The Propaganda of Magazine: Advertising Culture and Gender Role Ideology

Presentation by Layla SouersMay 3, 2010

•A biweekly publication that covers music, politics and popular culture.

•Founded in 1967 by Jann Wenner (still the magazine's owner, editor and publisher) and Ralph Gleason

INTRODUCTION

• Advertising executives have used numerous propaganda techniques to spread their message

• Selling ideology– The role of females

• Sex object

– The female form and the male gaze

INTRODUCTION

• After Rolling Stone published a list of the 100 best guitar players of all-time, David Segal wrote an article for the Washington Post (2004) addressing the fact that there are not any renowned female guitar players.

• He noticed that only two female guitar players made the list.

• Segal was mostly concerned that this result did not start a debate.

INTRODUCTION

• Although the music business is dominated mainly by men (Thompson & Thompson, 2000), women are picking up instruments and making their mark in the rock world (Clawson, 1999).

• This project is about analyzing the gender role ideology depicted on the covers of Rolling Stone magazine.

INTRODUCTION

• This study attempts to use the theories of propaganda as well as framing theory to help understand the ideology behind gender roles that exist in popular culture.

LITERATURE REVIEW

• In advertising, women are often depicted as sex objects and only capable of the housewife role (Ford, & LaTour, 1996).

• Overall, women are not depicted accurately when it comes to real life career choices (Courtney & Lockeretz, 1971).

LITERATURE REVIEW

• In studying war propaganda, Ray Heibert (2003) revealed that it is important examine how the media frame ideas. – “Frames are in the synapses of our brains, in our

neural circuitry. We don’t think about facts; the mind switches to the way those facts are framed. Thus, framing the issue becomes all powerful in influencing our thought about it” (Heibert, p. 744, 2003).

QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS

• This study examines the following research questions:

RQ1: Are these women on these covers represented more as sex objects or performers?

RQ2: Does `the media' reinforce the dominant ideology?

H1: There is an occupational role difference between the ways men and women are portrayed on the magazine covers.

THEORY

• Modern Propaganda

• Framing Theory

THEORY

• Modern Propaganda

According to Jowett and O’Donnell (1986) modern propaganda theory, “ideology is a form of consent to a particular kind of social order and conformity to the rules within a specific set of social, economic, and political structures. It assigns roles to gender, racial, religious, and social groups” (p. 155).

THEORY

Advertising as Institutional Propaganda

• Advertising is one of the most widely used types of institutional propaganda (Jowett & O’Donnell, 1986).

• The Power of Advertising?– On average, people are exposed to nearly 3,000 ads

everyday (Mastin, Coe, Hamilton, and Tarr, 2004).

The Genius of

- An advertisement for the magazine

- An advertisement for the artist

THEORY

• Modern Propaganda

• Framing Theory

Theory

• Herman’s Model – This propaganda “model does suggest that the mainstream

media, as elite institutions, commonly frame news and allow debate only within the parameters of elite perspectives; and that when the elite is really concerned and unified and/or when ordinary citizens are not aware of their own stake in an issue or are immobilized by effective propaganda, the media will serve elite interests uncompromisingly” (2000, p. 104).

THEORY

Framing Theory• Began with Erving Goffman

– a sociologist, began to look at how individuals behave in social situations

– used the term frame to refer to the definitions of social situations that serve to organize experiences

– the more frames that are learned leads to complex social interactions

THEORY

Framing Theory• allows for the neat packaging of the problem,

cause, assessment, solution and salience for most of society to understand

– “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman, 1993, p. 52).

THEORY

• Framing and propaganda are very similar.

– “Propaganda is, after all, a manipulation of symbolic environment, and although it can be carried out independently of the physical environment, it can also under certain circumstances be shaped by that environment” (Jowett & O’Donnell, p. 119, 1986).

METHOD

• Rolling Stone magazine was selected for this study.

• A sample of 24 issues from 2009 were selected

• A textual analysis was performed on all 24 covers to show how females were depicted.

METHOD

• To determine how media currently portray female musicians, Rolling Stone magazine was selected.

• A textual analysis method was chosen because of

its efficacy for distinguishing hidden meanings as well as “implicit patterns, assumptions and omissions of a text” (Fursich, p. 241, 2009).

• Guidelines from past research were used.

QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS

• This study examines the following research questions:

RQ1: Are these women on these covers represented more as sex objects or performers?

RQ2: Does `the media' reinforce the dominant ideology?

H1: There is an occupational role difference between the ways men and women are portrayed on the magazine covers.

Results

RQ1: Men were shown on the most covers

RQ2: The covers reflect the dominant ideology

H1: There is an occupational role difference between the ways men and women are portrayed on the magazine covers.

FINDINGS

• Men were shown on the most covers

• Out of the 24 covers, women musicians were only shown on four of the covers

• A closer examination of those covers revealed that three covers showed these female musicians as sex objects and one was supernatural

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSION

• The covers of Rolling Stone magazine present us with an ideology of gender roles.

• It is clear that women musicians are underrepresented.• The findings help support that when women are present

on music magazine covers, it is usually as a sex object.• The role of musician is framed as a male occupation

only.• Men were shown in masculine roles such as cowboy and

soldier. In agreement with the hypothesis, this result can be supported by in the occupational roles discovered in advertising research.

DISCUSSION

Further Research– A historic analysis of the all of the covers overtime may show

that females were framed differently during women’s movements

– A content analysis of the stories• e.g. war time propaganda

– Internet sites

The Propaganda of Magazine: Advertising Culture and Gender Role Ideology

Presentation by Layla SouersMay 3, 2010