Women in Advertisements

As I researched ads for my Media Literacy project, I was shocked by the amount of diversity in many of Old Navy's ads. Each ad that I watched was incredibly inclusive. I saw women who were of various sizes and women of various races, it was as if they had went on the street and asked women if they wanted to be in the ad.
In a lot of media there has only been one demographic that was portrayed. A classic white family, with 2-3 kids and a dog, your normal 'american dream' image. Yet ads like Old Navy's and many other shows have begun to portray many people. The advertisers have finally begun to break down the barriers and portray people of all races, sizes, etc. For example, in my ad for the Media Project, there are various women who dance around the screen and show off their Old Navy jeans. Contrary to popular shows and ads, these women were all different sizes. There were some who were larger and others who were smaller than the 'average'. It was refreshing to see these women just be themselves rather than forcing themselves into these unrealistic sizes. There were not only white women, there were many women of color portrayed, which was also incredibly refreshing to see.
We also watched Target ads for the project. One of the Target ads we saw had a woman talking about her children and how she rewards them for failing to do their job properly. The ad was clearly geared toward a mom with her 2-3 kids and a white picket fence, once again your classic 'american dream' type family. This was completely different from the Old Navy ad. The Target ad did not have as much representation, nor did it break the 'norm'.
Many shows and ads have women who are in control of the children, then the men go out to work. Yet finally we are starting to see the norm change, now there are men who are portrayed as stay-at-home Dad's, and there are men who we see go shopping for the groceries rather than the stereotype that that is the female's job. There may be a long way to go for full representation and breaking of stereotypes, yet ads like those of Old Navy are a big step in the right direction to acceptance and freedom from stereotypes.

Comments

  1. jenan's blog :)May 6, 2019 at 10:07 PM

    I have completely noticed these trends as well. Growing up, ads primarily focused on the "American dream" family you talked about, but now ads have become so much more inclusive. I think this is a very good change, because it now makes many more people feel represented in these pieces of media we see every day. I also think the rise in size inclusivity will make women (and also men) feel much more inclined to purchase from these places, because they see themselves in the ads they are watching.

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