Gender in Advertising

  This is an advertisement for Van Heusen ties. Various designs of the ties are shown. They have "man-talking, power-packed patterns," making them exclusively for men. The man in the ad is wearing one of the ties, lying in bed while his wife tends to him. Not only are ties with "fine fabrics" advertised, but also ideas of societal norms. Men usually are the ones who wear ties, so the ad is directed towards them. Women typically wear dresses and are characterized by the feminine color pink, as seen with the wife in the ad. The wife's place, back in the 1960s, was in the kitchen. How the woman in the picture is serving the man breakfast refers to this claim. Though, the most striking and obvious societal norm the ad displays is the fact that "it's a man's world." The man gets to sit back and relax, while the woman serves to his every whim. The husband is above the wife, literally in the sense that he's up on the bed while she's kneeling to him on the floor, and figuratively in the sense of who has the power. Obviously, this ad is appealing to men as it shows them being dominant. Therefore, it also appeals to women, in reference to their happiness being solely their husbands' happiness. "It's a man's world," and sadly, the women are "so happy it is."