THE ROLE OF STEREOTYPING IN ADVERTISING

Abstract

This study explores the pervasive role of stereotyping in advertising in Nigeria, examining its implications on societal perceptions and consumer behavior. Advertising in Nigeria often utilizes stereotypes to create memorable and relatable content, which can simplify complex ideas and enhance brand recall. However, these stereotypes can perpetuate harmful biases and reinforce social prejudices. This research aims to dissect the dual-edged nature of stereotypes in Nigerian advertising, analyzing their benefits for marketers and their potential detrimental effects on societal norms and values.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

An advertisement is not only an announcement. It is information and persuasion which aims at attracting a client into an offer and in a consequence increase sales of this specific product. It is also considered to be an advantageous and propitious presentation of a certain product which is provided through the chosen mass media in order to make society and audience but also customers, consumers and final users realize the existence and importance of a certain brand and its products or services.

Advertising as a means of mass promotion accompanies and is present in everyplace of society and buyers’ ordinary and daily life. It inundates and attains the whole world and planet.

Advertising is about making general public together with consumers’ conscious of products, goods and provided services of a definite brand and subsequently supports augmenting its sales. Advertising aims at generating brand awareness in its every receiver, in order to create an influence which will affect customer’s purchases and will guarantee that the product will not be forgotten. It also develops brand awareness among general public and causes that the commercial company gains more popularity in the market of prospective customers. Even though many businesses devote huge expenditures on advertising their products or services therefore it may prove as a good stimulant in their revenues. Moreover, it strives for creating a brand loyalty, which is desired by every manufacturer; a client who is true and loyal to his or her convictions concerning the brand is also resistant to advertising of rivalry. Advertising serves also as an education of the client which introduced a new product to an audience. Besides, it fights with rivalry as well, as every advertisement with its implied meaning is directed against competitors. Furthermore, it builds a market brand image so at the same time it advertises the company. In our everyday life we see that the Advertisements influence our lifestyle and what we choose to become as well. We see that advertisements being the message to be conveyed adapt to the consumers point of view and perceptions of the needs, gender, roles and attitudes worldwide with the changes in time and innovations. Although we still see advertisements that foresee people in stereotypical manner or as a background of being an Nigerian.

In words of James “ Youth is the joy, the little bird that has broken out of the eggs and is eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom and hope.”

Youth are defined as those aged 15 to 29 in the national youth policy (2014). This age-group constitutes 27.5% of Nigeria’s population.

Changing the limit to perceptions and being highly spirited to revamp the nation’s ideologies.

The composition of Nigerians has changed considerably and this composition is going to continue to change decades into the future. With the influx of immigrants from all over the globe, Nigeria is experiencing a lot more changes than ever before. Yet, it does not seem as though many advertisers are paying close attention to this undeniable fact. Although the representation of ethnic groups in advertisements have increased in recent years it is still not enough. There are still less representation of the youth in television and magazine advertisements. And when the youth are represented there is a hint of covert stereotyping. Stereotyping is a psychological categorization of specific social groups held by the general public which influences decision making and information processing tasks. Stereotyping has a negative association with a particular culture or race. However, there is such a term as positive stereotyping. Positive stereotypes point out the “positive” attributes of a culture or ethic group .However, positive stereotypes are just as damaging as “negative stereotypes.” Stereotypes as a whole are dangerous because they lump one group of people unfairly into a specific category. The youth currently face the same stereotypes from times passed. Many people in television advertisements are seen, but not heard. However, when they are heard they share the advertisement with a whole new perspective. This is noteworthy; advertisements merit particular attention because they are key components of medium of media (Example-Television ads in the television).Advertisers may not realize how important of a role they play when it comes to stereotyping the youth, and are not intentionally producing stereotypical advertisements. Their goal is to get information out about a product or service to their market segment. But advertisers need to pay attention to who they are marketing to, and let their market segment assist with determining if a particular print or commercial may be perceived as stereotypical, especially if the market segmentation is related to the students. Advertisers have a strong influence on shaping the perceptions of people, based on how the characters in the advertisements are portrayed. Furthermore, advertisements have the ability to either Help eradicate the negative perceptions of people, or they can facilitate pervasive Stereotypes, which may increase error and doubt. There is also more at risk. Negative stereotypes of Nigerian youth in advertising, may affect the self-esteem of people. The continuation of minimal representation or negative depictions of oneself reflected in media may cause the young adults to question their self-worth and importance to society. More importantly, these images might affect children exponentially. It is also important to note that children cannot fully differentiate what is fact and what is fiction when watching television. Advertisers must realize that more is at stake than selling a product or service. There are also social responsibilities to contend with currently, the youth have the purchasing power of approximately a lot more by the years. The buying power of theirs is further reason why advertisers must revisit how they are targeting their markets. Not only is non stereotypical advertising a matter of social responsibility, but it can quite possibly affect the bottom line. It is also apparent that advertisers are not acknowledging the changing demographics when it comes to targeting younger generations. In this research study the stereotyping of the youth in advertisements will be explored. This stereotyping not only affects young ones, but all Nigerians as a whole. The goal of this research is to examine how advertising stereotypes propagate age, responsibility, and its effects on society and determine if advertisers share a responsibility in the perpetuation of stereotypes or if they are simply providing us with what they want.

Markets focus on making their products identifiable to groups, the more appealing to the eyes of customers the better sales is their primary strategy being followed even now .The only thing that is changing is the “How” of this production strategy.

Stereotypes are assumptions we make about people based on generalisations about groups of people. A conventional way of representing someone or something so that our view of it becomes fixed and can give rise to prejudice. Outsiders often become the subject of stereotyping. The stereotype can easily be used to support an ideology. The use of stereotyped images helps people to make sense of ambiguous situations, and a consequence can be that labelled troublemakers develop a self-image that fits.

The media’s role in stereotyping was explored in a ground breaking study by British Sociologist Stan Cohen. In 1964, at the Easter bank holiday, there was little news and as a result, some papers printed stories about trouble between mods and rockers at various seaside resorts, even though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. In his book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Cohen uses the term ‘moral panic’ to describe a situation when people fear that the major values and institutions are under attack. Scapegoats are needed to account for the problems. Young people often fit the requirements, he believes, because they are readily visible and relatively powerless to defend themselves.

Emotional harm

We see that not all advertisements show a personality perfectly but in the very attempt tend to hurt a lot of peoples’ feelings causing them harm in return which is responsible for their vulnerability emotionally.

In the advertisements we also see that the people portraying the roles have the perfect build and shape of nose, complexion and a perfect body that not everyone attains or which is not even healthy but skinny figure (in case of women) and all the men shown have a set of six- pack abs. When we unconsciously try to live up to the unattainable standards of the stereotype we can do physical and emotional harm to ourselves. Often, we don't notice this because we tend to mould ourselves to fit these stereotypes as a matter of course. This can be damaging.

Sexual imagery in advertising

The Media’s duty is to sell information reaching millions of audience it is a business in whichever form. Advertisements convince the consumers to but their products. Example- Pepsi co and Coke wars (one supporting sports and the other promoting happiness respectively) these ads mainly focus on the students and the youth in general. The advertisers’ manipulation of our choice does affect us subliminally.

Every day we see about a hundred advertisements introduced to us but only a few receiving limelight and now with the Social Medias’ presence we get to see all of them provided the censor board does not ban the advertisement.

We often see ads that feature superficially beautiful or "desirable" models, so it is no surprise that sexual imagery is used to sell products. But depicting people this way also contributes to gender stereotypes.

Examples of such advertisements are such as Slice mango drink, Axe men deodorants and soap ads;

Images of women

Advertisements not only sell products but also the relationships, ideas of romance, success, beauty, and power. Ads are the world showing that no one is disabled and that everyone is happy where they are and all are under 40, that the woman’s necessity is to look beautiful, make up and be perfectly groomed and that her body is in constant need of improvement for life.

How the media shows muscularity

We have known from a lot of researches that many media critics and feminists have been examining the role of the media creating and reinforcing stereotypical representations of women and feminism and ideas of men and masculinity.

We see that the men are of associated with having power both as status, being sexually attractive and being the authority or the head /leader of the house in the advertisements.

Media also talks of the “real” man image in our society. In a lot of media’s portrayals we see that male characters are rewarded for their self-control and the control of the others, aggression and violence, financial independence, and desirability. The media in general tends to reinforce men’s social dominance. the majority of masculine characters in advertisements are shown to be hetero sexual; male characters are often associated with the sphere of work rather than the private sphere of the home which are often associated to the woman referred to as the “angel of the house”, and also the issues and problems related to work are more to them than personal issues. The men are often seen as the head of the family figure.

Masculinity and Advertising

Masculinity by its very definition refers to gendering the male figure i.e. identity. A male adheres to the society’s dictating qualities he is expected to have in general such as being physically strong, possess great sexual potency.

Over the ages we see that men’s products advertised in Nigeria are mostly the shaving products, underwear, toiletries, alcohol (indirectly) etc. and although the latter is not exclusively men’s product, the ads mostly target the male population. (The stereotypical understanding of women being seen as unfeminine if they drink, smoke etc.) We see that even the models shown are of a particular size, shape and build. They are mostly tall, fair and muscular adhering to the Aryan ideas of beauty. For example, the AMUL Macho undergarments ads, AXE deodorants which show the bulging biceps and abs of the models and that the women can see nothing except these men in front of them.so buying these products makes the men in the country self-assured of their masculinity and sexuality too.

And now we also see the beauty industry target the men, who were earlier ignored due to notions of exaggerated hyper masculinity. The companies wanted to offer their products and services to them, metro sexuality was promoted by media, the advertisements, where there is a reassurance that the products won’t harm the accepted masculinity in any way. It was seen as an extension of their grooming essentials. Example-Garnier Fructis shampoo and Garnier, Nivea face wash for men.

In a way, we can say that scope to the masculine behaviour to appear in public cannot be clearly subjugated which is then called effeminate, emasculated, etc. and eventually denied a place in society. There is a need to re-evaluate the way advertisements are produced.

Author and academic Susan Bordo (University of Kentucky) has also analysed gender in advertising, and agrees that men are usually portrayed as virile, muscular and powerful. Their powerful bodies dominate space in the ads. For women, the focus is on slenderness, dieting, and attaining a feminine ideal; women are always presented as not just thin, but also weak and vulnerable.

These critics and others suggest that just as traditional advertising has for decades sexually objectified women and their bodies, today’s marketing campaigns are objectifying men in the same way.

Advertisements targeting the Youth

From the past decade we have come across revolutionary changes in every industry which obviously doesn’t leave advertising behind. The youth being the spring of life is a reason for their portrayal in a lot of advertisements and being the major target audience as well. In Nigeria youth advertising dawned in the recent years, adopted from the west the improvement in technology and the youth’s usage and awareness of goods has changed the preferences of the advertising methods. We see that when we come across the usage of gadgets, bikes, cosmetics etc. mostly by the youth and introduced for them in the market. Nowadays we see that the teens and college going children invest a lot in the bikes, smartphones, perfumes, cosmetics and apparels. We also see the new trend of online shopping coming into play where in a click you can purchase products available and get them shipped home.as shown in the advertisements of flipkart.com, amazon.in, jabong.com and myntra.com.

We see that advertisements highly communicate with their taglines being very catchy and cling on to the thought of purchasing something of their brand and defines the company’s identity. “Just do it”-Nike, “open happiness”-Coca Cola, “Think different”-Apple, “eat fresh”-Subway, “So Good”-KFC, etc. We have heard these slogans many times during the course of a day in some fashion or other. What they all have in common is that they are directed toward teenagers and young adults. The youth are probably more influenced by advertising than any other age group, and they are really not aware of it.

1.2 Statement of Problem

Advertising is a powerful tool for shaping public opinion and consumer behavior. In Nigeria, the use of stereotypes in advertising is widespread, often reflecting and reinforcing cultural, gender, and ethnic biases. The problem lies in the potential negative impact of these stereotypes on the society. Stereotyping in advertising can perpetuate narrow and often negative perceptions of different groups, influencing how individuals see themselves and others. This practice can lead to the marginalization of certain groups, fostering discrimination and social division. Despite its effectiveness in capturing audience attention, the ethical implications and social consequences of using stereotypes in advertising necessitate a critical examination. Understanding how these stereotypes affect Nigerian society is essential for developing more inclusive and responsible advertising strategies.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The study has undertaken with the following objectives:

1. To examine the opinion of students of age group 18-25 years regarding the impact of advertisements they watch.

2. To study the reasons behind the purchase demands.

3. To know opinion of the youth forming opinion over the TV Ads. To analyse the type of ads seen by young generation.

4. To make appropriate suggestions to regulate the impact of Advertisements on the young people.

1.4 Objectives of the study

1. What are the opinion of students of age group 18-25 years regarding the impact of advertisements they watch.

2. What are the reasons behind the purchase demands.

3. What are the opinion of the youth forming opinion over the TV Ads.

4. What are the types of ads seen by young generation.

5. What are the appropriate suggestions to regulate the impact of Advertisements on the young people.

1.5 Significance of Study

This study is significant as it addresses a critical intersection of media influence, cultural representation, and social ethics within the context of Nigerian advertising. By examining the role of stereotyping, the research provides insights into how advertisements shape societal norms and individual identities. The findings can inform advertisers, policymakers, and scholars about the potential harms of relying on stereotypes, encouraging a shift towards more balanced and inclusive representations. This study also contributes to broader discussions on media ethics and the responsibility of advertisers in fostering a more equitable society. In a multicultural nation like Nigeria, where diverse ethnic and social groups coexist, promoting inclusive advertising practices can help mitigate social tensions and promote unity.

1.6 Scope and Limitations of Study

The scope of this study encompasses an analysis of advertising content across various media platforms in Nigeria, including television, print, radio, and digital media. It will investigate both contemporary and historical advertisements to understand the evolution of stereotyping in Nigerian advertising. The study will also consider the perspectives of consumers, advertisers, and social commentators to provide a holistic view of the issue. However, limitations include potential bias in interpreting advertisements and the subjective nature of assessing stereotypes. The study may also face challenges in accessing comprehensive data on advertising practices and their direct impacts on societal attitudes. Despite these limitations, the research aims to provide a foundational understanding of the implications of stereotyping in Nigerian advertising, paving the way for further studies in this area.

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Item Type: Project Material  |  Size: 59 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5

Format: MS Word  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.

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