Advertisements portraying women and food in United States society frequently exploit stereotypes of the gendered "consumer" and "producer." The above advertisements, made by three very different companies for diverse demographics, reveal the extent to which advertisers rely on common tropes regarding sex, gender, and sexuality in constructing images of the "ideal woman." These images romanticize notions of the "American Classic," domesticity, and nationalism, as well as attempt to define how and in what contexts women interact with food. These advertisements converge around the following three themes: the overt  and covert emphasis on heterosexuality, the fetishization of race (both "other" and "white"), and the idealization of the "American" woman as both producer and consumer.


A print ad analysis for the Anthropology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality at Reed College, Spring 2011.
Austin Campbell, Adriel Hsu-Flanders, Adrien Schless-Meier.