The effects of advertising on society is a broad topic and sometimes misleading or confusing. Let s try to disentangle the connection between what s real and not real in the advertising world and how that affects us.

1. First, read this article.

http://www.sociology.org/media-studies/care-bears-vs-transformers-gender-stereotypes-in-advertisements

2. Share your reactions to the article. In particular, give a response to one of these questions:

• Why are such perceptions about males and females created?

• Is it possible that ads are selling a particular vision (or stereotype) of what it means to be male, female, beautiful or what it means to be young, old or cool? Why it this problematic?

Cite the article and at least one citation from your text.