Advertising Needs to Step Up to Modern Times

After reading Steinem's essay, I am puzzled as to the unwillingness of many companies to advertise in Ms. and reach an expanded audience. Understandably, advertising is a very profitable business and companies spend millions of dollars on market research to ensure they are advertising to the right audiences. Thus, it seems logical in the past that beer and car companies would advertise during sporting events in hopes of targeting males. Similarly, makeup companies and beauty products would be advertised on shows like "Gossip Girl" and in Cosmo magazine. These tactics seem justifiable but they should transcend along with society. In the past few decades, the women's movement and parts of raunch culture has portrayed males and females as more alike than ever. There is plenty of evidence for women who love cars or men who care about their appearance. Thus, it would seem natural that advertising companies would keep up with these trends. The initial acceptance of males and females exhibiting an affinity for products that do not fall in line with traditional gender stereotypes is the key breakthrough. Once that breakthrough occurred, we would think advertising would coincide. Companies are always looking for a new target audience to attract and the emergence of accepted contradictions to traditional gender stereotypes allows advertising to enter into a similar realm. Thus, I agree with Jackson that the unwillingness of companies to make such a transition is not only puzzling but senseless.