Blatant stereotype_MTN_SA


Date: January 1, 1970
  • SHARE:

The advert is promoting MTN SMS bundles. MTN is a mobile telephone service provider. In this advert it is calling on consumers to get MTN SMS Bundles and stand a chance to win R1000 airtime everyday. There is a picture of a semi-naked woman giving the thumbs up for the bundles.

This article may be used to:
1. Show how women’s bodies are used by advertisers as a marketing ploy, with no actual relationship to the product and prompt debate on whether this constitutes exploitation of women.
2. Prompt debate on what messages gender stereotypes such as this send out and their impact on how women are perceived.
 
Trainer’s notes
In the Mirror on the Media Advertising research conducted by GL both groups of participants felt that the picture of the semi-naked woman has nothing to do with the SMS bundles being advertised. Female participants said they get the message that ‘sex sells’ from the advert. The general feeling was that women are not appreciated and there is a deliberate ploy by advertisers to exploit their sexuality to sell their products or services. One female participant indicated that she switches off when she sees such adverts. A male participant said that one interpretation could be that if you buy MTN SMS bundles you get yourself a sexy woman. Another said that visual adverts aim to catch attention; therefore it is justified to portray women in this way. Yet a third male participant said that the advert worried him because it seems women do not see that they are being used.
 
This advert shows that there are several ways of interpreting the image. It is important to get at what is the ultimate message being conveyed (ie that the woman is a mere object to attract attention to merchandise) and that whatever the commercial merits this is degrading to women. One of the arguments that may arise is that “women are to blame for their own exploitation” since they willingly participate in such exercises. It is important to point out that in so far as the market values women’s physical over their intellectual attributes it is inevitable that women will make a living from “selling their bodies.” But what does this say about the market’s perception of who the customers are? Is the advert appealing only to men? Is this not short sighted from a marketing point of view?   
 
Discussion Questions
1. Ask participants to replace the woman with a man and ask if this would change the overall meaning of the advert. If we would not cast a man in such a role why are there so many images of women like this in advertising? What messages does it send home about women?
2. Is it ok to use sex to sell products ?

Training exercises
1. Visit an MTN shop. Ask the clerks (and if possible customers) what prompts purchases. 
2. Cover the bottom half of the advert. Ask people to guess what they think the advert is for.

Additional training resources
In the GL Gender and Media Handbook an example is given of a newspaper using digital techniques to dress up three women politicians in bikinis and put them on the front page. The Handbook uses similar techniques to “undress” President Thabo Mbeki and put him in his briefs. Editors who saw this agreed they would never use this image on the front page. This is a good complement to the exercise above.  
 
 


Download : BS MTN SA 27 11 06 LR

Comment on Blatant stereotype_MTN_SA

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *