STEREOTYPES IN ADVERTISING: 30 EXAMPLES OF TV ADS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The stereotypes in advertising are beliefs, impressions or concepts that an individual or group has on other individuals or groups (nations, cultures, guilds, etc.) and shown in various types of ads.

Stereotypes are based on ignorance of the other's culture and are usually incorrect. An example of a stereotype is that women should work around the house, cooking and taking care of children.

Throughout the years, advertising has used stereotypes to reinforce behaviors that already exist in society, acting as a mirror of culture. Similarly, some studies show that stereotypes not only reflect but also shape behavior: people can behave differently when observing the behavior of actors in commercials.

In any case, many commercials use stereotypes to send a clear and strong advertising message that may not be accepted by the audience, but will be understood.

Various stereotypes have been used in advertising, highlighting those of gender, skin color and culture.

Gender stereotypes in advertising

- The lady who cleans the house

Despite the fact that today both men and women work outside the home, commercials continue to represent women as housewives, responsible for all household tasks.

Women are used as protagonists in most commercials for cleaning products (soap, detergent) and hygiene and health products (toilet paper, mosquito protector, medicines).

Here are some examples of this type of stereotype:

Ariel Detergent

Soft, toilet paper

Cough syrup

Mr. Clean, detergent

Oven cleaner

- The house cook

As with cleaning the house, women are often represented as those in charge of the home kitchen.

Some advertisements even reinforce this position by having the wife kick the husband out of the kitchen who wants to come in to taste the food he is preparing.

There are hundreds of commercials that attest to this stereotype, some examples are:

Advertising a gas stove

Schlitz

"Do not worry honey. You didn't burn the beer. "

Advertisement for Betty Crocker, instant cake batter.

Broan Advertising

Most of Coca-Cola's Christmas commercials show women preparing dinner.

- Woman = object

Many commercials reduce the female figure to an object either sexual or as an adornment for men.

Examples of this are the following advertisements

Silva Thins cigarettes.

In this advertisement for Silva Thin cigarettes, the woman is reduced to a mere object when compared to a cigar.

“Cigarettes are like women. The best are slim and rich.

"The Silva Thin are thin and rich."

Used Renault advertising

Cristal Beer

Most beer commercials use women as sexual objects.

Perfume One Million for Him by Paco Rabanne.

Opium perfume

- The strong man, who gets everything he wants

Advertisements that seek to market masculine products seek to represent the man as a strong and attractive figure, capable of obtaining everything he wants (almost always a stereotypical girl).

For example:

Ax

In many of the Ax antiperspirant ads, a man is depicted who attracts so many women that he has to literally "shake them off."

Paco Rabanne. One Million for him

Paco Rabane's One Million men's perfume commercial depicts a man who gets everything he wants with the snap of his fingers: a car, fame, loneliness, even a girl.

Gillette

"How does the man of steel shave? Gillette, the best a man can have ”.

Invictus, by Paco Rabanne

Ego shampoo and gel, for men.

Skin color stereotypes

Many commercials hold racist ideas when advertising the products. People of African descent are often employed in sports and hip-hop commercials.

Commercials have popularized the figure of the black woman, with slightly fair skin, extremely straight hair and Caucasian features. This has only increased the existing stereotypes.

In addition to this, the use of the whitewash technique (white wash) has increased, which consists of lightening the skin tone of people with photographic editing programs.

Some examples of stereotypes regarding skin color are:

L'Oreal Paris

In 2008, L'Oreal Paris launched an advertising campaign that featured Beyonce as the lead. The company was accused of having lightened the singer's skin tone and hair.

"If I were white, I would win."

A Thai commercial features actress and singer Chris Horwang, who says you have to be white to succeed.

Racist advertising on a baby kangaroo.

Dove. Racist skin lightening commercial.

Pepsi

In 2013, Pepsi launched a series of commercials that were racist and also promoted gender-based violence.

Cultural stereotypes

Dolmio pasta sauce.

This sauce was marketed to a stereotypical Italian family.

Spitfire Ale

In 2006, Spitfire Ale launched an advertising campaign in the UK that used jokes about WWII. One of the jokes said:

A pistol is fired and 46,000 people start running. Yes, it was the Italian army.

The commercial was based on the stereotype that the Italian army was cowardly and caused the displeasure of many descendants of Italians in the United Kingdom for which it was banned.

International Festival of Latino Films in New York

In 2011, the Latino Film Festival publicized the event by mocking the clichés that are featured in most Latino productions. One of the commercials featured a list of the most used names for Latino gardeners.

ACE

An Ace detergent campaign used stereotypes about Latin novels to advertise the product.

References

1. Culture and Gender Stereotyping in s. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from socialpsychonline.com
2. Racial stereotyping in advertising. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org
3. Stereotypes in Advertising. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from tolerance.org
4. Dangers of Stereotypes in Advertising and Marketing. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from thebalance.com
5. Stereotypes portrayed in s. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from prezi.com
6. Racial Stereotyping in Advertising. Retrieved on July 17, 2017, from ukessays.com