“PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISEMENTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PRINT, ELECTRONIC AND NEW MEDIA”

Gender plays an important role in Advertisements. It describes not only the socially constructed disparity between men and women, but also the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. In the beginning, advertisements were once shown to sell a product, however, later, advertisements begin to objectify women and use women as a way to sell products. The roles of women have greatly domesticated, objectified, and in some instances, insulted or degraded in advertisements. Women are usually portrayed as young, slim and beautiful. Her appearance is often seen in proactive images associated with sex objects in order to sell products. Women are shown in roles such as cooks, maids, babysitters, housewives, mother, teachers, salesgirl etc. Her role is limited to earn profit for the manufactures. The current paper Portrayal of Women in Advertisements: A Comparative Study of Print, Electronic and New Media will explore the current situation of role played and portrayed by women in media in Maharashtra state of India.