Selling to women: Why advertisers should do better

Push-up bras, pursed lips, suggestive slogans, and questionable framings are the common denominator when it comes to advertisements of the early 2000s. Though these ads are no longer acceptable (both legally and culturally), the long-lasting legacy of sexism in advertising is still cause for concern, even in 2024. 

We do not have to venture too far into the past to find examples of insulting, harmful, and oftentimes disturbing advertisements where women are mistreated and misrepresented. Never mind the outwardly misogynistic 1960s cases, where traditional gender roles, attitudes, and appearances were routinely pushed onto female consumers; unfortunately, even as recently as the 2010s, companies have still continued pursuing sexist narratives. 

Some use “funny” or “clever” storylines, where the unwritten content is the issue. For example, this 2017 Audi ad shows a doting mother, worryingly examining her son’s bride to make sure she is good enough. However, when the slogan reads “an important decision must be made carefully”, whilst showing a car, the objectifying parallel drawn between the women and the car becomes clear. Others approach the issue simply by advertising beautiful women (often naked) to sell products that seem wholly detached from anything that might have to do with femininity or sexuality (like this ad from 2015 for a sandwich shop, showing a naked woman devouring a hamburger). While thankfully advertisers aren’t quite as comfortable airing similar content today, (it is actually against the law to portray “gender stereotypes that would induce widespread offense”), this does not mean that non-visual remnants of sexism do not still thrive in marketing campaigns. 

Coined by experts in female geared marketing strategies, the term “sneaky sexism” refers to the phenomena where sexist assumptions (unsaid and unshown in the actual ad) allow companies to stay relevant to their target consumers while avoiding taking responsibility for such tactics. For example, instead of calling them diet pills, a company will refer to their product as wellness essentials, or anti-aging creams turn into ageless/ age-defying. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting to sell wellness items or face creams, however, when the connotation is that it is necessary to use such products to maintain certain characteristics that are associated with the “right kind” of femininity, the issue becomes more complex. These ads are incredibly prone to be read by women (and men) as warnings for what standards their personal habits, appearances, and attitudes need to reflect. They damage conceptions of the self and the mind and also, very importantly, perceptions of bodies. Eating disorders and body dysmorphia are incredibly widespread across multiple cultures, ages, and backgrounds and a constant barrage of highly targeted ads continually amplify this issue. 

One interesting strand of marketing that is particularly pertinent to this topic, is influencer marketing. Because in this model, it is usually the influencers themselves who are given creative control over the look of their ads, given that the product itself does not feed into certain rhetorics (ie. slimming teas), the chances of harmful messages reduce. The ad itself is constructed as a personal recommendation from a friend, and due to that, they will not try pushing unwanted, sexist ideas into your life. This shows one of the most important ways in which advertisers could better serve women; to talk to, employ and rely on women to participate in the creative processes behind the advertisements. 

Even though (luckily) in 2024, we are less likely to run into ads that make us feel inherently pressured into certain ways of life, it is important to understand the not-so-distant history of how women are marketed to. Before purchasing, think about what brought or influenced you to make your decision and question the unsaid meanings behind this force. For more on this topic, I recommend the excellently researched book of Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts, “Brandsplaining: Why Marketing is (still) Sexist, and How to Fix It”.