"Pandemic objectivization" of Women and Men in the Media: Application of Quantitative Content Analysis

U svijetu gdje svatko ima nešto za prodati ili promovirati, reklame su stvorene kao savršen način za uhvatiti pozornost javnosti i potencijalnih potrošača. Kao takvima, u reklamama se najčešće pojavljuju modeli muških i ženskih tijela kako bi se na što privlačniji način promovirali određeni proizvodi. Kroz objektivizaciju tjelesnog izgleda kao i seksualno objektiviziranje tijela, muškarci i žene u reklamnim sadržajima predstavljaju ideal kojeg je poželjno pratiti. Tijela muškaraca i žena iskorištavaju se i objektiviziraju u svrhu prenošenja poruke o određenom proizvodu ili usluzi koja se nudi tržištu i potrošačima. Bit je na što bolji način, poziranjem, šminkom, odjećom, oblikom tijela i slično, ostati upamtljiv i potaknuti neku vrstu želje. Ovim se istraživanjem nastojalo dobiti uvid u to kakav je prikaz tjelesnog izgleda i objektivizacije muškaraca i žena u reklamama časopisa „Cosmopolitan“, „Men`s Health“ i „Playboy“ iz 2018., 2019. i 2020. godine. Pretpostavka je bila da će se pokazati razlika u učestalosti prikazivanja muškaraca i žena s obzirom na časopis, kao i da će se razlika pokazati u prikazivanju tjelesnog izgleda i seksualne objektivizacije s obzirom na spol u reklamama. Istraživanje o objektivizaciji muškaraca i žena provedeno je kvantitativnom metodom analize sadržaja na uzorku od 265 reklama u kojima se analiziralo 369 tijela. U sklopu razmatranja kategorije objektivizacije tjelesnog izgleda postavljeni su indikatori koji ispituju različite tjelesne atribute i dijelove tijela. U slučaju razmatranja aspekta seksualne objektivizacije tijela postavljeni su indikatori koji su ispitivali odjevenost i položaj tijela muškaraca i žena. Dobiveni rezultati sugeriraju kako se reklame u analiziranim godinama i navedenim časopisima kod prikaza muškaraca i žena razlikuju s obzirom na određene indikatore,ali se nije pokazala značajna razlika u prikazu muškaraca i žena s naglaskom na objektivizaciju.In a world where everyone has something to sell or promote, advertisements are created as the perfect way to capture the attention of the public and potential consumers. As such, advertisements often feature models of male and female bodies in order to promote certain products in the most attractive way possible. Through the objectification of physical appearance as well as the sexual objectification of the body, men and women in advertising content represent an ideal that is desirable to follow. The bodies of men and women are exploited and objectified in order to convey a message about a particular product or service offered to the market and consumers. The point is to remain memorable and inspire some kind of desire in the best possible way, through posing, make-up, clothes, body shape and the like. This research sought to gain an insight into the portrayal of the physical appearance and objectification of men and women in the advertisements of the magazines "Cosmopolitan", "Men's Health" and "Playboy" from 2018, 2019 and 2020. The assumption was that there would be a difference in the frequency of depiction of men and women with regard to the magazine, as well as a difference in the depiction of physical appearance and sexual objectification with regard to gender in advertisements. Research on the objectification of men and women was conducted using the quantitative method of content analysis on a sample of 265 advertisements in which 369 bodies were analyzed. As part of consideration of the category of objectification of physical appearance, indicators were set that examine different physical attributes and parts of the body. In the case of consideration of the aspect of sexual objectification of the body, indicators were set that examined the clothing and body position of men and women. The obtained results suggest that the advertisements in the analyzed years and the mentioned magazines differ in their portrayal of men and women with regard to certain indicators, but no significant difference was shown in the portrayal of men and women with an emphasis on objectification