Sex Roles in Advertising: A Comparison of Television Advertisements in Australia, Mexico, and the United States

Abstract

In the past, research has found that the portrayal of sex roles in advertising has not reflected equality or reality. Further, studies typically have examined only U.S. advertising, leaving open the question of cultural influence on advertising's sex role portrayals. The author offers a new analysis of sex roles in advertising and compares content analysis findings for U.S., Australian, and Mexican television advertisements. Results reveal differences in the portrayal of the sexes in U.S. advertisements. Australian advertisements show somewhat fewer sex role differences and Mexican advertisements show slightly more sex role differences than U.S. advertisements. Stereotypes are found in the advertising of all three countries, but are manifested in different ways.