Gender Images In Magazine Ads

Since there has been the assumption that gender images presented in advertisements influence members of the society, self-awareness and awareness of others, the socialisation process as well as the society's dominant stereotypes, attitudes, opinions, values and consumption traditions, it is very important to know which gender images are created in ads intended for Lithuanian consumers, how they are constructed, what their features are and what impact is sought in ads through specific images. This could serve as proof for the relevance of this bachelor's thesis ("Gender images in magazine ads").

The subject of this paper is gender images in magazine ads. The aim of this paper is to define prevailing gender images in the ads of Cosmopolitan, Laima, FHM and A-Zet.

The key objectives of this paper are to define the idea of advertising, its functions, methods and measures of impact; to discuss society's prevalent gender images; to carry out an empirical examination of ads in Cosmopolitan, Laima, FHM and A-Zet; and to summarise the results.

Applying the method of percentage-based analysis of ad content, the tendentious model of ads in all four magazines was found. The model is as follows: ads of beauty products and perfumery intended for females or both genders with a passive white young woman (aged 18-35) on a neutral yet multi-coloured background doing nothing and wearing casual outfits. Thus the focus is on the woman depicted in the ad: neither her activity, nor the environment surrounding her are important. In this case the female in the ad is only a decoration or even a sex object.

The correlation analysis of ads revealed that men in ads work more often and quite a few are professional athletes and representatives in the show business. In addition, men wear formal clothes more often, they look important and are depicted in a working environment. A man's image in ads is also associated with intelligence and logical thinking, and he is independent and goal-seeking. Women in ads are normally featured in a non-worker's role, they are passive and 'decorate' ads. Owing to this decorative role females in ads are rarely depicted in the working environment or public places and outdoors. They also rarely wear formal working or sport outfits and