Ultimate Mad Men ad man Don Draper would no doubt be shaking his head over the news that the UK Advertising Standards Agency has announced plans to crack down on ads that reinforce gender stereotypes. And before anyone shouts ‘it’s political correctness gone mad’ – don’t worry, you can still get your mum-of-four doing the cooking and cleaning or dad lawn-mowing. The new guidelines will only affect ads that are shown to be mocking men or women for living up to – or not living up to - society’s perceived norms – such as men chastised for being too emotional, or women accused of being terrible drivers as the butt of a joke.
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least four adverts in the past few years that tick these boxes. There’s the Snickers advert which featured famous Dynasty ‘divas’ Joan Collins and Stephanie Beacham playing mardy sportsmen who weren’t themselves when they were hungry – after a bite of chocolate, and being accused of being a diva, they were suddenly ‘normal’ men again. Then there’s the Gap T-shirts that featured slogans for boys about being clever and girls being ‘social butterflies’, plus the Aptamil baby milk ads that showed baby girls dreaming of growing up to be ballerinas and men engineers. In KFC, two men argue over who is more manly, with one who owns candles being deemed a wimp. Oh, and we all know that Yorkies are for boys, Lynx sends women sex-mad and dads don’t go to Iceland.
A cursory read through these makes one thing clear: it isn’t just women that look to gain from these new regulations. While yes, some do reinforce ideas that women are decorative and aspiration-less, men are also frequently the subject of unfair stereotyping, some of which no doubt leads to identity issues later in life. After all, frequent exposure to gender stereotyping must have an internalising effect on children growing up: there’s a reason little girls and boys seem to naturally gravitate towards pink or blue, dresses and dolls, trainers and balls, as the report outlines: ‘Such portrayals can limit how people see themselves, how others see them, and limit the life decisions they take,’ it says. ‘Tougher standards in the areas we’ve identified will address harms and ensure that modern society is better represented.’
Of all the complaints about gender stereotypes between 2015 and 2016, a third were about the portrayal of men. Watching an advert that implies that being moody is ‘girly’ or that you have to eat certain foods to be masculine is undoubtedly damaging. It all goes back to that belief that men can’t express their emotions and have to be macho, sports-loving, beer-drinking, woman-obsessed louts to be deemed acceptable members of society – indeed, these tropes crop up again and again in adverts for everything from beer to aftershave. With male suicide being the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, it’s easy to see how constantly reinforcing these ideas that men can’t talk about their emotions is irresponsible and dangerous.
What is hard to understand is what any of this has to do with selling things anyway: are women going to shun Snickers and Yorkies because they’re aimed at dudes? Will men be chased out of Iceland by Kerry Katona if they dare step foot in the frozen foods aisle? Does anyone really believe either of these things?
Currently, the ASA has made moves to target sexist ads that sexualise women or reinforce societal pressures about how women should look – such as the Protein World ads that were banned last year (‘Are you beach body ready?’). This latest measure will hopefully build on the good work that the organisation is doing and make ignorant and misguided ads a thing of the past.
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