THE WORLD

OF GENDER
SPECI FIED
ADVERTI SI NG
AND HOW
WE CAN
HELP FI X IT

NICOLE TRUBISKY

1
 The World of Gender:

Specified Advertising and How We Can Help Fix It

Nicole Trubisky

Account Planning

Instructor: Dr. Brown

March 3, 2020

Table of Contents

2
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…… 4
Sex Appeals in Advertising……………………………………………………………..... 4
Sex Appeals Between Genders
Contemporary Examples of Sex Appeals in Advertising
The Shift in How We View Gender
Consumer Perception…………………………………………………………………….. 6
Women Empowerment
Consumer Inclusivity
Social Media and Influencers…………………………………………………………......7
YouTube Advertising
Instagram Advertising
Cosmetics Advertising………………………………………………………………….....9
Recommendations………………………………………………………………………...10
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………11
References………………………………………………………………………………….12

3
Introduction

The average American is bombarded with advertisements from the moment they wake up
in the morning. Whether it be a brand logo on one's clothing, social media ads, or ads on TV;
Americans are taunted with the idealized need for a certain product or brand almost hourly. On
average, Americans are exposed to about 4,000 ads everyday (Marshall, 2017). With that being
said, advertising images can give the impression to the consumer that they are lacking a certain
body type or need to conform to society’s standards.
Images of idealized body’s for both men and women in ads portray one of sexy curves or
large muscles. This brings up the long-debated topic, “sex sells”. Advertisements that are sexy in
nature tend to be remembered more than advertisements that are not. However, the effect doesn’t
always extend to the brand or product in the ad (Chamberlain, 2017). Sexualizing men and
women in advertisements can turn off the target consumer as a result of ethical standards. Due to
the contrasting views men and women have on sex, it is difficult for the advertiser to predict the
response of the ad on the consumer (Lanseng, 2016).
The constant debate on whether “sex sells” in advertising hurts both men and women.
Sexualizing men and women send a message that both genders have to have a certain body
image or act in a certain way. This leads to confidence issues between men and women and
strengthens the stigma regarding gender roles in our society. Men and women have to fight
against this double standard to prove that there is more to them than just a sexualized “ideal”
body image that is so often portrayed in advertisements.

4
Sex Appeals in Advertising
Sex Appeals Between Genders
The use of sex as a way to advertise has become increasingly more popular over the
years. There has begun to be a large divide in how men perceive a sexualized ad versus how
women view them (Lanseng, 2016). Research done by Khan and Munoz looked into the the role
pay by culture in determining whether sex appeal in advertising affects female consumers’
attitudes and final purchase decision. A study conducted in India surveyed 84 people.
Researchers concluded that 58% percent of participants don’t care about sexualized ads and over
90% responded that it does not affect their buying choices. It has been suggested that men are
more attractive to nudity advertisements than women (Sherma & Guapa 2015). Research was
done on 120 men in the Indonesian market ages 15-24. The men were asked to watch a particular
AXE body spray commercial. Statistics indicated that sexual appeal use in AXE product
advertisements are very effective and after watching AXE ads consumers take those
advertisements in a positive sense and it helps consumers to make purchase decisions. The
results suggest that sexual appeal advertisements showed positive results for these men (Sari et
al, 2015). This allows us to see that women are typically not as drawn to the sexualized ads as
men are and it does not have as much an effect on buying habits.

Contemporary Examples of Sex Appeals in Advertising

There are many contemporary examples in TV advertisements that portray women in a
negative light. Women have historically been the ones that have been more frequently
misrepresented sexually in advertising, and that is still something that continues to this day. An
AXE commercial that aired a few years ago Figure 1. Axe Body Spray ad
depicted a man spraying AXE all over his body https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89xAXHd2l8
(Gains. J, 2018). After he sprayed the product a
swarm of hundreds of women were shown
sprinting towards him in skimpy bikinis,
begging him to be theirs. This commercial is a
prime example of how women are sexualized in
advertisements. This portrays women as merely
an object to the men around them. It made it
seem as though all men have to do is spray a
product that smells good and the women will
instantly be turned on. The women were
portrayed as almost animalistic and were very
unempowering to the gender as a whole. A way
that we can change how these advertisements
perceive women is to create ones that empower women instead of showing them in a negative
and crass way. Secret deodorants recent campaign, “All Strength No Sweat '' is awe-inspiring

5
and uplifting towards women. This advertisement shows women challenging the status quo and
pursuing their passions. All of the women in this advertisement are attractive and beautiful yet it
chooses to highlight the strength that they embody instead of taking their looks and using that as
the driving factor for the ad. Sex will always be an attention grabber that is used in advertising
although it doesn’t seem to sell as well as it may seem (Marczyk, J. 2017). Sexualized ads do a
good job at grabbing a viewer’s attention, but don’t tend to get them to remember the object
being sold (Marczyk, J. 2017)
A way that we can fix the issue at hand is to change the way that men and women are
perceived and make it more realistic. Women typically don’t enjoy watching ads of
oversexualized women because they feel as though they can't relate to them (Marczyk, J. 2017).
Men are also not forgotten when it comes to sexualization. An advertising campaign done by
Kraft for their zesty Italian dressing highly sexualizes men. The ad showed a man cooking in
which he slaps the meat he is using and saying sexual innuendos to the food as he is cooking, as
if seem like all they care about is sex and make everything into a gratuitous sexual act.

The Shift in How We View Gender

In advertisements men and women are also
portrayed in a certain light in relation to their leadership
roles. Three to four people in the United States believe
that traditional gender roles have changed
(“Consumers: Gender Roles”, 2018). The idea that
women are the primary caretaker and men are the
breadwinner in a household is not something that is
seen as absolute anymore. As of 2019, 55.4% of the
Figure 2 . Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing Commercial. workforce in
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/shirtless-hunk-heats-
America is currently women (Duffin, kitchen-krafts-ads-zesty-italian-dressing-148279/ 2020).
Although these are the thoughts that a
large majority of the public has,
advertisements do not seem to be keeping
up. According to the Omnicom Media
Group (OMG, 2018), advertisers are not
keeping up with the pace of gender
inclusivity that is seen as necessary
to be relevant with how the public is
thinking. A comprehensive study by the
agency’s Research Insights Solutions
Expertise arm revealed that around 50
percent of men and 59 percent of women
identify as not completely masculine
Figure 3. “All Strength No Sweat” Secret Campaign
or feminine (OMG, 2018).
Advertisers are more often than not still portraying men and women as their extreme stereotyped
persona, which does not resonate with the consumer as it did in the past. An analysis of released
ads stated, “men portrayed in commercials were twice as likely as women to have a job,
widening a gap seen in ads from 2006-2016” (“Consumer: Gender roles”, 2018). A study of ads

6
released from 2006 to 2016 found that women are more likely to be seen in the kitchen 50% over
men. “Almost half of women from various countries around the World surveyed last year agreed
that TV ads show too many outdated gender stereotypes” (“Consumer: Gender roles”, 2018).

Consumer Perception
Women Empowerment
Today’s society has been pushing for a more feminist position and advertising has slowly taken
on this approach as well. A Global Management Journal for Academic & Corporate study has
shown that “consumer’s attitudes; attitude towards diversity, attitude towards liberty and attitude
towards women empowerment have significant impact on their perception of women depiction in
ads,” (Samo, Joyo & Abro, 2018). Gender is simply another example of diversity and audiences
are more likely to positively react to advertising content with more diversity.
Consumers who are inclined to feminists and women empowerment ideas are more likely
to have positive perceptions of advertising that depicts their same viewpoints. Contrarily, those
consumers with less feminist beliefs are not going to positively react to the same advertisements.
Some conclusions based from this study: “there is positive impact of consumers' attitude towards
diversity on consumers' perception of feminist ads,” and “there is no moderating effect of gender
in the relationship of attitude towards diversity's impact on consumer's perception of feminist
ad,” (Samo, Joyo & Abro, 2018).

Consumer Inclusivity
There are notable shifts in the advertising industry because of the millennial generation
emphasizing expectations that companies “do more than just sell products” (Mabry-Flynn &
Champlin, 2019). Additionally, millennials value a society that is gender-inclusive and
represents support to transforming societal norms (Mabry-Flynn & Champlin, 2019). Advertising
has traditionally presented women as thin and flawless models, thus negatively affecting young
women and girl’s confidence levels (Mabry-Flynn & Champlin, 2019). Because of conceptions
that consumers are now offended by this type of presentation, advertisers are now influenced by
“consumer perceptions of a brand’s sincerity or authenticity when it does choose to step outside
industry norms,” (Mabry-Flynn & Champlin, 2019). For example, companies like Dove and
Aerie launched campaigns that include “real” women with no photoshop efforts (Mabry-Flynn &
Champlin, 2019). These campaigns show women of all shapes and sizes, allowing the consumer
to see their freckles, wrinkles and other natural beauty marks (Mabry-Flynn & Champlin, 2019).

Figure 4. This figure represents past and

future consumer perceptions based off of
gender inclusivity in advertising.
https://www.marketingcharts.com/advertisin
g-trends/creative-and-formats-82594

7
Social Media and Influencers
YouTube Advertising
YouTube has evolved into a social media platform that uses influencers to market and
promote brand’s products and/or services. Different genders view advertisements differently,
which is why it is important for brands to consider the gender of both the social media influencer
and their viewers when creating the tactics of its advertisement. According to the research article
(2018), “Social Media Sellout: The Increasing Role of Product Promotion on YouTube '', by
Carsten Schwemmer and Sandra Ziewiecki, socio-demographic attributes (such as gender) are
what creates different communities on the site. Schwemmer and Ziewiecki state that it is relevant
to assess gender’s role in product promotion on YouTube because it affects the type of products
that users are interested in and the way that the products are promoted on the site (Schwemmer &
Ziewiecki, 2018). The results showed that the gaming and sports communities are more male-
dominated, while the beauty, fashion and lifestyle communities are more female-dominated. The
research reflects how the user’s gender paired with their typical interests resulted in the gender
divide between communities on YouTube.
Each gender has different preferences on what types of products they are more likely to
use, which affects the site’s advertising techniques. Since women prefer an influencer to create
an entire video around the product being promoted within their related communities and male
users prefer product promotion to not be the focus of the video, the brands will advertise on the
site accordingly (Schwemmer & Ziewiecki, 2018). An aspect within gender to consider is that
female viewers are generally attracted to the female-dominated communities on YouTube and
vice versa for men (Schwemmer & Ziewiecki, 2018). This gravitation to influencers of the same
gender explains why products are promoted differently across communities on the site. Women
are also more likely to buy promoted products off of the site in comparison to men (Schwemmer
& Ziewiecki, 2018). These different consumer tendencies between genders demonstrates how
communities are generally divided based on gender on YouTube. This gender divide is important
for brands to consider when choosing how to instruct an influencer to deliver its product
promotion because this conventional way of committing to only reaching the influencer’s major
audience could mean the brand is missing out on potential consumers within the influencer’s
minor audience.

Instagram Advertising
Along with YouTube, Instagram is another primary tool used to advertise to men and
women. According to Statista, Instagram has 800 million active users with 56.3% being women
and 43.7% being men (Gordon, 2019). Advertising on Instagram is a method that pays to post
sponsored content on the platform with the end goal being to reach a target audience. Due to
Instagram being a visual platform, text ads are pretty much nonexistent. Advertising on
Instagram seeks to draw in the user with just one intriguing photograph.
Even though slightly more women than men have an Instagram account, men are just as
engaged in the site. The difference is that men follow and interact with more sports accounts and
women follow and interact with more fashion blogger/lifestyle accounts (Aslam, 2020). Men are
adamant about liking posts that they find interesting or women they find attractive. Because of

8
gender dynamics on Instagram, women put a lot of effort into making the perfect post and even
editing their photo to change facial features about themselves (Aslam, 2020).
Instagram has the most engagement out of all social media sites. Instagram is a vital tool
for ads to be seen by a target audience and remembered. According to Instagram’s research,
advertisement recall is 2.8X Higson average
than advertisement recall on any other social
network (Millwood, 2020). Due to Instagram
users being highly engaged, this guarantees
that users will already be engaged when they
may view an advertisement.
Michael Kors was one of the first
companies to experiment with Instagram
advertising and the results were highly
successful. Their first Instagram
advertisement launched in 2013 and was
highly targeted towards women (Adams,
2013). The #Timeless ad featured a
photograph of a watch with jewelry, coffee,
and macarons in the background with the
caption “5:15 PM: Pampered in Paris
#Timeless”. This ad generated about 40,000
new followers. This means that the sponsored
ad earned them 16 times more followers than
their unsponsored content (Millwood, 2020).
Overall, Instagram is a very
successful platform that advertisers use to
generate advertisement exposure.

Figure 5. 5:15 PM: Pampered in Paris #MKTimeless” Ad

https://ladyclever.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/liked-kors.png

9
Cosmetics Advertising
One industry that suffers
from gender-specific
advertising is the cosmetics
industry. “Women are recipients
of the majority of skincare
marketing through magazines, tv
ads and social media marketing
campaign” (Halo Rituals, 2019).
In the same article from above,
marketing towards women plays
to beauty standards, informing
women need multiple products to
maintain a healthy skin. By
choosing to accept this notion,
this is one of the reasons why
women have more self-care
products than men. Contrary to
the stereotype that men don’t care for their Figure 6. Men Personal Care Market by Type and Geography 2022.
skin, “the men’s personal care market is https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/men-personal-care-marke>
expected to garner $166 billion by 2022,
registering a CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period 2016 to 2022 (Singh, 2016)
Some of the main factors according to the SIS International Research (2019) that goes
into men’s advertising is products that get the job done leaving no residue with absolutely no
scent at all. Females aren’t the only ones who want to look healthy and ageless but also do men,
especially dads. A Mintel Report (2018), says “American dads are more likely than men overall
to be interested in portraying looks
that are stylish (51% dads vs 33%
overall), handsome (47% vs 43%)
and cool (42% vs 32%)
A man has different skin than
a female but that doesn’t take away
the fact that each may suffer from the
same problems. “Anyone could have
dry, oily, or combination skin, acne,
eczema, wrinkles, etc. Products
marketing to those issues will have a
much higher diversity of consumers”
(Halo Rituals, 2019). CEO Andrew
Glass realized the gender boundaries
in this industry are too much for him and Figure 7. Beauty and care: products most used by gender U.S. 2017.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/716384/beauty-personal-care-products-
most-used-by-consumers-us-by-gender/

10
he created his own uni-sex skin care line called, Non-Gender Specific. In relation to the
company’s website, “Glass sought to create a
skincare brand “for all humans’, regardless of
gender, skin tone or skin type.” The website also
mentions their debut product, Everything Serum
sold over 40,000 in the first year.
Other companies like Aesop have created
a gender-neutral skin care line stating they make
products based on skin needs, not gender (Wong,
2019) along with many more like Curology and
Panacea. Allowing men to get involved with skin
care opens up a new consumer market that gives
men the ability to look good and feel good as both genders should.
Figure 8. The “Everything Serum” from the neutral
gender skin care company, Non-gender specific.

11
Recommendations
1. Mix up the delivery of product promotion on social media platforms
between genders.
Brands are using social media and influencers as a common way to promote their
products, but the brands tend to stick to traditional methods of promotion based on the
demographics (including gender) of the influencer’s followers. Instead of confining an
influencer to one mode of delivery for their main audience, the brands should give the
influencers free range to be creative while promoting its product to their whole audience
(including all genders).

2. Create advertisements that work to blur the gender gap between males
and females.
In today's day and age, the line between the typical male and typical female stereotype
has begun to be less rigid. Women are not shown equally in ads playing a leading role,
such that men do. Women often play a background role in a relationship and their role is
much more limited than men’s. I think that breaking down these gender norms could be
very beneficial in advertising and allow both men and women to not be confined to a box
that they are being told they need to fit into.

3. Understand how the brains and minds of the genders work.

One of the main problems within this topic is portraying the opposite sex as a negative
character. Understanding the differences between the two brains can give insight on what
women and men may/may not take offensive allowing the advertisers to stay away of
being offensive to the opposite sex. By studying both a male and female mind, ads can be
more accurately produced increasing sales and views.
4. Produce content that accurately reflects the roles of gender in society
One occurring issue with advertising is that it doesn’t portray modern gender roles. In
the past, women have typically been portrayed as being the caretakers of the family and
the men are the ones with jobs. Society has molded the roles of each gender to be more
inclusive however advertising still portrays the stereotypical gender roles in your average
household. Conclusively, the content in advertising that characterizes these stereotypical
gender roles is not only outdated but an inaccurate reflection of our society.
5. Receive consumer feedback on how they perceive the advertisement.
Consumer feedback is very important when producing an advertisement. Understanding
how the target audience feels about the potential advertisement will help the ad become
more successful. How the consumer feels about the advertisement before it airs, can
determine if the advertisement is successful or not. A focus group study of the target

12
 audience can be conducted. Previous ad campaigns may not have been successful due to
the target audience not understanding the desired message of the ad

Conclusion
In conclusion, it is very evident that sexualization of advertisements exist. The role of
gender stereotypes continues to be advertised throughout history. Advertisers believe that
generating advertisements that exploit men or women and that are geared to the opposite sex
increase sales of the product category, when actually men and women are uncomfortable when
an advertisement exploits sex so obviously. Sexualized ads contribute to many issues in this
country including body image between men and women, gender stereotypes, and consumer
perception.

13
 References
1. Adams, A., Pina, Z., & Adams, A. (2013, November 5). Instagram Advertising Kicks-Off
with A Wristwatch. Retrieved from https://www.ablogtowatch.com/instagram-
advertising-kicks-wrist-watch/
2. Aslam, S. (2020, January 25). Instagram by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun
Facts. Retrieved from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/
3. B., A., (2019, March 27). Gender Marketing Differences Within Beauty and Skin Care.
Retrieved from
https://www.halorituals.com/journal?author=5c99063015fcc0b2427e88b6
4. Chamberlain, C. (2017, June 22). Research suggests sexual appeals in ads don't sell
brands, products. Retrieved from https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/522402
5. Consumers: Gender Roles Have Changed. Advertising Hasn't. (2018, March 9).
Retrieved from https://www.marketingcharts.com/advertising-trends/creative-and-
formats-82594
6. Demographics of Social Media Users and Adoption in the United States. (2019, June 12).
Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/
7. Duffin, E. (2020, February 4). Employment rate - women in the U.S. 2019.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/192396/employment-rate-of-women-in-the-us-since-
1990/
8. Gaines, J. (2016, February 7). Justine's First Year Seminar Blog. Retrieved from
https://sites.psu.edu/justinegaines/2016/02/07/product-advertisement-differences-
between-men-and-women/
9. Gordon, K. (2019, March 18). Topic: Instagram. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/topics/1882/instagram/
10. Howard, D. (2019, April 25). Is a Man's Skin Really Different? Retrieved from
https://www.dermalinstitute.com/article/17/

14
11. Lanseng. (2016, September 12). Relevant Sex Appeals in Advertising: Gender and
Commitment Context Differences. Retrieved from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01456/full
12. Mabry-Flynn, A., & Champlin, S. (2019). Consumer perceptions of "real" women in
advertising. Media Report to Women, 47(2), 24-23. Retrieved from http://0-
search.proquest.com.library.uark.edu/docview/2227391641?accountid=836 1
13. Marczyk, J. (2017, June 26). Understanding Sex in Advertising. Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pop-psych/201706/understanding-sex-in-
advertising
14. Marshall, R. (2017, August 3). How Many Ads Do You See in One Day? Retrieved from
https://www.redcrowmarketing.com/2015/09/10/many-ads-see-one-day/
15. Millwood, A. (2020, February 3). Instagram Advertising in 2018: What You Need to
Know. Retrieved from https://www.yotpo.com/blog/advertise-on-instagram/
16. Mintel News. (2018, June 15). 1 in 3 US dads wants to prevent the signs of aging.
Retrieved from https://www.mintel.com/press-centre/beauty-and-personal-care/holding-
back-the-years-1-in-3-us-dads-are-interested-in-preventing-the-signs-of-aging
17. OMG RISE: Brands Are Struggling to Keep Up with the Gender and Inclusivity
Conversation. (2018, October 4). Retrieved from
https://www.omnicommediagroup.com/news/global-news/omg-rise-brands-are-
struggling-to-keep-up-with-the-gender-and-inclusivity-conversation/
18. Perrin, A., & Anderson, M. (2019, April 10). Share of U.S. adults using social media,
including Facebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-
media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/
19. Samo, A. H., Joyo, M. A., & Abro, P. S. (2018). Impact of consumer attitude on
consumer's perception of feminism in ads. Global Management Journal for Academic &
Corporate Studies, 8(2), 21-28. http://0-
search.proquest.com.library.uark.edu/docview/2264569362?accountid=8361
20. Schwemmer, C., & Ziewiecki, S. (2018). Social Media Sellout: The Increasing Role of
Product Promotion on YouTube. Social Media Society,
https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118786720

15
21. Sari, D., Winton, & Trebilcock, P. (2015). How Sensitive are Indonesian Customers to
Sexual Appeal Advertising? (A Study of the Axe TV Commercial, “Heaven on Earth”).
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6 (2(S)5), 149-154.
22. Sharma, P., & Gupta, P. (2015). Semiotic analysis of Indian television. Advertisements
and its impact on consumers: an exploratory study. Journal for Communication Studies, 8
(1), 71-90.
23. Shoieb, Zienab Ahmed Mohamed, "The Effect of Advertising on Male Body Image
Disturbance: A Content Analysis of Male Models in Esquire Magazine Ads from 1955-
2005. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2015.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3409
24. Samo, A. H., Joyo, M. A., & Abro, P. S. (2018). Impact of consumer attitude on
consumer's perception of feminism in ads. Global Management Journal for Academic &
Corporate Studies, 8(2), 21-28. Retrieved from http://0-
search.proquest.com.library.uark.edu/docview/2264569362?accountid=8361
25. (2019, January 5). “Men’s Skincare and Market Research.” Retrieved from
https://www.sisinternational.com/solutions/beauty-product-market-research/mens-
skincare-market-research/

16