Ke Ning
Professor Kelly Rowley
English 113A
8 December
2013
Sexism in
Beer Advertisement
Advertisement
plays an important role in society. As a phenomenon of society, advertising naturally
reflects all sides of human society. We can see many kinds of advertising in our
daily lives. The problem of gender discrimination in the advertising industry
shows a trend of excessive expansion. In modern society, advertising every hour
and moment not filled with our vision. Some advertisements exploit gender
stereotypes to show their products; this phenomenon has not been stopped but
has seriously evolved into sexism. Overall statuses of women in advertising reveal
them to be marginalized, vulnerable, and passive. This is a terrible
phenomenon, whether male or female, once formed the habit, will be regarded as
not see, will become be accustomed to, and it is this indifference. Female sexism in advertisement should not be
so easily neglected; we should never turn a blind eye to it. The most common
error made in marketing to women is addressing this mass demographic as just
that—an amorphous mass of female hormones that are wired to think in a similar
fashion. It is also a mistake to divide this group into either “stay-at-home
mums” or “businesswomen,” when; in fact, there is a tremendous overlap between
the two categories.
There
are many demonstrations of sexism, such as in the advertising of the 2005 San
Miguel beer in China. In this advertisement, there are three young men drinking
in an open-air bar; suddenly, it begins to rain, and the drinking patrons hurry
away. Three men with their hands on beer bottles are sitting in the rain, and
they do not leave. Suddenly, there appear near the three men some young women
whose, clothes are drenched by the rain. They are running to the bar; this, action,
along with their curves, is very sexy. Three men look at the women, with facial
expressions of joy, and then they drink the beer. In this advertising, I cannot
see any introduction of this product; rather, the company sends sexist messages
to the consumer. The consumer just watches the beautiful women, holding beer,
with flirtatious glances looking at him or her from the television. In this
way, the advertisers are exploiting gender and using sex appeal to sell the product.
They know that if the consumer sees these images, he or she will believe that this
beer equals getting the attention of sexy ladies. The commercial does not even introduce
the product. In actuality, this advertising is effective to some men. I found
this advertisement on the company’s website, and it was chosen as one of China’s
top ten examples of sexism in advertising. A large percentage of people cannot
accept this form of advertising. Our study suggests that sexism in advertising
is a cross-cultural phenomenon, and Western advertising models are the
trendsetters of sexual images in Chinese magazine advertising. Chinese
advertising is not only a “melting pot” of cultural values; it is also a “melting
pot” of advertising practices.
Tsingtao
Beer is another type of beer, but this company’s advertisement catches my
attention. I became interested in this company’s advertisement because I saw a
group of dynamic young people at a party drinking Tsingtao Beer and chatting
together. This allowed me to feel and think about my friends. This advertising
does not include the use of a sexy model to attract the consumer, and it is
actually more effective than the San Miguel beer. This company sends a positive
message to the consumer without the use of sexism, and they do not exploit
gender stereotypes. Thus, as the viewer, it gives me a positive feeling toward
their product.
In
these two advertisements, we can understand that most of the audience will
agree with some ideas: a man needs a good wife or a sexy lady, and a woman
needs to be pretty. Thus, the role of women is rigid in advertising. Therefore,
most of the psychological needs of the audience are based on the fact that advertisers
want to sell products. Advertising works intentionally or unintentionally to
promote a role model, represented in the stereotypical image, further
strengthening the audience’s idea, this, in turn, leads to businesses using
more female stereotypes, thus forming a vicious cycle. Advertisements are becoming
more and more likely to exploit females and employ the use of sexism. In the
first advertising of San Miguel beer, it used the male beauty market value and
ignored the product information on its own. With the increase in time, we
should reduce the sense that females are merely appendages, that in the
advertising industry, they must depend on males to exist. More and more women
are joining the professional ranks. Their perceptions of gender role portrayals
in industrial advertising are of high importance to marketing strategists, who
are concerned with not only sales but also with their own public image and
public relations. A study provides empirical evidence concerning gender
differences in perceptions on this important issue and discusses the crucial
relevance of these findings to industrial marketing strategists. (LaTour,
Henthorne, and Williams 247-255). By contrast, the advertising of the Tsingtao
beer is to show the actual product to the consumer, rather than to rely on
women’s eroticism to gain the audience’s attention and interest.
Overall,
advertisements should pay more attention to the product itself, rather than
relying on women’s sexiness. Now, television advertising and outdoor
advertising are the most beautiful. With Tsingtao beer, for example, I will
choose to purchase this product because this advertisement catches my attention
and gives me a positive feeling. This advertising focuses on the product, the
taste, the process, and the information of the product. I can understand this
product and decide whether to buy it or not, but I have a good first impression
of this product. In my opinion, advertising can use the preferences of the
audience to advertise to them, but these preferences should be employed
purposefully.
Works Cited
Miller, Michele. "Sexism in Advertising and Marketing to Women."
International Journal of Advertising, 24.1 (2005): 113.
Tsingtao advertising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2HN8GEmaGc YouTube.
YouTube, 03 Aug. 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
Huang, Ying, and Dennis T Lowry. "An Analysis of Nudity in
Chinese Magazine Advertising: Examining Gender, Racial and Brand
Differences." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 66.7-8 (2012):
440-452.
LaTour, Michael S, Tony L Henthorne, and Alvin J Williams. "Is
Industrial Advertising Still Sexist: It's in the Eye of the Beholder." Industrial
Marketing Management, 27.3 (1998): 247-255.
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