The image of women in modern car advertisements

The thesis deals with the display of stereotyped female images for the purposes of car advertising. In the theoretical part, we first define advertising and highlight its fundamental functions with an emphasis on the characteristics and functions of advertising of female images.

In the following, we present images of women/femininity that appear in car advertising and analyse the consumers’ attitude towards them. Additionally, we present the types of women suggested by car advertising and address the issue of the female body as an object of desire.

The research part is based on an opinion poll on the dominant types and roles of women in car advertising from the point of view of consumers and on a comparative analysis of similarities and differences in the advertising typification of women for the needs of the car industry in the 1960s and today.

Finally, we discuss the legal regulation of the “eco” or “green” advertising in the modern automotive industry in Slovenia.

The thesis closes with the presentation of the conceptual design and production of an additional thesis project work, which in terms of good practice illustrates the morally and ethically indisputable advertising portrayal of women for the needs of the modern automotive industry and sustainable artistic design. Social norms and values ​​change over time, which also changes the stereotypical images of women and femininity.

Car advertising uses these stereotypical images particularly to influence men’s consumer behaviour. The results of the study on consumers’ opinion regarding stereotypical images of women in car advertising have shown that the female type of wife / mother / housewife and the type of woman as an object of sexual desire predominate in car advertisements.

Consumers perceive such depictions as sexistic, offensive towards women and partly inappropriate for younger children and the public in general.

A comparison between female images in car commercials from the 1960s and the contemporary ones has shown that the classic female type of wife / mother / housewife was first aesthetically eroticized and then vulgarly sexualized until it reached the modern fetishized type of femininity in the disguise of a fatal woman.

In accordance with the applicable legislation, Slovenian car advertisers comply with the lawful demands of “Eco” or “Green” advertising. The additional bachelor thesis project is an example of good practice in the field of car advertising, which avoids sexistic stereotyping of women and femininity, and considers the requirements of “Eco” or “Green” advertising.