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I'mOneToo · 12-20-2010, 11:43 PM

This thread is intriguing to me because I've got a little background in advertising. No, I wasn't one of those "Mad Men" types, but worked in advertising graphics production. When I discovered how ads were built, I became immune to the lure of advertising.

One of the more glaring examples of blatant gender-biased advertising is Virginia Slims Cigarettes. The ads for it, and the packaging designed by Walter Landor, were aimed directly toward female smokers. It was ironic that something as deadly as cigarettes became synonymous with women's tennis during the 70's and 80's. Yet, if Slims had not sponsored the Women's Tennis Association, it may have taken much longer to level the playing field (i.e. pay) between women's and men's tennis.

Their print and TV ads (when tv ads for smoking were still legal) said, "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" and showed a woman of the 1920's as if to equate emancipation of women with the desire for smoking, and to have "their own cigarette". They were the cigarette of the "women's liberation movement", or maybe I'd call it the Betty Friedan (NOW, ERA) cigarette. Their first competitor was the Eve cigarette, which I might call the "barefoot and pregnant" cigarette, or the Phyllis Schlafly (STOP THE ERA) cigarette.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4k...-cigarette_ads - circa 1967

you've got your own cigarette now, baby
you've come a long, long way

Statistically, since the 1960's, women have also caught up with men in the incidence of diseases caused by smoking. Like the disparities in salaries women have not achieved equality but are gaining ground, if you can call it that.

A more recent experience of gender bias in marketing was while buying a happy meal for a kid, at the drive-through. The voice on the speaker asked if the meal was for a boy or a girl. She said, "we have toys for girls and toys for boys." I asked the child which they would prefer. The response was "A girl toy!" Inside the happy meal was a Hello Kitty watch, with a pink band. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to whether the recipient was a boy or a girl, and whether the toy made them happy or not.

12-20-2010, 11:43 PM	#9
I'mOneToo Member How Do You Identify?: Human Preferred Pronoun?: left of right Relationship Status: right of left Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: ]centered[ Posts: 321 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 587 Thanked 514 Times in 184 Posts Rep Power: 2132875	This thread is intriguing to me because I've got a little background in advertising. No, I wasn't one of those "Mad Men" types, but worked in advertising graphics production. When I discovered how ads were built, I became immune to the lure of advertising. One of the more glaring examples of blatant gender-biased advertising is Virginia Slims Cigarettes. The ads for it, and the packaging designed by Walter Landor, were aimed directly toward female smokers. It was ironic that something as deadly as cigarettes became synonymous with women's tennis during the 70's and 80's. Yet, if Slims had not sponsored the Women's Tennis Association, it may have taken much longer to level the playing field (i.e. pay) between women's and men's tennis. Their print and TV ads (when tv ads for smoking were still legal) said, "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" and showed a woman of the 1920's as if to equate emancipation of women with the desire for smoking, and to have "their own cigarette". They were the cigarette of the "women's liberation movement", or maybe I'd call it the Betty Friedan (NOW, ERA) cigarette. Their first competitor was the Eve cigarette, which I might call the "barefoot and pregnant" cigarette, or the Phyllis Schlafly (STOP THE ERA) cigarette. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4k...-cigarette_ads - circa 1967 you've got your own cigarette now, baby you've come a long, long way Statistically, since the 1960's, women have also caught up with men in the incidence of diseases caused by smoking. Like the disparities in salaries women have not achieved equality but are gaining ground, if you can call it that. A more recent experience of gender bias in marketing was while buying a happy meal for a kid, at the drive-through. The voice on the speaker asked if the meal was for a boy or a girl. She said, "we have toys for girls and toys for boys." I asked the child which they would prefer. The response was "A girl toy!" Inside the happy meal was a Hello Kitty watch, with a pink band. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to whether the recipient was a boy or a girl, and whether the toy made them happy or not.