Advertising analysis Labels Against Women by Pantene

Advertising is no only about selling products or services, it also sells values, and tries to
change or reinforce opinions, and attitudes on social issue. ( Cortese, provacour 2008).

In 2013 Pantene Philippines launch a commercial campaign that focuses on the question Does
gender bias still exist? This mean if there is still a unfair difference in the way women and men
are treated. On novermber 26 of 2013 they launch a video that called Labels against Women.

Some vocabulary before watching the video:

Boss: A person who is in charge of other people

Bossy: A person who is always telling people what to do
Persuasive: A person who is able to persuade somebody to do or believe something
Pushy: When someone tries hard to get what he/she wants in a way that seems rude
Dedicated: Working hard at something thats important to you
Selfish: Caring only about yourself
Neat: Tidy; carefully done or arranged
Vain: Having an excessively high opinion of ones appearance
Smooth: When use to describe person means cool and confident
Show-off: A person who acts pretentiously with the intention of impressing others.

This one minute commercial shows professionals, female and their male counterparts in
identical situations but receiving different labels. The differences in perception in each scene
are caused neither by the camera angles or by the actor playing in it. The situation are portrait
in the same identical way their behavior, gestures, mimics and the posture of each character
doesnt change, the only thing that is different is the gender. Then why, if nothing in the
situation has change they are perceive in different ways.

In the first scenes we see a man taking control over a situation he is label as Boss but when a
women is doing same she is just label as Bossy

That is because of social stereotyping. Sterotypes are generalized opinions about the world,
social groups, race and gender. Women are usually associated with motherhood and caring
roles. In contrast masculinity is usually associated with activity, and productive roles. Thats why
when we see a man working he is label as dedicated while a women doing the same work is
labeled as selfish.

This double standard continue on the next scene when we see a women taking care of her
personal hygiene and looks she is label as vain while a men doing the same is label as neat
The same happens with a good self-esteem. When a man feels confident about himself he is
smooth. Woman in the same situation is just Showing off.

The commercial does not contain dialogue and focus on nonverbal ways of providing
information. It uses words that are plain and simple so we dont have to wonder about their
meaning. The use of the words reference to men are positive but women engage in the same
activities receive negative