Gender Targeting in Print Ads
Danielle Miller
“There really are fundamental differences in the way men and women process
information…Women tend to process more extensively more different pieces of
information…Men tend to rely on more mental shortcuts…” (Yarborough nd). This quote
seems to be the most adequate way of starting this essay. After having ripped out a hundred
different magazine adverts, the quote above generalises the view that men cannot handle
information as well as women, and this difference is what we will be looking at in this essay.
Being a female, there was an unlimited amount of women’s magazines around, and only
several men’s magazine’s, however, this lack of material does not seem to have hindered the
research process, because as we will soon see, the ads are pretty obvious in contrast.
Let us take fig.1 and fig. 2, for example. The ‘Clinique for men’ advert screams simplicity.
The bottle is the main focal point on the page. The writing on the bottle is big and bold, and in
the top right hand corner of the page is written ‘Mr. Nice Guy’. The other noticeable point is
the tissue paper which has been stuck on the bottle as if it had been cut whilst shaving. This
also ties in with the theme, as it is advertising post-shave healer. There is no sense of
deception in this ad. What you see is what you get. There is no angle on the camera and the
colour of the bottle implies that this is a manly thing to buy as it is not a ‘girly’ colour, and
there is no make-up jargon to confuse the buyer.
Fig. 2 is, of course, aimed at women. Firstly we see the cute furry chick. Then we read the
Clinique label, and then read the ‘visible skin renewer’. We now have associated the cute
furry animal with the aim of the advert. If we were to use this gel, we would show visible
signs of looking younger. The last line of writing on the tub is an interesting one. It reads
‘action rénovatrice visible’. Women, in general, have a habit of believing that once French is
used to describe a cosmetic, its credibility is somewhat higher than any other. The men’s
Clinique ad did not use French. Men do not seem to want to read about all the reasons why
they should use a certain product, they just want something quick and easy, and are not
bothered about fancy wording.
“For women, ads are often more detailed. Take for example toiletry ads. For one thing,
women are more concerned about grooming and appearance. And they appreciate fine
distinctions…For men, by contrast, toiletry ads focus on a single product. Men are likely to
pick up one or two very salient and obvious kinds of clues. Men think in a more macro way,
and need to be shown the big picture. Also, men are less likely to process complex
metaphors” (Yarborough nd).
However, in fig.1, underneath the bottle, there is all the wording about what the product is,
what it is useful for, and what it has in it. Would a man really read this though? The advert
was in FHM magazine, where the adverts are not the most important aspect. That is why the
ad is so up-front. It has to be able to catch the reader’s eye. The tissue with the blood on it,
supplies the humour, as every man has done it at least once, but also, the writing in the top
corner is an interesting ploy to catch attention. As the reader flicks through the magazine,
even if he were to flip through with his thumb, he would still notice that line. Why is it
important?
It would grab your attention because you would want to know what it was referring to. Who
is a nice guy? Is it referring to a person? As well as this, women like a nice guy. So how can I
become one? Other male Clinique ads have also used similar anchorage techniques like
‘Daily routine’, which, ultimately, sums up what the advert is trying to put out.
It is also quite interesting to notice that using blood in a male advert is seen as ok because it
has no reproductive connotations. In female sanitary products blue liquid is used rather than
red because it is obviously easier and less embarrassing to look at. Men, and shaving cuts are
not embarrassing in the slightest. In fact, it could be seen to make you a little more macho if
you were to cut yourself as it implies that you have no fear of pain.
Suddenly in the twentieth century, men have become more aware of their image. They like to
look good and dress well, and it is not seen as a homosexual trait anymore. This ad captures
this fact, but it does not go over-board. There is still a sense of masculinity, and the writing at
the bottom could be inspected, but it is not imperative that it is, as the bottle already states
what it is, and that is all men need.
Fig. 2 has gone for the ‘cute little animal’ technique. Everyone knows that women are suckers
for little furry objects. So, not only have they grabbed the readers’ attention by using an
animal, they have also, used the French jargon, which ultimately sells the product. On the
Clinique ads for women however, the description of the product and its uses are on the
adjacent page. Women, as stated before, are far more interested in detail than men, and
therefore want to know exactly what the product does, and if it would be suitable for them.
Women, of course, know their skin types, and will look to find descriptions as to whether this
product suits theirs or not. Men, do not, and men also do not care.
The colour of fig.2 is also worth remarking upon. The background white is crisper, the chick
is a pastel yellow and the gel is an aquamarine blue. Everything is quite soft in appearance,
and generally quite pretty. In contrast to the men’s ad, the background white is off-white and
the bottle a dullish grey. There is nothing ‘pretty’ about it, it is just rough and ready, like the
bottle with the bloody tissue. However, the ads are similar in the way that the lighting is
neutral and easy on the eye. Woman like images to look pretty. They look for colour
agreement and visual aesthetics because if it were them setting the advert up, they would try
and make it as attractive as possible. Maybe for themselves, but more likely for either men, or
other women to compliment their work.
Fig.3 and 4 are a different kind of advert. Yes, they are advertising a product, but the focal
point is not the product. Tag Heuer, as everyone knows, is an expensive sports watch.
However, instead of using the watch as the main picture, they have decided to draw in the
reader’s attention by using famous sports celebrities. In this case Boris Becker and Franziska
Van Almsick. As English speakers and readers, we automatically read pictures as well as
texts from left to write. In these adverts the first things our eyes are drawn to in the embossed
metallic writing saying ‘inner strength’, although STRENGTH is really the first thing to be
noticed. The metal sheen of the left page is carried over to the right-hand side where we see,
in fig.3, Becker’s face. The face, however, is disrupted somehow because our eyes
cannot not notice the Tag Heuer emblem in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. The
Gestalt theory emphasises that we as readers tend to background some things and foreground
others. In this case, the colour of the emblem, (as it is the only colour in this ad), stands out
more than the face. It is also evident that the emblem’s corner is in front of Becker’s face, so
it would seem to be more important.
Fig.4 is a little less harsh in terms of contrast. Van Almsick’s face is a little further away from
the camera and the emblem is not the only colour on the two pages. The gold on the watch is
also prominent, but still fits in to the metallic sleekness of the ad. Her face is also a lot
different to Becker’s. As well as being further away, there is more light on her and her face is
tilted slightly downwards and to the side and her right eyebrow also seems to be raised. She
seems to be moodier than Becker, as his face is neutrally positioned and neutral in expression.
Trevor Millum categorised ten different kinds of facial expressions held by models in
women’s magazines. The one that fits Van Almsick the best is the second:
Cool/level: Indifferent, self-sufficient, arrogant, slightly insolent, haughty, aloof,
confident, reserved; wide eyes, full lips straight or slightly parted, and obtrusive hair,
often blond. The eyes usually look the reader in the eye, as perhaps the woman regards
herself in thee mirror.
This description, if not fairly insulting, does best describe her. However, is this really the
case? She does look fairly unimpressed, or is her confident ‘don’t mess with me’ look been
taken the wrong way? The point of the advert is to claim that the ‘hardest’ of athletes wear
watches to match their strength. In this case, Van Almsick is beautiful and tough, and
therefore, not to be messed with. Maybe that is what her look is about. She is a major athlete,
but she still holds on to her feminine beauty, which is, of course, also supplied by the watch.
This point brings us to the connotative and denotative signs within the adverts. The denotative
being the athletes and the watch. But also, connotative being the fact that if one were to wear
these watches, we too would be as strong and powerful as the athletes shown. It does not state
this anywhere on the ad, but we as a culture have learnt to read these implications. Jonathan
Bignell talks about how adverts works in terms of signs. The ad works by showing us a sign
(Van Almsick), who we see as a beautiful woman (that is her mythic meaning), and then by
placing an ambiguous sign next to her (the watch), we automatically link the two together,
therefore making the watch beautiful too and anyone who wears one.
The clever aspect of this advert is that not only is the watch made beautiful by this attractive
woman, it is also made powerful because of her strength. The same goes for Becker’s ad. The
watch is not made beautiful, it is made desirable to men who would either like to be seen as
strong, or already see themselves as powerful and want the watch to match.
“The technique of advertising is to correlate feelings, moods or attributes to tangible objects,
linking possible unattainable things with those that are attainable and thus reassuring us that
the former are within reach” (Williamson 1978). Why would a woman be tantalised by this
advert? The advert came from Vanity Fair magazine, which is predominantly read by 18-34
year olds, who, typically, are quite wealthy. It is worn, supposedly, by a top athlete, so why
would you not find it attractive? We as consumers are labelled and grouped by the materials
we wear. If you wear a Tag Heuer watch, you are seen to have good taste and a lot of money.
Women buy into this a lot more than men. Men, like labels, but women notice them more.
The ideology above is applied to all adverts: “Ads endow products with a certain social
significance so that they can function in our real social world as indexical signs connoting the
buyers good taste, trendiness, or some other ideologically valued quality” (Bignell 1997).
Becker’s advert is quite interesting to analyse. Usually, male models do not look directly at
the camera as the gaze is seen as somewhat effeminate. This is not the case with Becker.
Why? The ad was found in Maxim, a men’s magazine, but it has no gay implications.
Becker’s face is very close to the camera. The picture is personal, maybe slightly intrusive, as
his ears and chin are cut off a little. This is a good technique though, as it emphasises the
crudeness of his face. Everything can be seen in this photo. His stubble suggests rugged and
tough, and his gaze is fixed and intense. It could be assumed that this is how he looks at his
opponents across the tennis court. There is a sense of concentration on his face, whereas Van
Almsick seemed to be looking at herself in the mirror, which gave her more of a feminine
trait.
The black and white colouring of the advert is also important. Not only does it act as a good
background for enhancing the emblem, it also gives the poster certain qualities. It can exude
the sense of ‘no nonsense’, highlighting the fact that the models are who they are, as you see
them. The black and white also enhances the gleam of the metallic left-hand page, which also
makes the models seem metallic, giving them extra strength. The clincher for these adverts
had to be the personal anecdotes that the athletes have written to accompany the anchor. Each
one describes what they fear or how hard they work to get where they are.
"I drew my strength from fear. Fear of Losing. I don’t remember the games I won
only the games I lost" – Boris Becker (3 times winner of Wimbledon and the
youngest ever champion)
"It’s the hours of solitary training in faceless pools that break most swimmers. In my
mind I try to turn each pool into an interesting adventure place" –Franziska Van
Almsick (200m freestyle world record holder)
This makes them more human, and therefore more attractive.
In conclusion then, we can see that men and women find attractiveness in different aspects of
the adverts. Women look to seek beauty, and men, strength. What and how we read images is
also important. Men tend to need bigger, bolder images to keep them interested, whereas
women need detail to match their over-working minds. They look to find a catch somewhere
and do not understand simplistic. It is true to say that men do not really care about aesthetics,
particularly, and would rather have something to fiddle with and enjoy, then to buy something
that is purely to be used once a day, like cosmetics. Women like to gather things and hoard
them, like make-up and jewellery, because we feel that they make us more attractive to men.
Men feel they should know more about how things work, and the practical things, because,
firstly, it helps them in male conversation, and secondly, it stimulates their mind more. Their
first aim is not to look attractive to women, but more to impress and better their fellow men.
These things considered, we as people and consumers look to better our images and adverts
encourage us to do this. As women, we either empathise with models, like what they are
portraying and want to copy them, or feel intimidated by their beauty and shy away or detest
it. An advert can go either way, but will obviously target some groups and not others. With
male adverts the product either attracts them because it is something practical and also
powerful like hi-fis or cars, and it adds to their savoir fair in the male world. This, ultimately
is more important because they can impress the women and show off at the same time.
Adverts boil down to targeting sexes by their weaknesses. ‘If you want to look more
attractive, then buy this product’. ‘If you want to impress the lads, then have one of these’. It
works well, and products are bought. And until they start using unattractive, unsuccessful
models to appear in their adverts, we will fall for it every time.
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January 2002