Gender-Role Portrayals in Television Advertising Across the Globe.

Jörg Matthes,Karoline Adam,Michael Prieler

doi:10.1007/s11199-016-0617-y

Jörg Matthes, Karoline Adam + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0617-y

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Journal: Sex Roles	Publication Date: Apr 15, 2016
Citations: 77	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Vienna, Hallym University

Abstract

Although there are numerous studies on gender-role portrayals in television advertising, comparative designs are clearly lacking. With content analytical data from a total of 13 Asian, American, and European countries, we study the stereotypical depiction of men and women in television advertisements. Our sample consists of 1755 ads collected in May 2014. Analyzing the gender of the primary character and voiceover, as well as the age, associated product categories, home- or work setting, and the working role of the primary character, we concluded that gender stereotypes in TV advertising can be found around the world. A multilevel model further showed that gender stereotypes were independent of a country’s gender indices, including Hofstede’s Masculinity Index, GLOBE’s Gender Egalitarianism Index, the Gender-related Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index, and the Global Gender Gap Index. These findings suggest that gender stereotyping in television advertising does not depend on the gender equality prevalent in a country. The role of a specific culture in shaping gender stereotypes in television advertising is thus smaller than commonly thought.

Highlights

There are numerous studies on genderrole portrayals in television advertising, comparative designs are clearly lacking
They reported that the odds of using a male voiceover significantly increased as Gender-related Development Index (GDI) scores dropped. In his meta-analysis, Eisend (2010) used another gender index created by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)—namely, the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)—and found a correlation between the GEM and gender stereotyping in advertising. Our research extends these studies by testing whether the GDI (UNDP 2014a), the UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) (UNDP 2014b), which replaced the GEM due to criticism, and the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index (GGGI) can predict gender stereotypes (Hausmann et al 2014)
We stated that there will be more male than female primary characters

Summary

Introduction

There are numerous studies on genderrole portrayals in television advertising, comparative designs are clearly lacking. A very few studies have analyzed gender roles in a comparative fashion allowing for a test of country and cultural differences (An and Kim 2007; Gilly 1988; Milner and Collins 2000; Paek et al 2011) Most of these studies have relied on one or two comparative gender indices (such as Hofstede’s), and more recent indices have not been employed. Only Paek et al (2011) looked at television advertisements across seven countries and used Hofstede’s masculinity dimension and the gender development index to explain gender-role portrayals

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