ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how girls and women are portrayed in advertising. It argues that we are relentlessly exposed to unattainable ideals of physical perfection and that women are portrayed as less powerful than men. Teenage women are engaging in far riskier health behaviors and in greater numbers than any prior generation. The changing roles and greater opportunities for women promised by the women’s movement are trivialized, reduced to the private search for slimmest body. Women are generally subservient to men in ads, both through size and position. Girls are often shown as playful clowns in these ads, perpetuating the attitude that girls and women are childish and cannot be taken seriously, whereas even very young men are generally portrayed as secure, powerful, and serious. Advertisers are aware of their role and do not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering solutions. Women who are powerful in advertising are uncommitted.
