Agentic and Communal: Multinational Analysis of Gender Portrayal in Children's Television Commercials

Abstract

Television commercials reflect societal beliefs and norms regarding gender role orientation through ad characters' gender role portrayals. Advertisers and marketers who target global customers must be sensitive to societal differences with respect to gender role portrayal in advertising. This study examines similarities and differences in gender role portrayal in children's television advertisements. Television commercials from three countries are content analyzed with particular focus on gender role portrayals. The gender role portrayals are analyzed based on the use of specific dimensions of agentic and communal orientations that differentiate between masculine and feminine behavior. Agentic dimensions such as aggressiveness and independence were present in commercials in all three countries; however, the frequency with which these agentic dimensions were observed varied significantly. Similarly, communal attributes were also observed among all three countries, but significant differences in frequency were identified for the empathy, nurturance, and submissiveness dimensions. Findings are discussed with potential explanations based on cultural environment in addition to the implications for advertising practitioners.