Print Advertising Gender
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Advertisers use a variety of sophisticated appeals to persuade consumers to purchase the products and services companies hire them to promote. Rhetorical strategies are often used to promote a specific ad’s strategy in the minds of consumers. One of these strategies is the use of gender appeals, appeals based on notions of masculinity and femininity. We will examine the persuasive appeals in three ads for the following companies and products: LG Technologies (Cell Phones), Chrysler (automobiles), and R. J. Reynolds Tobacco (Doral cigarettes). Each ad will be reviewed for how it uses gender and sexuality to persuade consumers, thereby engendering notions of masculinity and femininity in society in general. A Toulmin Model analysis will be provided for each ad. The main thesis is that all three of these ads reinforce inferior or sexual stereotypes of women in order to sell products by appealing to conventional (patriarchal) notions of gender.Every ad has a claim, followed by support, which is meant to reinforce the underlying warrant of the ad. If we look at the first ad for LG Technologies cell phones, we see the following Toulmin Model analysis: Claim: Women often have more than one boyfriend which is problematic. Support: LG cell phones eliminate the problem by allowing different melodies to “ring” for different boyfriends. Warrant: Women are naughty so they need technology that is naught like LG cell phones.
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ext says love is something that “everyone” should experience, the ad shows a male and a female sitting in the car (i.e., only one type of couple). Further, the male is driving. This ties into subconscious gender and sexual stereotypes. First, it implies that a man is more capable than a woman to drive, and that when women drive with men they should be a passenger (i.e., not the leader). Second, it implies that men are more powerful and able than women and it is they who drive a relationship in terms of sexuality. Aside from this, the heart imagery and the use of Valentine’s Day to promote the ad suggest that women are romantic creatures who need a Chrysler and a man driving it to find love.
Perhaps the Doral cigarette advertisement makes the most use of gender and sexuality to sell its product. In this ad we see a tan, attractive male and female in a tropical setting inside an open-air bar. They both have drinks and the man is holding a cigarette. The man is turned away from us, but he is looking back because there is a tropical parrot trying to make-out with another tropical parrot that is a picture on the back of the man’s shirt. The bird has his mouth open and a look of lust in his eye and facial demeanor as he tries
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Warrant Maybe, Valentines Day, Warrant Women, Support Chrysler, Toulmin Model, Sexuality Advertisers, Finally Doral, Tobacco Doral, Entertainment Feb, Chrysler Corporation, gender sexuality, cell phones, notions gender, toulmin model, feb 8 2002, valentines day, lg cell, entertainment feb, advertisement entertainment, lg technologies, feb 8, advertisement entertainment feb, notions gender sexuality, entertainment feb 8, chrysler = love,
Approximate Word count = 1202
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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