Erving Goffman: Gender Advertisment Theory

Goffman's (1972) 'codes and conventions' theory describes the typical portrayal of women and men in advertisements.

Superiority, Domination and Body Language

Suit Supply (2010)

Men are presented as dominant and superior through their position within the frame and body language, conveying both power and intelligence. The focus tends to be on their facial expressions. Women tend to be presented as sexually submissive and weak, enhancing their physical appearance to create sex appeal. The focus here is on the woman's body parts. 

Dismemberment

Tom Ford fragrance (2007)

Females are generally subjected to dismemberment, whereby individual parts of the body (e.g the legs, breasts or lips) are shown rather than the full profile, thus emphasizing the perverse disposition of women as sexual objects. As seen above, these images often have absolutely no relevance to the product.

The Voice-Over Authority



Male authority is also presented in advertisements, as the majority of voice over's are given by male speakers due to the stereotypically deep, powerful pitch of the male voice.

Advertising and marketing example

A brilliant example of this is found in American Apparel's ad below, a company which relies on the regular sexualisation of women as a recurring motif, in order to create a controversial appeal for their products. These can be constructed as demeaning when Goffman's theory is applied.

Meet Trudy (2012)

On the left, "Trudy" is the central focus of the frame, shown in a sexually reclined/ seductive position thus emphasizing her sexuality. The expression on her face is childlike yet inviting, exploiting her vulnerability and assuming submission or subordination to a sexual counterpart. The ad on the right explicitly demonstrates 'dismemberment' where women in risqué poses are divided, with the body parts most archetypal of sexual appeasement displayed as individual close ups.

These voyeuristic ads were in fact banned in the UK. Here is a quote from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA):

“we considered the images and the model's poses…gratuitous. We considered the images were overtly sexual and that they demeaned women by emphasizing the model's groin, buttocks and breasts and by not including her face” 

Music video example

Sadly, this can also be found in contemporary music videos. For example, the infamous "Blurred Lines" (2013) video below.

Superiority: Thicke is the focus here, in central position of the frame, looking over his female counterparts.

Domination: T.I holds the woman in his grip, who is thus portrayed as weak and submissive.

Body language: Thicke is shown leaning over and shouting at Ratajkowski, who appears to be vulnerable and complacent towards his actions.

Dismemberment: groin area

Dismemberment: bare legs

The artists of the song are all male and lyrics such as
"just let me liberate you"
"I know you want it"
"I'm just watching and waitin'"
"do it like it hurt"
all seem to perpetuate harmful attitudes towards sex and consent.

Here is the full song and accompanying video: