stylishly done. In the #7th ad the woman has her briefcase, laptop case, umbrella, and of course her groceries. Her life is one of a hectic woman, but she knows what her priorities are, getting the groceries for the house, the ad reinforces women’s role as a homemaker. The slogan declares that “the pressure get to be too much. Kids. Work. Your parents. Running a household. …”. She takes care of the kids and deals with the parents, because she is a woman and that is women’s role in society, or advertisers seem to think so. The next housewife ad shows a young attractive mother driving four small children around. It is a typical stereotype. The mother is driving a mini-van to the children’s obligations; the ad is coincidentally about Cheetos, but that has no relevance to the ad. Any product could replace the snack, which we assume to be relieving the stress of carpooling and taking care of the children, a woman’s job. Even when the ads do not refer to or have children in them the housewife stereotype is ever-present. In the 9th ad “The sexiest move that a guy can make [in the house] is cleaning up.” This Virginia Slims ad is declaring that it is a special occasion when a man does what is normally a woman’s role, cleaning and washing the dishes. Why should it be a special occasion, do men not eat? Why shouldn’t they always help with the household chores? Ad 10 shows an older woman who is gorgeous. She was most likely a model in her younger years, and we see that not only young girls that have their notions of beauty compromised by advertising. Ad 11 is a direct referral to ad 10, to look like a younger more attractive woman, you need “Clinique Stop Signs”, plain as day, buy this product you will look young again. Ad 12 promotes the housewife stereotype as it puts nutrimental information on a car, referencing marketing and the housekeeping rol...
