Gender.

Ah, the age old saying: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Which in my opinion couldn't be more true! You just have to look to the men in our modern society, well known jokes and riddles refering to men and their ways- It's been even been proven scientifically! It's been stated that Women tend to think with the right side of their brain which is the more visual, creative and intuitive side of their brain, whilst men often think with the left side of their brain, which is very the basic, more "to the point using logic" side of their brain.



check out this video we watched in class! Its a humerous look into how different men and women really are!


** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuMZ73mT5zM- a satorical look at the differences between the male and female brain by Mark Gungor. **


gender differences within advertising

Gender differences within advertising has been researched by Schiebe & Condry (1984). Advertisements were analysed according to the type of product being advertised and it was found that the values being promoted within advertising aimed at male and female audiences differed significantly. It was found that that advertisements aimed at females centered around the importance of health, beauty and vitality, whilst advertisments aimed at men centered around the inportance of physical strength and and ambition.

one notable example of this I found were these 2 adverts by prolific fashion house, Dolce and Gabanna. Each of these adverts are aimed at a male and female target audience.:





note that the mens advert is kept simplistic, and to the point: just as we discussed earlier about a mans behaviour and way of thinking! The use of actor Matthew Mconahay- a common staple in films aimed at a male target audience as well as the stereotypical ideal of the "strong, masculine male- could also be a form of "aspirational advertising" for the male target audience. Also note how monotone and simplistic the mise-en-scene, lighting and colours used are as well! However, the female one uses a lot of shades and colours and there is a lot going on in the background. The ensambles worn for the print ad are visable to the eye: perhaps a play on womens' ability on focusing on every detail- thus a lot of sales and a very happy fashion house! I believed that these 2 print adverts are a good example of the theory, as one promotes strength and masculinity, whilst the other promotes beauty and vitality. It also demonstrates how the mae and female mind differ in terms of thinking when something is presented to them.



Interestingly enough, we often see items for males targeted at a female audience- a clever ploy adapted so that women can indulge their significant others in the said item- again, leading to a very happy company (:





In class we conducted two interesting experiments. The first experiment involved looking at this picture:



As a class, we were asked to highlight what we spotted in the picture, after viewing it for a brief moment. Here are a copy of my class notes, highlighting what I spotted and stored within my memory after those few minutes:


*telephone on desk
*2 chairs on either side of the desk
*painting in the background
*the round carpet
*the windows and doors on the right had side
*the two sofas in the background
*the two lamps in the background
*the big grandfather clock on the right hand side near the window and door
*the fireplace at the back of the room
*I even went as far as to create a scenario as to what the room is for: my conclusion? it very much looks like the room that could be situated in a place such as the white house!

this experiment was conducted to back the theory that females often pay attention to small detail and are able to cite a lot of things from memory, as opposed to their male counterparts that often just spot the more "apparent" rather then looking deeper and focusing beyond that.

we were then asked to view the following television adverts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blWd3iixIJc- An advert for charity organisation Banardos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMwt28P_xSQ- An advert for another charity organisation Cancer Research UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tijSx_fwoM0 - An advert for give blood.

after viewing each advert, we had to discuss which charity organisation we were most moved by emotionally. I personally (as well as the majority f the females in the class) chose both Banardos and Cancer Research UK as having the most impact on me emotionally. This is due to the fac that as females, we tend to use the right, more emotional side of our brain. The males were more swayed to the give blood advert, which did not evoke any emotion, but instead was straight to the point in explaining what the charity organisation is and what you can do to help.

In conclusion, what have we learnt today? That men are from Mars, and women are definately from venus (:

Useful link of the day!- http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

An interesting test to show you whether you have a "male" or "female" brain! Try it- the results could shock you! (mine did, even though my brain was mostly that of a "female" one, it was found that I do indeed possess some male thinking chracteristics!)

XOXO.