This research methods project was completed as part of a Treasure Hunt assignment for JOMC 50 in the Journalism and Mass Communication School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Topic: Advertising and Women
Section I: Introduction
Every person comes in contact with thousands of advertisements everyday and many other media images that affect their opinions, feelings, and self-esteem. Women seem to be most susceptible to media. Many advertisements in a lot of different media show the ideal woman. This ideal can manipulate women's opinions on themselves, what a woman should be and what she should look like.
In this research project for JOMC 050 at UNC, I'd like to learn more about the relationship between women and advertising. Do men or women come in contact with advertising more often and who is influenced more by each advertisement they are exposed to? Will an advertisement showing an ideal woman really cause a non-ideal, but normal woman to develop negative thoughts of herself and lower her self-esteem?
Women will be most interested in my topic because it directly relates to their experiences and affects them the most. Individuals working in the advertising field, advertising companies, and educators who deal with advertising will also be interested in my research. My research will tell them how their work affects women and they may want to alter their portrayal of women in their advertisements.
Section
I-B: Keywords
UNC
Library Catalog:
-
women AND advertising
-
women AND media AND roles
NC
Live:
-
women in advertising
-
portrayal of women in advertising
Search
engine on Web <http://www.google.com/>
-
"portrayal of women in advertising"
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women and advertising
Section II: Books, Videotapes, and CD-ROMs from UNC-CH Libraries
Print Sources:
Cortes, Anthony J. Provacateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999. HF 5823.C5977
LaMeres, Anna Clare. Images of Women in Advertising. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1982. HF 5822.L264
Non-Paper Source:
Kilbourne, Jean. 1999. "Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women." 65-V7957
Section III: Electronic Indexes and Databases
Artz, Nancy, Munger, Jeanne, Purdy, Warren. (Fall 1999). Gender Issues in Advertising Language. Women and Language [Online]. Available: NC Live [2002, May 25].
Goetzl, David. (Sept 1999). Teen Girls Pan Ad Images of Women. Advertising Age [Online]. Available: NC Live [2002, May 25].
Kurtz, Jan. (Jan 1997). Dream Girls: Women in Advertising. USA Today Magazine [Online]. Available NC Live [2002, May 25].
Mackay, Natalie J., Covell, Katherine. (May 1997). The Impact of Women in Advertisements on Attitudes Toward Women. Sex Roles [Online]. Available: NC Live [2002, May 25].
Telford, Anne. (Sept/Oct 1997). Sex in Advertising. Communication Arts [Online]. Available: NC Live [2002, May 25].
Tsui, Bonnie. (Sept 2000). Time to Get Real: Teen Girl Survey Rates Advertising. Advertising Age [Online]. Available: NC Live [2002, May 25].
Section IV: Web Sources on My Topic (Click on title to go to the site.)
Title:
Portrayal
of Women in Advertising
Brief
Description: The
page covers dominant stereotypes of women in advertising including women
as submissive, domestic, and motherly. The page discusses what advertising
viewers would like to see changed and advertising regulations in India.
Source:
Indian
Women Online
Title:
The
Portrayal of Women in Outdoor Advertising
Brief
Description: The
report discusses advertising's impact on women, girls, and on community
views of women. Advertising regulation in the United States, United Kingdom,
Canada, and Australia are included. The report also breaks up different
types of outdoor advertising like billboards, buses, taxis, etc. and discusses
them in more detail.
Source:
Portrayal
of Women Advisory Committee
Title:
Relationships
Among Sexually Suggestive Advertising, Advertising Evaluations, Body Attitudes,
and Self-Esteem in Female College Students
Brief
Description: The
page holds an individual's independent study at Penn State University.
Ryan O'Rourke studies advertising and media's effects on advertising.
He develops a hypothesis and then tests it by showing thirty participants
sexually suggestive and non-suggestive ads. He includes graphs, results
and conclusions.
Source:
Ryan
O'Rourke, Penn State University
Title:
Sex
Appeal in Advertising
Brief
Description: The
page discusses advertisers usage of sex to sell their products. Ways to
stop sexually explicit advertising are included and the changes overtime
in how sex and women are included in advertisements are covered.
Source:
Jill
Bumler, University of Virginia
Title:
Taking
Advertising Too Far
Brief
Description:
A news article discussing the resurfacing of the issue of the portrayal
of women in advertising. The Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner has
asked the Advertising Standards Bureau to increase industry regulations.
The controversial ads discussed in the article include scantily clad women,
men putting women in compromising and controversial positions, and suggestive
taglines.
Source:
B&T
Marketing and Media
Section V: Internet Mini-Essay
A New Way to Keep In Touch
Instant messaging originally gained popularity with teenagers and the group stimulated the huge growth of the trend in the last five years. "More than 60 million people worldwide are IM users." (1,3) Nearly one billion instant messages are sent everyday. (1) Most popular instant messaging programs allow you to chat instantly with your friends, family, and coworkers, and maintain a list of all their names. Also, instant messengers can share sound files and pictures with their buddies. Today, teenagers are absorbed by technology with their cell phones, emailing, and instant messaging. Instant message users like the instant results they receive with the programs. Users can even chat with their friends when they are away from the computer and on the go with wireless Internet on cellular phones. (2) Instant messaging greatly affects individual's Internet usage. Constantly, people are signed on to their instant messaging service and continually check to see if their buddies are online.
Instant messaging boomed in 1996 when Mirablis introduced ICQ, which allowed everyone to chat, and posted no restrictions. America Online entered the scene next and became the instant messenger leader. (1) AOL seems most popular because it does not require all users to be AOL members and the program stants strong in not allowing spam and pop-up windows, which often annoy Internet users. (3) Next to AOL, other popular instant messaging providers are ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger. Instant messaging programs continue to be updated and become more advanced. An entire separate world of communication exists with instant messaging. If you need any more information on instant messaging, just say what many teenagers across America say to their friends as they leave school in the afternoon, "IM me."
Notes:
(1) David LaGesse. (2001, March 5). Instant message phenom is, like, way beyond E-mail. U.S. News and World Report [Online]. Available: NC Live, [2002, May 25].
(2) O'Connor, Rory J. (2001, March 12). IM: Instant Money? Interactive Week [Online]. Available: NC Live, [2002, May 25].
(3) Carney, Dan, Yang, Catherine. (2000, July 3). Is AOL's Instant Messaging an Unfair Advantage? Business Week [Online]. Available: NC Live, [2002, May 25].
Websites
Title:
AOL
Instant Messenger
Brief
Description: The
website for the most popular instant messaging program. Tells about the
program and the download for the program is available here.
Source:
America Online
Title:
How
Instant Messaging Works
Brief
Description: History
of Instant Messaging and how the programs operate are included, as well
as reasons for why the programs are so popular.
Source:
How
Stuff Works, Inc.
Title:
Timeless
Truths about Instant Messaging
Brief
Description: The
article discusses the use of instant messaging and it's integration into
the business world.
Source:
BusinessWeek
Online