The primary purpose of advertisement is to inform the public about a particular product or service. Every year, firms spend huge amounts to promote their products in various media through adverts. While advertising does indeed allow firms to create awareness about their products and services, it also has negative impacts. Advertising reinforces negative stereotypes while eroding people’s self-image. It is also responsible for creating insecurity and causing people to lose faith in themselves. The example of advertising in Hong Kong illustrates how damaging advertising can be.
Before examining specific advertisements, it is important to investigate the general impacts of advertising in Hong Kong. Across the world, the creators of advertisements have been accused of fueling stereotypes. This is also the case in Hong Kong. Pamela Morris set out to investigate whether stereotyping occurs in advertising in Hong Kong. After examining the situation in other countries, she concluded that stereotyping does indeed occur (Morris, 2012). She is not alone in arriving at this conclusion. Adrian Furnham and Fiona Chan also conducted a similar study and reached the same conclusion: Hong Kong advertisements do indeed reinforce stereotypes (Furnham & Chan, 2003). The conclusions that Morris and Furnham make answer the question of whether gender stereotyping occurs in Hong Kong.
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Now that it has been established that advertisers in Hong Kong reinforce stereotypes, the next task is to shed light into specific incidences and the particular impacts that they have. In an article that featured in South China Morning Post, Kylie Knott explores how advertisements in Hong Kong fuel stereotypes. She particularly explores the role that the advertisements play in reinforcing gender stereotypes (Knott, 2017). The advertisements depict women in traditional roles. On the other hand, these advertisements portray men as powerful individuals. Furthermore, it has been noted with much concern that the adverts in Hong Kong objectify women. Women are sexualized in an effort to drive sales. There are certain adverts for products that have little to do with sexuality yet women in the adverts are scantily dressed.
The image above is a representation of a typical advertisement in today’s world. Women have been reduced to sexual objects whose primary mandate is to satisfy the desires of men. The ad above feeds from the traditionally held-belief that women are inferior and they exist to attend to the needs of men. The ad above confirms Knott’s assertion that Hong Kong adverts reinforce stereotypes. Knott blames the rampant stereotyping on the lack of laws to regulate the content in adverts. Perhaps such laws would help to combat the stereotyping. However, what is truly needed is a society that respects all.
For one to fully understand the damaging impact that stereotyping has on society, it is important to critically examine the portrayal of men and women in ads. As noted above, ads in Hong Kong tend to portray men in positions of power while women are portrayed as in charge of domestic affairs. This stereotyping can also be seen in the mannerisms and actions that women and men perform in ads. In certain ads, women are mostly shown sitting and wearing looks that suggest confusion and vulnerability (Knott, 2017). Furthermore, women are shown performing roles that only serve to reinforce stereotypes. These roles include secretaries and nurses (Knott, 2017). On the other hand, men are depicted as powerful individuals who perform important functions. The tendency to use male voices in voice overs is another indication of the stereotyping in Hong Kong ads (Knott, 2017). Hong Kong clearly has a problem with stereotyping. Urgent action is needed to ensure that the creators of ads present substantial content instead of relying on stereotypes.
The social impacts of adverts in Hong Kong go beyond reinforcing stereotypes. These adverts also erode self-confidence and self-image. Young women are very vulnerable. They desire to remain pretty and will go great lengths to achieve the ideal look. Advertisers in Hong Kong seem to be exploiting the vulnerability and desperate desire for the perfect appearance. This can be seen in the kind of adverts that they are aiming at young girls and women in Hong Kong. In her article, Knott accuses the creators of ads of promoting unrealistic beauty standards (Knott, 2017). Young girls and women are challenged to strive to be as thin as possible. Being fat is frowned upon while thinness is celebrated. Since many girls and women are unable to satisfy the unrealistic ideals of beauty, they are left distressed and lose confidence. Studies upon studies have shown that the unrealistic beauty standards that ads promote have a damaging impact on the physical and mental health of young girls and women. Depression is one of the ailments that these girls and women develop in their desperate attempt to stay thin (Swinson, 2011). What is more worrying is that there are many women who starve themselves in their quest for perfection. Instead of attaining the perfection that the ads promote, these women develop eating disorders. After conducting a study, Richard Perloff established that the unrealistic beauty standards that the media promotes through ads are responsible for eating disorders (Perloff, 2014). This finding is worrying as it indicates that thousands of women and girls in Hong Kong live in anguish as they seek to achieve the perfect body.
Ads feed off of the insecurities of audiences. This is the main argument that Olivia Petter makes in her article. She contends that ads manipulate “our deepest fears and insecurities to make us part with our cash” (Petter, 2017). Today, companies are mining personal information of their customers to understand their needs. They then use this information to tailor ads that suit the needs of the customers. While this seems innocent, there are some firms that go unforgivable extremes to make money. For example, it is understood that firms seek to understand when women are most vulnerable. They then send the women adverts about products that promise to rebuild confidence. People have also reported receiving ads that seem intrusive. For example, firms can use one’s browsing history to target them with ads about medications for embarrassing medical conditions. It appears that the creators of ads have lost all decency and no longer have any respect for audiences. They violate the privacy of their customers in a desperate bid to maximize sales. They seem to not understand that their actions erode the self-confidence of audiences and leave them feeling insecure.
In conclusion, advertising is indeed an important tool. It allows companies to engage with their customers. For advertising to deliver maximum benefit for all concerned parties, it needs to be carried out responsibly. This is an issue that advertisers seem to have forgotten. In Hong Kong, viewers are bombarded with ads that reinforce stereotypes. The ads show women in positions of submission and weakness while men are portrayed as strong wielders of authority. The ads also feed off of insecurities and promote unrealistic standards of beauty. The ultimate result is that the health and wellbeing of audiences suffer. Girls and young women are most susceptible. It is evident that the creators of ads need to abandon the current harmful practices. They should create ads that genuinely aim to improve the lives of their customers.
References
Furnham, A. & Chan, F. (2003). The gender-role stereotyping of men and women in
Hong Kong television advertisements. Psychologia. 46. 213-224. DOI: 10.2117/psysoc.2003.213.
Knott, K. (2017). How Sexist Hong Kong Adverts Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes, and what
Businesses, Consumers and Schools can do about it. Retrieved 27th November
2017 from http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2108924/how-sexist-hong-kong-adverts-perpetuate-gender-stereotypes-and-what
Morris, P. K. (2012). Comparing Portrayals of Beauty in Outdoor Advertising across Six
Cultures: Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, South Korea and Turkey. Asian Journal
Of Communication, 24 (3), 242-261.
Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns:
Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles, 71 (11-12), 363-377.
Petter, O. (2017). Does the Advertising Industry Feed off of Female Insecurities? Experts Weigh
In. Retrieved 27th November 2017 from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/advertising-women-female-insecurities-body-images-does-it-experts-sexism-weight-loss-gain-size-a7888901.html
Swinson, J. (2011). False Beauty in Advertising and the Pressure to Look ‘Good’. Retrieved
27th November 2017 from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/08/swinson.airbrushing.ads/index.html
