Differing Reactions to Female Role Portrayals in Advertising

Describes a study to investigate whether different groups of women have different perceptions of/attitudes to advertising.

Differing Reactions to Female Role Portrayals in Advertising

John B Ford and Michael S LaTour

In a nationally known Cambridge Documentaries film Still Killing Us Softly (1987), the advertising industry is accused of serious misconduct, including the glorification of violence against women, the unrealistic inferiority of anything less than 'ideal beauty,' women's inferiority to men, and an increased emphasis on women as sex objects. In 1988, Ferrante, Haynes and Kingsley claimed that advertisers were still guilty of incorrectly portraying women in society.

A recent Wall Street Journal article discussed the severity of...

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