Applying Goffman's Gender Analysis to Modern Advertisements

Introduction: Goffman's Framework for Advertising Analysis

Erving Goffman contends that the selection of commercial pictures in advertisements is intentional and serves a specific agenda that is not in service to consumers' well-being or natural interests. He argues that this facet of culture is ripe for analysis with respect to topics such as sexuality, gender, power, the means of production, and social reality, among others. His strongest assertions concern how the analysis of commercial photography reveals keen insights when compared to behavioral practices as experienced in everyday interactions.

Goffman grounds his hypotheses in concrete methodological practices, with primary aims to locate and define discovery, proof, and presentation. Grounding his research in established methodology keeps opposition from arguing that his findings and conclusions are wild-eyed, paranoid theories that undermine American culture or the American way of life. He claims that the kind of analysis he proposes can be performed by the most naïve or the most sophisticated consumer alike.

The following analysis applies Goffman's categories to advertisements found in W magazine, specifically the "Big Fashion Issue" from September 2011. The categories examined include the Feminine Touch, the Ritualization of Subordination, and Licensed Withdrawal, as well as cases in which advertisements complicate or resist these classifications.

The Feminine Touch: Estée Lauder

The second advertisement in the magazine is a two-page spread for a lipstick from Estée Lauder. The left page — a full-page ad in its own right — features a female Caucasian model wearing a great deal of eye shadow, blush, and lipstick. She is also wearing nail polish that matches the color of her lipstick. With her mouth partially open, her fingers touch her bottom lip and trace the outline of her entire mouth.

This image is a clear illustration of what Goffman describes as the Feminine Touch — the way women in commercial photography are frequently depicted touching themselves or objects with a lightness and delicacy that signals passivity and self-preoccupation, rather than purposeful action. This model is, in precisely the manner Goffman describes, a woman touching herself.

The Ritualization of Subordination: Belstaff

A series of ads for the British brand Belstaff appears across multiple pages of the magazine. The first set of two-page ads depicts a man and woman together in a room furnished with antique pieces. Both are dressed in sharp black leather outfits. The man sits in a firmly upright position, looking directly into the camera. The woman, with her mouth agape and an expression of slight drowsiness, sits on the floor — her eye level positioned at the same height as his hands.

This composition exemplifies Goffman's category of the Ritualization of Subordination. The spatial and postural hierarchy encoded in the image — the man elevated and composed, the woman lowered and passive — communicates a power differential that Goffman identifies as a recurring convention in commercial imagery. The relative positioning of their bodies is not accidental; it reproduces culturally familiar codes of dominance and deference.

Conclusion and Reflection

It is not at all challenging to apply Goffman's categories to the magazine assessed here, or to the average magazine available in contemporary culture. His analyses are both dated and relevant. Once an idea is formally published into the collective memory, it is instantly dated. Yet, because significant progress toward the equal representation of ethnicities, classes, sexes, and genders in media has not been made, his work remains relevant in the twenty-first century. Certainly, given some of the evident global cultural changes, his ideas may need to be refined or modified to more appropriately align with modern cultural norms and practices. Nevertheless, Goffman's fundamental ideas, hypotheses, and techniques continue to be useful and productive, yielding keen insights into the interactions between capitalism, culture, advertisements, perceptions, sexuality, power, hegemony, and behavior.