Stereotypical Advertisements

Stereotyping can be defined as linking a person, group, culture, etc. to a group of traits. As I watched television and paid close attention to the advertisements, I found that most stereotypes were between men and women as opposed to based on race, religion, etc. Also, I noticed a stereotype present in terms of actors and actresses ages relative to the product they were selling.

The commercial for Caduet, a medicine for blood pressure and cholesterol, has an older man walking two paths in the woods, which come together (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdEXl9r-Kb8). The stereotype in this advertisement is that many associate high blood pressure and high cholesterol with older people and more specifically older males.

A commerical for Progresso soup's new 100 calorie soups shows all different women of different races and ages walking around saying their on a Progresso soup diet. I know I, along with many others, associate dieting with women as you rarely see a man dieting in commericals. In addition to this, women are notorious for going from one diet to another.

I find cosmetic commericals and advertisements very stereotypical as well, especially Covergirl's advertisements. In a three minute block of commercials I saw two Covergirl advertisements, one for mascara and one for foundation and eye shadow. The spokesperson for mascara was Drew Barrymore and the spokespeople for the foundation and eye shadow commerical were Queen Latifah and Penelope Cruz. I find that Covergirl and other cosmetic companies use new or well-known, beautiful, flawless looking actresses to demonstrate their product. The spokespeople appeal to a target group such as Queen Latifah appeals to curvy people and African Americans. These cosmetic commericals suggest that if you, an average citizen, use this product you will have beautiful, flawless looking skin as well.

Finally, I found that the majority of commercials selling household products such as Swifter mops and dusting products and Reynolds Wrap, showed women in the kitchen cooking for the family, or mopping the house, or dusting the house. In fact, I do not believe I saw one man in any commerical in the block of television I watched performing such tasks. I found this a little demeaning. I viewed such commericals as suggesting that women still belong in the household cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children as opposed to having a career of their own outside of the home.

I was surprised by how much stereotyping takes place in commercials and advertisements. Many of the above commericals I have seen over and over again, but I did not notice the stereotyping until I paid attention to exactly what the commercial was saying, showing, and how they were showing it. As a result of this, I believe I will be paying much more attention to commericals in the future.