Gender Representation in Tobacco and Alcohol Advertising

 

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Femininity
  • Liberation & Captivity
  • Slim Cigarettes: Body Issues
• Masculinity : Mythologies of Strength
• Couples : Well Beyond Catholic Guilt
• Conclusion

 

Foreword

This study concerns the strategies of advertising in tobacco and alcohol advertisements and its implications in gender identity. This article was written while I was taking a graduate seminar course called "Gender Issues in Visual Media" with David Jacobs at the University of Houston.

It seems that many people have arrived at this page after searching for topics like "gender representation" or "gender in advertising". If this essay has been useful in any way, please feel free to contact me Ravi @ Rsingh.net.

 

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Introduction

THE POWER OF ADVERTISING is in its ability to manipulate people, turning them into unconscious and addicted consumers, while they continue to deny that they could ever be affected by the messages of such positive brands. Archetypes that were offered through mythology, legend, literature and art history are now born and sustained in advertising. It is by the roles of the archetypal models that we model ourselves. Through even the most insipid of advertising we are affected by the subconscious power of the image, and representations of people in situations start to suggest how we could and should model ourselves.

The lie of advertising is that we do not experience the same pleasure suggested in their images when we use the product. Yet, it is the images that compel us to buy the product, whether it be of Michael Jordan soaring through the air thanks to his magical Nike sneakers or of Halle Berry whose beauty is credited to her use of Revlon cosmetics. The products they offer are of little use to us except as vehicles of association between ourselves and the lifestyle or qualities of a person or place represented. As Marshal McCluhlan proclaimed to the consumer public's disbelief, we are buying advertising, not product. This absurd lie replaces our thin truth that we buy quality, when actually we buy artifice. But the purchase of a product because of its associated imagery goes far beyond leaving us with uncomfortable sneakers and runny mascara -- it leaves us with a new self-definition.

Tobacco and alcohol advertising presents the masses with little idea of the quality of the product. After all, we can't taste a cold beer or a fine cigar by looking at an advertisement. But what we taste is an option for an alternate way of being. When we are sold these products, we are sold these models of lifestyle. Who would want to believe that a tangible, disposable product of commerce could shape the way we define ourselves in all aspects of our lives? But the power of images is in their convincing suggestion, their devious cunning, and their truthful lies. Picasso said that art was a lie posing as the truth; I'd be inclined to say that advertising, by that definition, is one of the most sophisticated of arts.

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Some basic statements about the makers of these media images should be made. It is no surprise that advertisers are marketing products to the largest audience possible to make a profit. Through their advertising they sell products commercially and values implicitly, the cost for that being belief in the claims of their product. To ensure that the purchase of these products be sustained, marketers must effectively create cultural dependency for their product by relating a value system to the customer, one by which the customer (and masses) will define themselves. This process of commercial exchange unwittingly enables cultural exchange (at full cost of the purchaser, while the product is actually free). Again paraphrasing McCluhlan, the product is an excuse for us to by advertising, whether we are aware of it or not. Through this process, a symbol of value is passed (currency) and an exchange of values is made (lifestyle through role models). It is this that makes unimaginative Tommy Hilfiger clothing fashionable--wearing Hilfiger represents youthful success and the state of "cool" being. Red, white and blue rugby shirts weren't invented yesterday.

Within two avenues of advertising, tobacco and alcohol product marketing, there are a variety of layered issues surfaced in ad imagery. Gender representation and roles, values of age and class, representations of race, political and sexual orientation, fashion, sexuality, health and disease, drugs, fetishism, exoticism and colonialism are but a smattering of issues raised in these two categories of advertising. Not surprisingly, these advertisements are targeted towards a large consumer group, one might say toward society at large, since their effect is to teach children how to be as adults, to suggest to adults how to be hip, and to show seniors how hip they once were and could still be. This is not to say that all groups are pictured in these advertisements. But all groups can have associations through them, wanting to be like those consuming glamorously, even though reality may be that the purchasing consumer may not be of the same ethnic type, physical build, gender, or social status of the figure experiencing pleasure in the advertisement.

These particular products also have a staying power as their effects engender need, clearly in the case of nicotine addiction, but also for those disposed to alcoholism. In spite of all the negative aspects surrounding tobacco and alcohol consumption, the consumer market is happy to sustain unhealthful commerce.

After considering this analysis, one may still be confounded by an aspect of advertisements that has been referenced lightly. Though the influence of the images may be comprehended, what is not understood is the process through which an image with disjointed product (object) and image (action) pass before our eyes with ease and acceptance. What is the relationship of the tangible product to its image? We understand that the effect of the juxtaposition of product and image is the suggestion to the masses that they can experience pleasure through association with the product. But no one seems bothered that in much advertising, the message that transmits value has nothing at all to do with the inanimate product being offered for consumption. Here the lie is so blatant, that we figure it must be truth.

While scanning through hundreds of advertisements, groupings primarily concerning gender roles became apparent, with a by-production of an additional group that was unexpected. My analysis primarily concerns two target groups: men and women. That these groups are gender separated and not united by human identity is worth noting. Advertisers use difference to initiate individuality and intrigue. In most of the advertisements pertaining to these groups, images of men and women were generally available and specific to the target group. However, a third group exists between the first two: couples. Whether it be between the placement of two glasses of scotch on the rocks next to an open bottle, or by the gaze of a bachelor at an available young woman, couples could be expressed through the suggestion of inanimate objects or by the straightfoward depiction of courtship (at its most romantic and transparent). The unexpected fourth grouping of tobacco and alcohol advertisements is those concerning exotic fetishism and outright colonial curiosity and desire of the Other. Though that group goes outside of the realm of this discussion of gender, it is worth noting that in terms of race in the advertising concerned, only black and white Americans are pictured "in the flesh" whereas non-black minorities and immigrants are suggested through a demeaning and outdated association with the wild, the animal, the instinctive, passionate and exotic (rather than the high class, hip, successful, or simply normal). It makes one question who, in 1998, is truly considered American, and by who we all personally define ourselves in such a public world.

Our investigation will continue with specific analysis of images and the power of their suggestions.

Femininity

Contemporary Use of Traditional Stereotypes

What cooler cigarettes to smoke than Kool? Even the spelling of Kool is "cool". The re-spelling of a common word is a fashion that suggests individuality (as in hip-hop culture) where language is manipulated to keep up with the times and show individual creativity and cultural dialects. However, these advertisers are trying to get a mass of people to commonly define their "kool-ness" by the same standard, thereby making them all less individual and less imaginative, more stereotypical (another Gap kid eating Big Macs at the shopping mall).

With the declaration of "cool", one would expect Kool cigarettes to be the most popular on the market, smoked by young people, and fashionable in every aspect. None of that is established as truth (Marlboro and Camel being the "coolest" judged by popularity). The marketing of Kool is to tell the customer about the product in a way that the customer need not verify it. Who would question the cool -- you would just want to be like them. The cigarette costs the same as any other brand, has similar size and shape and has nothing distinctive about it except its name which tells us in no uncertain terms that if you want to be cool, the simplest thing you could do is smoke this brand of cigarette.

The artifice of the name and idea is clear in the advertisement's representation of a young woman who is depicted healthy, with vibrant skin, looking fresh, upbeat and energetic. The reality is that dedicated smokers are normally anxious, stressed, smell of smoke, and clearly physically unhealthy (what to say of emotionally) -- as the Surgeon General's warning states!

This image also expresses the image of the self-confident, independent woman, pictured alone, just her and her cigarette perched on the Kool logo as if it is her throne with the caption "No doubt about it" expressing her psychological position. Here Kool is not only selling us the idea of being fashionable, but showing us a form which we could take -- liberated youthful female beauty. This sale to young women is again not of cigarettes, but of identity, and just as one could change the color of their hair to be more like Marilyn Monroe or change their breasts to be like Pamela Anderson, one could take up smoking or change brands to be like the apparently successful and happy women in these advertisements.

Liberation & Captivity

Women are portrayed in a group of friends, independent of men, socializing and smoking. The caption, "It's a Woman Thing", states their removal from a masculine world, yet the smoking of tobacco is portrayed as a masculine act in most of the advertising (regardless who is smoking). It shows women's independence to "do what men do" regardless of the negative consequences (poor skin, bad breath, yellowing teeth, lingering odor, cancer, emphysema, second hand inhalation, harm to the fetus and to children, etc.). But again an old stereotype is stated in the text "What you call gossip we call fact finding" which returns women to "what women do", i.e. gossip, rather than discuss ideas, break a sweat or close a merger. This representation makes women look fickle and untroubled. Posed on the coffee table is an empty plate, a box of cigarettes and a lighter. It appears that they are drinking a beverage from a cup, and one would assume it would be coffee, since they are obviously not eating, certainly not snacking--and why would they? They are extremely attractive at size 6 and that's how they got our attention as we were flipping pages in a magazine. Virginia Slims could be known as "the size 6 cigarette".

The Virginia Slims slogan proclaims "We've come a long way, baby". The irony here is that the term "baby" may be considered a pejorative term when applied to women (less adult, defenseless) and where they have come is not into a liberated state of womanhood but into a male model of liberated womanhood, with the lack of sight to see independence and unhealthy indulgence separated (as if liberation means foolish anarchy). How seriously is Virginia Slims taking women when they characterize them as "gossipy" even though they blur it by suggesting that gossip is scientific fact finding. The roles they portray are hardly of the contemporary liberated woman. This is not to suggest that Virginia Slims should act upon a moral and social imperative. However, if they state they are when they really are not, that is usually called lying.

Slim Cigarettes: Body Issues

Virginia Slims puts a premium on appearance. Slim or thick cigarettes don't change the tobacco content, taste, appetite suppression, or nicotine content, they just change the shape. For both sexes, the cigarette can be considered an extension of the body (women's are slim, men's are stocky) or a representation of the phallus (women having penis envy or desire, men exposing their phallus/masculinity through the gesture of smoking).

Nicotine is an appetite suppressant and a friend to the anorexic. The thought, "If I smoke I'll be less hungry, eat less, be thinner, and look hip all at once" must pass through many a young woman's mind. Slimness can be unhealthy if bordering on the skeletal and with the added burden of tar coated lungs can create a fragile body, often cancer bearing in a society where breast cancer is a leading disease and killer of women.

So, why can't this "contemporary, liberated" woman handle a "man's" cigarette? Does this not suggest that women are fragile? These contemporary claims seem to compound traditional stereotypes of the fragile women under the guise of offering a new role model.

Masculinity

Mythologies of Strength

The male counterpart to the Kool female of the first advertisement discussed is pictured against the same logo with the same subtext, "No doubt about it". Although these two advertisements are certainly not the only images of singular men and women pictured in a marketing image, they have several differences that are notable and appear to be based in stereotype.

The male model for Kool, is standing with one hand on his hip, one hand held up holding his cigarette, leaning on the L of the Kool logo, and has his legs crossed casually. His gesture is much more upright than his female counterpart who is relaxing, perched on the logo as wind blows through her hair. As her hands are resting on her knee and ankle with the cigarette in a low position, his hands are in more active positions, one upright holding the cigarette near his face, the other on his hip with his elbow pointing outwards. His entire posture is more open and inviting, practically confident and aggressive. Hers is more reserved and still, except for the motion of her hair, and she is presented more doll-like. Perhaps this reading is also what I bring to it as the viewer because of social influence, but this is the same thing that the maker of the image, intent on capturing an audience, is aware of, as well. Kool has also managed to clothe their models specifically. The male model's clothing is blue in scheme (less the upbeat yellow undershirt) while the female model's is much warmer with orange, black and white. His shirt is invitingly unbuttoned almost to mid-torso while her vest is securely buttoned at the top and her arms are covered with long sleeves. In these physical and visual ways, these two models fit the common representations and associations of their genders.

The polarity of male and female in these two analogous examples (as opposed to the androgynous gender stance of designers such as Calvin Klein) is a reflection of the target consumer group of the majority of advertisers -- heterosexual males and females that are relatively conservative, but liberal enough to want to experience pleasure, and that want to be attractive to each other. As we've heard it time and time again, women's appeal through advertising results in an overwhelming opinion that women are being objectified, practically victimized by having to live up to ideal (and impossible) standards. But is there such a thing as male objectification? And if so, what form does it take?

Female desirability seems most often projected through visual presence as in their physical beauty, voluptuousness, or available sexuality. These strategies are less directly used to express male desirability in advertising. Male desirability more often is projected through association with action, such as the heroic action of sports, the action of providing through breadwinning, or the action of doing anything that has traditionally been relegated to men (such as aviation, car racing, or business affairs as opposed to cooking, child rearing, or shopping). The difference between desirability of noun (object) as opposed to verb (action) may be vast, however, it does not change that fact that both genders are made attractive to each other through visual imagery and role playing. The value judgment on the objectification of women as opposed to men, should be reconsidered in this light, although it is not popular to do so since the dichotomy of power and submission between the sexes is so well established in our culture. If women were considered attractive through their actions and men were "objectified" through visual appearance, it could be easily said that women were the victims who had to make a living to be appreciated, while men only had to worry about making themselves attractive to deserve attention. The gender (in either case) that takes the role of action, suggests to the audience that this action will make you attractive no matter how much it disinterests you (whether it be car racing for men, or wearing make up for women). In this light, both genders could be considered victims, not of each other, but of our cultural constructs of desirability, for which we are all responsible. With that hypothesis stated, a look at male representation in advertising may perhaps not fall into the old arguments of male dominance and female victimization, as it stands that both are objectified (and seduced), albeit through different strategies.

In advertisements targeted towards males, romantic roles of heroism are conveyed by association with physical activity and danger. In three examples, a male who is presumably a smoker (although in one he is racing a car with a helmet, not smoking) is pictured as a cowboy, as an aviator and as a car racer, with all the appropriate accouterments of the idiom. These men are rugged, fearless, athletic, confident, and remarkably handsome (is that the norm?). Generally their gaze is directed away from the viewer as they are focused on their activity. In most cases, it isn't the physical being of the male that defines their desirability, but rather their entire package. In a way, their fearless involvement in activity is reiterated by them being smokers, fearless of smoking related diseases, invincible and virile.

If a cigarette or bottle stands as a phallic symbol, so then does the other props included in this imagery. It seems almost too obvious that the race car in the advertisement by Kool is an elongated drag car with a powerful engine, able to reach speed with blazing acceleration. The Marlboro Man's large hat and long lasso (circling his thigh) are subtle symbols of size, length. An airplane, a race car, and a lasso all work together to convey the masculinity associated with smoking. It makes one wonder also if a man lighting a woman's cigarette is really about the male offering the female fire as a primeval gesture. Even in the case of imagery directed towards women, the male presence in their smoking exists through the phallic symbolism of the cigarette and the insistence that smoking is a masculine event (stated towards women implicitly by Virginia Slims and Winston). Even drinking alcohol has its masculine associations. In a Jim Beam (scotch) advertisement, women are told to "Get in touch with your masculine side".

Expectations of the sexes are a burden to all, not to any select group. As women are expected to be physically accessible (caregivers), men are expected to be financially successful (caretakers). From a magazine that enables the propagation of female desirability through visual appeal, is offered a cigar for the Playboy in every man. But this offer comes with a message. To be a playboy means to be successful, desirable, a lady's man, intelligent, well traveled, and fashionable. In a single advertisement, the text asks all of that from you, if you indeed are worthy of Playboy status (and the badge of that status, their cigar). A playboy works hard, lives a good life, and of course deserves some relaxation ("we find ourselves pampered by elegance", "heighten the enjoyment"). Being a perfectionist, he appreciates quality ("meticulously hand-crafted") and rewards himself with sensory pleasure ("rich flavor and aroma"). He is always on the move, whether that be going to power meetings, traveling the world, or stealing away with a lover ("enhances any setting", "wherever you might smoke it"). What man would not want to be a playboy ("feeling like a PLAYBOY")? Success takes so much toil and planning, it would be nice to instantly occupy a playboy's shoes ("Let it bring out the PLAYBOY in you.").

As if the text was not enough already, Playboy's advertising staff increased the impact of their message by letting us know what a playboy's life looks like. In a darkened interior, with sheer curtains drawn, a man sits in a lavish chair at an elegant table, lounging in the intimate darkness with an open box of cigars on his desk. Across from him is an unoccupied chair, which we can assume will be filled, unless the company of his cigar is enough to satisfy him. The floor is so clean, it reflects the interior, doubling the symbols in the image. From the copy we know this is no ordinary apartment, but rather a "palace" where the king resides. The palm fronds at the right of the picture must be proof of this suggestion.

At a moment when medical science is making breakthroughs in curing impotency, Playboy cigars offers its help to make men feel potent. When the flame is gone and the pleasure has been smoked out, another handrolled cigar is always available when desire strikes again.

A final hint from the advertisement lies in the ashtray. Expectations come true -- the power of this product is that it succeeds every time, as we can appreciate by the placement of the partially lit cigar in the sparkling vaginally shaped ashtray. Although Newport declares in its cigarette advertisements that pleasure can be had just by smoking a single cigarette alone ("Newport Pleasure", "Holiday Pleasure"), apparently greater pleasure comes in twos.

Couples

Well Beyond Catholic Guilt

In four final advertisements, the engagement of couples is suggested mostly with objects. The blatant message to enjoy casual relations would be too shocking to express with models intimately engaged. Two coffee cups will do fine in a Bailey's ad. Though the text reads "Just another innocent get together?" there is nothing innocent about the message of this advertisement. Shared fluids between two vessels could be somewhat innocuous if not enhanced with the subtext "yum" printed on the interior of one of those vessels. And it is obvious these are personifications, because they have faces! The wink in their eyes and the grin on their faces joins them together in mischief-to-be. If it wasn't read implicitly, the bow-tie on the upper cup denotes one as male and the other female. Standard representation of sexual relationships, to no surprise, is heterosexual.

In the Rémy Martin advertisement, two glasses placed next to each other suggest the shape of breasts or shapely buttocks just next to and above two phallic objects, a champagne bottle and a column. The text, as in many advertisements, becomes redundant. The question, "Want to come up for a drink sometime?" (the place being "Guilt-Free Heaven") gets answered by another advertisement by Bailey's. A couple is pictured dressed in black, with a bag of ice in the hand of the male and a glass of Bailey's cream held in the hands of the woman, behind her back. A splashing glass of Irish cream in the bottom corner of the image borders on the pornographic and gives an orgasmic tinge to the word placed on the small of the woman's back, "Yum".

Promiscuity, once considered sinful, now becomes a form of liberation of a repressed society, just as alcohol is shown to become a vehicle to liberate a repressed libido. Virginia Slims takes back ownership of women's sexuality in an advertisement that makes the cliché "breaking up is hard to do" seem outdated. For men, Cuervo Gold Tequila offers another option for extreme pleasure--animal instinct. A "civilized" society has morals by which to live, but that morality inhibits our "animal nature". Humanity has created this complex construct of sexuality and sin, which locked by guilt needs a key to release our true nature, our "untamed spirit". Alcohol becomes that key. A final message is one of the most thinly concealed metaphors discussed, and hopefully at this point needs no explanation: "The only shot guaranteed to release your inner lizard". Ladies beware.

Conclusion

IN THESE TIMES when conservative politicians have lobbied against the freedom of expression of artists and turned the general public against explicit imagery, the masses are being unwittingly conditioned by the rich semiotics of advertising. The messages in these highly reproduced images undermine our desire for family values and morality. Yet, it is images made by artists which are considered social evil, even though they are more often than not a singular image with a comparatively small audience. Where art often critiques and reflects the state of culture, advertising directly influences it for profit. Advertisers are, however, true patriots, for they are driven by what this country is founded upon -- capitalism. In a democratic culture, it is the citizen's imperative to decide the character of our society. But as apathetic as people are to the power of a single vote, they are equally in denial of the power of a single image.

 

© 2006  Ravi Singh  |  Stats