Nowadays, stereotypes about men and women are widely spread in many societies. New technologies are changing people’s minds regarding the division between men and women (Ellemers 275). One of the common examples of stereotypes is an advertisement proposed by Scott, a promotion of washing powder called Tide in the 1950s (Scott). It shows that women care about the appearance of their husbands, and their responsibility is to make males more presentable in society. The poster is represented as a stereotype stating that women need to wash men’s clothes to support their status in society. The man looks neatly compared to the women, and this representation can be significantly subjected to discrimination.
However, in this case, the woman presented in the poster looks like a housewife who needs to spend all her time at home doing chores. Even though the poster does not discriminate against women straightly, some people could judge similar works (Ellemers 279). Individuals did not pay much attention to such problems in the past, and many similar advertisements were successful, and companies received increased customer loyalty (Heathy 46). This company published some similar posters and the main message was to show people how women take care of their families by washing clothes (Noyes). Consequently, the representation of the Tide poster did not raise much disapproval related to gender discrimination.
I believe that advertisements should be created based on people’s and potential customers’ current thoughts and beliefs. In general, Scott’s poster representation looks attractive and influential for the twentieth century. However, similar production of advertisement posts would raise controversial thinking these days, and Tide’s general position in the market would decrease. These days, the post may carry more negative messages as people become conscious of gender equality (Ellemers 282). Moreover, the negative aspect of the poster does not explain to individuals that not only men can have the cleanest shirts in the town, but also women and those who do not relate themselves to genders. Consequently, I think that Tide’s advertisement of the twentieth century is harmful to modern people who are trying to fight for the human rights and equality of genders. Posting this advertisement in the twenty-first century might negatively influence both organizations and potential customers, who can lose the trust related to specific brands.
Works Cited
Ellemers, Naomi. “Gender Stereotypes.” Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 69, 2018, pp. 275-298.
Heathy, Beebee Hassanaath. “Gender Stereotypes in Advertising: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” Aligarh Muslim University, vol. 20, no. 1, 2020, pp. 45-56.
Noyes, Steve. “Ecstacy in the ’50s!” Flickr.
Scott. “Tide Detergent ad, the 1950s.” Flickr.