A new Female Stereotypes in Advertising guide from shEqual, Australia’s advertising equality movement, hasidentifes the commonly observed stereotypes.
shEqual: "There is a lot of talk about gender stereotypes, and most of us agree they should be avoided. But brands and agencies tell shEqual they still have questions.
"This ‘how to’ guide unpacks the what, why, when, and how of gender stereotypes to help brands and agencies push past them and build characters that are authentic and representative of the audiences advertised to."
shEqual wants to see a shift from using stereotypes to building characters: "With only 15-60 seconds to convey a message, stereotypes have become an easy and fast way to distil a group of people into something widely recognised.
"Because stereotypes are so deeply ingrained in our social narrative, advertisers often assume that using stereotypes is a normal and accepted way to convey their message or show consumers who the audience is."
Icon co-founder and managing director Joanne Painter: “Australians see thousands of adverts each day, making it hard to underestimate the power our industry has to shape social opinions and expectations of women for the better.
"It’s therefore vital that we challenge inequality through our content and storytelling, which starts with the people making it.
“Gender and cultural diversity are deeply ingrained in Icon’s DNA and as a female-founded and led agency, we’re proud to support shEqual’s work. We hope that the content series furthers the much-needed conversation around the representation of women in the media."
Commonly observed stereotypes:
- The Model Mother: Women are disproportionately shown as the primary caretakers of both home and children caring, dressing, cooking and cleaning.
- The Passive Little Girl: Ads show boys engaging in active play and girls sitting passively, often with one another, playing with dolls and house appliances and everything is pink.
- The Observed Woman: The observed woman loses her agency and authority in the male gaze.
- The Sexualised Woman: This stereotype demonstrates that a woman’s value comes only from her sex appeal.
- The Pretty Face: This stereotype depicts women as secondary and “just a pretty face” without intelligence or independence.
- The Magical Grandmother: Older women are generally missing from ads, commonly have few spoken lines, and are often in the kitchen serving food, smiling and supporting younger characters.
- The Ticked Box: Characters included to check diversity boxes, commonly limited to the background.
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics provides guidance about the harms associated with gender stereotypes and the types of representations that should be avoided.
The code advises against the use of gender stereotypes that depict a person badly because of their gender.
The examples include a woman with the sole responsibility for cleaning; an advertisement that suggests a specific activity is inappropriate for boys because it is stereotypically associated with girls, or vice versa; or a man trying and failing to undertake household tasks.
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