Track: High School STEM Poster Competition

Abstract

This review integrates semiotics, gender and feminist theory, and behavioral microeconomics in order to examine the impact of gendered advertising on consumer and brand behavior. I first examine how advertising, especially done through visual mediums, is produced by their social context and can be analyzed as cultural texts. I then explore how firms utilize gender norms and ideals in their advertising to build a brand image and establish a consumer base. As a part of this discussion, I investigate a specific kind of gendered advertising: sexual advertising, which commodifies the female and male bodies to intentionally illicit different consumer responses based on gender. Referring to Jill J. Avery’s research in marketing, I scrutinize specific instances of gender contamination and the ways that consumers and businesses respond economically to defend stereotypical gender roles.