Through my research I have gained information and different viewpoints on how women have been portrayed in the media over time and how that has affected society. While researching my topic I came across some questions I had about the negative portrayal of women in advertisements. I asked questions like how did this problem start? What is the root of the problem? Why has no one done anything to stop the negative images? And what could be a solution? My research includes books, articles, medical studies, and websites that helped answer the questions I had. While both men and women have been portrayed negatively in every type of media at some point in history I am going to be focusing on how women have been portrayed over time in TV and print advertising and what effect it has on today's community. 

Looking back through history the way women have been portrayed in advertisements has changed drastically. The website titled Business Insider shows 18 different advertisements in different time periods that have changed the way we think about women. The website starts with an advertisement from the 1890s and continues through modern day. An example of a 1890s advertisement displays the woman in the kitchen cleaning floors and being a dutiful housewife. During this time period, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed. The advertisements during the forming of the NAWSA were making sure all women knew that their place was at home and not at the polling place. Moving on from the 1890s, the 1900s displayed images of woman fully clothed still constricted to the house. While women were still fighting for their rights, advertisements were making a mockery of it. An example of an advertisement that didn't take women's rights seriously had the slogan "Her Declaration of Independence" referring to a new kitchen appliance that cut down on the work women had to do on one specific task, therefore women received more independence but the men restricted the women to do more work in the kitchen. The 1920s advertisements suggested that women were afraid to go out and leave the house as one advertisement read "The woman who never went out" and showed a woman in the kitchen. Starting in the 1950s women started taking a more active role in advertisements and were shown leaving the home scenery. But more often than not advertisements still portrayed the fact that it was a man's world. The 1960s marked the beginning of advertisements that targeted women. Examples of products that created advertisements that targeted women would be dieting programs and cigarettes. 

The 1990s was referred to as an era of hyper-sexualized women in advertisements. An example of this can be seen in the popular Sony advertisement which shows a girl sitting on a table holding a Walkman and the text reads, "You know you want it". Another advertisement dealing with sexualized women was the 1994 Hello Boys Wonderbra advertisement, which displays the stereotypical woman shown in undergarments letting the audience view women as a sex object. In the year 2004 ultrathin models, usually seen in advertisements, were replaced by women who were more realistic looking in "The Campaign for Real Beauty" produced by Dove. This idea of using realistic models continued with Nike's advertisement "I Love my Butt" that pictured a real woman not altered to be shown skinnier stating that she loved her butt just the way it was (Felix). 

Another source I found which gave great examples of advertisements through history and described in detail about the change in women's role in advertisement was a book titled Mass Media and Society. According to the book, advertisements in the 1970s showed that women could do it all. They depicted a "superwoman" that could juggle household chores and having a career and succeeding at both. The book also states that this "superwoman" picture was false in most cases when in actuality women during the 1970s were struggling with conflicts between the household chores and their career just like the previous source Business Insider mentioned. As soap operas took a rise in the 1980s, advertisements followed the trend of depicting women as scheming, manipulative, and submissive to men. Advertisements for power suits became popular and the women were finally being able to juggle career and household chores successfully. Advertisements also started to feature a strong matriarch as family head rather than a patriarch in the 1980s (Wells). 

Not only was Mass Media and Society a great source to use to get information about the history of advertisements it also talked about four common myths dealing with the portrayal of women that advertisements try to use to sell their products. The first myth is the common phrase "Blondes have more fun". Often times, advertisements try to sell the image of the typical American blonde women and show how much fun blondes have. Another myth that advertisements use when selling products is that "thin is in". This concept is shown all over the place whether it's a super unrealistic skinny model or advertisements for dieting plans, diet sodas, and diet books. The third myth is that women do not age. This myth is often associated with skin care products that can make you look younger and control signs of aging. The last and probably most common myth is that sex sells. Often times, sex distracts the audience from the product and the audience focuses on the sexual scene (Wells). 

Another source, which also deals with the history of advertisement, is a book titled Stereotypes Galore! Women's Emancipation as Reflected in Advertising. This source makes a very good point stating that advertisements reflect society's values. The source gives an example of the 1950s when during that time cosmetic products and fashion items were popular which was shown in the advertisements people saw. Because these products were made mainly for women, women were the ones targeted in the advertisements. The source, just like the website Business Insider, mentions that in the 1950s women were no longer pictured in the home as they were before. The 1950s advertisements also began to scrutinize women's appearances for them to buy their products. An example of this technique would be an advertisement for a hygenine product that showed a woman with a shameful expression and the caption under the picture read "Failure to practice hygiene often results in such needless tragedies- homes broken up, few social invitations, the feeling of being shunned without knowing why." The advertisement went on to promise solving all of women's problems if she purchased the product (Biermann). This source also addresses the question I had about why no one had done anything to stop the negative portrayal of women in advertisements. Part of the answer to that question is that the advertisement field was creating advertisements the society would like and actually look at. So depending on the time period and what the norm in society was that was what was depicted in advertisements. 

The source Advertising & Popular Culture: Studies in Variety and Versatility talks about sexual content in TV advertising. The book states that women are shown in advertising in a decorative, nonactive role. It also talked about how TV advertisements that depict sexual scenes are usually longer than any other advertisement and are the predominate type of advertisement shown on television. This source also went in depth about how women in television advertisements are shown with more exaggerated acting and stereotypical voice tones and body language (Danna). 

Along with looking at the history of the portrayal of women in advertisements I am also going to be looking at the effects it has on society. The first effect is early formation of stereotypes and is discussed in the book Women, Feminism, and Media. The book states that viewing women as objects starts at a young age when they see advertisements. According to a study done in 1979, children exposed to such stereotypes tend to have a more restricted view of appropriate sex roles than those that are exposed to counter-stereotypical representations. This source also answered two of the questions I asked as I researched- What can be done to stop this? And why hasn't anything been done? The answer to those two questions is to eliminate gender-based stereotyping and put more women in roles of power in the community. There are few women who actually hold positions of power in media companies so the images that the media companies display often distorts a women's status in the social world and the media doesn't present women who are viable role models. Because media's so called "role models" prevent and impede female accomplishments it encourages men to define women as sex objects or as a homemaker (Thornham). 

Another effect the community faces with the way women are portrayed in advertisements is eating disorders. A study found that 47% of girls wanted to lose weight after looking at thin models in advertisements but only 29% of those girls were overweight. According to the website Healthy Place, 75% of women think they are overweight and 90% of those women are overestimating their body sizes. Researchers have found that advertisements that depict thin models don't have long-term negative effects on adolescent women but the advertisements do have an effect on the adolescents that are already struggling with their body image (Eating Disorders). 

Another source I found that deals with the medical effects of the portrayal of women in advertisements is an article titled "Body Dissatisfaction: Can a Short Media Literacy Message Reduce Negative Media Exposure Effects amongst Adolescent Girls?" This source was about how young adolescent girls were broken into two groups and one group was shown unnaturally thin models in today's advertisements while the other group was shown the same pictures but also watched a short video of the evolution of models. The girls in the study then ranked their self-esteem after watching the video and seeing the pictures or after just seeing the pictures. The results showed that the girls that saw the evolution video had a higher self esteem than the girls that just saw countless skinny models and not the evolution video. The experiment proves that a way to reverse the effect of the media's unhealthy skinny models is a short video like the one used in the experiment. This brief easily accessible movie would help promote media literacy and encourage girls to not change themselves just because of the models shown in society today (Halliwell). 

The last source I found which dealt with the medical effects of advertisements was a documentary entitled False Advertising: Media and Beauty. In this documentary women were interviewed about how they felt about the way women are portrayed in advertisements. All of the women gave answers dealing with the fact that today nobody can look like the models in the advertisements because they are all so digitally remastered and so touched up that they were confused as to what they were suppose to look like since advertisements displayed false images (False Advertising). 

Overall my research explains in depth about the way advertisements portray women has changed overtime and gives information on the health and psychological risks both men and women go through after being exposed to the advertisements. After researching my argument further all of my initial questions were answered. The books, articles, medical journals, and documentary that I found pertaining to my topic also discuss what needs to be done in the future which can help persuade my intended audience of young adults to do something about this issue.
