Gender Paradox

This week we were asked to dig deep and to truly consider the question, “is advertising guilty of creating gender imbalances in society, or does it simply mirror societal attitudes?” Straight of the cuff, my answer is, "Both!" It's neither here nor there; these two entities have a symbiotic relationship. Stereotypes of gender imbalances feed off one another. Advertisers would not be able to exploit men or women if society did not already exploit then, furthermore, most advertisements would be rendered infective without glory of exploitation! Consider this ad below.

If the advertising company reversed the roles of the mother and father; making the mother the ass and the father in-charge of the everyday home up-keep, the advertisement would be ineffective. Using Katherine Frith's levels of analysis we can consider and compare the different levels.

Husband as an Ass
Surface Meaning: Women surrounded by her messy family.
Intended Meaning:This vacuum can keep on cleaning without you.
Cultural Meaning: Women a generally considered to be in charge of house hold cleaning tasks, yet not matter how hard they try the filth of her family prevails! 

Women as an Ass

Surface Meaning: Man surrounded by his messy family.
Intended Meaning:This vacuum can keep on cleaning without you.
Cultural Meaning: Families create a plethora of mess.

Consider the wife as an Ass: Culturally if a husband openly consider his wife to be an ass the marriage would end quickly, further more he probably would not be around to even activate the robot vacuum. The idea would not sell any of these vacuums! Reversed this advertisement would be rendered ineffective.Thus, advertisers simultaneously mirror gender stereotypes and create an imbalance by reinforcing gender imbalances.      
  

Surrounding Signs

Every product intensionally conveys itself in a calculated manner to intrigue a certain target group. Advertisers use the concept of semiotics to do this effectively. Ferdinand de Saussure, a French Linguist first established the idea that a sign is only truly effective when the signifier and the signified work cohesively. Charles Peirce built on this idea by reaching the understanding that signs engulf our everyday living; realizing the overwhelming influence that semiotics holds. However, the French theorist, Roland Barthes, further established this theory by linking the idea that signs may collectively denote a direct message; connotation for every individual is experienced differently depending on his or her socio-cultural and personal associations.
In the example of a Videocom commercial; Brokeback Mountain redux: gay cowboys in the rain,

this commercial connotes humour by the relevance to a the socio-culture group that recognizes it's a   parody of the movie Brokeback Mountain. For the viewers that have no exposer to this movie the advertisement is anchored by the use of little people to promote watching movies on your phone with their slogan to denote, "All your favorite movies, just a little smaller."   

I located this lovely ad on the jam-packed advertisement site on Youtube. Culture Pub http://www.youtube.com/user/CulturePub  provides a plethora of categorized commercials.

Product Satisfaction and Security

Conformity often provides comfort, security, and a sense of belonging. Name brands flourish by capitalizing on the consumers sense of security. The idea that purchasing a familiar logo provides this, usually sucks me down its deep dark hole of deception every time. I often find myself perplexed by companies calculated advertisement ploys. Torn between the item on the left or the item right; every day I find myself struggling, who should I throw my money at? Sometimes this mental stress load is lifted by the support of familiarity. "Yes, I would like one of those and one of these, this brand is made to last." Ironically that brand I paid more for often has the same life expectancies as its half price count part. Yet I fill my own head with delusions, "But, this one stays softer longer, and it won't pill." Denial overtakes me, "it pilled, must have been the only reject."