Image of Women in Advertising. Research report

Abstract

Women are mainly responsible for making purchasing decisions, which makes them a key group for advertisers. Reaching them with a message requires creating an appropriate advertising insight and an image of a woman attractive to the recipients. When discussing ad creations, one speaks of femvertising, women’s empowerment, equality, as well as stereotyping, depreciation and sexism. In order to verify the opinions on the image of women in advertising, the author conducted an analysis of advertising communication of selected Polish and international companies. 1045 audio-video advertisements (5 campaigns of 209 brands each) were examined. The aim was to show what types of female images dominate in advertising. Ten areas were examined, including: female attributes, external appearance, phase of the family cycle, the protagonist’s surroundings, female self, the brand’s promise, the protagonist’s emotions, relations with men and the narrator in the advertisement. The results of the analysis showed that advertisers, seeing the growing aspirations of women, no longer show them only as mothers, housewives or lovers. More often they build their internal strength, expressive identity, subjectivity, self-determination and independence, as well as personal development and fulfillment of dreams. At the same time, they provide their heroines with a wide range of opportunities not only for family, maternal and emotional but also professional, sports, property and passion development.