In advertising, gender stereotypes play a large role in contributing to the message of an advertisement.

Advertisements do more than just sell products. They sell values and concepts of how people should look and act that are internalized through repetition of the same message. It is these stereotypes that contribute to a negative image of women in the eyes of both genders. Women are told be weak, and men are told to be overly powerful and as masculine as possible so there is no chance that they can be associated with femininity. These stereotypes that are present in media then go on to be present in the workplace and in daily lives of people. In the media, women are usually portrayed as weak, vulnerable, passive, and sexualized. There is also an overwhelming white ideal that is associated with women in advertising where they need to be white, very light, or have white features to be considered beautiful (Kilbourne, 2010). More often than not, female models must also be thin, young, and portray an unrealistic image of perfection. It is all of these factors that contribute to the negative image of women through the repetition of these messages in advertising. The most obvious aspect of advertising that affects womens self-image is the appearance of the models in advertisements. The closer the actual body approximates to idealized images of youth, health, fitness and beauty the higher its exchange value (Redmond, 2003). When looking at the Fluid Hair Salon campaign, it can be clearly seen that all of the models are skinny, fit, and beautiful. This image alongside the slogan, Look Good in All You Do, provides a message that if you are not thin, you dont look good. Even though the message is meant to be about how your hair looks, there is no variety or diversity in the models. The campaign implies that there is only one ideal; to be thin. When looking at advertisements such as Fluid Hair Salons campaign, it is appropriate to call upon the Whiteness Theory. This theory focuses on analysing power, privilege and rewards of whiteness (Burton et al., 2009). The theory looks at the positives that being white is associated with and how when looking at advertisements, people of colour are shown in less favorable situations than white people. When looking at Fluid Hair Salon, this may seem contradictory in the way that these white models are not shown in favorable situations, they are actually shown in very undesirable situations in most, if not all cases. Normally, Whiteness can take the form of whites interests, points of view, material well-being, selfimage and notions of appropriate behaviour that are portrayed as the norm (Burton et al., 2009). Although these traits are not being depicted in Fluid Hair Salons campaign, the message of the advertisements still favour whiteness. This is because of the slogan of the ad, Look good in all you do. Even though the models are in compromising, un-lady-like situations, it doesnt matter because they are white, thin, pretty and their hair looks great. It is suggested that they can even get away with murder. Looking back at the Fluid Hair Salon ad campaign, there are two images that are slightly different than the others. These images depict the women in more

masculine roles, one as a construction worker and the other crashing a motorcycle. These images have the potential to be a positive message for womens empowerment, having them in masculine settings doing a mans job. They can be seen as women challenging male domination and power (Nguyen, 2008). Unfortunately, this is not the case with this ad campaign. As part of this campaign, all of the images are to depict something negative that can be fixed with having amazing hair. These particular images are meant to oppress the women in these masculine roles by associating the images with negativity. It is messages like these that continue to oppress women in the workplace and force them to compete with men. Women in masculine roles are also judged harshly because of men needing to be associated with masculinity. The images of a masculine woman threatens male power by serving the naturalized connection between masculinity and male bodies, by causing masculinity to appear queer, and by usurping mens roles (Nguyen, 2009). The Fluid Hair Salon ad campaign supports that Women must be feminine, men must be masculine, and ones gender/sex must be recognizable at a glance (Nguyen, 2009). It is these perceptions of feminine and masculine that create a negative view of the women in these ads. Although it is clear that these are women in the ads, they are assuming a mans role and threatening the masculinity of the mans role. In this ad campaign, women can be seen in all kinds of situations, but eventually they can all be seen as either vulnerable or overly sexualized (Kilbourne, 2010). This is extremely common in advertising, as women are depicted as weak and vulnerable, especially when a man is present in the advertisement. Looking at one of the images in particular, a woman with a black eye is sitting on a couch, with a man (presumably her husband) standing over her in a very dominant fashion. The woman in this image does not look as though she has any power, and is at the complete mercy of the man standing over her. It is advertisements such as these, that promote domestic violence and women being seen as objects with no selfworth, they just look nice and are shown as concerned about their physical attractiveness, housewives and objects of sexual gratification (Plakoyiannaki, 2008) without any sort of depth in personality or intelligence. It is these types of gender stereotyping that reinforce negative images of women and how women view themselves. The unrealistic idea that a woman must be white, thin, sexy, and feminine to be beautiful is a fabrication by the media that imposes values on women at a very young age. These messages are then repeated throughout the majority of advertisements all through life and in all types of ads, not just ads focused on beauty or fashion.

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