As a good natured society (on those days we have the narrow minded idiots in check) we've come a long way to iron out a good deal of stereotypes. Here in Amurica, all races are equal and no decent person is throwing around racial slurs and making racist jokes because we believe we're better than the other guy because we were born with lighter colored skin.
Gender stereotypes are another matter. From ye olden days, women were seen as frail and dainty and meant for housework and making families and little else. Things didn't really start to change until much much later, and even then women had to fight for their rights. Once again, we've come a long way to finally get somewhere, but with not quite as much progress as the racial front had. I could almost say our progress has been twisted back around into a smack in the face. In the realm of advertising, women have gone from hopeless housewife, to sex object. In ads, women are almost always dressed up, covered in makeup, and either shopping, chatting with her girlfriends, and/or admiring/having a romantic moment with some hunk of a man. Compare the man's role in advertisements where he is handsome and tough. He's the one who gets slow motion shots while doing manual labor, while the woman's slow motion is spent on dress up and night-on-the-town montages.
And when it comes right down to it, what types of products prominently feature these sexes? Ads with women are all about clothing, makeup, and the magical cure to get rid of whatever condition makes you imperfect (weight loss, skin care, etc. because you're only beautiful if you spend the money to do so), while ads with men are often selling power tools, cars, and other manly things. Because men need to act like men.
I've already ranted about the sexist Dr. Pepper Ten commercial, so just pretend I copy and pasted that in here somewhere.
TL;DR: Dear advertising execs everywhere. This is the 21st century. Women can be tough and men can be girly. Stop being sexist. Please and thank you.
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