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Snapshots of Men and Women in Interaction: An Investigation of Stereotypes in Print Advertisement Relationship Portrayals
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This paper pursues a line of enquiry into gender stereotypes in advertising, by the exclusive examination of images of men and women in interaction. Drawing evidence from Cypriot magazine advertisements, the study employs the coding scheme developed by Goffman. The findings indicate that when males and females are framed together in advertisements, the presence of gender clichés is evident even when transcribed in a subtle fashion. Contrary to previous research, joint portrayals emphasize the relative size of men and women and mens’ status superiority. Conversely, females tend to perform inferior roles, occupy less space in the advertisements, wear light clothing and adopt postures that suggest subordination and withdrawal more often than men. In addition, differences in the degree of stereotyping were detected as general audience magazines contain advertisements with less traditional patterns compared to women’s and men’s magazines. The type of endorsed product further influences the depiction of the models, as females endorsing hedonic products are more likely to be captured in a stereotypical fashion than males.
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... The scientific debate surrounding the representation of women in advertising dates back to the early 1950s, and has gradually increased as female participation in the workforce has developed [4,11]. Moreover, the topic continues to attract attention today and more recent research papers have attempted to analyze gender stereotypes over time [12][13][14][15][16], and have also introduced an international comparison [8,17]. Furthermore, reviews regarding how the issue has been addressed have been conducted [7,18,19]. ...
... The literature agrees that there has been a remarkable evolution, and, currently, there is a more balanced representation that includes a holistic and modern view of women [8,13,16,20]. It is, in fact, so much the case that today, in advertising as a whole, the use of women as objects of desire or representing submission to men, directly or indirectly in the sexual or domestic sphere, is practically nonexistent [7]. ...
... There are several authors who have tried to identify those relations that are categorized as masculine and dominant or equal/parity [4]. Furthermore, these authors have also worked to show how gender norms are influenced by this representation in the field of advertising [8,16] and media [9]. Likewise, advertising shows the evolution of women in the labor market, despite the fact that gender bias persists in many professions [21,22] and contributes to the challenge of co-responsibility due to the fact that men are now more often shown as sharing in domestic work and childcare [12,23]. ...
The aim of this study was to analyze, from a gender perspective, advertising broadcasts during a time of crisis. A holistic perspective of the stereotypes, roles, professions, and gender relations represented is offered by utilizing a content analysis of all the advertisements and their corresponding images during broadcast. Methods: a content analysis of 20 variables was conducted; of these, 7 variables were obtained from under the gender perspective of 1.350 images, corresponding to 71 audiovisual spots on YouTube that were broadcasted during the lockdown. Results: this analysis showed the special sensitivity of advertisers when balancing male and female presences, and in projecting an equitable and co-responsible vision between both genders, with special emphasis on gender professions, teleworking, and childcare. Corporate advertising predominates over commercial advertising, which may explain why the discourse and images blur inequalities and imbalances with respect to official statistics. Conclusions: advertisers seem to have noticed the strategic role of introducing gender perspectives into advertising, thus assuming a more social function that better connects them with today’s society while also supporting the advances and challenges of equal opportunities.
... According to the supporters of the "mirror" point of view, advertising reflects predominant societal values, whereas proponents of the "mould" perspective argue that advertising actively shapes societal norms. The current common consensus is that individuals create a concept of reality that tends to match the advertised images; this type of influence of advertising is referred to as "hybrid" (Grau and Zotos 2016;Zotos and Tsichla 2014). Advertising is therefore a crucial medium that both reflects and influences our norms and behaviour. ...
... In this respect, Katz (2011, 262) sums up: "Advertising, in a commodity-driven consumer culture, is an omnipresent and rich source of gender ideology." Even though society, in particular female and male (societal) roles are in a state of constant flux, a number of studies regarding representations of gender in contemporary advertising, such as Plakoyiannaki and Zotos (2009), Gentry and Harrison (2010), Zotos and Tsichla (2014), Grau and Zotos (2016), and Islentyeva et al. (2023), show that advertising still maintains rather stereotypical and even regressive portrayals of femininity and masculinity. ...
Food and drinks are necessary components of daily life. Similar to other types of advertising, food advertising frequently employs images of models to promote a company’s products, thus creating stereotypically gendered representations. This study aims to analyse the key discursive strategies employed in the representation of masculinity (and femininity) in contemporary food and beverage advertising in a sample of 35 print advertisements launched between 2000 and 2020. Food and beverages constitute utilitarian products, in contrast to hedonic products. This study analyses posters that promote products that fit into five major categories: (1) alcoholic and (2) non-alcoholic beverages, (3) fast food, (4) snacks, and (5) sport nutrition, in order to trace the relation between the types of endorsed products and the strategies employed in the representations of masculinity. Among the brands advertised are Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Coca-Cola, Maximuscle, McDonald’s, KFC and Nespresso. The study investigates how ideals of masculinity (and femininity) are represented, especially in terms of body ideals, and how these representations construct and promote socially desirable gendered bodies, thus having an impact on an individual’s satisfaction with their own body. We will show that the “framing of visibility” featuring male models as strong and therefore powerful, with trained muscular bodies, is contrasted with the “framing of invisibility,” in which female models are primarily represented as skinny and lightweight, but hyper-feminine and sexually appealing, which in turn leads to their objectification and sexualisation.
... The emergence of feminism in the 1960s marked a turning point in pursuing equal opportunities for both genders. This shift towards gender equality led to changes in vocational options and household structures, particularly for females [6][7][8][9][10]. Moreover, the evolution of the workforce has brought about significant changes in the roles played by males and females, and this has been reflected in popular media, especially advertising [11]. ...
It is surprising that women are often charged more for products and services marketed explicitly to them. This phenomenon, known as the pink tax, is a major issue that questions women’s buying power. Nevertheless, it is not just limited to physical products – even online advertising can be subject to this type of gender-price discrimination. That is where our research comes in. We have developed a new methodology to measure what we call the digital marketing pink tax – the additional expense of delivering advertisements to female audiences. Analyzing data from Facebook advertising platforms across 187 countries and 40 territories shows this issue is systematic. Particularly, the digital marketing pink tax is prevalent in 79% of audiences across the world and 98% of audiences in highly developed countries. Therefore, advertisers incur a median cost of 30% more to display advertisements to women than men. In contrast, advertisers have to pay less digital marketing pink tax in less-developed countries (5%). Our research indicates that countries in the Middle East and Africa with a low Human Development Index ( HDI ) do not experience this phenomenon. Our comprehensive investigation of 24 industries reveals that advertisers must pay up to 64% of the digital marketing pink tax to target women in some industries. Our findings also suggest a connection between the digital marketing pink tax and the consumer pink tax – the extra charge placed on products marketed to women. Overall, our research sheds light on an important issue affecting women worldwide. Raising awareness of the digital marketing pink tax and advocating for better regulation.
... The "mirror" argument states that advertising simply reflects the values and gender roles which are existent and dominant in a society at a given time and that advertisers simply make use of them in order to promote their goods and services (Holbrook, 1987). Therefore, the impact of advertising in shaping people's opinions regarding gender roles would be not very significant, advertising being just a reflection of the dominant gender roles existing in society (Zotos & Tsichla, 2014). On the other hand, the "mold" argument states that exposure to the gender roles and values which are presented in advertisements is able to shape the values, and furthermore the attitude and behavior of the audience (Pollay, 1986;. ...
The present study is set out to determine the way in which video advertisements for pharmaceutical products, published online, depicted female, and male consumers, respectively. The paper offers an overview of the gender roles which have been used in Romanian pharmaceutical advertisements, this being the most promoted category of products on TV in the last years. We conducted a content analysis where we included the television commercials of the top ten pharmaceutical companies, as determined by ad ratings, aired on Romanian television during the year 2019. The findings show that more female gender roles than male gender roles have been used in the ads. However, the types of gender roles which have been mostly used are similar, the most common being the career woman/ career man, the mother/ father, the beautiful woman/ attractive man.
... This is the result of a whole media ecology in Lebanon that interacts with global media systems, structured by patriarchy and capitalism, and works in tandem with legal regimes, a discriminatory sectarian government system, archaic societal values, and family pressures. Nevertheless, such dichotomous representation of gender roles and expectations may be blamed for recreating the binary gender division, exerting pressure on men and women to fit into these perceived gender roles (Al-Mahadin 2011; Eisend 2019), and reinforcing patriarchal values in Lebanon (Al-Mahadin 2011), thereby increasing gender inequality, oppression, and discrimination and limiting both men's and women's diverse roles in society (Grau and Zotos 2016;Frances Susan Hasso 2018;Zotos and Tsichla 2014). ...
This study examines the representation of gender in Lebanese advertisements. By applying an intersectional feminist framework within a postcolonial country, the study examines the representation of men and women characters, the domestic or professional contexts in which they are situated, their ethnic and physiological traits, their apparent relationships and roles, and their power stances. The findings reveal differences in the pictures drawn of women and men, as advertisements render invisible many common characteristics of Lebanese society. The study concludes that advertisements in Lebanon are ageist and promote Eurocentric ideals that perpetuate the circulation of flawless white femininity and heteronormative patriarchal masculinity, thereby symbolically annihilating most of the population. Thus, gendered advertising in Lebanon offers a rich site for studying the interplay between local and global identities that produce hybrid identities structured by patriarchy, cultural imperialism, and capitalism.
The current study aims to shed light on the traditional gender stereotypes prevalent in Pakistani television advertisements, particularly the shift towards role reversal favoring males. It examines the evolving social dynamics regarding the distribution of tasks between genders in daily life, previously associated predominantly with females. The analysis focuses on various local brand advertisements aired on television, such as Pampers, Max-Bar, Shan Masala, and Mechico shampoo, which depict men engaging in tasks traditionally assigned to women. These brands often emphasize household chores, traditionally perceived as women's responsibilities. Employing a multimodal discourse analysis approach inspired by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001) and grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics by Halliday, the study delves into three metafunctions: representational meaning, interactive meaning, and compositional meaning. The findings reveal a notable social shift towards role reversal and gender equity, a departure from conventional norms prevalent in previous decades.
The present study discusses the social persuasion advertisers use to implicitly communicate society’s sociocultural norms through visual communication in advertisements, specifically in Pakistan. For instance, the research explores how advertisers, as cultural brokers, represent women by challenging established sociocultural norms by utilising persuasive strategies through visual communication in Pakistani ads. The research comes under the qualitative content analysis paradigm; the data were collected, identified, interpreted, and analysed, focusing on the cultural values/norms represented through women’s dressing and sexually devised postures in Pakistani society. Moreover, the research employed the constant comparison method for the data analysis. Findings indicate that Pakistani advertisers represent women mainly in a stereotypical manner. However, when they deviate from representing her in a non-stereotypical way, they go far beyond the set norms to persuade them quickly. For instance, they found representing women as a posture of sexual appeal to persuade ordinary people’s minds by employing social neuro-persuasion challenging the Pakistani established sociocultural beliefs, norms, or values. These advertisers seem to deviate from traditional ideologies because they minutely know the sensual, desirous nature of
most Pakistani men. Henceforth, they represent women as an alluring tool of persuasion.
Die Marketingethik gilt als inzwischen weitgehend eigenständiger Teil der Unternehmensethik. Während sich Letztere mit moralisch relevanten Fragestellungen in der Unternehmenspraxis befasst, konzentriert sich die Marketingethik im Besonderen auf konkrete Fragestellungen im Marketing, bspw. die ethische Evaluation von Marketingpraktiken oder moralisch relevante Fragen in der Marketingforschung. Die deskriptive Form der Marketingethik beschreibt und analysiert ggf. problematische Handlungen; die normative Form schlägt Handlungsweisen vor. Dieser Beitrag ist folgendermaßen aufgebaut: Im ersten Teil werden die wesentlichen theoretischen Grundlagen der Marketingethik dargestellt. Dafür werden zunächst die historische Entwicklung sowie unterschiedliche Ansätze innerhalb der Marketingethik überblicksartig dargestellt. Anschließend werden relevante gesetzliche und nicht-gesetzliche Regulierungen erläutert. Im zweiten Teil dieses Beitrags werden mehrere Themenfelder, die spezifische marketingethische Fragestellungen aufwerfen, präsentiert; daran anschließend werden gesonderte Themenfelder behandelt, die durch die Verbreitung neuer Medien an Relevanz gewonnen haben. Abschließend werden in einem Fazit die wichtigsten Punkte zusammengefasst.
In this study, the authors examine the emergence of brand positioning strategies in advertising that parallel the growth of the global marketplace. A new construct, global consumer culture positioning (GCCP), is proposed, operationalized, and tested. This construct associates the brand with a widely understood and recognized set of symbols believed to constitute emerging global consumer culture. Study results support the validity of the new construct and indicate that meaningful percentages of advertisements employ GCCP, as opposed to positioning the brand as a member of a local consumer culture or a specific foreign consumer culture. Identification of GCCP as a positioning tool suggests one pathway through which certain brands come to be perceived by consumers as “global” and provides managers with strategic direction in the multinational marketplace.
The basic theories and measurement procedures for reliability and the closely related concept of generalizability are reviewed, illustrated, and evaluated for use in marketing research. A critique is given of a subset of previous marketing research studies in which reliability estimates were used and recommendations are made for future research.
This paper examines the impact of vertical and horizontal individualism-collectivism on the ethical decision-making process in business. The paper adopts Trevino's (1986) model of ethical decision-making in business and develops the relationships between vertical and horizontal individualism-collectivism and specific elements of the ethical decision-making process.
A critical element in the evolution of a fundamental body of knowledge in marketing, as well as for improved marketing practice, is the development of better measures of the variables with which marketers work. In this article an approach is outlined by which this goal can be achieved and portions of the approach are illustrated in terms of a job satisfaction measure.
