The importance of positive advertising in breaking stereotypes involving women  

Women and “The Rhetoric of the Image”

The media can be a blessing and a curse when it comes to women. Over the years, the image of women in the media has changed substantially, in the past the overall image being the helpless home wife whose duty it was to create offspring and read articles on how to sew to now the independent, confident, do it all woman. Even though we might not connect the two straight away, the importance that certain media has had on influencing women forward is substantial.

Roland Barthes, French literary theorist and philosopher, analyses in his text “The Rhetoric of the Image” the different messages that an image contains, he specifically talks about and gives us the background information needed for us to understand the certain intentions behind each image, especially in advertisement. Barthes uses advertisement as an example, thus it’s a perfect way of explaining what an image with a “hidden” message looks like.

Barthes refers that there is a system of signification in every image and goes on to divide this system of signification into three parts, first, the linguistic message, secondly, the coded iconic message and lastly the noncoded iconic message. Every advertising image gives us the information we need to get the desire to buy the product, whether it be a good or bad intention.

This example of the Glossier Body hero campaign shows us a perfect example of a positive subliminal message talked about by Barthes, even though we might not acknowledge it this advertisement portrays positive body images which will be seen by young women (the main target audience for this brand) and will eventually have an impact on the way young women see themselves, therefor having a much deeper impact on future society. In addition, the slogan used by this brand for this advertisement, treat your body right, indicates a positive approach to the images which in a way works as a subtitle/description much like on a painting, it gives the viewer a platform to begin to start understanding the meaning of the images and not skip to conclusions and misinterpreting the intentions of the advert (mostly men who tend to sexualize anything, especially a naked body). All of this works in favour of the brand, not only is it portraying positivity, but that positivity will increase some buyers want to contribute to the brand just because it is relatable and overall just nice.

Another important aspect of the media and its involvement with breaking down stereotypes is social media. The freedom that is social media has allowed these adverts and messages to reach even more people without any cover ups, furthering its effects on a wide scale audience. Glossier is a good example of the social media advertising, they continuously make aesthetically pleasing adverts with something that relates to everyone.

On the other hand, if we compare the glossier ad campaign to this seventeen magazine page, we can see the difference of what a positive empowering advert looks like vs what a magazine page that tries to influence young readers into things that are what women should like - makeup and cooking, looks like. As we’ve already seen in class, this image of the magazine is included in the text from John Fiske about ideology. It includes various images of things that a girl supposedly likes to read about, make-up to keep up their appearance, cooking and cleaning. In the text Fiske talks about how women don’t want to be just based on their looks, yet they contribute to a cause (photoshoot/magazines) where that’s all they portray. That magazine page is a good example of an advert which at first glance may seem completely normal and harmless, but if like John Fiske, we analyse its true and hidden intentions we see what its truly trying to portray across to the reader.

Fiske highlights the left column, he talks about how the three young women are being defined by their looks, that they arent actually doing anything, that they are simply being their looks. He goes on to talk about their bosy positions and insinuates that the way they are positioned and have curved their hips and leaned forward is an intentional pose meant for men. These of course are a mans point of view on a magazine meant for young women, and are deep analysations of simple images, but its clear the hidden intentions of this magazine and it overall portrays across negative messages to women. These type of articles are what manipulate readers and have a negative impact on society. Furthermore, having these two articles next to each other further insinuates the stereotype of what a woman likes to read about- cooking and makeup.   

In conclusion, the way women have been portrayed in the media has improved dramatically, however it is still evident that the link between women and their appearence still has negative aspects. Firstly, it’s still associated to keeping up appearances for men rather than for themselves, secondly, it’s still linked to the stereotype that all women like to use makeup and read cooking books and lastly it’s quite evident that there are, and probably always will be, negative advertising that instead of empowering women forward, use stereotypes and one’s insecurities to further a products longevity. Once we realise that these adverts have a deeper negative impact on society than first seen we will have finally achieved tolerance and we will be able to further highlight the importance of a positive image of women in the media and improve this situation for further generations to come.