Research: The change of representation of gender in advertising: 60s v Now
60s Adverts:
In the 60s adverts were aimed at men
The majority of ad-men in the 60s were men whereas now 60% of graphic designers are women so they can have a voice on whats being produced (https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2016/03/28/women-in-advertising-particularly-white-women-are-still-doing-far-better-than-others/#49301df223c0 )
In the 60s there was a lot of feminist groups who took a stand against the sexist advertising this acted as a catalyst for change in the way that women are portrayed in advertising in the future.
Although this change did start earlier than the 60s, after the war the roles had switched so there was a slight emphasis on showing women to be more independent and empowered.
“remain glamorous and keep the homerunning smoothly”
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HZLtCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1663&lpg=PA1663&dq=remain+glamorous+and+keep+the+home+running+smoothly&source=bl&ots=HBVySftuD5&sig=ACfU3U3JJIykkoWhEUWbGZPEHntbNpejAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjg1Jrzw-7kAhWtThUIHXOQBYUQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=remain%20glamorous%20and%20keep%20the%20home%20running%20smoothly&f=false
Men don’t like feminists so if companies advertising in the 60s didn’t have sexist ads then men wouldn’t buy the product
Now ADverts:
Page 20
There are still sexist ads now, some of which have been banned (lynx, american apparel)
Shock tactics? The Iceland chimp advert 2018 was banned but was still allowed on social media meaning that it still got a huge audience watching it, and the fact that it was abnned was what got it into the headlines. So is it done on purpose?
The always ad was a successful feminist advert.
Now woman earn more money than they did in the 60s and are less deoendent on men meaning that they are able to buy things theirselves. So adverts need to be advertised at woman aswell as men.
Pink problem,,, even today male designers will still want to create pink, glittery pens for women and think its ok
Even today in design agencies there is still some gender bias where they will give more ‘manly’ products for the men to work on and more feminie products for the female designers to work on purely because ‘they know the TA better’
Gender Fluid Advertising today:
2018 marks a year where more young people are rejecting traditional gender labels, where gender can be defined in 71 different ways
Brands have bought out gender fluid clothing and some make up brands have completely stripped down the packaging to make it about the product.
Now design should be for the person not for the gender
I think you will always have to aim things at a gender or a group of a certain type of people just because that is how design works. It is difficult to design a product for everyone and when you design something you have to have a target audience in mind, yes you could potentially take the gender out of it but you will always have to aim you design at a group of people.
https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/can-design-be-genderless/
“Recognition is the first step to Enlightenment. That’s how change happens,”
Packaging design is one area that needs to reconsidered to fit in a gender fluid world,,, for example sanitary products are usually pink and have flowers on
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