Garzón will discuss with advertisers, industry and civil society sexism in advertising

The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, announced today that his portfolio will address sexism in advertising with advertisers, industry and civil society. Garzón pointed out that the codes of self-regulation of commercial communication “are obsolete” and announced that the first sector to be analyzed by Consumer Affairs will be games and toys.

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Garzón has pointed to the discriminatory and stereotyped representation of women in commercial communications as a way of “perpetuating sexist behavior contrary to equality policies” especially when advertising is aimed at minors.

This has been pronounced during the presentation of the study Women and Advertising: Sexism in commercial communications, prepared by the Association of Communication Users (AUC) and funded by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. This report analyzes 1,605 advertisements in which women appear. The analysis shows that in 75.6% of commercial communications for cleaning products, women play the leading role. The figure rises to 78.5% in the case of cosmetics, beauty and fashion ads. However, it drops to 28.9% when women represent a professional activity.

For Garzón, this study “analyzes and demonstrates how the image of women and their role in society continues to be viewed through a prism rooted in a patriarchal and unequal system”. The Minister described the results as “truly worrying”. These corroborate that women, in advertising, continue to appear as housewives, dedicated to care and household chores, and linking part of their social or professional success to personal care. In addition, Garzón added that “when communication is aimed at the male public, the image of women is still used as an object and advertising lure”. “These roles based on gender stereotypes are not only seen in activities carried out by adults, but are also transferred to the youth and children’s sphere,” he added.

Garzón assured that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs seeks to promote consumption patterns free of stereotypes. Among them, he pointed to the purchase of games and toys according to their functionality, characteristics and the tastes of the child “without getting carried away by an aesthetic that has traditionally promoted segregation in this sector by labeling toys for boys or for girls”.

Conclusions of the study

Among the most significant data emerging from the study, it stands out that, both in an exclusive and shared way, women have a greater presence as well as a leading role in the cosmetics, beauty and fashion, cleaning and food and beverages sectors. Specifically, there is an exclusive presence of 78.5% in cosmetics, beauty and fashion advertising, 75.6% in cleaning and 65.0% in food and beverages. In advertising with a shared presence in which women represent the main role, the percentages are similar.

The main activity represented by women in commercial communications is housewife (43.4%), while the representation of a professional activity is limited to 28.9%.

In commercial communications with an exclusive and exclusive presence of women, women represent the activity of housewife in 56.2%, while in advertising with a shared presence it is reduced to 43.8%. However, what is relevant is the narrative role of women in commercial communications with shared presence, since when representing the activity of housewife the woman adopts a main role in 66.2% of the ads, on the contrary, the percentage of ads in which a woman appears as a housewife playing a secondary role is 10%.

In the case of representing a professional activity, the exclusive presence of women in the ads is 34.9%, while in shared-presence advertising the percentage rises to 65.1%. However, contrary to what happens with the activity of housewife, the percentage of ads in which a woman appears representing a professional activity increases when her role is secondary. Thus, when the woman’s narrative role is the main one, she appears in 21.7% of the ads representing a professional activity, but when her narrative role is secondary, the percentage rises to 42.9%.