Nike and Gender

Gender advertisement refers to the images in advertising that look at stereotypical gender roles. Throughout the years of advertising, gender displays have always been the battle between masculinity versus femininity, and it has not changed one bit. Gender displays are used heavily in advertising in order to establish the role of one gender in relation with the other, and some argue that advertisers are obsessed with gender. It is this relationship that advertisers focus on, because people define themselves by gender, and gender can be “communicated at a glance,” making it easy for advertisers to use this theme in their work.

“Women are depicted in quite a different way than men not because feminine is different from masculine, but because the ideal spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.” – John Berger

Nike ad campaigns are some of the most successful in the world because they concentrate their ads on the view through the male eyes.

Nike advertisements portray men as powerful, dominant and overtly masculine. The male athlete is engaged in activity. This gives him a kind of anonymity that allows his strength to be applied to anyone who buys Nike’s products.

Women, however, are portrayed very differently because Nike displays them in advertising as overly sexualized and objectified. The ads that feature women bombard the viewer with images of good looking women. They are often shown in ways that accentuate their features and appeal to men. The commercials and ads that Nike run for women suggests that a woman who buys Nike products is sexy just like the women who appear in the ads.

Nike exploits female gender stereotypes to capture the attention of viewers of both sexes. Today, Nike has a huge amount of power and influence in the advertising world and takes advantage of strengthening these stereotypes that they portray to their audiences.

“Men act and women appear; men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at.” –John Berger