Individual Journal 2

1. Foundation in Natural and Built Environments (FNBE)
Ong Eu Xuan
0319050
Social Psychology - PSY30203
Journal 2

2. Ever since I was a child, I was prone to conforming to narrowly defined gender play roles. Many
adults apt to reinforce ideas of how male should possess masculine traits and how female should
possess feminine traits into young children minds, causing them to develop gender stereotypes at
a very young age. Besides young education, commercials and advertisements may also be one of
the vast sources of gender stereotypes.
Advertisements tend to target a specific group. This Blacksmore Collagen advertisement reflects
gender stereotype. A female model’s face is focused as the object of the advertisement, reflecting
females as the consumer of the product. Women are more often presented in in advertisements,
because society generalized women as the people who are responsible for purchasing daily
products. Unlike men, who are usually portrayed as ‘dominant’ in car and business investment
advertisements, women are usually portrayed indoors or at home.
Furthermore, women commonly advertise cosmetics. In this Blacksmore Collagen
advertisement, the female model advertises a product that is believed to be able to retain the
confidence of youth in women. This reflects a woman whom major concern is to look young and
preserve her beauty. Women are seen as people who might only look normal and accepted if they
caked their face with cosmetics and facial products. This advertisement apt to give society a
wrong idea of how women should act. This may lead to young children developing gender
stereotypes at a very young age.
Newspaper and magazine advertisements today tend to be manipulating and negative. They are
powerful and influential when it comes to passing messages and shaping an individual’s
thinking. Instead of shaming and stereotyping genders, advertisements should be universal and
reach out to people of all kind. Society today should provide a more solid knowledge about
gender stereotypes and this traditional and close-minded thinking needs to be broken down.