Representation of Men and Women in adverts.

It's hard to find any advert that represents women in a positive way, especially just after the war. Then though this was the feminist era, women were still very much inferior and even in adverts they were presented in their stereotype roles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ0FRW1W3yA&feature=related

This advert for Coca Cola though still representing women in negative way, to some extent does portray women to have atleast some power. We see Anita Byrant running towards the camera, in a swimsuit, as she runs she has four men running after her saying "Hey wait for me". Stereotypically we would see the female gender running after the male gender, however this is not the case in the advert. We then see all the men surround her and they are topless, and even though Byrant is also in swimwear, this makes the two sexes somewhat equal.
Furthermore, there is a sense of a patriarchal society, when Byrant holds the 'king size' coke, as it is a phallic symbol, and the dialogue 'king size coke has more for you' suggests that men can do more/ men have more power.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9XNfy6JBM

The first shot, shows a woman with beads in her mouth, shes fetishized as she says 'nothing takes it off like...' , and she stokes the product which again is a phallic symbol, she is very much sexualised. She then repeats, 'take it off', which is very sexual, therefore she is represented as a sex object. Also in the end, the male triumphs and get's the girl, therefore representing a patriarchal society. However the idea that the male is perfect and does not need to do anything about the way he looks, is challenged, as he's the one who is perfecting his looks to get the woman.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbiofcuTZBo&feature=related

This advert I found very interesting, because it represents women in a much positive way, and at the same time presents men in a superior and inferior way. Mr clean, in the advert cleans the whole house, which is stereotypically a womans job in that period of time, and the product itself is called Mr. Clean, which is odd beacuse we would associate the female sex with the cleaning jobs. At second 20-22, the character stands in a very womanly way, with his assets out, and he cleans the baby, again a feminine job. By the time the woman arrives the whole house is clean by the man, which suggests that men can do anything, therefore they are the superior sex.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM59nSkjEWU&feature=related

Again, it was really hard to find anything from the 1950's-1970's period of time, but I think this advert pretty much represents the male gender as the more superior gender. Even though he is looking after his appearance, which we would usually see the woman doing, however in the end he get's the woman he want's, and she is literally throwing herself on him, which shows how easy it is to pull the girl. He looks really happy, and he does not so much of the talking, so again we get the sense of a patriarchal society.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz1a3LHSvnY

Though a contemporary advert, the setting is around 1940's-1950's, and yet we get the sense that nothing has changed. The little Boy gets the bread ( which can literally means he's the breadwinner because he's a male), and he battles his way through all these obstacles, showing that he is physically strong, and ends with the little boy in more modern clothing at the table with the bread. Again it reinforces the idea that not much has changed and the male gender will always be superior.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QKRZaktc2Y

This advert, though it does not overtly represent men as sex objects, it reverses the gender roles. We see the man, in a very metrosexual way, he is hairless which is an expectation people have of women, and the woman comes to give the guy a towel, which is somewhat like her protecting him. Men are supposed to be masculine, but with his hair stripped off of him, his masculinity fades too.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbib-A6NpW8b

This is just found very interesting, as we see shots of the men pole dancing, therefore becoming feminine, and then shots where the airhostess puts the man to sleep, which puts her in a stereotypical rold of a mother.