PurposeThis paper aims to investigate cross-gender effects of gender stereotypes in advertising. More specifically, it proposes that the negative effects found in studies of women’s reactions to stereotyped female portrayals should hold across gender portrayal and target audience gender.Design/methodology/approachIn two experimental studies, the effects of stereotyped portrayals (vs non-stereotyped portrayals) across gender are compared.FindingsThe results show that advertising portrayals of women and men have a presumed negative influence on others, leading to higher levels of ad reactance, which has a negative impact on brand-related effects across model and participant gender, and for gender stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics and roles.Research limitations/implicationsWhereas previous studies have focused on reactions of women to female stereotypes, the current paper suggests that women and men alike react negatively to stereotyped portrayals of other genders.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that marketers can benefit from adapting a more mindful approach to the portrayals of gender used in advertising.Originality/valueThe addition of a cross-gender perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising is a key contribution to this literature.

ABSTRACT Research shows that people hold gender-stereotypical beliefs when it comes to dating and courtship. We argue that online dating sites (ODSs) will portray men and women in stereotypical ways to be consistent with user expectations. We conduct a content analysis examining implicit and explicit gender stereotypes in the homepage advertisement (ad) images used by 662 ODSs from 51 countries. Results indicate that these sites use women more often than men in their homepage ads. Compared to men, ODSs portray women with greater body display, as younger, shorter, practicing feminine touch, holding subordinate body postures, maintaining seductive eye contact, and at an intimate distance from the ads’ audience. These gender-stereotypical depictions, by and large, stay consistent across countries. The negative impact that ODSs can have on interpersonal relationships by promoting such restrictive stereotypical portrayals of men and women is discussed.

ABSTRACT Advertising as a part of the content of television often creates stereotypes in the consciousness of people. Part of these stereotypes is about gender roles in society. Such advertising negatively affects on the idea of socially acceptable gender representation, and it can also have negative affect on the society. Under the influence of commercials with stereotyped gender images, it may be difficult for people to perceive men and women in those areas where they perform non-traditional gender roles. In the article, we have researched theoretical sources about the influence of advertising in modern world, psychological features of this phenomenon and the experience of the foreign researchers. We have done the analysis of advertising on the Ukrainian popular TV channels in the prime time by content-analysis of 200 commercials on 6 leading TV channels of Ukraine. On the base of characteristics of sexism advertising we singled out 10 stereotypes of women in Ukrainian TV advertising. The study indicates that women in Ukrainian commercials are mainly portrayed as households, nurses, guardian, servant or as decoration to power men. In real life the social role of women has changed, so it is important to change the image of women in advertising.

ABSTRACT This article evaluates regulatory responses to stereotypical gender portrayals in advertising in the UK before and after the 2019 changes in the Advertising Standards Authority's (ASA) harm and offensiveness framework. It systematises for the first time the ASA's rulings in this territory and brings a new perspective in its modern practice by examining it within Deaux and Lewis’ theoretical framework on the multicomponent structure of gender stereotypes. We argue that the ASA's new rule and guidelines represent a missed opportunity to take bolder steps against ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise individuals and are not sufficiently attentive to the multi-faceted nature and fluidity of modern gender identities. We conclude by making recommendations for improving the effectiveness and implementation of the ASA's guidance on the depiction of gender stereotypes.

ABSTRACTThis exploratory study looks into gender stereotypes in original digital video advertising as an independent trend in the advertising industry worthy of a new avenue of research. Content analysis is performed on a judgemental sample of 324 original digital videos that have won awards from professional marketers. The results show that there is no statistically significant association between gender and any of the ten studied attributes (mode of presentation, credibility, role, age, argument type, reward type, product type, background, setting, and end comment). Although previous studies depicted men in male-authored science roles and with muscular physiques and women as objectified and a hypersexualized subordinate to the male, this research shows that women and men are equally portrayed in non-stereotypical activities and roles, However, central figures are more likely to be men than women, indicating a gender difference in terms of the assignment of main roles. This paper highlights the change in women’s roles as well as advertisers’ and marketers’ criteria for the content of original digital videos.

318 randomly selected television ads from India (from 2004) in three different languages (English, Hindi, and Tamil) were content analyzed to examine both the frequency of appearance and prevalence of gender stereotypes. Results indicate that there are more male than female central characters and voiceovers in Indian ads; stereotypical differences were also found in the type of credibility used by men and women, and the nature of the products they advertised and settings that males and females appeared in. Female central characters tended to be younger than their male counterparts and were more likely to be portrayed in relationship roles. Similarities and differences in gender role portrayals found in Indian television ads and those from other nations are also discussed.

The advertising literature includes extensive research on the occurrence and effects of gender-role portrayals in advertising. None of these studies has examined the ways in which humor affects depictions and the advertising effectiveness of these portrayals. This article reports the results of content-analytic and experimental studies that investigate the occurrence and effectiveness of gender stereotyping in humorous and nonhumorous advertising. The findings from these studies are in line with the assumptions of information processing theories. They indicate that the way women and men are stereotyped in advertising is dependent on humor; in particular, traditional male stereotypes are more prevalent in humorous ads, whereas traditional female stereotypes are more prevalent in nonhumorous ads. With respect to the influence of these stereotypes, humor improves consumers’ attitudes, particularly if nontraditional stereotyping is utilized instead of traditional stereotyping. Furthermore, humor in stereotyped advertising influences women more than men. Women evaluate gender portrayals more favorably and as more credible in humorous ads than in nonhumorous ads, particularly when nontraditional stereotyping instead of traditional stereotypes are used. These findings provide implications for gender-role and humor research in advertising and for practitioners who wish to increase the effectiveness of ads that use stereotypes.

The outcomes of 2 experiments investigating the effectiveness of advertisements that use (non)traditional stereotypes of women (Experiment 1) or men (Experiment 2) are reported. Effectiveness of the ads was tested in relation to perceivers' attitudes toward female or male gender roles, respectively. The main finding was that for both male and female versions of the advertisements, the paternalistic ad strategies were more effective than were the envious ones, supporting the predictions of the stereotype content model over the classic prediction of negative effects of nontraditional gender portrayals for advertising effectiveness. Moreover, attitudes toward gender roles played only a limited role in determining ad effectiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This paper investigates the impact of femvertising (female empowerment advertising). More specifically, it hypothesizes that femvertising (vs. traditional portrayals of females in advertising) will reduce ad reactance among a female target audience, and that this in turn will enhance ad and brand attitudes. The results of three experimental studies indicate that this is indeed the case, and that the results hold across print and digital media, for five different product categories, and for femvertising focusing on challenging female stereotypes in terms of physical characteristics as well as the roles and occupations used to portray women in advertising. Although previous studies of the effects of female portrayals tend to focus on social comparison and self-identity, the current paper considers the role of psychological reactance to (more or less) stereotypical portrayals in explaining these effects. The results suggest that marketers have much to gain from adapting a more proactive and mindful approach to the female portrayals they use in their ads.

ABSTRACTThis study investigates how presumed influence on others affects women's evaluations of advertising featuring gender stereotypes. Previous research has largely overlooked the social context of the reactions to gender stereotypes. Addressing that gap, this study draws on the influence of presumed influence model to proposed that female consumers believe that other women are negatively affected by advertising that contains gender-stereotyped portrayals. This perception is hypothesized to influence ad and brand attitudes as consumers ‘punish’ the brand for hurting others. The results of two experimental studies featuring stereotyped and non-stereotyped advertising portrayals indicate that the hypothesis holds for two types of stereotype components (physical characteristics and role behaviour). This new theoretical perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising, one that helps to explain why many women dislike gender stereotypes in advertising even though those stereotypes often have limited impact on them personally.