Essay Example on Gender Targeting: Reducing Reach or Unlocking Potential?

Gender targeting tends to have a considerable effect since there are less effective compared to their potentiality. In recent years, mainstream advertising has shifted away from gender targeting, thus focusing on unisex. For example, excluding a specific gender leads to a reduction in the potential audience that one intends to reach. The different assumptions made between genders tend to differentiate between the attributes, personalities, and roles played by men and women. For example, women experience difficulties in switching to stressful conditions, and their memories are built around emotions. In the advertisement sector, women are cast in domestic roles hence giving men lots of opportunities in television and media commercials. Also, advertising tends to determine the culture of a given society since it alters how individuals think. Therefore, due to the changes which are facilitated by ad targeting, this paper will determine the assumptions made between different genders and the impacts of gender targeting in advertising.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Women who are leaders in the society are termed as being aggressive, thus having no heart. Media such as television shows and movies tend to support these misconceptions by indicating the best way to tame a lady in leadership is through love as it solves issues in the world (Sierra 2017). This idea is problematic to the future generation since it proves to young girls that love is a solution to every misery. Also, women memories are thought to be built around a couple of emotions. These assumptions tend to be true among men whose memories are developed based on the requirement to conduct activities properly to mitigate specific issues. This makes men to be termed as problem solvers as they focus on the activity or task being undertaken. Women are good at recalling the event and during multitasking. Therefore, women tend to sacrifice their attributes which can propel them was up the corporate sector.

Consequently, some of the stereotypes require to be addressed to solve the issue which is associated with female leadership. Some of these misconceptions are that women leaders tend to act like men to be respected, and they are not assertive to be given the leadership positions in the corporate sector. Also, women are considered to choose between loyalty at work and at home. These assumptions are no right since women do not hold a single job as they can multitask. Therefore, if women decided to take the role of being a mother only, more people would suffer, making the world to be in chaos.

Additionally, the stereotypes created by producers and directors of movies and television shows lefts the young girls in deep thoughts that they cannot become CEOs in organizations. This stereotype demoralized young girls as they thought every individual would hate them since women leaders are emotional. Also, it made the future generation believe that they can use their sex appeal to become leaders in the corporate sector. Women who were innovative in the earlier years were termed as less desirable since they had outshined men (Sierra 2017). Therefore, due to these stereotypes, the female gender was expected to sacrifice their personhood to ensure men are comfortable.

Despite the change being experienced in the advertising industry, marketing proceeds to target particular products basing on the traditional gender roles. For example, women get ads for cleaning and hygiene products, while men tend to get advertisements related to credit cards, cars, banks, and various financial investments (Beaudoux 2017). A global campaign named Unstereotype Alliance was developed by women to prevent sexist and stereotypical portrayals which are present in advertising. Therefore, the Unstereotype campaign facilitated Unilever to conduct a survey and determine the extent of gender in advertising.

On the other hand, women are stuck to a diverse range of chores, making them not to reach higher levels of life advancement. For example, the cultural powers such as female qualities and caregiving roles hold them to their old lives. This hinders women from developing professionally, thus causing them to lag behind the economic pyramid. Also, lagging among women develops as they try to balance the jobs internally and externally the domestic spheres (Beaudoux 2017). Therefore, this makes the male colleagues successful in the corporate sector since they do not experience such challenges. Due to the problems faced by women, men end up taking advantage of them as they try to help women become successful.

In American society, female characters broke the cultural norms and beliefs and started becoming prominent on movies and television. Women who were lost in love started redefining themselves to real females. For example, Katarina, who was a character in "10 Things I Hate About You" portrayed an example to other women by proving what was expected of them (Sierra 6). Men viewed Katarina as being undesirable since she was aggressive and had future ambitions. Also, love should not distract a lady from achieving her set goals and objectives but make her fulfilled and happy. For example, Galleria, who had fallen in love in a movie, stated that respect is the most significant component in a relationship.

According to Sierra (7), women are becoming empowered by the number of female characters in media, ethnicities, different occupations, and backgrounds that are recognized currently. For example, movies such as "Moana" and "Wonder Woman" tends to redefine womanhood positively. Also, some movies are portraying black women as being smart mathematicians; thus uncovering attributes believed to be possessed by the white men. The adventurous character of Moana motivated the young girls to work hard and break the rules so that they can achieve their future goals. Besides, the support of "Wonder Woman" by both men and women has promoted female representation in pop culture. Both genders have given away the idea that women are emotional, helpless, and submissive, thus encouraging them to join the pop culture. Therefore, these characters in movies and television shows have led to societal awareness, hence promoting women representation in the corporate sector.

Therefore, gender targeting in advertising is affected by the assumptions or stereotypes present in societies. Women are seen as a minority group in the community, thus lagging in different economic sectors. Women are termed to be emotional and submissive, which makes men abuse them. Also, women tend to use their sex appeals to reach their targets in the corporate sector. Despite the enlightenment made to women, they associate themselves with the traditional roles of looking after households. The unstereotype program was developed on Facebook and other social media platforms to create awareness and enlighten young girls. Characters in movies and television shows have motivated the young girls to exploit their abilities which makes them achieve their future goals. For example, some characters in the movie "Wonder Woman" contributed to the representation of women in pop culture.

Works Cited

Beaudoux, V. G. "How media sexism demeans women and fuels abuse by men like Weinstein." The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation. com/how-media-sexism-demeans-women-and-fuels-abuse-by-men-like-Weinstein-85789 (2017).

Sierra, Emilaire. A Look at Women Represented in Media, (2017): 1-12