For this assignment, compare and contrast the advertising content of three

For this assignment, compare and contrast the advertising content of three magazines. Choose one magazine that was published within the last year from each of these three categories: A, B and C. A free version of each of these magazines can be found on the internet. You can use the online free version or the actual magazine for this assignment.

A: Time, Newsweek, or U.S. News and World Report
B: Cosmopolitan, Elle, or Vogue
C: Maxim, Sports Illustrated, or GQ

Flip through the magazines and compare the types of ads for: 1) personal accessories, 2) food, 3) beverages, 4) clothing, and 5) physical bodies. Then, answer the following questions:

1. Identify the magazine that used the most stereotypes of race/ethnicity to sell a product. Explain the stereotype, and provide a specific example to support your analysis.

2. Identify the magazine that showed women older than 55 years selling a product. What was the product? Explain why an older woman would be a good icon for advertising that particular product.

3. Which magazine used gender stereotypes of bodies the most? Explain the body types in the advertisements of women compared to men and reference specific examples.

4. Identify the one ad that you found most appealing. Analyze why the ad was appealing to you using critical thinking. What did you like about the ad? How did what you like conform to the stereotypes, trends, and images discussed in the textbook?

5. Identify how many ads contradicted gender stereotypes. Explain one ad that contradicted gender stereotypes. What magazine was the ad in? What was the product advertised? How did the ad contradict the stereotype?

Focusing Your Learning

Lesson
Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you
should be able to:

1. Compare/contrast ideal masculinity and femininity in
   movies.
2. Identify sex-stereotyping and gender expectations in
   media.
3. Review the nature/nurture debate in relation to movies.

Instruction

Objective:
Compare Sex Stereotyping and Gender Expectations in Media.

Stereotypes vary, but idealized femininity and masculinity are flaunted
in media. Gendered body types follow cultural norms. Within the United States,
advertising tends to portray women as thin and men as buff. Women’s
bodies are objectified and compartmentalized, using ideal body parts instead of
the entire woman. Men’s bodies are portrayed as being physically strong,
muscular, and powerful. Both genders are usually displayed as highly sexual –
although for different objectives. Women are sexualized for the male gaze, but
men are sexualized as role models for what men should do or be. Gender roles
and the images that are associated with those roles are used to create
assumptions about the type of person that the model portrays. (Items
related to high SES are used to associate the viewer’s assumptions about high
SES to the product, with the intention of making an association between the
product and the positive assumptions that are held by the consumer.)

The textbook addresses multiple
trends and norms in media. Body type, age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality,
clothing, physical attractiveness, and socioeconomic status are just a few of
the items that are stereotyped. The meanings associated with images are used to
support cultural ideologies and reify what is normal and acceptable.
Individuals are influenced by the media and internalize images – sometimes
unknowingly. By personalizing a random social construction and transforming the
arbitrary nature of the construction into something meaningful, an individual
propagates an ideology and solidifies the normalcy of the idea. Thus,
culture continues to evolve, but it also stays relatively unchanged.

Objective:
Identify Race and Age Stereotypes in Media.

Typically, African-American women
are portrayed more like white women in ads that sell high-status products, and
they are more racialized when they are background objects in
highly-sexualized ads. Female models typically have fairer complexions then
male models of the same race. Asians are often portrayed against backdrops that
highlight global stereotypes of Asian activities, like karate or Asian interior
designs. Latinas/Chicanas are also typically set against backdrops that
highlight the stereotypes of the culture/region/ethnicity/homeland. Regardless
of race, most models are portrayed as having high social class. Rarely is the
working class displayed or are images that are associated with lower socio-economics
exhibited in advertising.

Older female models are absent from
most advertisements. Women are typically portrayed as young and vibrant in ads,
demonstrating levels of physical strength for sexy images. Beauty and physical
attractiveness are associated with youth. Aging women, as the antithesis to
youth, are used for selling a very limited range of products. Older models will
often be displayed in relation to household chores, death/health-related
activities (e.g. life insurance, burials, vitamins), and grandmotherly
activities (motherhood and caregiving revisited). The same stereotypes about
aging are not applied to men. Older male models are often used in ads for
sexual health (e.g. prescription medication for erectile dysfunction) or as
images that are associated with economic/career success (e.g. the wealthy CEO
or successful businessman).

Objective:
Compare/Contrast Ideal Masculinity and Femininity in Movies.

Two films demonstrate how the
typical stereotypes of ideal masculinity and ideal femininity are used in
media. Million Dollar Baby, a drama directed by Clint Eastwood and
starring Hilary Swank, is the story of a boxing trainer who helps an underdog
amateur female boxer achieve her dream of becoming a professional boxer. Fight
Club,starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter, is a
film about a man who is not content with his white-collar job and forms a fight
club for men.

Violence and physical strength are
typically associated with masculinity; femininity is not associated with
violence. Million Dollar Baby portrays a woman within a masculine
context – a female boxer contradicts feminine stereotypes. To accommodate an
inconsistency between ideology and storyline, the media often rely upon
other stereotypes to ensure that cultural values are confirmed. For instance,
the idea of femininity remains a dominant feature in movies that include
women who engage in violent or aggressive behavior. Even when female characters
are strong and independent, physical attractiveness is fundamental. Hilary
Swank’s character is presented as an attractive woman who just happens to be a
boxer. The representation of her femininity is important for the audience; the
audience must be able to identify the character as female in order to relate to
her. In contrast, violence in Fight Club is used to heighten Edward Norton/Brad
Pitt’s masculinity. The men enjoy the bare-knuckle fighting, reveling in the
destructiveness of the activity. The movie doesn’t need to balance the violence
with stereotypes of masculinity because violence is a part of masculinity.

In media, a discrepancy between
feminine and masculine heroes exits. Traditional male movie
heroes include James Bond, Rambo, and Indiana Jones. These types of characters
portray idealized masculinity, and they are role models for men’s behavior.
Female characters are presented either as wimpettes or brave dames.
Wimpettes are presented as weak and rely upon a man for their source of
identity; they typically need to be rescued from a situation. Brave dames
are resilient and competent; they may stand up to injustice or are true
friends, but they are usually highly sexualized. Lara Croft and Xena are
two examples of highly-sexualized brave dames. If the brave dame isn’t
sexualized, the movie is typically stigmatized as being a chick flick.
The chick flick term is a cultural insult and demeans storylines about
women. Media reflect the larger culture and can be analyzed to determine what
the actual ideology of a society truly is.

As profit-making enterprises, media
avoid potential conflict. To limit the potential of offending viewers, the
media depict information that reifies the culture. Sitcoms are often set in
one-parent households to reinforce marital relationships that conform to
cultural norms of heterosexual monogamy. The media tend to underrepresent
groups such as women, people of color, and older people. Stereotyped
representations dominate media.

The legal system is geared toward
laws that protect individuals who conform to gender expectations. The portrayal
of masculinity/male identity and femininity/female identity is taken as a
stable construct of gender. The instabilities of gender are ignored by the law,
education, athletics, and military institutions. Hegemonic masculinity
is a dominant force in the construction of laws, rules, and processes. However,
the lives of actual men and women are often contrary to the standard characteristics
of hegemonic masculinity. Aggressiveness, strength, drive, ambition, and
self-reliance are all masculine characteristics used as the foundation
for institutional constructions. The norm of masculinity is assumed to be the starting
point against which everything else is compared. Being cognizant of gender
stereotypes, roles, norms, and values is especially important when considering
how gender is regulated in a society.

Your own perceptions of gender, age,
race, and class are a result of intersecting experiences. You make sense of the
world based upon what you know. Sometimes, people are not even aware of
what they believe. Take an implicit association test and see if you discover
something about yourself that you didn’t know!

Harvard Implicit
Association

The results of the test are
not right or wrong: the test merely highlights your own perception of the
world. A person’s position in race, class, and gender affects people’s ideas
about life and interests. Women with access to prestige and power will have
some protection from the general disadvantages of a sexist society. Men without
access to power lack the general perks of male privilege. Thus, to say
that all women and men have similar experiences is untrue. Socialization
does not produce hardwired people. Life is a process, not a product, and
socialization is part of lifelong learning. Who you are today may change a lot
or a little, depending upon where you are in the stratification of society,
what opportunities are available, and what rewards and punishments you receive.
Thus, in considering or judging life, one must understand how variables
influence each other. Nothing exists in a vacuum – the very act of interacting
with others in society affects you.

Summarizing Your Learning

The activity in this section is designed to help you evaluate your learning of the lesson objectives. However, you are not required to submit the answers to your instructor.

Prior beliefs about life affect the
impact that media has on a person. When a viewer’s experiences contradict media
content, the viewer is more likely to be critical of the content. When a
viewer’s experiences are consistent with media, the media content reinforces
the preexisting views.

Think about three movies that you
like and three movies that you don’t like.

1. What do you like specifically about the movies? Do you
   identify with a particular character? Do you like the storyline?
2. What do you dislike specifically about the movies? Do
   you assign a label to the movie? Were you expecting something
   different about the movie?
3. How does the movie that you like reflect your beliefs
   about the world? Can you identify with something particular?

Media influence people by what is not
shown. The absence of alternative representations makes people think that the
world operates in a specific pattern, with specific stereotypes affirmed as normal.
Even when consumers communicate a desire for more realistic portrayals, media
often ignores requests or justifies the refusal to change. Being aware of what
is being presented and what is absent allows people to become more objective
and understanding of differences. Instead of merely being entertained,
one can engage in critical thinking and determine exactly what he/she wants to
believe in.

Assessing Your Learning

Submit your assignment for grading.

For this assignment, compare and
contrast the advertising content of three magazines. Choose one magazine that
was published within the last year from each of the three categories: A, B, and
C.

A: Time, Newsweek, or U.S.
News and World Report

B: Cosmopolitan, Elle,
or Vogue

C: Maxim, Sports
Illustrated, or GQ

Flip through the magazines and
compare the types of ads for 1) personal accessories, 2) food, 3) beverages, 4)
clothing, and 5) physical bodies. Then, answer the questions detailed within
the link below.