Representation of gender in advertising: strategies, stereotypes, means
The article discusses the problem of cultural design of gender in modern advertising discourse. The existing and emerging types of gender identity are classified in Western advertising of the second half of the XX century. The dual nature of advertising is noted: on the one hand, it broadcasts the process of forming identity, on the other hand, it formulates the norms of feminism/masculinity. Advertising, being a powerful institution of symbolic power of modern consumption society, has a strong influence on the parameters of identity formation, the public position of the individual, as well as on the wide stratum of cultural and social processes in general. The communicative system of advertising as a means of mass influence, ensures the exchange, storage and accumulation of «collective information», «collective memory». At the same time, the process of layering ideologues and archetypes with both existing in the public unconscious and newly emerging phenomena and situations takes place. In creating gender-stratified advertising, techniques such as the use of semantic means of influence are used; creation of a specific design of advertising messages; broadcasting stereotypical emotionally rich images. Advertising hyperbolizes the differences between the sexes and renders stereotypical gender qualities - from the way of thinking of advertising heroes, to manifestations of non-verbal semiotics and paralinguistics. The author concludes that doubts about his own body, its design and representation are a logical result of the general ontological instability of the postmodern era, in which the original concepts of truth, values, traditions are blurred. Objective advertising has a special role in this.