| Abstract [eng] |
Traditionally, in advertising, gender roles were represented very stereotypically. Recent research emphasizes two main processes that happened in the advertising industry during the last two decades. Firstly, stereotypical gender roles' representation decreased in advertising. Secondly, in the advertising industry, women have started to be represented in a more realistic way. We can see a new stage in the advertising industry that is related to feminism practices in recent times. “Ad-her-tising” and “Femvertising” are terms used to describe a new advertising practice that focuses on women and empowers them, as well as promotes gender equality. Nevertheless, women empowerment ads are a very common and comprehensively discussed topic in the West, but there is not any scientific research which analyses "Femvertising" phenomena in Lithuania. What is more, in Lithuania, there are only a few ads that try to empower women. The main goal of this research thesis is to analyse the main reasons why brands in Lithuania do not use women empowering ads, according to Lithuanian advertising agency experts. To achieve this goal, 10 semi-structured interviews with advertising agency experts from 7 different advertising agencies were conducted. People who work at advertising agencies have a lot of experience working with different brands and are more likely to monitor the latest trends and adapt them to their client’s communication. During the interview, Lithuanian marketing experts were asked about the importance and problems of gender representation in ads and how genders are represented in Lithuanian commercials. Also, they were inquired about their personal experience working in the Lithuanian advertising industry and what they personally think about women empowering ads. What is more, one of the goals was to understand how gender representation changed during the last 10-15 years in the Lithuanian advertising market, what kind of brands in Lithuania use women empowering ads and promote gender equality. Also, Lithuanian marketing agency experts were asked about the criticism that women empowering ads receive and whether ads can change society's attitude towards gender. To summarize all the research findings, a few important points were discovered. Firstly, Lithuanian advertising agency experts consider gender as an important aspect in ads if it has a positive impact on a brand’s marketing strategy implementation. Women empowering advertisements will become more common in Lithuania as they begin to represent society's attitudes toward gender roles and gain more selling power. Secondly, in the Lithuanian market, gender roles are represented very stereotypically, and patriarchy still dominates. Nevertheless, tendencies are changing a little bit, and very sexualized women's portraits are starting to gain criticism in society. Thirdly, among Lithuanian advertising agencies experts dominate postfeminist understanding of women. Women's success is associated with individual achievements. Fourthly, in Lithuania, there is a lack of activism related to various women's representations in ads. Also, in Lithuania, brands avoid political messages on their communication and prefer to concentrate on their products' communication. What is more, marketing in Lithuania is not related to activism. Existing laws that regulate the Lithuanian market are not strict enough. In conclusion, this research extended the understanding about the dominant approach about gender in the Lithuanian market. Also, it validated the main critic for women empowering ads that it is only a marketing strategy which uses feminism for brand’s benefits. Since Lithuanian society is still very traditional, brands do not create women empowering ads, because they cannot sell. The advertising industry uses feminism only for the purpose of increase profit. |
