Lather, Rinse, Repeat – The Stereotyping of Women in Magazine Grooming Advertisements

Sammanfattning: This study investigates how magazine grooming advertisements currently portray and stereotype women. By examining women’s portrayal and stereotyping, this research aims to uncover whether advertising depicts women fairly based on their changing role in society from a rather traditional, domestic and dependent role to a more non-traditional, professional and independent one. With this purpose, this study analyzed 92 unique grooming advertisements found in the 2017 issues of the U.S. women’s lifestyle magazines Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping. The grooming advertisements were analyzed through a qualitative semiotic discourse analysis and in conjunction with established theories on the attributes of stereotypes, Goffman’s gender display framework and grooming rituals to uncover the underlying meanings communicated by grooming advertisements. The results show that magazine grooming advertisements portray and stereotype women predominantly in traditional feminine and submissive poses while being dependent and concerned with reaching beauty ideals. However, the results further indicate that some advertisements undertake a more empowering approach and stereotype women as being powerful, independent and capable of breaking down traditional female gender roles and beauty expectations, hence showing that advertisements are slowly adapting to women’s changing role in society.