Sex, Lies, and Advertising summary

The Sex, Lies, and Advertising chapter summarized the efforts of Ms. magazine to defy stereotypical gender ads that are usually placed in women's magazines. Magazines for women commonly have the same types of ads: shampoos, fragrances, cleaning products, food recipes, etc. Ms. magazine hoped to bring in ads that were usually directed only toward the male gender, or only placed in magazines for men. In order to obtain these ads, Gloria reached out to these companies and attempted to persuade them that women contribute to a large portion of their product sales. Ms. magazine ran into several issues along the way. Companies usually directing ads towards men were stubborn in using them in a women's magazine. The companies feared it would not sell as well and that it would be waste of advertising. For example, Lionel was contacted in hopes to acquire toy train ads in Ms. magazine to attract young girls. Lionel was afraid that if they were to put young girls in their ads for the magazine, young boys would suddenly become less interested in their products. Ms. magazine also attempted to attract beer companies to place ads in their magazine. It took 8 years for a beer company, Michelob Ultra, to provide ads for their magazine. Food companies were asked to provide ads without recipes, as recipes promote stereotypical gender roles that women should be cooking. In some instances, companies saw results and were on board with the change of advertising. United airlines was the first airline to cross over, and saw beneficial results. Several car companies also joined the bandwagon. Ultimately, the experiment performed by Ms. magazine had its successes and failures. I believe it was an inspiring idea, as many people do not realize the enforcement of stereotypical gender roles from advertising in magazines. It is a shame it was such a struggle for the magazine editors to influence masculinity promoting companies to provide advertisements. Advertisements should be uni-gender, as both men and women purchase technology products, automobiles, airline tickets, etc. It is not fair, and it is quite ignorant for companies to provide certain ads exclusively to one gender, as the company could be losing sales.