Question

what are some examples of gender bias in advertising?

Answer 1

Various researches have been conducted concerning the issue of gender discrimination in advertising sector. One such example is a research conducted by Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media in 2017. It was a data driven approach with the main objective of analyzing gender representation in entertainment media. The research analyzed more than 2,000 Cannes Lions films from 2006 to 2016 and found out that women only accounted for one-third of all the characters in commercials across the time period.  In 2006, 33.9 percent of characters were women. Ten years later, the figure barely increased, only 36.9 percent. The research covered 5 countries namely  USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Another example is Indian advertisements of soft drinks. They show famous Indian Actors portraying strength and valour after consuming the areated drink. Not a single of them features a woman doing the same.

In case of deodrant advertisements, women are shown with delicacy and frolic underarms while men are mostly shown in Gym locker rooms or spraying up in parties and attracting women.

Taking into account some specific examples, the famous commercial of the American clothing brand, GAP is one of them. The poster shows a girl and a boy wearing the brand's clothes. The boy is wearing a tee with Albert Einstien printed on it which is a symbol of intelligence. On the other hand, the girl is wearing cat ears and clothes which symbolize a " social butterfly". This ad provoked much fury among the masses and eventually the company had to take down the poster.

The above are a handful of examples of gender bias in the media industry. I hope that this might help you with the answer.