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ABSTRACT
While much attention has been given to critiquing sexism and stereotyping in advertising texts, less weight is afforded to examining the gendered opinions and worldviews of the practitioners who create such texts and even less focus on such attitudes as held by advertising students—the next generation of advertisers. This paper is concerned with exploring advertising students’ attitudes towards representations of the sexes in adverts, and how this may reflect their gendered opinions more generally. Analysing individual, semi-structured student interviews (n = 12) reveals that, while there was widespread acknowledgement that sexual objectification of women in advertising remains prevalent, there was a discursive turn towards a concern for men and boys, and assertions that misandry has emerged as a concerning and unwelcome trend in advertising imagery and texts. This was bolstered by a less prevalent theme; one which lauds the figure of the “tomboy” and thereby serves to privilege the male experience.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Aileen O’Driscoll
Aileen O’Driscoll is a lecturer in Media and Communications at the School of Communications, Dublin City University. Her current research is focused on gender, media and advertising, with an emphasis on the gender discourses articulated by advertising students. Aileen has contributed to research for the Global Media Monitoring Project, as well as looking at the representation of women’s voices on Ireland’s airwaves. With an interest in arts and culture, especially focusing on women’s involvement in these fields, Aileen is on the organising committee of the annual Dublin Feminist Film Festival. E-mail: [email protected]