A collection of body parts

The use of women in advertising has long been reliant on stereotypes to sell products. Women are represented in a variety of cookie-cutter roles ranging from the obedient housewife thrilled at the prospect of removing a stain from the carpet, to the bikini-clad vixen offering teasing glances at the men who stare at her from the neck down.

Melanie Cishecki, executive director of Media Watch, said ads depicting women in a positive light are few and far between.

“We seem to be going back to what women fought against in the 60s and 70s,” she said. “It seems like we’re slipping back to a more negative, stereotypical portrayal of women.”

Cishecki cited two recent ads she called particularly degrading to women: The TV commercial for A Marca Bavaria, where the woman slowly strips for the pleasure of the men eagerly watching, and the Herbal Essence shampoo ad depicting a woman experiencing multiple orgasms while washing her hair. She said these commercials imply women are only happy when trying to please a man, or when doing something trivial like washing their hair.

Jane Tallim, director of education for the Media Awareness Network, said stereotyping in general is used as shorthand because ads only have a limited amount of time to get their message across. “Stereotyping is what everybody knows,” she said.

She added the public generally understand stereotypes, which makes things easy for advertisers, but also means these stereotypes are then getting perpetuated by the public watching the ads.

In terms of the ads out there right now, Tallim said there is a double trend going on of not only an increased sexual-ization of women in general, but also an increase in the sexual-ization of younger women.

The “sexing up” of women turns them into commodities Tallim said, which is bad enough when the women in the ads are older, and at least look like they can make decisions for themselves, but what about ads featuring women who are either 14 years of age, or made up to look like they are 14? What message does it send to viewers to see a young-looking female being ogled by men old enough to be her father? Not a healthy one, Tallim said.

Cishecki agreed women, as commodity in advertising is a huge problem.

“Ads don’t often show women as whole human beings,” she said. “We are either shown as a collection of body parts, or that our whole being is made up of our sexuality.”

Tallim said her teenage daughter is addicted to watching music videos on BET, which, as many videos do, feature scantily clad women dancing provocatively for men. Yes it’s only a music video, but it is also a three to four minute skewed representation of reality Tallim said.

“I tell my daughter to ignore the wiggling butts and look at the girl’s eyes,” she said. “They’re eyes are dead, they’re nothing but body parts. She said the same idea applies when ads use women as commodity by featuring their bodies instead of a specific product.”

It’s sometimes hard to believe advertisers are able to get away with as much as they do in terms of sexuality and blatant stereotyping. Janet Feasby, a spokesperson for Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), said there are guidelines offering suggestions about what should and should not be used in ads, but there is no pre-approval needed before a commercial airs or ad is printed.

“We hope that advertisers are aware of the guidelines about standards in advertising and keep them in mind when creating ads,” Feasby said. “(But) advertisements don’t have to be screened against the guidelines before the public sees them.”

She said ASC doesn’t monitor ads like Media Watch or Media Awareness Network, but they do take action when complaints are received from the public.

“We have received complaints about representation of women in certain ads,” she said although did not specify which ones.

There is a form available on the ASC Web site for complaints concerning advertisements in Canada she said.

“When a complaint is received we look closely at the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, and take the guidelines into consideration when determining if that complaint should be upheld,” she said.

Despite the negative, often degrading portrayal of women in advertising, it is difficult to imagine an alternative. Complaint forms can be filled out, or angry discussions had amongst friends, but the standard has been set. Breaking the mold of what everyone knows is not an easy thing, so Tallim said the best we can do is be aware of what we’re watching.

“You have to know how to deconstruct the message, and not take it at face value,” she said. “Ads are a constant game of reality versus fiction, and for now, all we can do is navigate around the fiction, and settle for an often-hazy version of reality.”

Image courtesy Molson Canada