Gracie Woodson

3/29/20

English Comp. II

Professor Stalbird

Why do we need to stop displaying stereotypes in advertisements and modeling? What has

this caused and why does it need to end?

Inequality, which lies in everyone’s heart, will never feel equal due to issues we can not

fix so why should we bring others down for this to benefit consumers? In advertisements, there

are characters, in which they portray specific stereotypes. These stereotypes can make others

feel worthless, wrong, hurt, or abused. When one reads the word “Stereotype”, they instantly

think of one. It makes women belong in the kitchen or men not being a responsible “caretaker”

a hurtful stereotype. This happened because everyone has been affected by advertisements or

brought down because of the stereotypical “perfect” model. Advertising portrays stereotypes,

affecting mental health, and causing damage to many people. These stereotypes are being

shown in tv, advertisements, and modeling as well as taking away the traditional values and

morals from children. Various stereotypes are demonstrated in various ways and fortunately,

this is being worked on. The advertising industry has raised awareness about differences, which

is wrecking our society. Advertisers must stop the use of stereotypes within the advertising and

use a variety of models because all it is doing is changing society while also damaging others’

mental health that the creators do not see, but must.

Stereotypes have many different categories we use to categorize others. They

get created by initial judgments by characteristics or visible personalities. For instance, a

with her kids. This reflects on gender, race, and role. In advertising stereotypes typically tie to

people or objects. Stereotypes can be harmful because as said in “types of Stereotyping in

Advertising”, “People are complex and cannot be defined by a single role”(Lazzari). This quote is

explaining that stereotypes may take the wrong idea of someone or maybe an initial idea of

someone even though it may not be accurate. Stereotypes are used in advertising to target an

audience for their sales. Demographics based on history and common ideas can help initiate

their accurate audience. These have been carried through the years from the previous years,

have not changed, and are still present yet still hurting others. Inequality is a big issue but

adding onto the inequality is stereotyping us to only make us feel more separated and out of

place. As these stereotypes are not true to reality, they also have an effect on the way we are

living now.

In almost every advertisement or commercial we watch we can see the portrayal of

stereotypes, as this is a frequent act. As said in one of the sources, “Averages out to 17

commercials an hour”(Pryor/Knupfer/Kansas State University), recognizing that this is the

average while some people may be watching over the average. Not very many people are going

to pay extra for their tv streaming apps to be ad-free, or their games and social media to be ad-

free so ads are being displayed everywhere. Advertising industries will spend hours working on

advertisements, earning huge profits for targeting an audience or selling a product however

they do not see how the visual in the ad can be a different perspective in others’ eyes. This is an

issue because the way advertising uses stereotypes can lead to inequality, unworthiness,

depression, and modeling using stereotypes can create jealousy and depression as well.
 Advertisement perpetuating stereotypes are not only false assumptions but they are

also changing society. Children used to learn their values, beliefs, and expectations within their

culture by socialization however, advertisement has now taken the place of “socialization”.

Television, advertisements, and modeling have now replaced their peers, and family from

teaching these expectations and morals for their lives. The visuals demonstrated in an

advertisement have influenced children. This is shown by many social platforms of social media

and modeling. If we can educate our children about stereotypes, the meaning behind them so

they did feel as manipulated we may be able to let stereotypes have a smaller impact on our

beliefs. Children are seeing similarities and are changing their mindsets. They see ads for a toy

but the group advertising the toy is what they want to be like. When the advertisers are all

skinny, wearing crop tops, ripped jeans, or alike wardrobes it trains their brain that they have to

be like that to make them accepted. When children are watching YouTube or on their

technology in their free time it is recommending other videos or inspiring them to be like

others. They are being exposed to other lives who may be promoting their diet or eating less,

taking pills to lose weight, which is the last thing anyone wants children to be worried about.

What we do not see is how modeling and advertising are taking over and dividing everyone.

One of the biggest contributions to inequality in the world today is stereotypes

incorporated into ads and modeling. The issue relies on two people, which is us and the

consumers. Advertisements are a good thing until stereotypes are involved. If we can see the

views of the stereotypes we may be able to depict it and not have it come across so offensively.

These stereotypes are offensive because, by one trait, all the other traits get vetoed. To explain,

if a woman was raising her family, as a single parent, was African-American, and lived in a
lower, medium class neighborhood but working as an anesthesiologist, someone could

stereotype has for her gender-causing the thoughts that she stays at home watching the kids

and making the food all day when her other traits like her employment, education, and

dedication would not be considered. The absence of the other characteristics is what causes

harm and makes people feel unworthy.

In advertisements, we could step away from the negative and short stereotypes by

adding positive stereotypes. The difference between a stereotype and a positive stereotype is a

belief that is thought about as a social group. It makes it a level further and it stereotypes

people by further accomplishments. Positive stereotypes are more to be true and can be

backed up. As said, “Internally accepting positive stereotypes of their group may be a way for

women to preemptively shield themselves from the potential antagonism and aggression of

hostile sexism”(APS). This explains the route we would be going in lessening separation and

bias. Examples of this would be “Asians tend to be smarter when it comes to math”, “African

Americans tend to be better with athletics” and “women are warmer in the community”. These

are not going to fit everyone, not every Asian is great at math but they are believed to be true

and we have exact evidence. Terrance Tao is a mathematician, when he was very young,

around two he was solving math problems and teaching other kids which were unreal for a

math problem and two years old. Terrance is part Asian, so we could be led to believe that

Asians are typically smarter, especially in math. Usain Bolt, Lebron James, and Michael Jordan

are a few of the greatest athletes who could be positively stereotyped. Positive stereotypes will

categorize using greater characteristics and be more accurate, especially when targeting a

specific audience.
 Stereotypes within advertisements have been put to an end, especially in other

countries as well. For example, in Britain, there was an ad for British Vogue, talking about being

“beach ready”, advertising a weight loss item. The ad is a young white girl, blonde hair, tiny

swimsuit, and abs. This portrays stereotypes of gender. Britain has changed guidelines where

they will no longer be able to tolerate this. Ads will not be shown if physical traits are

connected to success, romantic or social ties. This relates to modeling and advertising because

gender and age stereotypes are used. The article International Journal of Advertising, it states

“a content analysis found that 81% of female athlete models in magazine advertisements were

partially nude or dressed suggestively”. This quote shows how common these models are

stereotyped.

Another ad that has been banned was a Volkswagen commercial. This commercial

involved a group of men where each male was doing a different adventurous activity. Next,

they showed a woman on a bench next to a stroller, where all of these people were in a park.

This commercial arose to complain about the stereotypes portrayed. The ad was demonstrating

women's role of “care-giving”. This stereotype had obviously stood out to people, mostly

women and they had received a negative reaction from it. This is not just a few occasions, it is

happening very frequently and the creators are not seeing how it is coming across others.

On the contrary, the third example is recognizing men, not being able to take care of

kids. This ad for Philadelphia cream cheese was filmed at a restaurant, with two dads and their

kids. The dads are looking for their kids with a conveyer belt. The dads then find the kids and

make a remark: “let’s not tell mom”. This mimics the stereotype for men not being able to care
for kids/responsibilities. To resolve these, companies have been checking the UK guidelines

with their ads.

Ads that portray any kind of stereotypes will result in a negative reaction. Stereotypes

can come off as judgmental, rude, false, and unequal. There are multiple kinds of stereotypes

such as gender, age, race, and class. Rachel Siegel says, “Gender stereotypes “can contribute to

inequality in society, with costs for all of us””(Washington Post). If stereotypes get out of hand,

it can lead to bigger issues. The issue with stereotypes is not jealousy but is that it is making

false judgments. Luisa Tam, with South China Morning Post, said, “unrealistic portrayals of

women – and men – persist. And this gender-biased advertising encourages discrimination

based on age, ethnicity, ability, and sexual orientation’’. This is demonstrating how the

stereotypes are unrealistic so why should they even be included? Although advertisers think

stereotyping is beneficial to sell their items, however, it does not make everyone feel worthy or

equal. In modeling, the same idea is shown. There will rarely be plus-size models, or older

people seen showing an item of clothing. When stereotypes are shown in ads or the

“stereotypical” girl modeling it can be seen as criticism. Stereotypes can hurt many different

people, especially handicapped and LGBTQI. Everyone will see ads, and everyone can get hurt.

Advertisements are on television, social media, billboards while driving, newspapers, and much

more. In order to eliminate these negative practices, advertisers must stop the use of.

In order to stop this, it is not about eliminating the removal of ads and modeling but it is

about being aware. Ads are the triggering factor to increase sales which is beneficial yet

harmful. Not all ads revoke a negative reaction but enough of them do to make a difference.

There has been a great amount of change through modeling, with different race, size, and
ability to do everyday tasks however there are still the stereotypical models. Pavel wrote,

“Though society has shown progression toward equality between men and women, the world

of men and that of women remain divided in terms of professions considered appropriate for

some and for others”(Pavel). This shows how easy it can be to incorporate stereotypes that

may not be meant. Any profession in an advertisement can lead back to this. A saying that is

well known is “don’t judge a book by its cover”, which is the same idea as stereotypes. We are

judging someone by a characteristic that might not contribute to who they are. The idea of

stereotyping is well known and taught however it is not being taken into the correct matters.

In spite of the fact that stereotypes perpetuated in advertising and modeling are hurting

society, others may think it's perfect the way it is. Some believe that creating using stereotypes

can make that group stronger. This was shown in a “HelloFlo” ad where they targeted girls as

an empowerment ad, trusting it would make them feel better. Although this is a two-sided

argument it comes to a close tie. As CNN says, “53% of women said they have purchased a

product just because they liked how the brand's ads portrayed them;6% of women surveyed

said they stopped buying a product because they didn't like the way women were portrayed

that brand's ad”(Wallace). Others may argue that the stereotypes are what make the ads

traditional, humorous, and intriguing. What they do not understand is the effect it has on the

targeted ones. They might say the sex or nudity of the show may make the ad recognized, and

might make it be more remembered if it is different than other ads but that shouldn’t matter,

selling their product is the idea which is not portrayed through stereotypes. As stereotypes are

not true to all people, we like to see models being realistic.

are other ways to incorporate stereotypes and limits. Children see these and it is not helping

them learn properly at an early age. Positive stereotypes would make a product sell because it

would spread to the accurate audience and would not create tensions of inequality. Modeling

with the stereotypical girl can make the shoppers think the item is not for them because they

aren’t like the model and can make those that suffer from a disability or weight feel ashamed

and misplaced. Resolutions like the UK Guidelines are rotating to the right path but there is still

more we can do although changes have been made.

This visual shows stereotypes, gender roles. The lady is sweeping, taking the cleaning,

maid role while watching her child. Her husband is sitting on the couch, not even moving so she

could sweep under him. This image shows the difference between a male and females gender

roles. From this ad, women may get offended as it is modeling how women should be
housewives and caretakers while the men do their work and are unbothered. This is the

stereotypical gender role, while nowadays it is not like this. This has changed, especially in

situations where there is no mother figure, or the male stays at home with the kids while the

female works. This can be harmful to society because it is not representing the hard work some

women put in.

Imagine if we let our society and differences control an overpowering feeling of bringing

others down. Advertising and modeling is a great concept while it helps us know what we buy

before we purchase and gets the word out there but it can also cause serious issues.

Advertising has changed so much of the society through the years to what it is now that we do

not comprehend just how much it can persuade an individual until we look at it in a different

light and we can see the positives and the negatives as the examples given in this paper.

In conclusion, stereotypes have taken away the way children are learning their morals,

culture, and expectations. The way stereotypes are being portrayed is hurting many people due

to age, race, and class. Modeling and Advertising have been hurtful to many people and while

we have resolved some of it, it is still being demonstrated. The advertising industry has raised

awareness about differences, which is wrecking our society. Advertisers must stop the use of

stereotypes within advertising and use a variety of models because all it is doing is changing

society while also damaging others mental health that the creators do not see, but must.
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