Sex, lies and advertising

Sex, Lies & Advertising

Only the most naive of people believe that advertising does not in someway impact the content published in magazines. However, few are aware of the degree that the distinction between advertising and content has become completely blurred. As Gloria Steinem reveals in her article "Sex, Lies & Advertising," "Often, editorial becomes one giant ad." (Steinem, 1990). To support her accusation, Steinen gives a detailed account of how advertising dollars controlled not only what advertisements the feminist publication Ms Magazine could run, but also how content had to be altered in order to attract ads.

Does consumer power really drive what types of ads are run in magazines? According to Steinem, this is not necessarily the case.

Although her magazine had presented ample evidence to advertisers that women are decision makers in purchases involving automobiles, consumer electronics such as sound equipment, VCS, and computers and office equipment, the publication had a really hard time obtaining advertisements for these types of products. One of the reasons given is that the advertising industry lags consumer reality. Where women may once have turned to their significant others to help them make their decisions, they now increasingly rely on their own judgment. but, the old perceptions remain ingrained in advertising executives. and, Stinem states that acceptance of products by women is viewed as a threat to the perceptions of the products by males.

Most disturbing, is the censorship imposed on magazines by advertisers. Not surprising is the demand for complementary articles to boost the appeal of advertised products. but, what is truly astonishing is the demand to avoid content that is not favorable to advertisers. For example, after Ms Magazine reported on the carcinogens in hair dyes, Clairol withdrew its advertising support.

Further, cigarette makers withdrew their backing when the magazine showed them that women found their methods of advertising to be offensive. The degree of control is so severe that cosmetics manufacturer Revlon discontinued its ad schedule after Ms Magazine ran a story featuring a cover of Soviet women who were not wearing makeup. Not to be outdone, Eastern Airlines cancels its subscription of the magazine for its flights because it is offended by ads for lesbian poetry journals.

Unfortunately, sexism and anti-gay sentiments aren't the only drivers for advertising control. Diversity in the ad world is seen as a direct threat to reaching the white audience, just as appealing to women is seen as a threat to being able to appeal to men. As a result, ads for ethnicities such as blacks and Hispanics are limited to media designed to target only these audiences.

Steinem rues the advertiser's power over her magazine. She regrets the use of a feminist magazine to sell products that are bad for women, but explains the financial necessity for doing so. Cigarette and alcohol ads provide a disproportionate amount of advertising support and can't be forfeited without threatening the survival of the magazine. In fact, ads themselves begin to compete with content for space, changing the content to ad ration from 60/40 to 50/50. The following statement by Steinen reflects her degree of despair:

There is hardly a night when I don't wake up with sweaty palms and pounding heart, scared that we won't be able to pay the printer or the post office; scared most of all that closing our doors will hurt the women's movement." (Steinem, 1990).

Steinem asserts that women's media is more subjected to "institutionalized" control than other publications. A long history of tradition involving sexual discrimination is very difficult to change. Certain women's magazines have had some success, but by towing the line of tradition by keeping fashion, beauty and entertaining articles and tacking on career articles as a secondary feature. This, according to Steinem, has created artificial stereotypes of women to conform to an artificial reality that caters to the needs of advertisers. Today, advertisers have an institutionalized formula that regulates ad placement and criteria for judging success. This institutionalization has even been extended to the way women are supposed to look and act and permeates all forms of media, even the New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair.