Gender Sterotypes

For this week's blog I looked into homosexual advertisements. I wanted to know if homosexuals were advertised in the media and how they were portrayed. I was pleasantly surprised to see that homosexuals ads exist and for the most part are portrayed positively. In 1945 two ads were released that had unintentional homosexual connotations in them:

For Example: This ad for Camel cigarettes shows two male sailors getting ready together. One male is tying his sailors tie with a Camel cigarette in his mouth while the half naked (just got out of the shower) male is reaching over trying to take one of his cigarettes from his "brother" (sailing mate.) The sailor that is tying his tie tells his "brother" that he can borrow the jumper but not his Camels! Although this ad wasn't meant to target homosexuals, it comes off that way because just the simple concept of two men getting ready together is stereotyped as gay.










The ad below was also misrepresented as a homosexual ads as it shows three men waking up in their Nobelt Super Shorts together. One man is on the bed yawning with his pajama shirt open. The other two men are in the background. One is combing his hair back while the other one is dressing him. This ad is often misrepresented as a homosexual ad because to society three men waking up together is homosexual.


Although the ads above were not meant to represent homosexuals, society viewed them as homosexual ads because of the actions being done in them. As later years followed, homosexual ads were released on purpose and represented the LGBT community in a positive light. For example:



Absolut released their Absolut rainbow bottle in 1989 because "the gay community was essentially ignored by Madison Avenue. Absolut made headlines when it began advertising in gay magazines The Advocate and After Dark" (businessinsider.com.)

In 1995 Guinness beer created "Men and women should never live together" video ad that featured a gay male couple. According to buisnessinsider.com, "Society was certainly evolving around the issues of gay rights, but we still had a long way to go. Even though it only showed a small peck on the cheek, the ad was never aired as a result of an aggressive backlash by anti-gay groups." 

In today's day homosexual ads are being released by big name companies such as Virgin America, Ray Ban, Chevy, Calvin Klein, Amtrac, JC Penny. I think it's great that big name companies are being fearless and releasing homosexual ads. Homosexuals have not fully reached the equality that is deserved but these big name companies are helping them get there by releasing homosexual ads. Doing this shows society that homosexuals are in this world and their sexuality is just as important and equal as any heterosexual person. Big name companies that release homosexual ads are also familiarizing society by showing them in your everyday ad.

Gender & Race

Modern Family

1. The TV show, Modern Family absolutely reflects racial and gender diversity. For example, Cam and Mitch play a gay couple on the show and reflect gender diversity. Cam and Mitch also have an adopted Asian baby together. Gloria and Jay are an interracial couple that reflect racial diversity on the show. These diversities are important to show in the media because it shows other people that may or may not understand or accept these diversities, that they are absolutely normal and should not be looked down upon.

2. Their are absolutely race and gender stereotypes present in Modern Family. For example, Cam acts as the stereotypical flamboyant gay man while Mitch portrays his character as a bit more masculine. Gloria is portrayed as a stereotypical hot-tempered, loud, sassy, and sexy latin woman. Her husband, Jay, is portrayed as the stereotypical older white gentleman that is stubborn, wise, and rich.

Race

1. Is it ever right to racially stereotype for advertising purposes?

This question gets a little tricky. On one end of the spectrum, no, it's ethically and morally wrong to racially stereotype against anyone in order to get a product/service sold. On the other end of the spectrum, advertisements have to appeal to a target audience in order for that product/service to be sold. However, I think advertisements can appeal to a specific audience without having to racially stereotype.
For example:

The ad below is clearly not okay. This ad for Hershey's chocolate racially stereotypes African American people.


The ad below is much better at appealing towards specific (racial) target audience without being racist.
   

2. Is racism in ad's a thing of the past?

Unfortunately no, racist advertisements still exist in today's society. For example, the Mountain Dew commercial by Tyler the creator (that was shown in class) was released not too long ago. With that being said, I think viewers are very quick to react to a racially inappropriate ad which results in that ad being pulled quickly. Although their are still racist ad's being released in today's society, our tolerance for them is non-existent unlike back in the day.

3. Do advertisers have ethical responsibilities?

Absolutely! Advertisers that lack ethical responsibilities should not exist. In fact, I believe that if an ad agency continuously produces and releases unethical ad's, no one will buy their product/service and that ad agency will run themselves out of business. 

Semiotics

Print Ad: 

Signifier: Foot and nose
Signified: Smelly feet.
This ad tells me that if I buy this product then I won't have smelly feet. This ad also tells me that if I buy this product then other people won't have to smell the odor from my feet.

Click it or ticket/Save a life outdoor ad:
Signifier: Smashed car with the words "They buckled up and lived"
Signified: Even if you get in a car crash you're chances of living are higher if you buckle your seat belt.

Mountain Dew KickStart SuperBowl Ad:
Signifier: Three male young adult's hanging out drinking Mountain Dew KickStart. After drinking Mountain Dew KickStart the males start dancing along with everything else in the room.
Signified: Mountain Dew KickStart gives you energy

SuperBowl Commercials 2015

The Doritos commercials were my favorite commercials that aired during the 2015 SuperBowl. I especially liked the Doritos commercial with the father driving his car and his two kids are in the backseat asking for some of his Doritos. The father tells the kids he can't give them some of his Doritos because he can't reach the backseat of his car (which he clearly can.) As he is telling his kids this lie, a cop pulls up with their sirens on indicating that he needs to pull over. Both the kids look at each other and come up with the master plan of writing a note saying "HELP this is not our father" and holding it up to the window so that the cop sees it. Once the cop sees the kids note, the cop takes the father out of his car to arrest him, while the kids take their fathers Doritos and start snacking on them. While the kids are snacking on the Doritos, they call their mom and say "Mom, I think Dad is going to be a little late tonight." I thought this commercial was funny, cute, and effective. The brand story is communicated through this piece of storytelling by appealing to all genders and ages. This commercial told me that no matter what age or gender, everyone loves Doritos and will do whatever it takes to get their hands on a bag. It was crucial that this ad was played during the SuperBowl because 114.4 million viewers were watching. The 114.4 million viewers that were watching varied in age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc making it critical that each ad focus on reaching the largest target audience possible. The Doritos ad did a great job at doing this throughout their series of different ad's in the SuperBowl. As far as the Doritos ad I discussed before, the creators did a great job at reaching fathers and children. It is also important for businesses to be a SuperBowl commercial because it shows other businesses how successful they are and what their competition is. It costs a great deal of money to have a 30 second ad in the SuperBowl. Therefore, the businesses that are able to be in the SuperBowl commercials shows everyone that they are one of the top businesses around.