Summary

David Gauntlett - Media, Gender and Identity

The tone of the book is descriptive in a way that it covers the male and female trends in advertising. The passage explains the issues/trends/emotions that advertising displays/covers. One interesting aspect that I read was that ‘some advertisers are unapologetically sexist’ and it is presumed this is because it is fitting of their target audience. This was an example of the Iceland advert who have since changed their slogan suggesting that they are wanting to attract a larger target audience.
As well as providing discussed information the passage also provides factional information such as 'More recently, a study of 400 prime-time TV commercials broadcast in Spain in 2005 found that there was a balance of male and female characters'. This is interesting to consider as it does not fit the population at the time, with 50.6% men and 49.4% women however women were 'twice as likely to be shown doing housework or child care whereas men were twice as likely to be shown doing work outside the home'. I think that this type of advertising has effected the way that people view roles, either by following the stereotype or being against the image that is created through such advertising. However, there has been a change in the way female figures are presented in advertising through the invention of 'postfeminism'. This utopia allows women to do whatever they please, providing they have sufficient will and enthusiasm. This contradicts the previous perceived role of the woman in advertising where they were shown to be carrying out gender stereotyped roles. 
Reading this has made me aware of the changes in advertising over time and the various roles that men and women play, e.g commercials and voice overs. It has also taught me that without gender stereotypes advertising would struggle to make the companies money as, for example, it would be difficult to advertise a male brand without using men. Each of these ideas are an interesting basis I would like to explore more when answering the question 'To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of gender?'