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27 Fed. Comm. B.J. 71 (1974)
The Portrayal of Women in Television Advertising

handle is hein.journals/fedcom27 and id is 79 raw text is: THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN TELEVISION ADVERTISING ARTHUR JAY SILVERSTEIN* AND REBECCA SILVERSTEINt Litigation in the courts and petitions to the Federal Com- munications Commission are increasingly being employed in the hopes of implementing changes in the portrayal of women in television programming and commercials.1 The gravamen is predicated on carefully woven legal arguments based on the Fairness Doctrine.2 However, the usual first step in the quest of a legal remedy is almost always ignored-proof of the allega- tions. It is not enough to arbitrarily cite isolated instances of distorted or unfair portrayals. It is insufficient to present un- scientific studies conducted by activist interested organiza- * B.A., Rutgers University; J.D., Yale Law School. t B.A., Southern Connecticut State College; M.S., Southern Con- necticut State College. 1See Bird, What's Television Doing for 50.4% of Americans, T.V. Guide, February 27, 1971, at 5;NOW Newsletters, Vocal Majority, Apr. 197 1, at 7; Embree, Media Images I: Madison Avenue Brainwashing-The Facts, in Sisterhood is Powerful 175-91 (R. Morgan ed. 1970); Hennessee & Nicholson, NOW Says: TV Commercials Insulting Women, N.Y. Times Magazine, May 28, 1972 at 12; Grant, Women's Libs Fume at Insulting Ads: Ad Gals Unruffled, Advertising Age, June 27, 1970 at 1. 2The Federal Communications Commission's Fairness Doctrine, 47 U.S.C. §315 (1964), obligates broadcasters to reasonably inform the public of the various sides of all controversial issues of public importance. Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, 13 F.C.C. 1246 (1948). This doctrine clearly applies to advertising, Cigarette Advertising, 9 F.C.C.2d 921, aff'd sub nom. Banzhaf v. FCC, 405 F.2d 1082, 132 U.S. App. D.C. 14 (1968), and implied representations, Id.; Friends of the Earth v. FCC, 24 F.C.C.2d 743 (1970), and therefore arguably to the portrayal of women in television commercials. See Wexler & Levy, Women on Television: Fairness and the Fair Sex, 2 Yale Rev. L. &'Soc. Action 59 (1971); Stanley, Federal Communications Law and Women's Rights: Women in the Wasteland Fight Back, 23 Hast. L.J. 15, 42-50 (1971).

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