Read the first one from the packet ("Men's Men, and Women's Women") and respond as a comment here. What the topic? The lens? What conclusions does the author reach about the topic, through the exercise of viewing it through this lens? Do you agree with the conclusions? (Not everyone I give you will relate to gender and advertising, I promise, but I thought this essay was a particularly clear way to look at the concept of lens and topic.)


(You can find a somewhat different version of the essay online here)

Remember -- Looking for a lens or topic or both from you by Tuesday. 

 


Comments

Max Ebb
03/14/2010 11:44

The topic of "Men's Men and Women's Women" by Steven Craig, is gender. Craig explores the topic of gender through the lens of television advertising and the different techniques and methods used in this field. Through the use of various commercials to outline different aspects of the television marketing world, Craig is able to highlight the extreme differences for commercials targeted at men and at women. Craig's conclusion is that advertisers will always manipulate gender stereotypes in order to best sell there products. Craftily used images as well as careful timing allow advertisers to access their target audience efficiently and be able to play on gender stereotypes in the most effective ways. I agree with Craig's conclusion that advertisers will always use things like stereotypical gender images in order to sell their products and make the most profit. I also agree with Craig's point that advertisers care less about addressing the gender classifications as an issue than they do exploiting them and using them for their own gain.

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Liam O'Flaherty
03/14/2010 15:41

In his essay, "Men's Men and Women's Women," Steven Craig addresses the topic of gender. With the constant brigade of media influence, strong messages are sent out about gender roles. Through the lens of the most popular form of media influence, television advertising, Craig successfully unveils the image of the American man and woman that the advertisers are trying to convey. Craig basically uses various television advertisements to highlight the proposed differences between men and women, i.e men like beer, fishing, and are dominant, and women are skinny, beautiful, and dumb. Craig concludes by saying that the target audience demands wholly on the way men and women are portrayed. For instance, If the target audience is young stay at home mothers, than the advertisement will depict a loving home environment in which the mother, who is kind, loving and gentle, uses this product to improve the life of their child. Advertisers use gender stereotypes to their advantage to sell their desired products to a target audience. I am in total agreement with Craig that advertisers will try to use gender stereotypes in order to sell their products. Advertisers will always find the most effective means of selling their products, and making people believe that this product will turn them into the ideal man or woman, is the most effective way to sell the product.

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Amrita Rao
03/14/2010 16:12

The main focus, or topic, of Steven Craig's essay "Men's Men and Women's Women" is gender roles and more specifically, the way men and women perceive their own roles and the roles of the opposite sex. These ideal roles, as Craig explores through advertisements, differ between men and women. Craig describes the attitudes and strategies that advertisers use to target particular groups based on perceived gender roles and preferences. The lens through which Steven Craig analyzes gender roles is therefore gender specific advertisements and their respective audiences.

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Roxanne
03/14/2010 17:05

"Men's Men and Women's Women" addresses the topic of gender in America. He uses advertisements, including four specific examples, as his lens. Craig demonstrates that women view women and men differently than men do. The ads we see are specifically target to the audience that is watching the shows, with ads more targeted at women at home during the day and men at night during sports broadcasts. As a result, the advertisements perpetuate many gender role stereotypes. Advertisers see this as an effective way to promote their products.

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Kate Margulis
03/14/2010 17:09

The topic of Steven Craig's article was gender and how men and women percieve the ideal person of each gender and percieve each gender's role. The lens that Craig used to look at this topic was television advertisments, and specifically the four that he talked about: two from the weekends, when men would likely be watching, and two from weekdays, when women would likely be watching. Using the ads to focus on the way men and women percieve gender, Craig drew the conclusion that men think men should be free and in control and that women should be attractive, but more at the mercy of the men. Women, on the other hand, think that women should be put together, active, and in a committed relationship.

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Sascha
03/14/2010 18:54

The topic is gender; the lens is television advertising. Craig analyzes various television commercials – from their content to the time of day during which they air – in order to show how they reflect men’s and women’s perceptions of themselves and of each other. Men are confronting (or escaping) their waning masculinity while women are concerned with their body image as a means of preserving their family and their marriage. Advertisers recognize and exploit this frequently, reinforcing our patriarchal society.

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Tanny K
03/14/2010 19:41

The topic of the article is gender stereotypes/gender roles in American society. The lens is television advertising from both the male and female perspectives. The author's conclusions are that depending on the time of day, companies will use advertisements to cater to an audience of a particular gender, women in the day and men at night/weekends. The author claims that companies show men and women differently depending on the what their preconceptions of gender. I think that Craig is right in terms of how companies will target audiences for the sake of efficiency and try to play with stereotypes in order to grab viewers' attention.

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Hallie
03/14/2010 19:53

The topic is gender roles in society and the lens is typical television advertisements. Craig examines four different commercials from many angles. Craig uses the air time, content, physical descriptions and words to all prove his point that advertisers really use the audience to their advantage. He shows that women and men perceive themselves and their gender in its entirety. Manly men never have committed relationships, always have fun and escaping life. While women have their bodies, pretty much the only thing they care about and use to their advantage. Women are seen as preserving their body for their family. Men do not have a family. The commercials that women see are full of intimate, committed and caring ... and long-lasting relationships, while the men never stay with the same woman. Advertisers use the stereotypes effectively to prove their point thereby enforcing the male patriarchy in our society. Craig is showing us what we all know, advertisers reinforce the stereotypes of the typical man and woman. Advertisers merely see it as a way to sell their products.

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Greg
03/14/2010 20:24

The topic is gender "fantasies and stereotypes," which is analyzed through the lens of television commercials. Craig shows how marketing executives that design and run advertisements for their companies do so in the most profitable possible way--by pandering to and exploiting our preconceived notions of men's and women's respective roles in society. The advertisements are extremely well calculated in terms of timing and demographics, and use both subtle and blatant, gendered images that both sell their product as well as propagate gender stereotypes. I agree with Craig's conclusion, and as we have learned from our debates, we don't have to accept gender-exploiting ads as our fate.

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Tessa
03/14/2010 22:05

The topic of this piece is how modern day gender roles are portrayed in the media. Steve Craig uses the lens of two typical commercials marketed towards males and two typical commercials marketed towards females to explore this topic. Through viewing the portrayal of gender roles today through these four commercials, Craig concludes that gender stereotyping in advertisements continues today, in a more "subtle and insidious" way. He also comes to the conclusion that industries have an economic incentive to use advertisements to reinforce patriarchal gender roles - so that men and women continue to buy in the same gender-based patterns that they have for years.

I do agree with these conclusions - I'd say almost every TV ad I watch that features either men or women follows the same basic pattern of reinforcing gender roles. And although I don't know enough about it to form a real opinion, it makes sense to me that companies would have an economic incentive to reinforce these gender roles. It's easy to market Barbie to girls who want to look to like her, and easy to sell beers to men who think beer is a man's drink. Its an interesting problem to tackle, because its not something that can really be regulated by the government, and it doesn't seem like any corporation would be compelled to change their advertising strategy. And today, maybe because the advertisements are so subtle, and because most people don't consider sexism to be a big issue in this country, there isn't a powerful movement from women or the public to change it either.

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Hye-Jung
03/15/2010 01:29

In "Men's Men and Women's Women," Steve Craig looks closely at gender roles through the lens of television advertising. He analyzes four different advertisements and what they reflect about gender stereotypes, concluding that that men and how women view gender roles differently, a fact that advertisers exploit by tailoring advertisements to be appealing to their target audience. By the way the advertisements he examines are set up, he comes to the conclusion that men think that men should be tough and masculine and that women are objects of fantasy and desire, while women think that men should be masculine, yet compassionate, and that women should be strong, yet nevertheless subject to the power of men. By taking advantage of gender differences, Craig argues, advertisers reinforce the patriarchy of our society.

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David Han
03/15/2010 02:35

Steve Craig’s topic in “Men’s Men and Women’s Women” is gender identity through the lens of specifically designed commercials during different parts of the day.

Craig first spurns the economic exploitation of the commercials for insincerely and disrespectfully portraying both genders in the commercials. He briefly delves into the fact that the sole purpose of commercials is to expose its target audience with images that associate the product with pleasurable ideals. The businesses want to sell the product to make a profit, and they will go through whatever means necessary to achieve that goal.

Then, Craig observes the stereotypes these commercials impose on its viewers, usually young men and women. In the Men’s Women commercial, Craig notes how the women are simply objects of desire and how in Women’s Men, men are vulnerable and completely submissive in relationships.

The portrayals of gender identity seem to be a problem, according to Craig. There seems to be no contact or communication between the genders outside of the commercial world, which allows the ideals in the advertisements slowly become the viewers’ realities. I agree that the portrayal of gender identity has become a problem in part due to the ever-present television watching culture we live in today.

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Jolie
03/15/2010 03:56

In this article, Steve Craig talks about the gender roles exisiting in our society that reflect from the popular form of media: television ads. He examines each gender from a gendered point-of-view on TV, showing a growing gender stereotype in our society. However, Craig seems to say that TV ads are not for blame. Instead, it is the audience who demands such roles to be protrayed. I agree with his conclusion. It is certainly easier to behave according to our stereotypes, but to fight against them is much, much harder.

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Lucky
03/15/2010 05:49

The overall topic explored is gender, and the lens is advertising and the media. He builds the idea that advertisers will always twist gender stereotypes in order to sell their product. In this method, advertisers can reach their target audience and sell their product more efficiently. I agree with Craig, and I also believe that what the media defines as "male" or "female" eventually becomes accepted as the norm. For example, women are meant to be "soft" and empathetic, while men are tough. The media then must always twist and twist the stereotype.

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Jesse
03/15/2010 06:27

The topic of Craig's essay is portrayal of gender in television advertisements. The lens are the four specific TV advertisements he analyzes in the body of his essay (regarding portrayal of men to men, men to women, women to women, and women to men). He looks at the time of day specific advertisements are shown, programming that goes with the advertisements, and the ads' target audiences.

Ultimately, Craig concludes that "gender images in television commercials provide an especially intriguing field of study." He says that what's displayed in these advertisements reveals a lot about the target audiences. I agree with Craig's conclusion; the way television portrays men and women for men and women reflects truths in society. Society feeds the media with ideas, and the media provides society with "norms;" it's like the feedback loop mentioned in the Merchants of Cool.

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Dan H
03/15/2010 07:00

The topic of the essay was the stereotypical roles of men and women in society through the lens of advertisements on television. I agree with Craig in that the roles that the media imposes on society eventually becomes the norm; women are supposed to be thoughtful, soft, caring and not outspoken. Men are supposed to be loud, dominating, strong, charismatic people who take control of any situation that they enter into. I also agree with him in that it is the consumers choice whether or not to accept the advertisements and that we do not have to accept this portrayal of men's and women's roles as the way things must be.

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Chris Erspamer
03/15/2010 08:12

The essay's topic clearly dealt with the way advertisements use gender roles and stereotypes for commercial purposes, and in doing so indirectly promote these very roles and stereotypes to some degree. The lens basically covered the psychology of commercial sponsors or producers, who adhere to the unrealistic notions of both genders at distinct times so as to benefit overall. Craig's conclusion was less explicit, but in the end seemed mostly a comment on the society that both reflects and is encouraged by the media's gender-based topics. For the most part I agree with this conclusion: it is inevitable that men as well as women would feel their identity enforced through these commercials, and in doing so are driven to by an otherwise completely unrelated product. There are no losers in this scenario: but the companies clearly win the most.

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Emma
03/15/2010 14:46

The topic of the essay is the stereotypical gender roles of woman and men and the the lens in which the author tackles this issue is advertisements in the media. Craig examines different commercials shown at different times of day, concluding that advertisers adjust their messages to please each sex. The advertisements mirror the stereotype that the man's ideal woman is passive and promiscuous and the woman's ideal man is submissive. He criticizes the media for enforcing these stereotypes on television and for using them to sell products. I agree that the media does play into creating and enforcing gender stereotypes and think that they have a harmful impact on us.

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Allen L
03/15/2010 17:13

The topic of Craig's piece is the stereotyping of male and female behavior through the mass media. The is a clear distinction between the advertisements that are seen on TV: which are meant to appeal to women, and which are meant to appeal to men. He is critical of advertisements that blatantly appeal to one gender because they reinforce ideologies for both men and women that acts like a snare - we are caught into the message because of this idealized image and perpetuate that image throughout our daily lives. Craig says that we must better understand gender and the role of mass culture in defining it. Thus, society becomes less dependent on the image and opinions of a few.

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Ariel Rivkin
03/15/2010 20:54

Gender is the topic of "Men's Men and Women's Women" by Steven Craig. Craig discusses gender through the lens of television advertising and the different methods used. Steven Craig uses various commericals to highlight various aspects of the television to marketing world. He outlines the extreme differences between commercials for men and commercials for women.
Craig concludes that the advertisers will continue to use the respective gender stereotypes in order to sell their products and make profit. He also concludes that advertisers will use images to catch the attention of their target audience. This allows the advertising companies to reach their target audience and to make money.
I agree with Craig's conclusion that advertisers will always use techniques such as stereotypical gender images in order to sell products and make the most money. I also agree with Craig's point that advertisers care less about addressing the gender classifications as an issue than they do exploiting them and using them for their own gain. The advertisment companies are very selfish and stubborn. Without a huge push, the advertising companies will continue to be lazy and refuse to change the way they advertise, regardless of their advertisment side effects.

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wenqi
03/16/2010 00:04

The topic being discussed in "Men's Men and Women's Women" is gender stereotypes. The lens is through television advertisements, which are often geared toward a specific target group, gender playing a large role.

Craig argues that gender stereotypes are exaggerated in commercials to give a certain image of the product to the specific target group. It is precisely because of these for-profit advertisements that gender stereotypes even exist. On the other hand, these ads would also be ineffective if the audience watching them did not hold the same assumptions and prejudices. In essence, this is a positive feedback-loop: one increases the other, increases the other. The more ads tell consumers to believe in rigid gender differences, the more the public believes in gender stereotypes, and the more the advertising agencies will exploit those beliefs. Craig even points out that there might be no way out of this deadly cycle.

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07/05/2010 12:24

dumb article

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