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Perspectives
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Female
role portrayals in Women's magazines
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Decorative
models are passive and non-functional and their primary
activity is to adorn the product/service as a sexual
or attractive stimulus. They are like mannequins with
the least lifelike of roles. ‘She’ is in an artificial
world, often obviously so in the way she stands and
looks (dummy poses and catalogue expressions).
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Assaulted
by criticism from feminist leaders against this presentation
of women in advertising, BRITAIN’S National Advertising
Review Board established a panel to address charges
that advertising was rampantly sexist in the 1970s.
Women were often portrayed as housewives and too infrequently
as professionals. Women were featured as sex objects
to the exclusion of their individuality and portrayed
often as dependent, requiring men to solve their problems.
.
Until very recently, Indian magazine advertisements
continued to portray women in their stereotypical
images. A woman was either shown in the kitchen cooking
food, washing a bucketful of clothes, bandaging wounds
or feeding her husband and children. Therefore, the
picture that emerged was that of a woman who never
produced knowledge or wealth but always consumed and
remained a sort of hanger-on to her male. .
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The
status of women in India has raised many a controversy
and headed many a movement. With the passage of time,
the Indian woman’s role has metamorphosed from a domestic
manager to a prime purchaser. She has now emerged as
a potential consumer, ready to redefine her status in
the worldwide economy, and her contribution to the society
is no longer confined to being solely a progenitor.
Emergence of women as consumers
Traditionally, the role of wife and mother has been
seen as a woman’s destiny and her only career choice.
For years, she remained totally dependent on her husband
financially and chose to remain unaware of the world
outside her home. It was the man who was the consumer
for the whole family and thus a target for marketers.
However, in the last 40 years, the rapid strides in
education and employment have paved the way for drastic
changes in the status of women—the latter have become
self-reliant and also share enhanced emotional bonds
with their husbands. From the woman confined to the
domestic sphere to the liberated woman of the 21st century,
from the woman totally dependent on a man to the totally
independent career woman of today, women have made their
way through and have evolved as individuals in their
own right. And as far as the notion of consumers is
concerned, women have become the target market for products
and services in India.
Gender in advertising
Advertising seems to be obsessed with gender and sexuality
and continues to represent an arena in which gender
display plays a major role. It has emerged as a world
of ‘commercial realism’ in which we are given ‘realistic’
images of domestic life and male-female relationships
which are not actually real but which provide us with
a ‘stimulated slice of life’. As gender representation
is such a dominant feature of modern-day advertising,
it is often called the social resource ‘used most’ by
advertisers. In turn, advertising provides an ideal
place to examine the encoding of cultural norms and
values in ritualised formats. Increasing popularity
of women’s magazines in India
Bearing in mind that India has a very low literacy rate,
the trend of magazines as an informative and entertaining
medium has comparatively gained enormous popularity
among the increasing urban population of India. Magazines
in India are regarded as a strategic informational,
educational and cultural institution as well as the
fifth state of public inquest. They are read for gaining
knowledge, for recreation and for equipping oneself
with the latest information. Women’s magazines were
introduced in the Indian market only after the women’s
liberation movement. They now reach out to women in
both urban and rural societies in India and cater to
women in terms of their age, class and role. The market
for women’s magazines is increasing at such a rapid
pace that it is no more flooded only with domestic women’s
magazines but also with global ones such as Cosmopolitan
and Vogue which choose to cater to an elite audience.
And the ad agencies that create the advertisements in
these magazines strive to promote a sophisticated consumerist
culture and encourage the readers to imitate the style,
philosophy and format of western magazines and advertisements.
Advertising in women’s magazines
As advertising vehicles, women’s magazines are among
the most desirable of publications and are aimed at
the sector of the population traditionally more responsible
for purchases. The strength of these magazines rests
principally on the crucial role of women in the consumption
process. The front cover of a magazine is the vehicle
by which the consumer distinguishes one magazine from
another and serves to label not only the magazine but
also the consumer who possesses it. Women’s magazines
use their front covers as advertisements for themselves.
Their cover pictures and names, whether it’s Hers, She,
Women’s World or Women’s Era, proclaim that these journals
are for women only. The cover shapes the reader’s understanding
of the material in the inside pages.
Female role portrayals in women’s magazines
In recent years widespread attention has been drawn
to the roles portrayed by women in advertisements. In
certain cultures, the mainstream media still reinforces
the stereotyped image of a woman whose identity has
been shaped by the limited roles she has to play in
society and on screen. The media not only reflects social
values, attitudes and behavior towards women very subtly
but also at times distorts the images of women.
A study in 1970 in Britain revealed that magazine advertisements
presented the following cliches about women’s roles:
(1) a woman’s place is in the home,
(2) women do not make important decisions,
(3) women are dependent and need men’s protection, and
(4) men regard women primarily as sexual objects; they’re
not interested in women as people.
Assaulted by criticism from feminist leaders against
this presentation of women in advertising, the National
Advertising Review Board (NARB) established a panel
to address charges that advertising was rampantly sexist
in the 1970s. Women were often portrayed as housewives
and too infrequently as professionals. Women were featured
as sex objects to the exclusion of their individuality
and portrayed often as dependent, requiring men to solve
their problems. However, since 1988, advertisers have
become increasingly sensitive to the issue of stereotyping—there
is less stereotyping of women as physical objects, and
a trend towards portrayals using either ‘family’ or
‘independent’ cues is visible.
Even though the developing nations have directed increasingly
sharp criticism at the mass media for the so-called
stereotyped portrayals of women in traditional wife
and mother roles, women are still not seen as individuals
in their own right. Today in India, women are entrepreneurs
in their own right, but the press coverage of their
efforts is minimal. And even if a woman is projected
as a professional, she is first viewed as somebody’s
daughter or wife.
Until very recently, Indian magazine advertisements
continued to portray women in their stereotypical images.
A woman was either shown in the kitchen cooking food,
washing a bucketful of clothes, bandaging wounds or
feeding her husband and children. Therefore, the picture
that emerged was that of a woman who never produced
knowledge or wealth but always consumed and remained
a sort of hanger-on to her male. In addition to this,
advertising was blatantly anti-woman, treating her as
a sex symbol. Studies in the past on the projection
of women in advertisements have shown that whether she
was used for advertising cosmetics, fabrics, jewellery,
domestic gadgets, suitcases, scooters or stationery,
a woman was mostly projected as glamorous or enticing.
Another trend in advertisements of men’s clothes was
the invariable use of admiring women by the side of
men which created an impression that all a woman desired
was a man dressed in sophisticated garments.
However, in the post-feministic 1990s and subsequently,
advertisers have been attempting to construct multiple
possible identities for women in an effort to change
their stereotypical image and enhance their spending
power. In India, nowhere is this trend reflected more
clearly than in advertising imagery, where the image
of the ‘new Indian woman’ is expressed explicitly. Today
in India, women appear less frequently dependent upon
men while men are less likely to be depicted in themes
of sex appeal, dominance over women and as authority
figures. Advertisements have also started portraying
women more frequently as career-oriented and in non-traditional
activities and are constructing the persona of the ‘new
Indian woman’.
Bearing in mind the importance of the ‘new Indian woman’
as a consumer, advertisers have targeted this profile
in a systematic manner. With the increase in urban population,
the trend is of booming consumerism. Based on extensive
market research, advertisements for goods and services
are now addressed to the growing class of urban middle-class
woman with either independent salaries or who have an
increasing control in purchase decisions. Even with
the entry of global products as well as advertising,
the role played by the Indian woman in advertising is
still very much Indian—in the sense that strategies
of advertising representation are careful to avoid a
‘westernized’ image of her. Hence, media producers attempt
to construct a cognate, pan-Indian identity for this
‘new woman’, cutting across regional, linguistic, caste
and other differences. In this way India, with its own
social and cultural imperatives, has managed to keep
its distinctive cultural baggage even in the face of
an increasingly open market system.
Decorative role portrayal
Decorative models are passive and non-functional and
their primary activity is to adorn the product/service
as a sexual or attractive stimulus. They are like mannequins
with the least lifelike of roles. ‘She’ is in an artificial
world, often obviously so in the way she stands and
looks (dummy poses and catalogue expressions). She is
on exhibition in competition with others. She is aloof,
haughty, and ostensibly sufficient unto herself, while
relying on others to reinforce her self-image. Her outdoor
image tends to be exotic and her indoor one non-domestic.
Recreational role portrayal
The recreational portrayal is of models in a non-working
activity of leisure (reading, watching television) or
of sports (hiking, jogging, swimming, and boating).
The importance of these ads is that women are not shown
in passive poses, a pattern portrayal that every study
on gender roles has shown to be prevalent. In the past,
the Indian woman was seen as someone very sensitive
and delicate. Recreational activities mentioned earlier
were, therefore, not connected with women but with men.
Independent career role portrayal
The independent career woman is the only woman involved
in something that does not have to do with social success,
home and family, or even her own femininity. She has
stability and a substantial nature. She is portrayed
infrequently. Women in India are rapidly advancing towards
becoming financially independent individuals by seeking
higher education and opting for a career rather than
remaining housewives for the rest of their lives.
Self-involved role portrayal
The self-involved female is the woman who is literally
and metaphorically wrapped up in herself. Even when
being seductive, she is aware of her femininity and
sensuality rather than the presence of any potential
lover. She may be portrayed in a haze of romance, perhaps
with a man, and is more bound up with aspirations and
dreams of her own than with the actuality of the man.
The ubiquitous diamond engagement ring advertisements
are almost perfect examples e.g. De Beers. Here, attention
is focused on the woman’s feelings about herself where
she has a typically soft expression and directs her
attention and tactility towards herself. She is alone
with herself, involved with her body, thoughts and beauty.
Carefree role portrayal
The carefree woman is always a girl or a woman with
a girlish look, which gives one a sense of a short spell
of deceptive freedom. She is like a fluttering butterfly
which has not yet decided where to settle. She is having
fun while she’s young. The carefreeness or friendliness
is social in nature to some extent and outgoing as well.
Yet, the exuberance and cheeriness are rarely directed
towards anyone or anything in particular and are only
held in the minds of the actor, for example in the Tampax
ads. It must be noted that since the ‘carefree girl’
is very much into herself and looking for some excitement
in her life, she is mostly shown on her own and very
rarely with a man or a child.
Family role portrayal
The family or domestic management role is described
in ads in which women are shown performing household
chores, taking care of children, or supervising home
furnishing or maintenance. An example would be in the
home environment where the house, its furnishings, its
decoration, and the food served in it are marks of a
woman’s sophistication, fashion awareness, sense of
good taste and status. She is proud of this world which
is her creation, but cannot possibly escape from it.
A comparative study on gender displays in US and Indian
advertisements by Griffin et al (1994) showed that over
three times as many images of women as domestic managers
appeared in ads in The Illustrated Weekly of India than
in Life. India Today had about twice as many domestic
management portrayals as Newsweek. More than three times
as many images of body display appeared in Life as The
Illustrated Weekly of India. Therefore, one can say
that Indian advertisements do portray women in their
traditional roles till today, although because of the
influence of western society, this trend is changing—more
and more advertisements portray women as career-oriented
and persons who are not just expected to remain in the
confines of their homes but are outgoing and enjoy an
active social life.
Nudity
Today, there is a related phenomenon that may possess
even more long-term significance both for marketing
managers and society in general. This trend is towards
increasing eroticism and nudity in advertisements. Nudity,
even if not blatant as currently portrayed, has been
common in women’s advertisements for some years. Nakedness
is a feature of advertisements for products of the feminine
sort and is private, isolated and a source of wonder,
pleasure, and satisfaction to the subject. Moreover,
the body is considered to be an object to admire or
even revere in a quasi-religious way. According to Wiles
et al (1994), the use of erotic or sexual appeal is
hardly new. What is new is the intensity of such appeal
and the increasing number and variety of products being
marketed with sexual overtones. Now not only are nude
models used to advertise well-known consumer products
such as cosmetics, ski equipment, and wearing apparel,
but they are also used by industrial companies. No longer
is nudity employed solely as a shock device or attention-creating
ploy. It is increasingly being used in a more sophisticated
and aesthetic sense in a functional communication role.
Sexuality has been linked directly with advertisements
because it is usual for young women to compare themselves
to models in advertisements — thus, advertisers feel
they can be persuaded to buy the product. For women,
and to a lesser extent for men, the ‘sexual revolution’
has meant a positive increase in the amount of their
sexual freedom. It has also meant an increase in their
‘use’ as sexual objects. The use of dramatic, isolating
shadows, mysterious darkness and the ethereal mistiness
of focus are common techniques of transporting the female
into a personal world of reverie and self-contemplation.
Conclusion
Urban India is slowly transforming into a western society.
The West, through the various media, is increasingly
influencing this sector of the Indian economy, especially
in terms of its fashion—and nowhere is this trend more
prominent than in Indian women’s fashion magazines.
This shows that even though Indian advertisements have
Indian models with traditional dresses, they are being
increasingly replaced with models in western outfits
or have other western aspects to them. It is only in
the last 20 years that India has opened up to western
culture. With the advent of privatisation and the liberalisation
of the economy, India has seen a surge of multinationals
invade her consumer market. And the new revolution in
advertising is also a true revelation of the changed
consumer scenario.
The presence of an increasing number of women’s magazines,
as well as advertising in these magazines portraying
the different roles of women, clearly reveal the changing
perception of women in today’s society. As marketers,
unlike before, are investing large sums of money and
time, investigating and collecting data solely on women’s
psychographics—attitudes, habits, preferences—to meet
their needs and wants, it is obvious that women today
are no longer cocooned in their traditions but have
imbibed western culture to their convenience. This osmosis
of traditional culture with western culture not only
reflects the metamorphosis of women in society but also
reveals the new Indian market—a revolutionised consumer
marketplace. |
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