The Sexual Objectification Of Women In Advertising: A .
The Sexual Objectification of Women inAdvertising: A Contemporary CuituraiPerspectiveAMANDA ZIMMERMANCanisius Collegeamandarzimmerman@yahoo.comThis study measures attitudes of young women to sexually objectified advertising.A survey combining elements of two previous studies (Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom,1991; Mittal and Lassar, 2000) was administered to 94 female undergraduates.Results show significant (p 0.001) changes in attitudes of young, educated women.JOHN DAHLBERGCanisius CollegeRespondents agreed females were portrayed as sex objects in advertisements, butdahlberj@canisius.eduwere less offended by these portrayals than female respondents in 1991. Resultsalso show females' attitudes toward the advertisement have little effect on purchaseintention, a highly significant change from attitudes of women in 1991.SINCE THE REBIRTH of the women's movement inthe 1960s, critics consistently have raged againstthe way advertising treats women. Scantily clad,suggestively portrayed women sell every different type of product on television, in magazines,and now on personal computer screens, in increasing numbers, since the 1980s. In the past, young,educated women were the strongest critics of advertisements. Many of the changes in the advertising industry occurred because these womenraised their voices in protest. This study examineshow today's generation of young, educated females feels about the portrayal of women in advertisements and the consequences of thoseattitudes.For women born in the early 1980s, sex in themedia has been a constant companion. Sex iseverywhere, on prime time television programs,movies, and music videos. It is rare to view anhour of television and not see a suggestivelydressed or undressed female, whether in a program or a commercial. Sexual imagery appears inmagazine articles and advertisements. A recentissue of Cosmopolitan might contain hundreds ofhalf-naked women, stories of sexual mishaps, andeven instructions for the ancient art of Kama Sutra.The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit national health organization, found that sexual conDOI: 10.2501/S0021849908080094tent had increased over a two-year period (MediaReport to Women, 2001). It examined shows onABC, CBS, Fox, HBO, Lifetime, NBC, TNT, PBS,USA, and KTLA, the Los Angeles affiliate of theWB (Keveney, 2001). The study's definition ofsexual activity was very broad, ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse (Waxman, 2001). Approximately two-thirds, or 68 percent, of televisionprograms examined between October 1999 andMarch 2000 contained sexual content, comparedto 56 percent in the 1997-1998 season (Keveney,2001). Specifically, 89 percent of movies, 84 percent of sitcoms, and 80 percent of soap operas hadsexual content. Sexual content in situation comedies leaped to 84 percent from 56 percent twoyears prior (Media Report to Women, 2001). Duringprime time, when the highest numbers of peoplewatch television, three-quarters of the programshad sexual content (Keveney, 2001). Other research reported that 60 percent of music videosdeal with sexual feelings or impulses (Gruber andGrube, 2000).Over the past several decades, numerous studies have examined the portrayal of women inadvertising. Interest in the subject was ignited bythe women's movement in the 1960s. Studies ofadvertisements in a variety of men's, women's,and general interest magazines have categorizedMarch 2 0 0 8 JOURRRL OF ROUERTISIRG RESERBCR 7 i
SEXUAL OBJEOTIFIOATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISINGwomen in various roles: housewife, decora- EFFECTS ON ATTITUDEStive element, sex object, and dependent on With this steady increase in advertisements that portray women as sex objects,men (Ferguson, Kreshel, and Tinkham,1990); Jtousewife, concerned with physical at-we must ask, what has been its effect ontractiveness, sex object, career oriented, andattitudes? During this same period, attineutral (Lysonski, 1983); alluring objects of tudinal surveys studied reactions that peosexual gratification (Mayne, 2000); and erotic ple have toward advertisements, especiallyand suggestive stimuli (Henthorne and La- those dealing with women. Ford, LaTour,and Lundstrom (1991) measured the attiTour, 1995). Physical contact has been detudes that women had toward female rolescribed as simple or intimate, and dresscame under four categories: demure, seduc- portrayals in advertising. They based theirsurvey on one done in 1977 by Lundtive, partially clad, or nude (Soley andstrom and Sciglimpaglia that measuredKurzbard, 1986). Sex has become morewomen's general perceptions of their porexplicit; more models have appeared intrayals in advertisements. There it wasthe nude and more images of couplesreported that younger, wealthier, more edhave suggested intercourse. From the miducated women were those that were the1960s through the early and mid 1990s,most critical. Ford, LaTour, and Lundthere were significantly more overt porstrom (1991) chose to target this particutrayals of women as sex objects (Henthornelar group for their study rather than usingand LaTour, 1995; Mayne, 2000; Reicherta completely random sample. Their samet al, 1999; Soley and Kurzbard, 1986).pleconsisted of members of the LeagueFerguson, Kreshel, and Tinkham (1990)of Women Voters and the YWCA, twoexamined advertisements in Ms. magagroups believed to have characteristics simzine spanning from 1973 to 1987, measurilar to those of their desired sample. Alling content (what the relationship of theparticipantswere adult women residingwoman was to the product, if her appearin the Mid-Atlantic region (Ford, LaTour,ance was alluring/decorative, and whetherand Lundstrom, 1991).she was pictured in a traditional or nontraditional way) and measuring sexism (ifthe woman was portrayed as a sex objectand the focus was on her body). Thisstudy found that, during this period, certain categories decreased, such as the useof women as decorative elements fromthe content scale and the depiction ofthem in traditional roles, also referred toas "keep her in her place" advertisements. In contrast, there was an increasein advertisements that sexually objectified women. The number of advertisements with alluring images of women,measured on the content scale, also increased. This category saw an even greaterincrease than the number of advertisements that contained sexual objectification (Ferguson, Kreshel, and Tinkham,1990).Using this sample. Ford, LaTour, andLundstrom (1991) replicated the 1977 study.It contained 17 different statements thatreflected attitudes on sex role portrayals,companies using traditional images in theiradvertisements, and purchase intention.In addition to this instrument, the researchers also used Arnott's Female AutonomyInventory scale, which measured the participants' views of women's roles in society to determine if they were traditionalor modern (Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom, 1991).The results of the 1991 study showedthat women were still critical of the wayin which they were portrayed in advertising. Women still thought that advertisements treated them mainly as sex objects,showed them as fundamentally depen-7 2 JOUROHL or HDUERTISIOG RESERRCR March 2 0 0 8dent on men and found the portrayal ofwomen in advertising to be offensive. According to this sample of women, an offensive advertising campaign would havea negative effect on company image andpurchase intention (Ford, LaTour, andLundstrom, 1991).Attitudes of today's women toward advertising can be directly correlated withthe changes that have occurred in feminism. This new feminism, often referredto as the third wave, most definitely affects the thoughts and actions of today'scollege females.Third wave feminists now stress a newfeminism; one that is not stiff and oldfashioned, but bold, fun, and in line withpopular culture. This feminism embracessexuality. It views sex as power. It separates women from men and sees womenas the dominant sex (Paglia, 1992). Pagliaclaims one of the reasons men continue torepresent women as sex objects is becausethey are desperately trying to regain powerfrom the femme fatale who has controlledthem throughout history (Booth, 1999).She criticizes second wave feminists andthose in academic circles for constantlyplaying the victim (Bellafante, 1998). Thisnew feminism embodies a kind of "girlishoffensive" (Labi, 1998, p. 61), a "sassy,don't-mess-with-me adolescent spirit" (Bellafante, 1998, p. 58), that tells females theycan be strong and powerful, they can beanything they want to be, and they canlook hot doing it.Even feminists from academic circles,such as Naomi Wolf, have embraced thegirl power trend, and favor women usingtheir bodies as works of art. She hasadopted third wave feminism, claimingthat it is okay for woman to use theirglamour, as long as they are doing it oftheir own free will (Hill, 1993). There isno doubt that feminism has changed, andthe new face, or perhaps we should saybreast, leg, or midriff, has arrived.
SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISINGSexually objectified portrayals of womenin advertisements can also affect views ofsex and sexual behavior. Sex becomes commercial, recreational, and exploitational(Kuczynski, 2002). Girls exposed to theseimages become more sexually aggressive,and sexual experimentation is beginningearlier (English, 2003). The pregnancy ratefor adolescent girls between the ages of15 and 17 is higher in the United Statesthan in any other industrialized nation,and around 25 percent of new cases ofsexually transmitted diseases occur between ages 13 and 19 (Gruber and Grube,2000).Based on the preponderance of sexualcontent in the media, its effect on attitudes of young women, and the influenceof third wave feminism, the authors explored the impact of advertising on attitudes. Some of the survey questions foundin Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom (1991)were used to examine if:HI:Young, educated women willagree that the specific advertisement viewed in this study usessex, but they will find it culturally acceptable (i.e., not perceiveit as offensive or negative).Contemporary women may be unfazed by the sexualobjectification found in today's advertising. Tiiey maychoose to exercise their "giri power" and maice theirdecisions independently of how women in advertisementsmay be portrayed.the media in general. This was labeled"sexual liberalism" (Mittal and Lassar,2000).Mittal and Lassar (2000) found that sexual liberalism did have an effect on theirrespondents' perception of the advertisements they were shown. The majority ofparticipants judged the advertisement ofhigher sexual content to be more ethicallyunjust then the advertisement with mildsexual content, but they did not alwayslike the mildly sexual advertisement better. It depended on their like or dislike ofthe use of sex in advertising and the media in general. With this in mind, thisstudy used parts of Mittal and Lassar(2000) in order to examine if:H2:Mittal and Lassar (2000) studied theeffect of sexual content in advertisementson perceptions of both male and femaleundergraduate and graduate business students. Respondents judged the extent towhich a certain advertisement was just oroffensive, and then asked them for theirattitudes toward the brand and their intentions to purchase the featured product.One of the advertisements was considered to be mildly sexual while the otherhad highly sexual content. In addition tomeasurements of attitudes toward a specific advertisement, the researchers collected data on respondents' attitudestoward the use of sex in advertising andYoung, educated women of today will be less offended by theportrayal of women in advertising than women in Ford, LaTour,and Lundstrom (1991).Because of the influence of third wavefeminism, contemporary women may beunfazed by the sexual objectification foundin today's advertising. They may chooseto exercise their "girl power" and maketheir decisions independently of howwomen in advertisements may be portrayed. Therefore,H3:Contemporary females will bemore likely to maintain an existing positive view of a brand andwill be inclined to purchase anduse it, regardless of any sexual portrayal of women in that brand'sadvertising.METHODOLOGYFollowing Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom(1991), this study sampled "women whohad higher incomes, were younger, bettereducated, less tradition-oriented, and fromhigher status households" (p. 18). Thissample used female students from a coeducational private college in the MidAtlantic region.The survey for this study recreates someof the research done by Ford, LaTour, andLundstrom (1991) and Mittal and Lassar(2000). Statements taken from Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom (1991) measuredwomen's attitudes toward advertising ingeneral. This study compared attitudes ofcontemporary college women with the attitudes of women in the 1991 survey. Allstatements were measured on a 7-pointLikert scale, and probed attitudes towardrole portrayals of women in advertisements, as well as the effect those attitudeshad on company image and purchase intention. A f-test was used to compare themeans from this study to those from Ford,LaTour, and Lundstrom (1991).While it is important to find the attitudes that women have toward advertising in general, it was decided that itwas beneficial also to test participants'March 2 0 0 8 JOURRRL OF RUUERTISIRG RESERRCH 7 3
SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISINGattitudes toward one specific advertise-back, her eyes closed, and she was smil-advertisement, a total of 101 surveys werement. Respondents were shown a sexu-ing. The leaves covered any parts a viewercompleted; seven of them had to be dis-ally explicit advertisement that used amight find too revealing. The woman wascarded for various reasons, such as agewoman primarily as a sex object, basednot using the product as intended andoutside the sample norm and incompleteon categories from earlier research. State-was therefore deemed decorative. The fo-surveys. This left a sample of N 94,ments and questions based on the specificcus was obviously on her body, makingsufficient to gather predictive results,advertisement were taken from Mittal andher a sex object and allowing us to cat-Lassar (2000).egorize the advertisement at the highestRESULTSThe first section taken from this studylevel (Level One) on the "Scale of Sexism."Regarding the specific advertisement, par-measured the "ethical justness" of the ad-Using a small convenience sample ofticipants found the advertisement con-vertisement (Mittal and Lassar, 2000,female college students, the advertise-tained a great deal of sex (M 5.681).p. 115). Here, scales were used to measurement and survey instrument were pilot-This was used as a manipulation checkattitude toward the specific advertise-tested to confirm that it contained highand confirmed that respondents agreedment, attitude toward the brand that paidlevels of sexual explicitness. Based on re-that the advertisement used sex. Respon-for the advertisement, purchase intention,sponses, categories were reworded slightlydents had a neutral response to the ques-attitudes toward the use of sex in thefor clarity. The participants were asked totion of whether sex was used tastefully inmedia and in advertising in general, anddetermine if the advertisement was "notthe advertisement (M 3.894) (see Table 1).sexual liberalism. This study also in-offensive at all" or "very offensive." TheThe majority of the statements pro-eluded a manipulation check used in Mit-final survey instrument was administeredduced neutral answers. Items that leanedtal and Lassar (2000) that asked participantsin several undergraduate classes in a va-neutral toward slightly positive were: ac-to rate how much sex was used in theriety of departments. After viewing theceptable to me and my family (M 3.798),advertisement and if sex was used tastefully or not.The specific advertisement chosen wasfor a product specifically targeted toTABLE 1women. Ferguson, Kreshel, and Tinkhamy j g tQWafd t h e SpeCifiC Advertisement(1990) developed a "Scale of Sexism" and-—used five different levels to determine howsexist an advertisement was. An adver-StatementMeanEthical/Unethical4.074focused on a woman's body and por- 99. 'P } }. .} .'i .' .'[ . .! )!j.?.'[! M .?-.Z.?trayed her as a sex object (Ferguson,Morally right/Morally wrong4-? Kreshel, and Tinkham, 1990). Accordingto the "Scale of Sexism," advertisementsthat contained a nude model were consid-cu urally aixeptable/Culturally'unaccept3t)le2.713I dm ?lly.? ?Pt?b I ?ditionally unacceptable4.564ered to be the most sexually explicit (Fer-Interesting/Boring3.394guson, Kreshel, and Tinkham, 1990;Reichert et al., 1999). The advertisementGood/Bad3.957Not offensive at all/Very offensive3.734explicit and showed a woman used mainly .] }! . .T ? ]'[} . *. .!?as a sex object. An advertisement for aVery Likable/Very Unlikable4.184branded shave eel, made specifically for women, featured a completely nude modelon a bed of green tea leaves. Her arms, , , . . . ,were squeezmg her bare breasts togetherJ,,.,,,. ,, Jand grabbmg her legs, which were curledin a fetal position. Her head was thrown ,. . . . . . . . . -.oTo what extent did this advertisement have sex in it? 1 g gg tisement on Level One, the most sexist,used in this survey was highly sexuallyIn this advertisement, sex was used'Tastefully/In poor taste.'.( "Note: 1st item - l; 2nd item 7, i.e., ethical 1 and unethical 7.7 4 JOURnRL DF RDUERTISIRG RESERRCR March 2 0 0 83.894
SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISINGinteresting (M 3 394), good (M 3 957),jhis study showed that young women today are moreand not offensive at all (M 3.734). Therest of the items skewed neutral to slightlyforgiving of companies that portray females offensivelynegative. These items were: unethical (M 4074), morally wrong (M 4096), tradi- in their advertisements than young women were ationally unacceptable (M 4.564), irritating(M 4.468), and very unlikable (M 4.184).deCadeagO.A most interesting category was culturally acceptable (M 2.713). It had the lowest mean, showing that the majority ofthe respondents, whether or not they foundthe advertisement to be unethical or irritating, did find the advertisement to beThe means of the statements taken fromthis study were compared with those ofFord, LaTour, and Lundstrom (1991)culturally acceptable. Also notable was thethrough use of a t-test. Both samples werefound it less likely that advertisementswill portray them in most of their dailyactivities (t -3.827, p 0.001).College females agreed that advertise-fact that while they did not necessarilynot accepting of the sexual objectificationments treat them mainly as sex objectslike the advertisement and found it irri-of women. There were, however, signifi-(M 5.149, SD 1.565), but their feelingstating, they were neutral on the scale fromcant differences in the means of severalwere more neutral about the statement, "Inot offensive to very offensive. Based onof attitudinal questions within the twofind the portrayal of women in advertis-these data, we were able to accept Hy-studies, proving that today's young, ed-ing to be offensive" (M 4.032, SD pothesis HI: young, educated womenucated women's attitudes toward adver-1.506). Extremely relevant to this studyagreed that the specific advertisementtising are significantly more accepting ofare the changes that have occurred inviewed in this study uses sex, but theysexual objectification over the past de-these items since Ford, LaTour, and Lund-viewed it as culturally acceptable (i.e.,cade (see Table 3).strom (1991). Young women today agreed,did not perceive it as offensive or negative) (see Table 2).This study showed that college fe-more than those in 1991, that advertise-males today do not think that the por-ments treat women as sex objects {t Moving on to the attitudinal section,trayal of females in advertising is realistic.2.417, p 0.01), which confirms theyoung,
dent on men and found the portrayal of women in advertising to be offensive. Ac-cording to this sample of women, an of-fensive advertising campaign would have a negative effect on company image and purchase intention (Ford, LaTour, and Lundstrom, 1991). Attitudes of today's women toward
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