Advertising

This week we discussed advertising in general. Advertisements in today's society can be very stereotypical and gender biased. There were a number of comments made about certain commercials gearing towards one gender more so than the other. This dynamic begins at a very early age. I was watching some of my children's cartoons the other day and noticed all of the advertisements that are directed towards children today. Of course all of the barbie dolls and "girly" stuff was directed towards girls, and all of the monsters and action figures were directed towards boys. But one thing I also noticed that showed gender based advertising was the kitchen and easy bake oven sets. These all had little girls gathered around them. So it seems as though even the tender age of 3, advertisers are gearing household duties towards the female gender.

Consumerism also plays a role in advertising. We, as consumers, need certain amenities to survive everyday life; however, advertisers make it seem as though we need so many other things than what it takes to survive. They feed on the desires of society to have the nicer things and the more up to date accessories, etc.

I guess advertisements have worked just fine up to this point and I'm sure the advertising/commercials we will continue to see in the future will be no less geared towards specific genders or to try to make consumers believe we "need" something that we don't.