tiger rug to deliver the biased norm that women are the usable object for daily contentment or the savage character that needs to be controlled by men. The advertisement also uses shock advertising to gain attention and publicity by representing a gender image that violates humanity deliberately. By portraying genders in a particular sexual suggestive way and assigning hierarchical gender roles, the company is able to gain controversies and notice from a large population, which will lead to a large gain in profit. The coarse visual impact has influenced a large group of audience, assigning a hierarchical gender difference in their mind.
The advertisement marketed vulgarly by utilizing advertising techniques to stress the unequal gender hierarchy. It targeted both genders’ demographic, but its product of suit pants and the content of the image is more specifically marketed for American men, even if the stereotypical effect is mutual. The media intends to deliver its message more effectively by utilizing techniques in the advertisements. According to the language on the image, the advertisement claimed: “Mr. Leggs slacks, she was ready to have him walk all over her. That noble styling sure soothes the savage heart! If you’d like your own doll-to-doll carpeting, hunt up a pair of these he-man Mr. Leggs slacks” (Mr.Leggs). The advertiser belittles female’s role in the scenario by using specific submissive diction, such as the word “savage” and “doll-to-doll”. The writer also stresses men’s capability to control women by choosing the word “hunt up”. There is also a comparison juxtaposed of “noble styling” and “savage heart” in order to show the difference in levels of each gender unequally. The advertiser utilizes common TV advertisement techniques to make their message more persuasive and impactful to the audience. The gender stereotype is built and solidified through marketing that involves the employment of the techniques. The content contains biased and absurd judgment about the gender norms that already existed in society, and it is also propaganda that spread the unhealthy norms for men to feel superior. The advertiser utilizes a transfer to persuade the customer to purchase their product, that they build a connection between the vulgar sexual satisfaction, which is attractive to some men, and the product together to gain attention and commercial profit.
In conclusion, the advertiser represents an unhealthy hierarchy between two gender groups by applying strong visual impact and a controversial language to gain large attention and profit in the market in a particular exaggerated way. The gender stereotype oppresses females and violates their equal human rights majorly, but it also misleads male’s value, by informing them that they should only believe in their role as to scorn females and attach the only importance to sex. The stereotypical advertisements exist globally to deliver the biased gender message of different social groups.
Without common agreement or resistance, the company would not gain profit and publicity via their representation. Groups would not be represented in this particular distorted image if people did not ask for or revolt against. It is everyone’s crime when they witness this particular representation without any advocacy, and it is everyone’s responsibility to speak out and demand to change this unequal phenomenon in the world.
Written Analysis by Jiacheng (Tiffany) Wang
