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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1430079

The Impact of Advertising on Women's Self-Perception: A Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Yao Dai Yao Dai 1*Zhixuan Zhu Zhixuan Zhu 2*Wu Yuan Guo Wu Yuan Guo 3
  • 1 University of Macau, Taipa, Macau Region, China
  • 2 King's College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, SAR China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This systematic review explores the multifaceted psychological impact of advertising on women's self-perception, examining traditional advertising, femvertising, and the emerging effects of digital transformation. By synthesizing evidence from 95 peer-reviewed studies, this review examines the relationship between media portrayals of women and key psychological outcomes, including body image, self-esteem, self-objectification, and gender role attitudes. Our analysis reveals that traditional advertising, which often features idealized and stereotypical portrayals of femininity, continues to be associated with negative psychological outcomes such as increased body dissatisfaction and self-objectification. These effects appear to be intensifying in digital contexts, where exposure is more frequent and pervasive. Femvertising-advertising that aims to challenge gender stereotypes and empower women-shows promise in promoting positive psychological outcomes, but its effectiveness is contingent on perceived authenticity and individual viewer characteristics. The digital transformation of advertising has created new dynamics in how women encounter and process advertising messages, with social media platforms enabling both new forms of feminist messaging and new risks of superficial appropriation. Our findings suggest that understanding advertising's impact requires consideration of platform-specific features, user characteristics, and content types. The review highlights the need for advertising practices that prioritize genuine representation and empowerment of women, while also addressing the unique challenges and opportunities presented by digital platforms. This work contributes to a deeper psychological understanding of advertising's impact on women's self-perception and calls for updated theoretical frameworks and practical approaches that can address both traditional and emerging forms of advertising exposure.

    Keywords: advertising, Women, self-perception, body image, gender roles, Female psychology

    Received: 09 May 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Dai, Zhu and Yuan Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yao Dai, University of Macau, Taipa, 999078, Macau Region, China
    Zhixuan Zhu, King's College London, London, WC2R 2LS, England, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.