Asia Ewart is a New York City-based journalist covering all things lifestyle, culture and general news. Her work as a reporter and editor has appeared in Refinery29, Bustle, Gothamist, and the New York Daily News, among other publications.
Before television commercials and the internet, if a company wanted to advertise their product to the public, their only way of doing so was in print. Prior to the digital age, advertisements in magazines and catalogs—dating back over a century—were where people turned to find out about the latest household cleaner or which brand of cigarettes were in vogue.
These brightly illustrated ads of the 1900s have been the subject of study in the decades since, for both their artistic direction and style and their reflection of the time. Unfortunately, the latter has become negatively dated as the decades have passed. In today’s light, we criticize many ads of yesteryear as overtly sexist and racist. An example of this of course was Kodak’s Shirley Card.
Gender stereotypes in particular are glaringly obvious when looking back at decades-old advertisements. Women and girls were promised success if they were slim, wore makeup, and waited on their husbands hand and foot. Men and boys were promised success if they drank expensive liquor, joined the military, and did hard labor jobs. These depictions of men and women even carried over into the digital age. However as of the 2010s they’re in the process of phasing out.
Gender roles give way to gender stereotypes in those early days. So how did advertising come to weaponize those stereotypes to make their fortunes, while also changing popular culture at large? Here we explore the role of gender stereotypes in advertising and how this is shifting in future iterations of advertising.
Since its inception, advertising reflected not only products for consumers to buy, but the everyday situations in which consumers use them. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the belief that women were delicate and belonged in the home while men were breadwinners and symbols of strength was commonplace. As a result, companies reflected the then-common realities of men and women when advertising to them.
An 1893 ad from Chicago soap manufacturer N.K. Fairbank Co. depicts a female homemaker on her hands and knees scrubbing a floor in her home. Gold Dust, the product for sale, declares that “fourteen-hour wives of eight-hour men, need Gold Dust washing powder. To enable them to get through work as early as their husbands.”
In the 1890s, no one questioned why a woman was at home making sure each room was sparkling clean. What else, society asked, was she going to do while her husband was out providing for the family?
Because of the rigid gender roles men and women adhered to in public and in the home, it’s no surprise that gender stereotypes formed. Add in the advertisements hundreds of thousands of consumers regularly saw in magazines and catalogs, and the tropes of women maintaining their homes and men carrying briefcases remained present over time.
The 1890s gave way to the 1900s, which then gave way to the ‘20s and so on. Women gradually became more overtly sexualized in ads, becoming objects that helped men succeed in life and “score” in romance.
Men would also become more sexualized as the 20th century came to a close, with ads for products like Calvin Klein jeans showcasing male bodies more. But, during the early to mid-1900s men were instead encouraged to shave, drink, flirt, and maintain leadership roles in the home and out in the world. Meanwhile, ads for women were more critical. Many stated outright that women needed to be sexy, thin, and obedient, or risk being alone. Everyone had a role to play, and advertisers knew that.
Gender stereotypes in advertising were a mirror; the images companies relied on to sell products reflected the more solid gender roles in place during the early to mid-1900s. As a result, decades of feeding a particular message through ads had a not-so-subtle effect on how society perceived men and women. Ads calling for women to obtain and/or maintain physical beauty—encouraged by ads selling specific bras and certain toiletries—created the stereotype that all women must be youthful and tidy. Ads calling for men to be masculine by smoking cigarettes, driving classic cars, and buying and selling in the office created the stereotype that all men are equal parts Casanova and boisterous leader.
The stereotypes of men as providers and women as reliant even bled over into the media. Housewife and business husband tropes appeared on 1950s television shows like The Honeymooners and even The Flintstones. While the wives were admittedly feisty and set their husbands straight after failed antics, the shows still stuck women in pearls at home and men at work all day.
As a result, outside of ads and media, a man or woman not acting or looking as they “should” raised eyebrows. The U.S.-based hippie, second-wave feminism, and anti-war movements of the 1960s and ‘70s, among others, received backlash when women sought equality, men rejected haircuts, and both criticized the government.
But even as society began the march towards gender equality in the workplace and society at large, gender stereotypes still existed in the media people consumed. Disney movies like Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast often portrayed a damsel in distress and were a hit among kids, who internalized what they saw.
Psychologically, gender stereotypes caused, and still cause, more harm than help. Reinforced gender roles and societal expectations box people in with rarely any wiggle room. Hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity, or the exaggerated performance of gender, can stem from gender stereotypes. Emotional withdrawal, a lack of creative freedom, discrimination, and abuse are also likely to follow.
The gender stereotypes of the 1940s-1970s continued as the 20th century began to reach its end. The 1980s and 1990s then began to shift the dominant female image to one driven largely on looks. Calvin Klein and his aforementioned ads came under fire in 1980 for styling actress Brooke Shields, then 15, to look older than she was. In the 1990s, fashion and ad designers alike encouraged runway and print models to maintain a waif-like appearance, dubbed “heroin-chic.”
Unlike women, men weren’t targeted with ads for products that would, essentially, fix what companies deemed flaws. They were sold underwear, cologne, and cars just as women were sold a specific image of sexiness. However, they weren’t told they were incapable of basic tasks or had to diet to be worthy of respect.
What advertisers were trying to say to consumers through gender stereotypes became less in-your-face as the decades passed. Still, the message remained the same: everyone had a role, and you’d be judged if you didn’t stick to it.
Luckily, the new millennium onwards gave way to social media. This largely changed the field of advertising and the gender stereotypes companies leaned on to sell their products. When it came down to it, gender stereotypes in ads played into consumer insecurities. If a person felt bad about how they looked or what they didn’t have, they fell right into the hands of ad executives.
Social media became a tool to uplift others and increase self-confidence since people are able to take control of how they see themselves. Diversity, body confidence, and self-love rule. However, many advertisements still don’t utilize these factors because of historical stereotypes and a “one size must fit all” mold. More and more, realistic and authentic representations of people are in demand in advertising.
The reliance on gender stereotypes in advertising has, by no means, gone away. But the traditional, heavy-handed usage of it is on its way out across the world.
As of June 2020, the U.K. banned ads showing people “failing to achieve a task specifically because of their gender” and depicting “stereotypical personality traits” because of the role stereotypes have had on society. In the digital age, younger consumers question gendered advertising for its relevance, according to Forbes. It’s one thing for a woman to see an ad that relates to her online experience. But, force-feeding an irrelevant, stereotypically female-targeted product won’t win companies any fans today.
Society reacting to the status quo isn’t what it was 130 years ago. People today question what they see and why things are the way they are. Gender stereotypes on television, in movies, and in advertisements still exist, but so do independent, career-oriented women and male homemakers. This new lens is the new normal, and advertisers are now the ones who need to keep up with the times.
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