Female models are everyehere in commercial: Gender Stereotype & its history

A beautiful and photogenic face can be worth millions of dollars. This is true for the females working in the fashion and modelling industry. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that female full time modelling has earned 80 percent more of what male models did (The Richest, 2013).

Women are more often presented in commercials, because they are seen as responsible for making everyday purchases. Men generally advertise outdoors activities and business, whereas women are more likely portrayed in the home environment. People are creating this kind of cognitive schemes to their mind that can be a result of their own observations or be adopted from the influence of the significant others, such as family, friends, teachers and media. We call it ‘stereotype’ (Wolska, M., 2011).

History was written mainly by men and about men's activities in the public sphere—war, politics, diplomacy and administration. Women are usually portrayed in sex-stereotypical roles such as wives, mothers, daughters and mistresses. One of the most commonly known stereotypes, still featured in contemporary advertisements and other media, is that of the black Mammy. This mythic female character has been portrayed as the loyal servant to her master's family (Kowalski, J., 2009). The less powerful groups of class have been forced to cope with the history which has been written for them. The "selective remembering” of American history has reinforced the notion that both the histories of women and non-whites are not worth recording for future generations (June, P., 2004).

Women’s stereotype image has been showing since history created. People still categorize women as ‘weak’ human being even though nowadays women are dominantly successful in their career. In other way, creative industry still use the ‘stereotype’ of thinking towards the women’s characteristic to promote their products and service. This is to make consumers feel insecure so that they will buy the product. In this case, it is not a bad thing.  

Bibliography

June, P. (2004) "Women's History Today," History Today, November, Vol. 54 Issue 11, pp 40-42.

Kowalski, J. (2009) 'Stereotypes Of History: Reconstructing Truth And The Black Mammy'. Albany. [online] http://www.albany.edu/womensstudies/journal/2009/kowalski/kowalski.html[Accessed 29 May 2015]

The Richest (2013) Male Vs. Female Modeling: Who Makes More. [online] http://www.therichest.com/business/salary/male-vs-female-modeling-who-makes-more/ [Accessed 29 May 2015]

Wolska, M. (2011) 'Gender Stereotypes In Mass Media. Case Study: Analysis Of The Gender Stereotyping Phenomenon In TV Commercials’ [online] http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/ [Accessed 29 May 2015]