The Observation of Advertising from a Gender Perspective: Leisure, Beauty and Rape Culture

Abstract

From 2017 to 2019, 148 valid citizen complaints and special cases were brought before the Observatory of Women's Image in Advertising; these underline the prevalence of discriminatory discourses in advertising based on gender. The categories with the highest rate of bad advertising practices were food and drinks, leisure and entertainment, and beauty/fashion/cosmetics. The critical analysis of content, carried out from a feminist and intersectional perspective on said advertisements, leads to the conclusion that the advertising discourse reinforces harmful beauty standards for women along with other biases that put women in a position of subordination and encourage rape culture: they portray women as sex objects, minimize consent to sexual interactions, and validate the use of alcohol to usher in sexual interactions in leisure spaces, particularly in nightlife environments. It has been emphasized that observatories of advertising narratives need to be kept in place and involve citizen participation. Also, various actions must be implemented in order to prevent bad practices, especially educational in nature, including awareness-raising measures and training programs for the advertising industry.