Portrayal Of Women In Advertising Media Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

This paper will concentrate on the portrayal of women in advertising. I will be looking more specifically at how women characters are depicted in 2M TV ads. The portrayal of women in TV ads is a worthwhile topic to investigate because it examines how real the representation of women is on television, and how this portrayal of women affects the attitudes of the viewers. Several "western "studies drawn in the same vein have shown that advertising does not mirror a realistic view of women and their roles in society. Advertising depicts the traditional version of women, which is very often related to the submissive, beautiful and the intelligent "creatures". Advertising treats women as products or commodities, for this reason we referred to women in the previous line as "creatures". She is the product herself; a product that is selling a product.

According to Diane Barthel (1988, p. 7):

"In the 1920s the gender role division between production ( male ) and consumption ( female), was used by advertisers to justify their profession and to raise it in the public eye."

Thus, the process of consumption was always regarded as women's work. They are the ones who sell , and in return; they are the ones who spend too much in selling goods . As Diane Barthel (1988 Op. Cit) states , " …. If we look at overall purchase of consumer goods we see that women still control some 80 percent of the buying power"

In this research paper, I will merely shed lights on the negative portrayal of Moroccan women in TV ads. Increasingly, Moroccan women are taking on a broader role in society. Yet, our Moroccan TV ads still falsify the image of women through backward misrepresentation far from reality. This awkward portrayal gradually influences the people's perception towards gender roles and this is accomplished through the repetitive exposure of woman as a housewife, mother or submissive being. The process of repetition help people to easily memorize images without questioning that is why I opt for the use of Cultivation theory by Gerbner (1979), because it deals with the effect of TV on viewers in terms of their perceptions and behaviors. This theory suggests that, the effect of all this exposure to the same messages produces what has been called cultivation, or teaching of a common worldview, common roles and common values (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan and Signorieli, 1980, p.10).

Cultivation Theory holds the assumption that media, for instance TV, has got the power to influence and manipulate the people's mind through repetitive exposure. Television regarded as the major source of information today has become a part of our daily life and part of our family as well. George Gerbner likened it to a:

"key member of the family, the one who tells the most stories most of the time" (Gerbner et al 1980, p. 14)

According to (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan and Signorieli p 19 ):

"Compared to other media, television provides a relatively restricted set of choices for a virtually unrestricted variety of interests and publics. Most of its programs are by commercial necessity designed to be watched by nearly everyone in a relatively nonselective fashion. Surveys show that amount viewing follows the style of life of the viewer and is relatively insensitive to programming. The audience is always the group available at a certain time of the day, the week, and the season, regardless of the programs. Most viewers watch by the clock· and either do not know what they will watch when they turn on the set or follow established routines rather than choose each program as they would choose a book, a movie, or an article."

This statement suggests that, the magic box , TV monopolizes others forms of media and it is considered as powerful medium used by professional communicators for learning and persuasion away from deliberation and comprehension .To put it differently, people can easily be convinced and perceive the world as what is depicted through television. For that purpose, TV ads are the most influential tools used in the world of advertising. Their effect is more enduring than any other form of mass media.

0.2. The Objective of the study:

The current study will explore the various ways in which Moroccan women characters are portrayed in Moroccan TV ads. My ultimate goal is to find out whether the portrayals of women characters are fair and accurate representations, or does it represents a fake reality by portraying women in stereotypical manner so as to maintain a particular social order which favor men over women in order to preserve customs and tradition . The portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads will elucidate on the effect of television on viewers, more specially the influence of TV ads on the people's attitudes and perception towards gender role.

My objective is to investigate the reasons why Moroccan TV ads, despite the increasing development of mass media, television, internet and digital evolution; still portray women in traditional way .

0.3. Rational of the study

The portrayal of women in TV ads is an important topic to consider because of the unequal representation that women receive from Moroccan media. Television does not portray how women are capable of reconciling different functions of their professional, private and personal lives. In other words, Television does not alter the image of men, and continues to promote male dominance. Hence forth, the image of Moroccan women is misrepresented, manipulated and it does not mirror the reality.

In the Moroccan context , during my reviewing of the literature I did not come across many scholarly articles or books that are dealing with the issue of representation of women in Moroccan TV ads, few literature which have tackled before the issue of the portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads . Moroccan women are often unnoticed by our local media. In others words, Moroccan women are not given the appropriate attention that they deserve in reality. For this reason, it is important for us as future researchers to evaluate the state of women as depicted by and portrayed in TV ads . TV ads were singled out due to their pervasive nature. "Television advertising is basically characterized by the ability of the medium to transmit content to a mass audience simultaneously" (Wilmshurst 1985, McNair 2005, Brierley 2002 McNair 2005, Barker and Angelopulo 2006)..

Hence, the Rational of this study is to rectify the image of Moroccan women by raising awareness on the benefits of gender equality so as to mirror the real reality . We should not take things for granted. We should go beyond to what is represented to us and we cannot achieve this stage if we are only passive receivers.

0.4. Research questions

RQ 1: To what extent may the portrayal of women have negative/ Positive effect on our perceptions as society towards gender roles?

RQ 2: To what extent do ads contribute in the reproduction of a patriarchal society?

RQ 3: How does 2M portray Moroccan women in TV ads?

RQ 4: To what extent the representation of women in TV ads is real?

0.5. Research hypotheses

RH1: The misrepresentation of women has negative effect on our perception of society towards gender roles.

RH2: Moroccan TV ads contribute in the reproduction of a patriarchal society.

RH3: Moroccan women are portrayed in stereotypical manner in 2M TV ads.

RH 4: what is portrayed about Moroccan women in TV ads is farther from reality.

0.6. Methodology

This research will use a questionnaire to examine the findings. For the first part of this study, a questionnaire will be created and administered to sample of female and male Master students in addition to primary school teachers. The participants will answer basic questions. The results of the questionnaire will be tabulated and examined for trends.

. The organization of the work

The study consists of three chapters besides a general introduction and a general conclusion. The first chapter will provide a Review of literature. While the second chapter will be concerned with the methodology. That will contain the research hypotheses, the population sample, in addition to the questionnaire .The last chapter will analyze the data collected.

0.8. Conclusion

In this chapter, I introduced a general overview about my research topic that is "The portrayal of women in TV ads". I explained and illustrate my objectives. As well, I explained my motivation through the Rational of the study. In addition, I state my research questions and research hypotheses. I divided my work into three important sections: review of literature, methodology, and data analysis.

The following chapter will provide review of literature relevant to the portrayal of women in TV ads.

1. Review of Literature

1.0 Introduction:

This chapter is made up of three sections; the first section deals with the definition of the major key words in the research paper, namely; 'advertising' and 'Cultivation theory'. The second section is devoted to the major techniques of TV ads, in addition to critical overview of TV ads. While the third section, illustrates the major factors that contribute in the portrayal of women in stereotypical manner.

1.1 Brief overview of cultivation theory

Cultivation theory is an approach developed by Professor George Gerbner in 1979. The theory is basically concerned with the influence that television may create on viewers in terms of changing their ideas and perceptions towards the world. According to Gerbner, one of the most common findings from media and cultivation studies is that increased television viewing is associated with more stereotypical views, especially of gender (Allan & Scott, 1996). In others words, people tend to perceive the world in relation to what is frequently depicted through television.

This theory also suggests that repetitive exposure to television can influence people's attitudes towards social reality including people, objects as well as their environment . Influence according to Cultivation theorists "may have long term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant". Daniel Chandler

I have chosen this theory due to its importance in examining the effect that advertisement can have on viewers' perception portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads. Cultivation theory emphasizes the effect of television viewing on the attitudes of people rather than on their behaviors. Hence, the focus in the present paper is to examine how real the representation of women on TV ads are and how it can affect the attitudes and beliefs of viewers because much of what any given audience knows is based on media and more specifically on ads .

Gerbner (ibid.) states that mass media cultivates attitudes and values which are already present in a culture: media maintains and propagates these values amongst members of a culture, thus binding them together. To illustrate more, the attitudes that are presented in media, such as TV advertising, already exist in our society. The advertisers tend to reinforce these attitudes through repetitive exposure of women as housekeepers, dumb individuals, or sex objects . This image of women as second sex is already present in our society. Moroccan society strongly believes in the system of patriarchy and the segregation between men's sphere and female's sphere, and what those advertisers are actually doing is that they are trying to please their audience. This is one of the techniques that advertisers use in advertising because the prototype that men are usually looking for in Moroccan society is the 'good wife'. Culturally speaking, the characteristic of a good wife is to be a good housewife in terms of cleaning, washing, cooking, taking care of her kids, being good mother in addition to being very attractive and beautiful and that is why women are usually portrayed in cleaning ads or cosmetics.

Cultivation theory is regarded as one of the best theories to be applied in media research. It has been considered an effective tool for those looking for the necessary theoretical framework to position their studies and link media content to its effect on society. However, Cultivation theory received criticism from many scholars and theorists; one of the weaknesses of cultivation theory is that, some scholars argue that Cultivation research focuses more on the effects rather than on who or what is being influenced. "Gerbner has been criticized for over-simplification. Denis McQuail argues that 'it is almost impossible to deal convincingly with the complexity of posited relationships between symbolic structures, audience behaviour and audience views, given the many intervening and powerful social background factors' (in Boyd-Barrett & Braham 1987, pp. 99-100). Our attitudes are likely to be influenced not only by TV, but by other media, by direct experience, by other people, and so on." Daniel Chandler

Likewise, Jennings Bryant (1986 , p . 231-335) confirms that "[…] the research to date has more to do with the 'whys' and 'hows' of a theory as opposed to gathering normative data as to the 'whats', 'whos', and 'wheres'". While Chandler suggests"Cultivation theory focuses on the amount of television viewing or 'exposure' and does not allow for differences in the ways in which viewers interpret television realities. "Any theory has double sword edge, the limitation of this theory is its emphasis on the effect that television create on viewers more than the outcomes of this effect .

From these definitions it can be deduced that, advertising is not merely a simple act of informing consumers about the lasted goods, or convincing them to buy a specific product. In other words, Advertising is not limited to conveying messages to consumers, but it implicates the transition of unhidden ideologies rather than an innocent process of selling and buying .

In addition to what have been stated above, Cultivation theory has also received criticism for ignoring other issues such as the perceived realism of the televised content, which could be essential in explaining people's understanding of reality.

1.2 Defining key terms

1.1.2 Definition of advertising

According to Angela Goddard (1982, p 9) the term advertisement and advertising have, at their root, a latin word, "advertere" , meaning turn towards '. She goes on and defines the word advertising by stating that it is a discourse which contributes to the construction of our identities; it is also an act of communication.

Advertising is often an index of attitudes because, in order for an advert to work, it must tap into some thinking "out there" in the marketplace, but it would be a mistake to think that adverts are a simple reflection of who we all are , in some natural way . Advertising, as a very public form of discourse, is also part of the way we construct our ideas about he world around us: what people are like, who does what, who is important and why, what we should be worried about, and so on (Angela Goddard, 1982. p 65)

While Diane Barthel (1988, p. 1) defines Advertising by stating that, "Advertising is about appearances ". "It is also about information, but what interests us, what excites us in and about advertising is how objects, or products, become ideas, how they become gifted with appearances. This does not happen through magic". She further notes and states that "Advertising is also about gender. Gender is part of its social structure and its

psychology. Gender conditions our responses to what we see and helps us decide what to buy". (Diane Barthel, 1988 p. 6).

Judith Williamson (1978, p. 11) defines Advertisements as one of the most important cultural factors moulding and reflecting our life today. They are ubiquitous, an investable part of everyone's lives: even if you do not read a newspaper or watch television, the images posted over our urban surroundings are inescapable".

According to Harris and Seldon (cf. 1962:40) "advertising is defined as a public notice that is designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of marketable goods and services". From this perspective, advertising exists "to help to sell things" (White, 2000: 5), which is limited to giving utilitarian information about the product with the objective of informing the consumer about the necessity and the importance of the commodity advertised."

Advertising reflects our perception of the world, it may change our attitudes and beliefs and this is due to its wide spread. TV ads are more reaching than any other form of mass media. When it comes to our Moroccan context, where almost less than half of the population is illiterate and where very few are addicted to reading. TV ads as an instance are considered an effective tool for non readers. TV ads make it easy for them to know about the most recent products in the market in a briskly manner.

2M Channel:

2M TV is a Moroccan television service. That belongs to the Moroccan state before it was private channel owned by ONA the largest Moroccan economic conglomerate. 2M TV is based in Casablanca the industrial capital of Moroccan kingdom. 2M was launched as the second national television channel with the objective of promoting competition and diversity in Moroccan audio-visual broadcasting.

RTM: Is the first Moroccan channel , supervisor by the Ministry of Information and Communication of Morocco and other private sectors . RTM is owned by the Moroccan state .

In our daily life and household chores, we are bombarded with silly, nonsense TV ads that are broadcast nonstop on Moroccan channels, such as the ones that are broadcasted on 2M as well as on RTM. However, 2M channel is said to have more viewers than RTM. Consequently, the impact of TV ads on viewers will be more powerful and enduring. The work of our local TV ads consists of exploiting the people's mind through the representation of silly ads in which women are negatively portrayed.

My ultimate goal here is to make people aware of the misrepresentations of women. Morocco has undergone many changes, normally these misrepresentations in media and more specifically on TV ads should be trespassed. We are living in a new era, in which women take part, side by side, with men in every domaine; they are doctors, politicians, nurses, professors, religious leaders, consolers, a chairwomen. Astonishly, women are still represented in Moroccan media, and in particular on TV ads as traditional, unintelligent beings.

As stated earlier, the discourse of advertising is not an innocent discourse which is directed to the audience for the purpose of selling a product, but it does implicates many ideologies. Very often, these ideologies are hidden, unnoticed by the audience.

1.3 Critical overview of TV ads

Nowadays media has shaped people's mind and reshaped their attitudes and beliefs as well. Thus, we become under the control of media. In this respect, it is worthwhile to mention the Gramsci's theory in media hegemony. Gramsci believed that media have a key role in teaching people what and how to do things in their everyday lives and this would backup the power structures. Those power structures are behind the scene; they are the ones who control everything and dictate what should be broadcasted on TV as an example and what should be deleted. Very often, power structures are people who have power over others in society. Such as, the high class who might be said to have hegemony over the poor since they have the ability to use their wealth to influence many aspects of society and government. This is what actually is going on in Morocco; those who own money, own the means of production. As Bignell (2002:37) explains, "what ads are really doing is serving the interests of those who own and control the industries of consumer culture".

My choice behind the use of TV ads instead of choosing TV programs is that television advertising is basically characterized by its ability to convey the content to a mass audience simultaneously. In fact, watching TV advertising has become an indispensable part of our life. TV ads are more effective in terms of their influence on the viewers. According to Michael L.Geis (1982, p. 2) "Television seems to be regarded primarily as a visual, rather than oral, communication medium. We speak of watching' television' but of listening to radio, and we speak of those watching television as "viewers "and those who listen to radio as "listeners". He further notes that:

"There can be no doubt that television advertising imposes a much greater perceptual and cognitive burden on consumers than does advertising in other media. " Television commercials occur in real time and use both visual and auditory communications channels". ( Micheal L.Geis 1982, p . 3 ) .

So, as it was stated above, the power of TV advertising stems from the fact that TV advertising combines what is visual and what is audio, that is why the effectiveness of TV advertising is more powerful than any other form of mass media. TV ads are one of the major influences in our daily lives as they take part in framing our perception of the world. TV ads are able to reach every single house and took the leadership in guiding people's lifestyle, choices and tastes. Furthermore, "Gerbner asserts that television's major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns and to cultivate resistance to change. We live in terms of the stories we tell and television tells these stories through news, drama, and advertising to almost everybody most of the time"

In our Moroccan context television remains the main means for advertisement in Morocco. According to a recent survey by the BMCE bank TV ads gulps own 50 to 55 percent of the market share, advertisers turn mostly towards television, which stands far ahead of other advertisement means. Furthermore, "Regionally, the study found that Morocco grabs 72 % of the TV advertisement market in northern Africa - generating a total of 825 million Dirhams /75 million euros-, far ahead of Algeria (16 %) and Tunisia (12% ).  "TV viewers are far more numerous than newspaper readers, experts say;

"Advertisers opt for television to touch a wider range of clients," A.R. says. However, other advertisement means are gaining ground, he oints out. Most important of which s outdoor advertisement, a fast-growing segment that has a shining future ahead. It is believed to cover 17 % of the market share, behind the written press with 25% of the market, and 8 % for radio."

1.4 Techniques of TV ads

"Advertising is the witchcraft of the twentieth century. It has its incantations, it's how to recipes, its priests and priestesses, its temple whores and secret languages". Diane Barthel (1988, p.18)

In our daily lives we are overwhelmed with TV ads; to the extent our sense of dependency upon TV ads has been developed. TV ads become one of the major sources of information concerning products. For a TV ad to be successful, and to attain or reach its targets, advertisers opt for the use of certain techniques and tactics so that they will be able to persuade their audiences in an effective manner. Generally speaking, TV ads as mentioned before combine what is audio and what is visual, which make their effect more enduring. Likewise, the use of visual in addition to audio in TV ads activates the purchasing behavior and satisfies the audience desires.

1.1.4 The use of celebrities In TV ads:

According to Diane Barthel (1988, p 49-50) "Use of celebrities is a standard advertising techniques, and one growing in popularity. The celebrities do hold the consumers attention and sell the product. In TV advertising, advertisers use celebrities as a technique in order to seduce the audience attention; they may use actors, singers, and sports people to transmit all the goods of celebrities to the products.

1.1.5 The use of humor:

In addition to the use of celebrities, advertisers use humor in order to entertain their audience. Humor is an essential component of a successful TV ad; the entertaining feature is required in today's advertising. In psychology, humor is regarded as a cure for anxiety as well as stress. So, humor is considered as cure for audience, but only for naïve audiences. Hence, the main purpose behind the use of advertising is to make people believe that what is advertised is free from bad intention (ideologies) or any interests.

1.1.6 The use of language on TV advertising:

As Micheal L.Geis ( 1982, p . 23) has stated :

"Language can and does play an important role in the process of commercial persuasion. It is the primary vehicle for the presenting messages to consumers; it is one of the tools advertisers use to get viewers attention ".

This statement suggests that, language as a technique used by the adman play a major role in the persuasion process. It is regarded as vital instrument which contribute to the éclat or fame of TV ads. When the ad man is trying to convince the viewers to buy a certain product he or she must use their local language, the language they use everyday.

1.1.7 The use of narrativity:

Besides the use of language, we have another technique which is the use of narrativity on TV ads. Too often , TV ads use short or sketchy stories or as Cook Guy states p 47) , "mini-dramas which compress a large number of narrative events into a very short space of time through the Highly stylized gestures and facial expression of extremely skilful actors". In other words, TV advertisers make use of narrative stories, for the purpose to make the ad looks real to the audience. They use superstars as mentioned before so as to give certain credibility to their products. Henceforth, those ads gain the admiration of the audience in addition to their sympathy to purchase their products.

1.1.8 The use of persuasion in TV ads:

Another common technique in TV advertising is persuasion; to inform the consumer about the product and to persuade him or her to buy their products that will be accomplished through creating a meaning of it. This meaning is created either via images, symbols or verbal language. Besides, advertising is not about information, but also 'appearances'; "advertising is not just about the objects´ appearance but about personal appearances: how we look at others, how we think of ourselves" (Barthel, 1988: 1). Within the process of information, we find persuasion as well which is considered as powerful, manipulative tool that is used by advertisers. According to Micheal L. Geis (1982,p 20)

"The information processing model of persuasion views persuasion as a process in which a source presents a message to a receiver via some communication channel in an attempt to effect either of two behavioral changes : for the receiver to believe that the message is true , or for the receiver to act upon that message" . What we can deduce from this quote by L. Geis is that the main goal of the ad man is not only to make the audience remember the name of the product, but also to act upon the message that they receive.

Additionally, advertising's central function is to create desires - to bring into being wants that previously did not exist (Galbraith, 1971: 149 / Fowles , 1996: 61)". The advertising agencies accomplish their targets through the creation of a world of desires in order to satisfy the consumers. They employ psychologists and sociologists to determine "which values and images are most likely to appeal to the audience" (Lund,1947: 73 Vestergaard ;Schroder, 1985: 49) so as to be able to understand the consumers´ state of mind. As result, they will get into people's mind and easily manipulate them.

1.5 Patriarchy and gender roles on TV advertising:

"Portrayal of 'gendered' relationships is common in advertisements. Since women's positions and roles are devalued in patriarchal cultures, advertising maintains the status quo in gender relations by reinforcing the sexual division of labour while resisting and subverting any radical change on the part of women." Meenu Anand".

In Morocco, patriarchy is deeply rooted in our culture since we belong to an Arabic Muslim culture which is conservative. Until a couple of decades ago, public space had been occupied by male, while women's presence outside the house had to be safeguard. In others words, women's sphere was totally separated from man's sphere'. The family is traditionally controlled by the father whose decisions are unquestionable and in the case of his absence, the elder son is there to take over his place. While women are dependent on men and they are not supposed to seek autonomy and claim responsibility. So, the patriarchal system becomes the main operating power in society and culture. It is a tool that places gendered expectations on both sexes. However, in today's Morocco things have changed , tough the patriarchal system is still there , Moroccan society due to many changes that has occurred recently the notion of gender role have been redefined .

Nowadays, women rub shoulders with men in many domains that have been dominated by men in the past time. Moroccan women become active members in society; they have gained ground not only in the work but also in the society. Women become financially independent, in addition to being equal in terms of many rights & duties. Now, we can find women's sitting in restaurant, while other women are smoking in the cafes wearing modern clothes either miniskirts, jeans and dressing in fashionable manner. These changes that are mentioned above are signs which indicate that women situation has changed in today's Morocco. Thus, there is a break away from male domination and social chains. Now, women are able to define their social role and dictate their rule.

Despite all these changes, yet what our Moroccan TV ads communicate to the masses messages that still represent the old version of Moroccan women, and here we refer to the traditional woman whose main job is to serve her husband and to devote all her life to her children. The prototype that is represented in our Moroccan TV ads is far from what is really going in Morocco. In a recent study by Al Magharebia newspaper, a Moroccan journalist named Siham ALI in her article titled "Moroccan media distorts women's image", study says : "

"Overall, Moroccan females believe that their image is so misrepresented and manipulated that it does not mirror the reality of Moroccan women, the survey said. Siham Ali goes on and states: "Advertising and drama are the farthest from reality in terms of perception of everyday women's lives, said women whose opinions were recorded in the final report released on June 30th." "Moroccan media distorts women's image".

"According to survey participants, advertising focused more on household chores and presented women as traditional, unskilled and submissive to men. In drama, women felt they were portrayed as more manipulative, promiscuous and dumb". By Siham Ali , El Magharebia newspaper 06/07/2010.

According to this study, media in general and advertising in specific do not mirror the reality of Moroccan women. What it portrayed to us as viewers is only a partial image of Moroccan women . Our TV ads do not show how women are able to perform various functions of their professional, personal and private lives. I personally have never seen a Moroccan TV ad in which the husband is helping his wife in the kitchen or taking care of his kids. Normally, television should rectify the women's image , reflect the social developments of women , present a more diverse picture of women, and bring to the fore their different professional and marital statuses. Instead of portraying sex objects , housewives who exist to please their husbands and children. In doing so, the power of patriarchy is reinforced and encouraged, and women's status quo is keept stagnant.

1.6 The influence of socialization on the portrayal of women in TV ads:

Socialization is perceived as the process via which individuals acquire what is expected from them, including social norms and gender roles. Socialization is important to the process of the individual's entry into society and acceptance of social standards. According to Scollon and Scollon (1995)p. 150," primary socialization consists of the processes through which a child goes in the earliest stages of becoming member of his or her culture or society. Generally speaking, the learning takes place within the family and among close intimates. In this same frame work, then, secondary socialization refers to those processes of socialization which take place when the child first begins to move outside the family, such as when the child first goes to school and begins to interact with other non-familial children".

In our Moroccan context based on my personal observation, I have learned a lot from my parents and my surrounding via watching what the others are doing .I have learn how to dress, how to eat, how to talk; for example when I am talking to someone who is older than me I am not going to address him as the way I talk to my friends. Our parents teach us that lying is harame you will get punish by God in the day of Judgement if you lie on people or you deceive them. Our parents teach us that sex is harame before marriage. Girls should remain virgin until they get married. That virginity is symbol of purity should be preserved for the husband. They teach us that politics leads always to jail, therefore, we should not interfere in political issues. This process of learning from the society is called the primary socialization, that Scollon states:

"Patterns of social behaviour are also given a firm cast during the period of primary socialization. The child learns and develops patterns for relating to those higher and lower status, older and younger and same age, boys and girls, and he or she learns how to be a boy or girl as well. Beyond these general forms of learning, the child also receives toilet training, and learns how to dress, how to eat, and how to play with others".

In our Moroccan context, the socialization that we learn from our surroundings is that girls are accepted to help their mothers in the housework. Unlike boys who are presupposed to work outsides the house or be involved in masculine activities . Of course many things are changing nowadays, still in Morocco and other parts of the Arab world, the representation of Arabic Muslim women still the same , the traditional model. To put it differently, traditions and customs remain very powerful and continue to bolster some norms and activities learned at home.

Unlike the first socialization, the second socialization which is embraced by schools is loaded with gender stereotypes. There are many expressions as well as images that ruminate how men and women should be represented and how they are expected to act in society. Too often, the curriculum that is chosen by the government strength the difference between girls and boys. What is worse is that, they implicitly encourage women's discrimination in relation to men. In addition to school, another place setting in which gender stereotypes are reinforced is the working place. Nevertheless, in today's Morocco the situation has changed and women as mentioned before take part in everything either in the private or the public sphere. Yet, Moroccan TV ads still distort the image of women by portraying women in a narrow social and occupational manner which is far from reality , what is depicted to us as viewers is partial reality . So, women are still facing discrimination and they are not equally treated as men even in term of representation in TV ads. They are not given equal attention. That is why some feminists took an interest in the socialization process discussed by Sigmund Freud through his theory of the oedipal complex. He states that, society has an effective and strong role in socializing human beings. It is society which gives rise to the various beliefs and attitudes adopted by both males and females. When a baby is born, the first thing parents want to know is if it is a girl or a boy, and consequently according to his or her biological sex, parents adapt the norms of social gender.

1.7 Stereotyping women on Moroccan TV ads:

Advertising is a medium which is used by media whereby it can create and perpetuate stereotypes. TV ads do not only act as a means to bridge the gaps between companies and consumers; but they also have a stereotypical function. When we are watching TV ads, we are watching a representation of a culture, this representation might be true or not, it depends on the ideology and the agenda of the TV advertisers. Audiences are not equipped with TV ads techniques in order to track down whether what is represented to them is empty from any hidden ideologies or vice versa. If we are unable to unhidden messages that are transmitted to us as viewers, the stereotypes that are portrayed unconsciously affects our view and perception of the world around us.

Moreover, it might even impose on us how we should interpret a specific culture whether it is our culture or not .

The major problem about stereotypes in TV ads is that they are not significant. Very often, the stereotypes that we get from TV ads may take a short time before they start being part of our way of thinking. Once we are watching an ad for example about the portrayal of women in cleaning or cosmetic products. Then, after finding the same image in different TV ads, that image immediately becomes stuck in our mind till we start to believe in it and support it.

Feminists argues very strongly that the presence of sex-role stereotyping in advertising content enhance patriarchy which is still a dominant ideology embedded in media content. Likewise, it reinforces patriarchy through the representation of women in negative manner in comparison to men. Nevertheless, stereotypes are not all the time negative in studies, but there are regarded determining factor when trying to observe whether women are portrayed fairly or not. Additionally, stereotypes are also a process of otherness and exclusion and therefore linked to power (De Beauvoir 1953).

Since women have been always associated with roles that place them in the private sphere (home). Female characters are traditionally depicted in a setting that maintains traditional roles particularly in the home. In contrast to male characters who are very often featured in working environment or setting that prop up the role of provider as well as worker . When it comes to our Moroccan contexts, both print and audiovisual media play a major role in shaping public opinion, The Minister of Communication , Khalid Naciri states on June 30th. In his view, it promotes certain principles and values and propagates thoughts.

"This kind of media, controlled by people who have their own agenda, can also spread stereotypes," he said. "These images and stereotypes have more impact than when they are communicated through television, because the picture, without a doubt, has an effect on public behavior. Indeed, these stereotypes and prejudice do not reflect all the developments benefiting women's rights and do not follow all the progress made in this field." Magharebia Newspaper 2010/07/06.

Taken into consideration this quote by the minister of communication Khalid Naciri , the power of image and stereotypes may have strong effect on the people's mind as well as behavior. The role of TV is to rectify the image of women by promoting a culture of equality instead of distorting the picture of Moroccan through misrepresentation either in TV ads or any other form of media.

For instance, 'Basma Sadarri' (2010) is TV ad which uses to be broadcasted during fetour period in Ramadan. "Basma Sadarri" is a relevant example of ads that promote gender stereotypes. In this ad, "the old Woman is portrayed as submissive, unable to defend her views and stand for her rights. She bought Basma Saddari from a shop , later on when her son has arrived from work he finds out that the owner of the shop has cheated his mother and he got angry and he was talking sharply to his mom , because they have easily cheated her ," . Her son says "this is not Basma sign it is just fake". She responds that, she could not negotiate with the owner, he told her this is Basma brand and she easily believed him. She also states "I become shy and accepted his statement and I did not know what to do". This statement reveal that women are unable to negotiate men's rules or to rely on themselves and this is due to their nature. For years, the images of the past still confine women to a secondary role. Woman want to break free of these stereotype, but it seems that these ideologies are frequently common and widely accepted because the most part of people believe that woman's place is and should be in private sphere .  Her primary function should be taking care of others and staying at home.  This is her role as a woman, to take care of others and give them what they desire. 

There are many other stereotypes, which have become accepted belief systems, or ideologies that can be seen if you take the time to truly watch the advertisements and images that are around. 

1.8 Women' roles in TV ads :

TV ads become an essential tool used by advertisers; it has become a part of our daily life we cannot imagine a TV box without TV ads. TV ads shapes our perception as well as beliefs. There is no doubt that nowadays TV ads may go further and dictate to us how to do things and how to manage our life. Overall, there is no ambiguous space between what real life is and the one depicted in TV ads; and this is actually what has urged many scholars to scrutinize media content and help the audience decode media texts. This chapter will be concerned with how gender roles are constructed and how they affect our view of gender. Before we start talking about gender, first of all we need to differentiate between sex and gender, because there are not the same . Sex is biologically while gender is socially or culturally constructed. On the other hand, Judith Butler argues that both sex and gender are culturally constructed; to further explain, TV ads portray women and men as different individuals and each one has a place where to stand. TV ads enhance the patriarchal system through usual depiction of women as housewives. Women's roles in TV ads are usually limited to households, submissive citizens, and slaves of beauty which consist of makeup, fashionable clothes, and products. This portrayal of women in negative and restrictive way has narrowed the picture of women . Thus, women become burden for their society because they are regarded as consumers more than productive. What is dangerous about the misrepresentation of women's roles in TV ads is not the representation itself instead it is the manner viewers react to this depiction.

Many people would think that the development that Morocco has witnessed in terms of women's rights will help to improve the situation of gender relationship since women started to fight for their rights. Nonetheless, this cannot be applied on TV ads since they broad the gap between men and women in terms of portrayal.

1.9 Advertising and society

In this paragraph I will seek out to what extend the portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads may have negative/ Positive effect on our perceptions as a society towards gender roles. In addition to that, I will try to find whether advertising has a role in constructing social values and bringing into being new needs and meanings, or does it merely reflect the attitudes and the behaviours that already exist in the social and cultural life.

According to (White, 2000: 260) advertising relate its products with people's emotions, lifestyles, ambitious and perspective. He also added that, advertising acts as a mirror of society, rather than acting to change it. The raison d'être behind such an argument is that advertising mirror "social values and attitudes with respect to the means and ends of human activities" (Vestergaard and Schroder, 1985: 123). Advertising reflect the regular practices of our daily life, and try to create original meanings. However, this does not mean, that advertising only reflect reality as it exists in society, but It does also create new meanings or as White (2000: 260) states; "it is difficult, through advertising, to change people's behavior. But this is what much government advertising seeks to do". To put it differently, advertising shapes society rather than mirror its values and norms.

As society changes, advertising becomes "the happy chameleon, always delighted to don spring's new colors" (Barthel, 1988: 13). This statement may make us believe that advertising does reflect society, at the same time as media images in general contribute to shape "our view of the world and our deepest values" (Kellner, 1995: 5). In other words, advertising does not work only by "creating values and attitudes out of nothing but by drawing upon and rechanneling concerns that the target audience (and the culture) already shares" (Jhally, 1995: 79-80).

Media has an important role in representation of different groups in a society, but television, as the most popular medium plays a significant role in representing and shaping attitudes. Advertising, as one of the television genres, is a prominent discourse type in virtually all contemporary societies (Cook, 2005). Cited by Ali Mohamedi Hajji (2011) . The major role of advertising is to construct what is called secondary discourse about gender roles . The image of women and men is required for a better understanding of social interaction, practices as well as ideologies. Thus, advertising play a major role in the construction of gender roles .

Additionally, advertising, as an effective medium tend to boost social ideologies. These ideologies are often unhidden within the images that shape viewers consciousness and affect their inner perception. Since ideologies are taken for granted and they are unnoticed , it is difficult to change or to go against them.

1.9.1 Women as commodity in TV advertising :

According to Barthel ( 1988, p .8) " Advertising is also gendered in that much of it addresses our physical sense of self , our knowledge of the world gained through our bodies . It addresses our need to articulate our social identities through our physical appearances. As John Berger has argued , men create a sense of identity by extending our from their body, using its and their evident power to control objects and others. This we see clearly in advertisements for cigarettes , alcohol, stereos , and , especially , automobiles . Women by contrast, work with and within the body". She goes on and states, that "the female body communicates not the woman's power over others, but her presence, how she takes herself. This in turn is reflected in the great emphasis on decoration of the female body, achieved through fashion and cosmetics". In the same vein , Simone de Beauvoir (1949) cited in Diane Barthel ( 1988 , p .9) ads that,

" The supreme necessity for a woman is to charm a masculine heart " and he also notes that ," It is underanstanble that the care of her physical appearance should become for the yound girl a real obsession ; be they princesses or shepherdesses, they must always be pretty in order to obtain love and happiness " .

What we can infer from these quotes, is that advertising in general and TV ads in particular are obsessed with gender and sexuality and the process of commodification in advertising exploit the female sexuality by fragmenting her body, and the focus is usually on her face, hair, legs in addition to breasts. Hence forth, in the exchange between the

commodity and 'woman' in advertisements, a woman becomes a commodity, too.

Women are usually portrayed as sex objects who are casted to titillate the audience by

showing up their parts of their bodies. The female body in TV advertising sell everything; men's shaving, food, cosmetics, clothes in so one and so forth.

The use of celebrities and models in TV advertising affect the psychology of women , advertisements influence the way we see ourselves, so when women see other women in TV ads portrayed in perfect manner ; beautiful ,well dressed , attractive ; this representation in return will have an effect on female teenagers. This effect may be enduring; they may attempt to imitate what they see in advertising, and very often they are faced with dissatisfaction because most cannot afford what is represented to them.

2. Methodology

2.1 Methodology:

The present study endeavours to explore the various ways, in which Moroccan women are portrayed in a sample of advertisements drawn from 2M TV ads. My objective is to detect whether the portrayals of Moroccan women is fair or does it represent a fictitious reality.

This chapter provides a descriptive account of the procedure of data collection and data analysis. It includes five sections. The first section restates, discusses and elaborates on the research questions and hypotheses. The second section, introduces the design of the research, describing the approach adopted and providing justification for adopting it. Three sub sections are identified. The first describes the participants involved in the study. The second presents the population sample. The third section outlines the instruments used for data collection and provides a rationale for each method. The instruments adopted include questionnaire. The chapter, then, closes with a summary of the process of data collection and its important phases.

2.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses

The following research questions constitute the basic frame through which the data will be collected and analysed. Four research questions are formulated to examine whether the 2M TV ads portray Moroccan women in fairly manner as opposite to men. The research questions also aim to explore the effect that TV ads may create in terms of changing the viewer's perceptions as well as behaviour.

2.2.1 Research questions:

RQ 1: To what extent may the portrayal of women have negative/ Positive effect on our perceptions as society towards gender roles?

RQ 2: To what extent do ads contribute in the reproduction of a patriarchal society?

RQ 3: How does 2M portray Moroccan women in TV ads?

RQ 4: To what extent the representation of women in TV ads is real?

2.2.2 Research hypotheses:

RH1: The misrepresentation of women has negative effect on our perception of society towards gender roles.

RH2: Moroccan TV ads contribute in the reproduction of a patriarchal society.

RH3: Moroccan women are portrayed in stereotypical manner in 2M TV ads.

RH 4: what is portrayed about Moroccan women in TV ads is farther from reality.

To test the research hypotheses discussed above, a design was at the heart of the methodological concerns of the present study, a discussion of which will ensue in the coming section.

2.3 Research Design:

To meet the research objectives, it was necessary to adopt a design that would yield reliable and valid results. Basically, a design is what gives credibility and coherence to any research as it affects all the stages of research starting from the process of data collection to the way the data have been coded and analysed. The design adopted in this study falls within media research in particular TV advertising , given the aim it has of examining how real the representation of Moroccan women are on TV . The paradigm that will be used in this study is qualitative. Quantitative data will be obtained through questionnaire that will be administered to 55 participants including male and female master college students and primary school teachers.

2.3.1 Variables:

Concerning the variables, they are chosen according to the instrument used in the present research. I listed different variable focused on the study that are; gender, age, level of education. The age will be from 23s to 43 s. As well, I included gender male and female. The level of education, I addressed university students in addition to teachers.

2.3.2 Population sample

2.3.3The Student sample

The number of students having taken part in the present study totals 30 distributed over 1 level: Master. The questionnaires were administered randomly regardless of students' gender, age or origin. I administrated 10 questionnaire to university master students, namely, the English department; Master Communication In contexts "University Moulay Ismail, faculty of Art and human sciences, Meknes". Likewise, the 30 questionnaires addressed 10 Master students of language and linguistics; University of Mohamed V Faculty of Art and Human sciences - Agdal Rabat. In addition to that , I handed out 10 email questionnaire out of 55 to master students of Law department " Political science " , University of Mohamed V, faculty of Law and Economics, Agdal- Rabat. I administered 30 questionnaires to students, made up of 15 questions.

2.3.4 The Teacher Sample

The number of English training teachers who take part in the present study is 20 from "L'Ecole des enseignant , Akari- Rabat ". I administrated a questionnaire written in Arabic and all of them answered in the spot.

2. 4 The Research instrument used:

The instruments used in this study were contrived so as to meet the main objectives of the research one techniques of data collection is developed: questionnaire.

2.4.1 Questionnaires:

What is a Questionnaire?

According to the Webster Online Dictionary questionnaire are a set of questions submitted to people to gain statistical information. It is a communication method of designing questions to collect the requisite information. It is a list of questions framed to get facts. A group or sequence of questions designed to elicit information upon a subject, or sequence of subjects, from an informant. So, the questionnaire is the most commonly used method of gathering information about use and users. Questionnaires are easy to prepare and it is surprisingly easy to prepare a bad one. It is important to be able to avoid major pitfalls and to be able to identify them in the research done by others.

To investigate the attitudes of Moroccan towards the portrayal of women In Moroccan TV ads I opt for the use of close ended questions as well as structured questions.

Questionnaires are one of the most widely used instruments in research. The choice of the questionnaire in this study is motivated by the suitability of this instrument to investigate master students attitudes towards the portrayal of women in TV ads . It is beneficial in terms of the large sample it covers and the great economy in terms of time and effort. More importantly, the questionnaire ensures anonymity of respondents so that they can answer freely without any fear of being recognized or feeling embarrassed when answering any questions.

2.5 Conclusion

In this chapter an attempt has been made to make explicit the methodology of data collection and analysis, in order to meet the research objectives outlined in the introductory chapter. In the present chapter, there has been a discussion of the research design. The research design adopted is qualitative approach. A detailed presentation of the research instruments followed. The next chapter presents the results of the analysis. The chapter that follows involves a thorough discussion of the results.

3.Data Analysis

3.1 Introduction

While the preceding chapter was basically concerned with presenting the methodological basics of the current research project, this chapter investigates the results which the data collected revealed. It will primarily present data on students and teachers attitudes towards the portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads. This chapter, therefore, will present and analyze the data from questionnaires .The analysis will be considered under headings related to the research questions. Tables, Histograms, and figures will be used to report and illustrate the results of the analysis.

The locus of interest in the current section is to lay out the results attained from the statistical techniques. The first section is devoted to data classification. The second section is concerned with the data analysis. While the Third section , will provide an attempt to clarify the results concerning the participants attitudes as well as their perception towards the portrayal of women in Moroccan TV ads. Finally, the last section will end up with a conclusion for this chapter.

3.1.1 Data classification:

I administered 55 questionnaire to Master university students and primary school teachers , 50 are completed, while 5 are not. My questionnaire is made up of 15 questions and 2 variables. The variables are divided into 2 ones, gender and age.

Firstly, gender consists of males and females. Secondly, age of the respondents is from 23 to 43years old. 40 of the respondents are students while only 20 are workers. It should be of some use to recall, that our population sample consist the following: people, among them males and females; the males represented 39.1% of the total population, while females represents 43, 5.

3.1.2 Data Analysis:

In our analysis of the data, we shall proceed by considering the response to each question separately. First, according to the gender variable, and second, according to the age variable. First of all, I will begin with the teachers' results and I chose only 7 questions out of 15 and I left the remaining from 8 to 15 questions to the analysis of Master students questionnaire. The questions that were addressed to primary school teachers and Master of Law and political science were written in Arabic .While the English version of questionnaires addressed Master of "Communication In Contexts "in Meknés and master of "language and linguistics" in Rabat.