La (in)definición del sexismo publicitario: de la lectura académica a la intervención social

Abstract

The fight against advertising sexism in one of the many fronts in which awareness and social intervention about equality between men and women is developed. The conviction that the mass media, and in particular advertising, plays an important role in the reproduction of gender in equality has guided decades of study and academic reflection on advertising sexism. At the same time, different initiatives in the legal, political-administrative and citizens pheres have been developed to avoid it, or to denounce it and punish it when it occurs. In this article, and referring to the case of Spain, it is argued that the persistent persistence of sexist traits in advertising has to do both with the difficulty in defining the different dimensions of advertising sexism and translating the min to precise legal ordeontological codes, as well as with the mutation that is occurring in advertising rhetoric with regard to the image of women and gender relations. To this end, a review of the definition of advertising sexism in the academics phere is made, and its translation in to the legal and deontological codes of our country, as well as in the recommendations and decalogues elaborated by the institutes of women at the state and regional level. It concludes by pointing out the importance of deepening the analysis of public perception of advertising.