Women stereotypes in advertising

I thought this bit from the article was bang on too.

But both Mr Mildenhall and Ms Bay believe that advertisers have failed to keep up with the rapid changes in female lifestyles during the past five years. Mr Mildenhall identifies five key changes in women's lifestyles that marketers should take into account. First, women are increasingly adopting male behaviour, for example in their approach to alcohol. Second, they are doing better than men in education, but not in the workplace - while they make up half of the workforce, there is still a massive pay imbalance. Third, while women are getting older, they are acting younger. For example, a 45-year-old might wear the same clothes as her teenage daughter - without looking ridiculous or in any way unusual. Fourth, women are having children much later and are less likely to stay at home with them. And finally, women are increasingly important when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But advertisers are still afraid to address them.
"Advertisers are lazy in their approach to consumers. They're stuck in a 1990s time warp where they think if they add a bit of emotion, they've done their job. Consumers have changed rapidly over the last five years," said Ms Bay.

These are points that are definitely not addressed in a majority of advertising directed at women now.

It's a copout to say that caricatures and stereotypes have to be used in a :30 because you don't have time to flush out a character. They exist in :60s as well, where there is more time. And there are adverts that do some how manage to do ads in :30 period of time without resorting to it. It's an issue because advertising is still a boy's club, there's more of a concern to "catch attention" without crafting an ad around what should be the star- the product, and a large number of advertisers still look at women from an antiquated point of view.

All you have to do is look at ads for things like peanut butter. They still use the concept "if you care about your family you should purchase brand X. If you don't you are a horrible mom." This sort of thing is like something out of the 1960s and it's rather sad and scary that it still exists today.

Of course there's not enough time to flesh out a character, but showing a woman with a pot holder setting a dish onto a table where a man and children are waiting, or a woman complaining about soap scum while wearing rubber gloves and holding a spray bottle in her hand does get a certain point across, and that point is that women are supposed to tend the children, clean the house, and keep their husbands fed and happy. The husband's job is to be unable to cook or clean and be catered to. This stereotype makes me so angry that I can barely watch tv anymore.