A Reading Of Gender Representation In Advertising

The author studies advertising and its representation of gender. Representation makes up an important topic in the study of mass culture. Today, people more and more get to know the world, understand culture and others and themselves via mass media. While gender representation stands up to be an important channel for people to understand gender norms, gender role, division of labor between genders and gender relations. Mass media are considered to construct a mimicry environment, and the construction of gender in this environment is considered to provide people model to follow and is a constructing force in their process of socialization.On the basis of the afore-mentioned understanding of representation, the critics of mass culture worry that capital-owners, mass media owners, that is, people with the power to decide and control representation, will represent the world and gender as they please, and this will hurt the many powerless and passive audience-consumers. As a critical theory, Feminism follows this concept and starts from gender power relation to discover and examine how and why mass media represent gender "unequally". Feminists criticize mass media for representing women in a belittling, even insulting way. The gender representation in advertising is especially serious.Advertisements and their gender representation composes a beautiful media scenery. The advertising world is edenic. In this world, all problems can be easily solved. In this world are full of beautiful women and handsome men. Feminists'...