Gender has had a large effect on consumption of products and services in the Irish society. Gender roles have changed over time in the Irish society; women have gone from the traditional roles of housewives to having professional occupations. Changing gender roles in the Irish society has lead to many difficulties for marketers. To be male or female can be defined biologically, but masculinity and femininity are socially constructed. The image of masculinity and femininity differ due to cultural aspects and change over time.

Early advertising and brand building were aimed at women in the Irish society as the consumer was seen as a female role. Products and services of less significance such as domestic brands were aimed at women. Adverts for domestic brands often represented women to be naive and foolish. The washing detergent adverts for Ajax Laundry Detergent in the 1960’s portrays the foolish housewife. “The housewife was a uniformed and classless persona precisely because marketers could for the first time unite women from different backgrounds under the same banner” (Giles, 2004) Due to marketers the perceived image of a woman’s role was a housewife. This image of a woman who cooks, cleans and takes care of the children was a learned image in the Irish society. From a young age we were exposed to housewife role through children’s programs, television soap operas films and television adverts. This image of the traditional housewife was broke in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when women became a large presence in the professional workforce.

Early advertising portrayed the male to have ultimate power. The word ‘man’ has been used to represent all humans as in ‘mankind’, ‘man in the street’ and ‘man made’. Marketers targeted men with products of high significance and high quality. These products were often luxury goods such as cars or tobacco. Marketers