A man and a woman are seated facing each other in a crowded restaurant; the waiter comes to the table and empties the drink from the bottle into the glasses for both. Then, the man looks at the woman, and she upon looking at the drink expresses a surge of passion. Simultaneously, the music starts in the background; the woman walks toward the man, acts seductively, and then, dances on the table whilst the man sits relaxed watching her. Smash cut, the woman opens her eyes indicating that everything that happened after she looked at the drink was her fantasy. She, then, chugs the entire drink, and, with desperate eyes looks at the man, gives a wipe to her mouth, and instantaneously, the music plays.
The above is a narration of an advertisement that has been playing on National Television, and its sexualized portrayal of woman is cringe-inducing. The advertisement is outright sexist and also, a typical example of the ‘male gaze, a phenomenon in the visual arts and literature where the women’s body is depicted through the lens of a heterosexual man.
In 1973, British film theorist Laura Mulvey in her article "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” explains the cinematic concept of the ‘male-gaze' as the objectification of women in the mass media for the pleasure of heterosexual male audience and how this sexual inequality is derived from the ideologies of patriarchy. In her paper, she has also stated that ‘men do the looking and women are looked at' i.e. such visualizations establish the roles of dominant-male and dominated-female, by representing the female as a passive object (the bearer of the gaze) for the male desire (active viewer). The above ad is an exemplification. In the ad, though the woman is shown as a ‘physically’ active character, however, it is the male character dominating the scenario with his comportment. The narration and camera are panning across the female character, and she is portrayed keeping in the mind the desire and observation of the male character. It is absurd that the above ad is less focused on the product and more on female objectification.
The ad also exhibits Sigmund Freud’s psychological phenomenon known as ‘scopophilia’ i.e. ‘an aesthetic pleasure drawn from looking at an object or a person’. The practice of scopophilia is how a person’s desire is captured by the imaginary representation of the other.
Most advertisements that we see are derivatives of a masculine point of view. They are dominated by male perspectives and reflect patriarchy. Accordingly, as a spectator, our visual perspective is thus, guided based on the male’s perspective. Often, we see, the men depicted as ‘know-all’ and women as unaware. Especially, in advertisements related to digitalization and technology, a woman is shown struggling, and a man is shown reminding, describing how to use it, or providing assistance. Take, for instance, the advertisements where a woman is struggling with change in the vegetable market and a man from afar walks in to explain her digital payment application; a girl in the highlands trying to catch network to send the files is assisted by her male friend, or the male landlord reminding the girl to pay the rent through the digital application. There is evident gender bias in these advertisements.
The ad makers seem to be clinging to the gender stereotypes portraying women as unaware of the new advancement of technology and showing the men as informed and updated. According to the ad maker, buying vegetables is a women’s job but to promote digital application, the man is given the job, showing the man in a predominant role. Instead, the ad makers could have shown the assisting role played by another woman or a brotherhood theme, where one man is assisting the other. Similarly, in highlands the girl could have been assisted by another girl; and the landlord could have been a woman asking a guy to do rent payments digitally.
Similar discriminatory and prejudiced phenomenon can be observed in other advertisements too and are not limited to male-female gender stereotypes but also, caste and race. Be it TV, movies, songs, magazines, or the internet, there is a good chance of encountering stereotypes. They may not always be overt and hence, not easy to read unless pointed out. It tends to bias perceptions, and such feelings and messages pass from the advertisement to the masses. It, then, becomes challenging for the genders to overcome the perceivers’ assumptions and break the typecast. Stereotypes and preconceptions are harmful as it hinders an individual from organically expressing themselves.
Gender inequality is a major concern for our society. Objectification, misrepresentation, and sexualization of women and girls in media tend to perpetuate gender inequality. The Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2019 ("ARA") published in the Nepal Gazette prohibits ‘advertisements that disrespect labor or discriminate based on sex/caste’ and ‘advertisements that affect one's religion, gender, caste, financial status or language’. However, media is saturated with bias, and such advertisements exist and it is imperative to discourage such depiction that breeds inequality in society. It is necessary to exercise caution and monitor the content of advertisements ensuring that they are free of gender stereotypes or any sort of discrimination.
Advertising is done with the intent to inform or influence the people who receive them. The verb advertise is derived from the Latin word ‘advertere’ which is composed of ‘ad’ and vertere, where ‘ad’ means ‘toward’ and ‘vertere’ means ‘to turn'. Thus, ‘advertere’ means to turn towards. It is important to understand in what direction we want our society to turn towards. Most Television ads are androcentric, and it is not consistent with our goal to achieve gender equality. How women and girls and other groups are represented in the media becomes increasingly important due to its wide range of ability to influence the masses. Thus, ad-makers and producers have the responsible role of striding toward making a progressive and gender-equal society by showing improved and updated representation and empowering imagery.
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