Social norms have always been correlating with media and advertising. Marketing analyses investigate the current need and purchasing motivation of consumers. The resulting concepts again shape the shoppers. [1]

In the early 20's, the woman in advertising was depicted as housewife. A happy woman received hoovers and wore nice nylons while cleaning. Domestic appliances and bakeware helped the wife in order to cook good food and keep up marital bliss. [1]

In the 60's, the social image of women changed. She was then allowed to lend a hand and be a carreer woman in front of the camera.

The sexual revolution in the 1970's again changed media structure. Unprecedented liberties concerning choice of partner, hints towards sexual practices and nude skin were used in order to seduce consumers. „Sex sells" became the sales hit.

In the 1980's, the German sociologist Christiane Schmerl founded a programm, which demonstrated how advertising can be sexist in seven points. It deals with the medial representation of women in advertising: Woman and sexuality, woman as object, Typically woman!, woman and beauty care, emancipation and male cynicism. Later these points were extended by one more, namely the depiction of violence agains women as a topic in advertising. [2] [3]

At the beginning of the 21st century, other ideas entered the market. A recognized body care label started the „Real Beauty" campaign on the International Women's Day in 2005 in order to attract women of different age groups and body shapes to the beauty products. A Scandinavian fashion chain for menswear used men with normal bodies for its campaign in 2015 under the slogan „Underwear For Perfect Men". Both companies released their own studies in which only 4% of all women consider themselves beautiful and 80% of all men are insatisfied with their bodies. [1] [4] [5]

At the moment, only Sweden and Switzerland provide government control of advertising. Apart from this, there are watch groups which report discriminating and sexist advertisements. These groups function as voluntary monitoring bodies and depend on the colaboration of the population. [6] [7] [8]

However, new market analysis insights show that the idea „sex sells" doesn't always entail the desired effect. The coveted body upstages the advertised product, thus the consumers focus less on the product. This is called the „vampire effect". For young, sophisticated people advertisements with apparently sexist content is often counterproductive. [6]