Are Gender Roles necessary in advertising?

In class, we watched an advertisement of a group of women drinking Diet Coke in a park-like setting, and they wanted the attention of a male who was mowing the grass. They rolled down a can of Diet Coke and gave them a signal to open it and drink it. He then opened the can, and because the can was rolled down the hill, the soda burst opened, getting the man’s shirt all soaked in Diet Coke. He took off his shirt, drained it out, smiled back at the women, and continued with his mowing. The women were in awe as they saw his physique. This advertisement was an example of reversed gender roles, since it’s usually the men who take initiation when getting a women’s attention.

Although it was a playful and comedic advertisement, in real life, it wouldn’t be a laughing matter if men were doing that to a woman. Now the question is, what do gender roles in advertisements play in society?

It’s in the phrase “gender role.” Advertisements emphasize gender roles for society, whether if it’s direct or indirect (such as the Diet Coke commercial mentioned earlier). Is it a good thing? It’s all perspective, but for this blog entry I will take the side that it isn’t a good thing.

It’s not a good thing for advertisements to portray any sort of gender role, for comedic effect or a dark ominous tone. It emphasizes that it’s ok that these gender roles are accepted by society, whether if they’re negative or not. We laugh not only through acceptance, but the addition of being in a desensitized world where men abuse women, sex on the first date is normal, and the majority of the minority will never outdo the majority (Caucasians). It’s evident that the world isn’t fair, but that doesn’t mean you should keep it that way. Some people went through a lot to fight for equality: gay people, minorities, females, etc.

A little off topic, but the Diet Coke advertisement portrayed that men should have a certain physique and appearance, being similar with the females. This is influencing that women should be slim and men should have muscles with definition, but not too bulky. Not only do advertisements emphasize on social norms, but they influence how people should look. Of course, they wouldn’t show plus-sized women or obese men in these commercials because advertisements and society has been shaped that men and women need to look a certain way.

In addition to gender roles, not gender appearances anymore, they frame an image, oppressing males and females. Men do the yard work (where the man was mowing the grass) where women spend their leisure time in less physical activities and just relaxing. In this example, only men are capable of doing hard work, oppressing that a women can’t do such a thing, in contrast that only women have picnics with their other girl friends that men can’t have picnics with their guys/bros.