Advertising in a Parallel Universe

The Mad Men era of advertising in the 1960s was ridden with stereotypical gender roles that still greatly influence society today with its sexist and misogynist themes. Most of these ads implied that a woman's place was in the kitchen, and that their only other role in life was to please their husband.

In a Parallel Universe

Photographer Eli Rezkallah shows us what shocking and degrading retro advertising would have looked like "in a parallel universe" by reversing the gender norms, highlighting the absurdity of it all.

Rezkallah on what inspired him to create the series:

"Last Thanksgiving, I overheard my uncles talking about how women are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling 'their womanly duties'... Although not all men think that way, I was surprised to learn that some still do."

If the first image seems horrible and wrong to you, then so should the second. This photo series brings to light just how much awful gender norms permeated all media types in the 20th century, affecting the upward mobility of women in that time period.

...Nothing Has Changed

But just how far have we really come? Sexist advertising didn't stop back in the 60s. The on-screen gender lag still stands tall as female representation in media hasn't changed much in the past several decades.

Chief Creative Officer of marketing and communications company J. Walter Thompson Brent Choi noted:

"When we do an ad for women's empowerment, we're great at it.When we do a regular ad for a car or a detergent or whatever it is we do, it's back to the same stereotypes and gender roles that we use."

Perhaps the continuation of harmful gender stereotypes stems from the ridiculously low percentage of female creative directors (11%) or from major advertising agencies consistently protecting the "status of men through the organized subordination of women."

These power imbalances from the top are trickling down to the ads we and our children see and are influenced by, doing nothing to combat systemic sexism and exterminate the problem and issues.

The age-old argument for ads like these is that "sex sells," but is this even true? Would consumers actually buy a product just because there's a sexually-charged image associated with it? Sadly, sex does still sell, and quite well.

But what sells even better than sex is activism.

How has advertising influenced your perception of stereotypes – whether gender, racial, cultural, etc. – growing up? What do you think can be done to finally change how women are perceived in advertising and media?