This article will investigate the role of the market in the formation of women’s identities and the extent to which this construction has affected the lives of women. In addition, the research further delved into what a ‘masculine gaze’ is and how women are positioned while attempting to comprehend this idea in media formats, notably print and television advertisements. The article goes on to problematize how women are continually compelled to perform their sexuality, which is both explicitly and implicitly reflected in these prominent commercial platforms. Moreover, the writer also provides a theoretical and conceptual explanation of how women are positioned in the act of “seeing,” as well as a comprehensive examination of specific advertisements through the “gaze” framework that is incorporated within them. The article then presents a holistic and systematic examination of “visuality” and its relevance in understanding women’s identity as produced and reproduced in the popular advertising sector.
Advertisements are one of the most ubiquitous and successful tools in marketing, utilised by companies to disseminate information and raise awareness among the consumers regarding their products, services, and brand (Fill, 2009). For the purpose of the study, we have adopted the definition of “advertisement” as given by Kotler (1984) as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services through mass media, newspapers, magazines, and television by an identified sponsor” and therefore will be evaluating both print and television advertisements. In the current era of media domination, it is crucial not to underestimate the potential far-reaching effects that the advertising sector might have on informing, directing, and moulding the attitudes of the masses that are exposed to and consume it on an everyday basis. Recent changes in society, politics, and the economy have only accelerated the evolution of advertising, making it a more powerful and important marketing tool.
The representation of women in advertising has evolved over time in response to the needs of the global market and shifting customer expectations and preferences. To secure the product’s general acceptability, advertisers frequently extol and celebrate the most conventional and stereotyped gender roles and behaviour patterns typically associated with women in our culture and continue to illustrate women as mere objects to satiate the male gaze (Wirks, Sparks & Zimbers, 2018). Such female portraits and their idealised images of beauty, sexual appeal, and objectifying submissive visuals, have for a long time thrived in the advertisement industry and have received considerable attention from scholars and researchers from across disciplines. This backward, rigid, and passive way of showing women makes them forget that they are equal members of society and makes them less interested in themselves (Datta, 1998).
The advertising industry has shown no shame in incessantly capitalising on women’s bodies by commonly using them as tools of objectification. They are largely depicted as sex symbols, even in items with which they appear to have no connection, in order to appeal to the “male consumer gaze” and increase the sex appeal of the product so as to attract a larger audience. Typically, this is achieved by the pervasive sexualization of the female protagonists, either through their attire, context-insensitive seductive mannerisms, or explicit attention to their bodies.
What Does the Literature Tell?
Through the pictures and visuals they broadcast, advertisements significantly impact public perceptions and interpretations of the current world. By presenting women’s bodies in a sociocultural setting where they are subjected to constant sexual objectification, advertising actively exploits women, where the underlying aim of the advertisement is obscured and only the woman’s body parts are utilised as commodities for the consumption of others (here, predominantly men). Since the 1960s, when the women’s movement reemerged, these advertisements have been the target of intense examination and criticism. Even though there have been a lot of changes because of what feminist groups and sociocultural theorists have said, advertising still shows women in a way that is inaccurate and not appropriate (Zimmerman and Dahlberg, 2008).
Elliott, Benfield, and Barlow (1995) authored “Overt Sexuality in Advertising: A Discourse Analysis of Gender Responses.” In this study, the ubiquitous objectification of women was examined as one of the primary problems, particularly in relation to the representation of overt sexuality in advertisements. Compared to how much men and women are sexualized in ads, they found that women are objectified more casually and lavishly in ads to attract a certain segment of cis-heterosexual male viewers.
Another research undertaken by Mager & Hegelson (2010) titled “Fifty Years of Advertising Images: Some Changing Perspectives on Role Portrayal Along with Enduring Consistencies” particularly assessed print advertising and its long-lasting effects on society. Once again, the researchers found a general trend toward objective role portrayals of women and the societal problems that came from that in the United States.
Huang and Lowry (2012) conducted a study titled “An Analysis of Nudity in Chinese Magazine Advertisements: Examining Gender, Racial, and Brand Differences.” Important conclusions were drawn from the study, which demonstrated an increasing tendency among advertisements to represent female bodies in varying degrees of nudity compared to male models. As a result of being profoundly impacted by such traditional commercial pictures of women, the work of Furnham et al. (2000) demonstrates how members of many societies have gotten accustomed to viewing women primarily in terms of their sexuality and physicality. Through their research, Behm Morawitz and Mastri (2009) shed light on the hyper-sexualization of female bodies in video games, which has normalised the propensity among adolescents to view women as nothing more than objects for sexual pleasure and gratification.
According to Nussbaum (1995), sexual objectification occurs when an individual is considered as an object or an instrument in respect to their sexual dimension. Fredickson and Roberts (1997) used their research to show how visual media, especially advertising, benefited from putting the focus on female body parts. This gave male viewers a sexualizing view that was dominated by high levels of eroticism.
The topic of the portrayal of women in advertising has long troubled academics and continues to be of great relevance (Smason, 2016). Sanchez-Aranda’s study from 2003 shows how the stereotypical way women are shown in TV ads has made it normal and acceptable for women to be treated as objects in many Western countries.
Another key implication of such regressive depictions of women in advertising is their effect on women’s “self-perception” and its interaction with their self-esteem and self-confidence. Pope et al. (2004) show that the archetypal depictions of women’s bodies in print and television advertising have caused ordinary women to feel uncomfortable in their own bodies, leading in many cases to a state of personal dissatisfaction and anxiety. As a result of being strongly affected by the advertising industry, female body image is currently shifting toward considerably slimmer exemplifications, resulting in significant changes in eating patterns that might potentially contribute to the development of eating disorders in women. Women’s exposure to the so-called “attractive” female bodies portrayed in magazines and television advertisements solely for the purpose of satisfying the male gaze inevitably leads to a consistent devaluation of their own bodies, physical dissatisfaction, anger, and a severely compromised self-esteem due to a lack of identification with the objectified bodies portrayed in the advertisements (Anabela et al. 2015).
The objectives of present-day advertising
The fundamental purpose of the modern advertising business is to prominently display women’s bodies in order to maximise product exposure and sales. They use the societally acceptable form of slim-bodied women to act in ads in order to attract the attention of male viewers and excite their desires, which the advertisers feel might be translated into the desire to purchase their products. For instance, commercials for men’s goods such as deodorant and face creams claim that if a guy uses the product, he will captivate more “attractive” women than men who do not use the product. When a camera focuses on certain female body parts, this dehumanises women even further. In the Skoda Octavia print advertisement, a photo of a lady’s torso is placed next to an image of the rider, emphasising the curves of both the woman and the vehicle. In such commercials, women are disproportionately reduced to ‘a collection of dismembered bits’ rather than whole beings (Sharma & Singh, 2006).
Sexual Objectification in Advertising
Sexual objectification of women in ads refers to the depiction of female bodies as eroticized objects of desire and the equating of a woman’s value with her physical attractiveness. According to Kuhn (1985), the conventional view of women and their bodies as just sex objects is evidence that females have historically been seen as the property of men. It promotes the notion that men can judge and pursue women based only on their physical appearances. Advertisements for cold creams and body lotions depict women using these products to soften and supplicate their skin, provoking men to touch their cheeks and other body parts in response to their attractiveness.This may be demonstrated by examining one of the Indian commercials for Parachute body lotion, which had the slogan “Jagaye Love Dobara.” The advertisement portrays how the use of the lotion has rekindled her husband’s love for her by making her skin soft and touchable. This representation is erroneous on so many levels because it conveys the false perception that women use creams and lotions to enhance their appearance solely to satisfy and enjoy the touch of males.
Advertisers use better technicality and extensive precision of camera angles, music, and light effects to suit the “voyeuristic” demands of men by placing the female as the object of gaze and the male as the subject. In her 1975 article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey defined two sorts of pleasure. The first is voyeuristic pleasure, which is obtained by submitting people to a dominating and inquisitive gaze of extreme desire, and the second is ‘scopophilia’, which is essentially the erotic pleasure received by observing the other individual as an object of sexual arousal. This is one of the pillars around which the concept of “male gaze” and the gender power imbalance it entails are based.
The Element of Hyper-Reality in the Advertising Industry
Modern television advertising generates a sense of “hyper-reality” for the audience through a variety of advertisements in order to sustain the allure of the product being promoted. According to Baudrillard (1994), there is no longer a ‘reality’ that television enables us to see; rather, the ‘reality’ is the series of images displayed on television displays. Since its inception, consumer culture has relentlessly commercialised women’s bodies, and women have always been measured against a set of ‘cultural ideals of beauty’ that are reinforced by their stereotypical portrayal in advertisements that primarily portray them as objects of desire and attraction.
The primary implication of such hyper-realistic depictions of women is the formation of a discrepancy between what women are and what they should be, which has a profound impact on their sense of bodily identity. In addition, it leads women to assume that their self-worth is derived entirely from their ability to attract the male gaze. Hence, advertisements should be more conscientious and treat men and women with equal integrity and respect in light of the wide-reaching effects they may potentially have in many societal arenas. As India is a blatantly patriarchal country, practically everything revolves around adult male Indians, and the media and communication are no exception.
Exemplification of the Media and Masculine Gaze
Example 1: A print advertisement for Raymond
Raymond’s print campaign has the slogan “The Complete Man,” with the majority of the ad attempting to meet the notion of a protective man. It manifestly exalts a type of power and dominance over the ‘female’ self. This comprises the male presence of size, power, and stiffness in contrast to the fluidity of the female figure, which is seen in the majority of Raymond’s advertising. In the print advertisement, the woman’s “arm-link” symbolises her helplessness and surrender to the man’s direction.
In order to conform to the image of a ‘complete man,’ advertisements for numerous suiting manufacturers, including Raymond, are primarily motivated by the concept of feminine body ownership and protection. The female body therefore becomes an ornament that should be possessed and personalised.
Example 2: A comparison between Lynx Deodrant (women’s deodorant) and Mankind’s Kustody.
While the concept of adorning women as a reward, as seen in the preceding example, can be a more subtle display, there is advertising that encourages the objectification of women overtly through the use of unnecessary body display. Indian corporations have embraced aggressively sexualized depictions of women to boost product promotion. Lynx, one of the sub-categories of Axe deodorants, has crafted its print advertisement with extremely specific and improper goals.
This commercial is promoting a deodorant for women, yet the picture is excessively sexualized and exploitative. It is explicitly oriented around the concept of “masculine gaze.” In the advertisement, the woman is pushed to wear lingerie needlessly, and the camera angles capture her in an inappropriate manner, none of which appears to be relevant to the advertised goods. There are several other methods for selling the goods that do not include sexualizing the female model and using her as a tool for sexual persuasion.
Compared to two deodorant advertisements (one for women and one for men), this indicates that, despite catering to the desires and requirements of the opposing genders, the gender that is most commonly objectified as a sex symbol stays the same. In contrast to the Lynx deodorant campaign, the Kustody for mankind advertisement has the slogan “Take them into custody.” This tagline says that men can catch women by using the deodorant, which is shown by the picture of three men chasing a sexualized Bipasha Basu.
Example 3: 2013 Ford Figo advertisement
In the campaign, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was depicted as a cartoon with three ladies entangled in the trunk of a car, along with the slogan “Leave your worries behind with the Figo’s extra-large trunk.” The cartoon depicted the women in semi-naked attire in a highly erotic manner. In addition, the women were actually bound in rope with tangled bodies to demonstrate the size of the trunk. In every way, the campaign made women look like victims, while men were shown to be too masculine.
Example 4: Axe Effect Advertisement
The topic of the axe effect advertising is the so-called impact of the deodorant on attracting swarms of ladies to a man who has sprayed the product. The ladies in this advertisement are represented not just as objects of sexual desire serving the male gaze, but also as mindless and identityless bodies. The models in these advertisements are similarly designed to appeal to male inclinations; they are slim, have large breasts, and wear bikinis or similar attire.
Example 5: Slice
The iconic campaign for the juice company Slice, which starred Katrina Kaif, saw the actor sensuously caressing a bottle of the mango drink, with the beverage flowing down her lips as she dances around in an ultra-focused and sexual manner. In a subsequent version of the advertisement, the term ‘Aamsutra’ became associated with the beverage, alluding implicitly to the Kamasutra.
It is fascinating to observe how sexism and masculine gaze in beverage marketing advantage males invariably. The advertising techniques deployed objectify women in order to associate them with the product, frequently without adding any value to the marketing of the drink itself. The same holds true for the hugely controversial Imperial Blue advertisement. In other advertisements for carbonated beverages, such as the thumbs up ad featuring actor Ranveer Singh, there is a stark contrast to the Slice ad previously discussed. In the thumbs up advertisement, Ranveer Singh was presented as a hero participating in daring deeds including speed, wrath, danger, and so on.
Way Ahead
In today’s globalised world, the advertising business that excessively depicts women and their bodies for the goal of improving the selling of their brands and products should be made aware of the social and psychological consequences of their representation in a broader perspective. Any form of objectification is a misappropriation and, warrants criticism and discussion. Misrepresentation and underrepresentation of women can have detrimental effects on society, which must be discussed and addressed. Instead of just framing advertisements to appeal to the male gaze, precedence should be given to the substance in order to establish worth and esteem. Advertisers must regularly examine the ethics of their content creation and adapt their strategies accordingly. Consequently, despite the fact that women’s roles in society have evolved over the past several decades, advertising has failed to adequately reflect these shifts in how women are portrayed.
By basing the representation of women in commercials on the concept of “male gaze,” these advertisements perpetuate a flawed perspective of reality. Previous studies examining the interaction between the male gaze and the consequent objectification of female bodies in advertising indicate that such a regressive form of marketing may lead to social problems such as an increase in the prevalence of violence against women or even sexual harassment. Further, it has been suggested that the sorts of ads detailed in the preceding section of the article (which are by no means exhaustive) might cause women considerable psychological and physiological anguish. Despite the opinion of a small number of academics that there has been a shift in the evolution of gender equality in marketing, the results of this study indicate a pressing need to take a closer look in order to increase the representation and assure the equal status of women in Indian commercials.
In light of the overall analysis conducted in examining the portrayal of women in Indian advertisements based primarily on the theoretical frameworks of male gaze and objectification, we can conclude that females in the Indian advertising industry, which includes both print and television media, portray women as objects of sex through the use of various verbal, nonverbal, and technological strategies. In the majority of advertisements, women are shown as visual candy, designed to captivate, allure, and satisfy the male gaze. Women are shown as a collection of various bodily parts, emphasising the traditional norms of physical attractiveness. Inculcating in the minds of women false conceptions of fictitious bodies, complexions, and features, advertising conjures unachievable and illusory peaks of beauty.
This article examined the myriad ways in which women’s bodies are portrayed in advertising from a critical standpoint. It has attempted to comprehend how “body politics” plays a crucial part in maintaining the patriarchal power system and how visual representations have developed throughout time into a new language through which cultural meanings and cultural codes are disseminated. Women and visual culture have an undeniable close association due to the fact that the popular depiction of the media tends to portray women in a manner that certainly promotes the “male gaze.”