BOOK: gender advertisements by erving goffman

KEY QUOTES:
the task of the advertiser is to favourably dispose viewers to his product, his means, by and large, to show a sparkling version of that product in the context of glamorous events.'

'a classy young lady is likely to be in the picture adding her approval of the product and herself to its ambience, whether the product be floor mops, insecticides, orthopaedic chairs, roofing materials, credit cards, vacuum pumps, or lear jets. But all of this is only advertising and has little to do with actual life.'

'there is the use and of scenes and characters which have come to be stereotypically identified with a particular kind of activity by the widest range of viewers.'

'seeing what picture-makers can make of situational materials, one can begin to see what we ourselves might be engaging in doing.'

'one way in which social weight-power, authority, rank, office, renown- is echoed expressively through relative size, especially height'

'the males usual superiority of status over the female will be expressible in his greater girth and height.'

'beds and floors provide places in social situations where incumbent persons will be lower than anyone sitting on a chair or standing.'

'lying on the floor or on a sofa or bed seems also to be a conventionalised expression of sexual availability.'

'a male pictures with a female sometimes appears to employ an extended arm, in effect marking the boundary of his social property'

'portray an ideal conception of the two sexes'

'an ideal representation'

SUMMARY:
he talks in this book about the idea that advertisers play on already existing stereotypes and roles taken on by males and females, to fit into the times and to make the advertisements much easier to read by an audience.
He then goes on to analyse a series of gender based advertisements, and talks about how they can be read by viewers, simply from the poses, postures, positions and stances of the male and females shown.