Stereotypes of Gender

Today in class we looked at stereotypes in regards to gender. Safe to say, back in the 50’s woman and men were somewhat depicted in a different light than they are today.

Back in the day, it was okay for advertising firms to poke fun at women as it wasn't considered downright offensive. Nowadays, such a move would provoke quite a reaction and give companies a bad name.

For our next blog we were asked to choose two separate ads promoting a similar product - one ad from an early era such as the 50’s/60’s, and the other, a contemporary version.

For my first choice I went with a newspaper ad from 1964; the ad features a picture of a Volkswagen Bug. The ad has a photo from the front of a light coloured Bug that is sitting there with the driver side front fender crimpled and the headlight broken out with the glass lying in the front of the wheel. The ad headline warns you that “Sooner or later, your wife will drive home one of the best reasons for owning a Volkswagen”. The ad text talks about the fact that these cars were designed to be worked on, in a very easy manner. It explains that this gender can be removed by loosening ten bolts and the part could be purchased from $24.95.

Nowadays, this ad would be considered very sexist for making a poor remark about women’s driving abilities. It implies women are terrible drivers and are very likely to hit something while driving. Whereas the case today is that women are in fact safer drivers than men, although perhaps not as confident in their driving ability. This ad is aimed purely at men and only men. During the 60’s it was unlikely the wife would have much of a say in which car the family would drive - the husband paid the bills so it was up to him. The ad addresses men, saying that buying a Volkswagen Bug will save them big bucks in repairs. Further remarks about women’s driving abilities are mentioned in the middle of the text with lines such as “She can jab the hood. Graze the door. Or bump the bumper”. Further trying to instil this message into men’s minds that the wife is almost certain to damage the car at one point or another and there are many ways in which she can do so (-$$$$-)!

For my second ad, I chose a more contemporary version of another Volkswagen ad.

Nowadays car ads are very simplified. They focus more on the aesthetics of the car. Cars are very desirable (not necessarily purchased) by how they look, though it is just down to a matter of one’s own personal taste.  Although this ad isn't so much advertising the car but Volkswagen’s repair services, it follows a similar concept to the previous ad about car damages and repairs.

This ad makes no references to women or men. The ad is aimed at either males or females; it does not specifically address men as the previous ad did. Nowadays, it is common for both spouses of a household to have their own cars, with women having as much of a say in the purchase as much as the man. Women are more independent now than they were 50 years ago and are perfectly capable of affording a car of their own, so for this reason there is no separation of sexes in the consumer base for most car manufactures.

In fact, the model in the ad is a man who is acting in an over dramatic manner, hence the costume! It’s pointing fun at men rather than women. This somewhat suggests that a guy is just as capable of crashing a car as a women is.  Although the portrayal of this man is supposed to be silly - he is in tights and he looks as though he is on the verge of a traumatic breakdown - it is very different to what would be an acceptable portrayal of a man back in the 60’s when they were supposed to look confident and powerful.

I would imagine a 60’s reconstruction of this ad would have likely featured a suited man aggressively pointing and yelling at a blonde haired, ditzy woman for damaging the car. The idea following the same caption of the ad “Don’t let small damages turn into tragedy”.

Thanks for reading!