Historically, women have been educated to develop opposite characteristics to men, and occupy contrasting roles. Thus, women have been constructed as passive while men have been perceived as active. This is because men went to war, performed public functions or courted women, while women waited at home for men to return, they were rescued or abused, gazed upon, or conquered. Today, women continue to occupy the same positions in the society. Katha Pollitt argues that “the paradox is that the world of rigid and hierarchal sex roles evoked by determinist theories is already passing away”, (382). Sports advertisements could represent a vehicle for challenging gender roles by showing women in positions which have been traditionally assigned to men, as the active gender. However, sports advertisements found a way of preserving the society’s patriarchal assumptions by focusing on women who try to lose weight. The Sketcher’s ad promotes the idea women are passive because The Sketcher’s ad suggests that women only practice physical fitness to satisfy the desires of men”.
The ad analyzed here presents Kim Kardashian, who wears a pink sports top, and the sports shoes which also have details of the same color. Pink is a stereotypically feminine color which signals to the audience that the product is destined for women. Traditionally feminine tones of pink and purple are generously used in the picture not only for the top and the details on the Skechers but also in the background. The advertisement addresses women and persuades them to try the product which has also been bought by Kim Kardashian. By using tones of pink and purple, the advertisement reinforces the stereotype these are feminine colors. Women are supposed to wear these sports shoes in order to avoid losing their appeal, by wearing too masculine shoes. This divides a single product, sports shoes according to genders and the ‘color codes’ are meant to help the clients avoid gender contamination, which is described by Copeland in her article, “Is Diet Soda Girly” as the trend which determines men to look for products that were not ‘contaminated’ by feminine symbols, odors, and accessories, as the Sports shoes are stereotypically masculine items because the society does not encourage girls to practice sports, as they encourage boys.
The Sketchers’ ad suggests that women practice physical fitness to make men happy by presenting a woman who embodies the femininity ideals all men desire as proof of the final outcome of wearing the shoes during fitness. The woman in the picture respects the stereotypical image of beauty which is reinforced in the media, by being slim, but also athletic. In her article, “Never Just Pictures,” Susan Bordo discusses the obsession for fitness in the Western society. She explains that cultural images of thin models and movie stars reinforce the ideal of perfect beauty, which includes a slender figure. As the author explains, “Glamorous images of hyper thin models certainly don't encourage a more relaxed or accepting attitude toward the body, particularly among those whose own bodies are far from that ideal” (Bordo 370). The reason why women want to be beautiful is to attract men’s attention. The advertisers could have used a successful athlete to promote the sketchers, but they use a well-known socialite because the goal of women practicing sports is supposed to be beauty, rather than performance or health. Kim Kardashian wears a sports bra which reveals her thin waist and her pose is sexually appealing. The advertisers could have chosen to present a woman dressed in a track suit or in a sweatshirt, but they use a sports bra in order to make Kim Kardashian appear more sexually appealing. Her smile and her gaze are also those of a confident woman who could attract any men. Therefore, the ad suggests that women should buy the shoes in an attempt to lose weight and reach the ideal presented in the advertisement.
Suggesting that women only practice physical fitness to make men happy frames women as passive by reinforcing the idea that they do not take pleasure in sports activities as men do. Since very little, girls are not encouraged or pressured to take on sports seriously as boys are. Boys are pressured by coaches and parents to become the best runners or the best baseball players because boys are supposed to be competitive by nature, and to take pleasure in overcoming challenges. An advertisement to a product for men’s sports shoes for example, typically stresses competition or performance. Many men also decide to do sports in order to lose weight but in ads destined for men’s sports shoes, this group is never represented in men’s ads. Pollitt explains in this respect that boys and girls learn since very young to differentiate the world around them in terms of gender. She argues that “the thing the theories do most of all is tell adults that the adult world -- in which moms and dads still play by many of the old rules even as they question and fidget and chafe against them -- is the way it's supposed to be” (Pollitt 382). Therefore, women are encouraged to use sports only in order to lose weight, or to remain in shape, but they are not encouraged to try to make performance, because this would destroy the myth of the passive woman.
The society constructs women as passive by socializing them to assume particular gender roles. Women are passive because they wait to be saved or looked at, but men are active because they protect or gaze at women. Women are nurturing and gentle, men are aggressive. Women activate in the domestic space, and men activate in the public space. Therefore, even today, ideas about the roles that men and women must play are reinforced through the oppositions which are presented in the advertisements. There is no room in advertisements for androgynous males and females, although, in reality, more and more young people try to be gender neutral. As Libby Copeland shows, in the article “Is Diet Soda Girly,” advertisers have a great interest in preserving it, because if one can “persuade both genders that they’re better off with their own gender-specific stuff, and you could wind up with double the sales”. As a result, they try to convince the audience that that they need products adjusted for their own gender. She explains that “part of the reason this approach works so well is that men, apparently, don’t want to buy stuff strongly associated with women.” Therefore, by creating some products as feminine, for example, by coloring them in pink, they make sure that men look for a more masculine product instead. For example, in the ad analyzed here, the fact that the shoes are specifically intended for women reinforces the stereotype that men are genuinely interested in sports, so they buy sports shoes for this purpose, but women only use sports shoes to try to lose weight instead and they are not interested in sporting activities, being passive, rather than active. Consequently, the sports shoes presented in the ad are in fact “shape ups”; they have a specialized sole, which is meant to help women lose weight by walking and running. In this ad, the product is divided not only in terms of color range, but also, in terms of destination use.
Therefore, as shown above, although sports shoes advertisements could challenge gender roles expectations by illustrating women in active roles, consistently with the female empowerment trends of the past decades, they continue to present them in traditional roles as passive objects, whose only goal in doing fitness, is to satisfy the desire of men. The Sketchers advertisement analyzed here does so by choosing a socialite who is admired by women and desired by men, to promote the shoes. The fact that they engage in sports only to make men happy constructs women as passive by suggesting that women actually do not like sports. Finally, the society frames women as passive by reinforcing the patriarchal gender roles according to which, women do not ‘act’ but rather, the wait for men to act for them, against them, or because of them. Consequently, by framing the two genders are radically, different, the advertisers stress the fact that women’s sports shoes are destined for them only, and their purpose is to help women reach the beauty ideals of the society. This way, they are constructed as passive by showing that they have the roles of sexual objects, or objects of men’s fantasies, and that sport is only a way of helping women fulfill that role.
Works Cited
Bordo, Susan. “Never Just Pictures.” Seeing and Writing 4. Ed. Donald McQuade and Chrsitine McQuade. Boston & New York: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2010. 367-372. Print.
Copeland, Libby. “Is Diet Soda Girly.” Slate. Web. <http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gender_contamination_when_women_buy_a_product_men_flee.html >
Pollitt, Katha. “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls.” Seeing and Writing 4. Ed. Donald McQuade and Chrsitine McQuade. Boston & New York: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2010. 381-383. Print.
