Advertisements have been understood as key sites for the production, reproduction and negotiation of gender identity. Compare the ways in which gender has been constructed through advertising in historical context.
Introduction In this essay I will discuss how advertisements are sites for the production, reproduction and negotiation of gender identity. I will talk about how advertisements do this in relation to theorist’s concepts and show some examples of it focussing on the eras of the 1800’s and the 1950’s and 60’s. Finally I will discuss what resemblances these eras have to one and other and how these relate to modern depictions of gender identity in advertising. The dawn of consumerism in the 1800’s In Victorian England consumerism came into existence largely due to the industrial revolution and became a big part of the ideology of the middle classes. This meant that the consumption of commodities became a ‘fundamental form of a new cultural system for representing social values’ McClintock (1995). These social values were showcased in advertising. With the rise of consumerism in the 1800’s these representations centred around what it meant to be a colonial nation, calling into ...