PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF THE USE AND PORTRAYAL OF FEMALES IN NIGERIA’S ADVERTISING SCENE

Advertising is a marketing and persuasive communication whose aim is to sell goods and services to consumers. It has become the surest to creative and sustaining the badly needed voice share and visibility share for a company and its products in the current very competitive market driven economy. Researchers contend that advertising has powerful effect that goes well beyond the purpose of selling products to consumers. The study explored public perceptions of the use and portrayal of females in advertising in Nigeria. Survey research method was used to investigate the issue. The result revealed that females are used in advertisement because they help to attract attention of consumers to the product. The image of females was found to be very bad and capable of negatively influencing the perception of women among the audience of advertisement messages in Nigeria. Hence, the study recommends that women should see themselves as talented individuals with unique skills, who can manage their affairs in the world with dignity and decorum. Females that feature in advertisements should reject roles that debase and dehumanize them