Marketers are constantly trying to find ways to tend to a certain audience. This may cause companies to intentionally or unintentionally use stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are over-generalizations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. However, not all commercials use stereotypes to sell their products. Fortunately, Pakistani ads have started to evolve with time. Here are some gender-neutral ads that are now being shown on TV.
Shan
The ad starts with a father and his children going through old pictures but realize their mother is nowhere to be found in the pictures. This eventually makes them realize that she was always cooking, cleaning, or doing other chores that “only women are supposed to do”. The message that they are trying to get across is that the female figures of the houses do not belong in the kitchen or the cleaning room and these chores can also be done by the fathers and brothers in the family.
Pepsi
Similarly, Pepsi also launched an ad that is breaking gender stereotypes that only men can own bikes and ride them. The ad starts with a boy looking for the owner of a bike that is parked at the wrong spot; making it difficult for him to park. He goes to every guy in the crowd to ask whose bike it was. This tells us how it is hardwired into people’s brains that only men can own a bike. Eventually, a girl stands up and owns her bike, and rides off in the distance leaving all the men behind impressed and fazed.
Pampers Ad
This ad is another example of how men can change and how their responsibilities are not just limited to earning for the family and doing “manly” stuff. Dads can also change diapers and look after the kids and women too can just work.
Shan Shoop Ad
Shan has previously also made such short ads to promote gender equality. This ad also shows that a woman can cook and change the tires. This further proves that women can do anything they like and so can men as long as it is not condescending to the opposite gender.
Such ads show us how normalized gender stereotyping has become. People are doing it in their daily lives and they do not even realize they are doing it. This has become such a problem because now people actually implement these gender stereotypes. When they think that women belong in the kitchen or in the house, they start pressuring those thoughts which are when deprivation of rights gets involved.
Further, in Pakistan, women make up less than 10 percent of STEM professionals. If this is not the implementation of gender stereotyping then what is? Because this certainly isn’t by choice. In the traditional culture of Pakistan, women are subject to face many psychological and physical atrocities due to having a severe stereotypical perception of gender roles.
These discriminatory thoughts are expressed in the form of attitudes, traditions, norms, and beliefs. The patriarchal societies of the world are very much male-oriented and male-identified with specific constructs of feminist and masculine roles. Such ads help promote gender equality and women who are constantly struggling for independency and basic human rights.
Ads making a difference
Pakistan is a patriarchal society where men are the primary authority figures and women are subordinate. This has serious implications for women’s and men’s life prospects. Fortunately, ads like these are now breaking these gender stereotypes. If not on a very large scale, such ads do make a difference. Even the smallest amount of change can make a huge difference in the nation as a whole.
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