This study compares the portrayals of female children with those of male children in television commercials. The roles of females in society are no longer limited to housewives and nurses, females today have the option to pursue any career they wish. It is important to see if the changing roles of females are represented in commercials viewed by children. Examining the roles of female children in commercials shows in what ways females are still inferior to men.
The data show that the media portrayal of the female child is limited in the view it presents to children. The female child is directly compared with the male child in order to see what characteristics males have that females are still lacking. The study concludes that the media portrayals of female children in television commercials needs to be updated in order to encourage the development of more flexible and equal gender role representation.
Women and Television Commercials
There has been an abundance of research done on the stereotypical gender roles of women in television commercials. "Criticism of advertising gained a new perspective in the early sixties when feminists began to question the roles women play in advertising" (Manca, 1994, p. 6). Most of the studies tend to be focused on the female adult, or as Sanderson (1990) has called the focus, "the advertiser's women" (p. 60).
Craig (1992) found that "TV ads generally portray women in the traditional stereotypical roles of subservience. Women are usually seen in a home setting and doing such activities as cooking, cleaning, childcare, or maintaining their physical appearance. Similarly, Betty Friedan's analysis of commercials found the "advertiser's woman" to fit into two categories of "the true housewife" and/or "the balanced homemaker" (Manca, 1992, p. 6). Friedan hypothesized that the constricting roles that women are seen in would limit women's hopes for better careers. (Manca, 1992) In their 1981 analysis of women's portrayals in commercials, Mamay and Simpson found women to be in three categories, similar to the two of Friedan. Women in commercials could be categorized into maternal, house- keeping, and aesthetic beauty (Manca, 1992). Friedan, Craig, and Manca categorized the women seen in their research in roles that researchers indicate as being inferior roles in comparison with the superior roles that men tend to occupy (Manca, 1992).
Sanderson's (1990) study focused on the women in advertising. She stated that tha stereotypical image of females as being fragile, passive, vulnerable and powerless is reinforced by advertising. Sanderson went deep into her analysis of women's images. She found that when women were seen in activities other than the mother or the homemaker, that they were still unfairly represented. She concluded that women are now "24- hour women" that are expected to play as many as ten different roles in an average day (p. 60). These roles include taking care of the children, satisfying work related and their man's needs, and taking care of themselves.
Craig (1992) found through his research, that television commercials are specific to the audience during the day. In other words, the audience expected during certain hours provides the basis for which commercials are shown. Craig found that daytime commercials were usually formatted to be for women homemakers. These commercials were centered around the home. When men were in daytime commercials, they were most often "a celebrity spokesman, a husband, or a professional".
Women / Men and Television Commercials
Erving Goffman (1976), extensively researched the women's image in advertising in comparison with the males' image. "Relative size" was one of Goffman's many areas of concentration. He found that males are shown as superior over females because they are most often greater in height. Goffman assumed that "differences in size will correlate with differences in social weight" (p. 28). He also looked at the "feminine touch". Goffman found that women are seen more frequently then men, cradling or caressing an object with their fingers and hands. This signified that women are seen as delicate, even in their touch.
"Function ranking" is another one of Goffman's focuses. Goffman found that when women and men are shown together in a commercial or advertisement, that the man is likely to perform the "executive role". Also, women more than men are seen receiving help from the opposite sex. An interesting theory presented by Goffman is that when men are seen doing traditionally female tasks such as mopping the floor, that they are usually smiling or doing something funny. The men are basically mocking the importance of a "women's job". However, he did find some interesting data involving adults with children.
Goffman's research mostly covered the adult images in commercials. When men are seen with children, it is usually a boy and involves some sort of "pushing into manhood activity" such as arm wrestling. Women on the other hand are seen with their daughters in a more nurturing way.
Children Gender Roles and Television Commercials
Based on percentages reported by Furnham and Bitar (1993), children are exposed to as much as eight hours of commercials a week. "Because viewing television involves the observations of others' behavior and its reinforcement contingencies, television is considered to be a major vehicle through which children learn about appropriate behaviors, particularly gender-appropriate behaviors" (p.298). Very little information was found on children's images/ gender portrayals in commercials. Most often, studies looked at the adult male and female.
O'Connor (1989) is one of the many who only briefly touched on the child's portrayal. He stated that television is crucial and inevitable in the development of children. O'Connor's study showed that "sexist stereotypes" are in an astounding amount of commercials (1989). Looking at children specifically, he found girls to play with dolls and boys to play sports and be "charmingly rowdy"(p. 34). In O'Connor's analysis, one particular statement summed up what the message is that the female child gets from commercials. Little girls should be ready for a life of purchasing cosmetics, clothes, and other things that will make them more appealing to men.
Aside from researching sexism in commercials with children characters, O'Connor (1989) also looked at racism as a problem. He found the main character, the person with the most screen time, to be a "white boy, preferably with blonde hair" to dominate (O'Connor, 1989, p.38). Although racism in commercials is important, it will not be a focus of this thesis. The importance of this statement is that the main character is a BOY.
Welch, Huston-Stein, Wright, and Plehal's study (1979) focuses on gender stereotyping in advertising, with particular interest paid to the portrayals and implications. The study generally dealt with adults with only a few exceptions. Their study found that advertisements show girls playing with dolls and household gadgets while boys play with cars and are competitive. This group study was mainly concerned with production techniques (i.e. cuts, zooms, and narration) and what differences they had in boys and girl's commercials with advertisements for toys. The results of this study show the already well-researched fact that commercials aimed at boys contain higher levels of activity. Welch et. al. conclude that common stereotypes of boys being loud and active and girls as quiet and meek are found in advertisements. This study set the basis for researching children's ideas of how they and others are supposed to be in terms of gender roles (O'Connor, 1979). One of the other few researchers who concentrated on the child is Smith (1994). His analysis "considers the possible influences of television advertising upon a child's perception and subsequent re-enactment of gender role-play"(Smith, 1994, p. 324). Bandura (1969) had also suggested that as social learning theory implies that, children learn their gender appropriate roles through observing others (Smith, 1994). Bandura also states that children pick up on behaviors quicker when there is a glamorous model demonstrating them (Smith, 1994). Similarly to Smith, Pierce (1989) makes an argument that the reason children learn so much about sex-typed behaviors is due to the fact that these images are viewed right in their own home (Smith, 1994). Smith's conclusion is that commercials show children how to behave with appropriate gender behavior, and eventually, children accept these behaviors as true (Smith 1994).
Closely related to Smith's idea that females were found more often in home settings while males were outside the home is a (1974) study by O'Kelly (Smith 1994). O'Kelly (1974) discovered several interesting things from the data collected. He saw that girls were seen in traditional female roles such as playing house and cooking. He also found that boys on the other hand acted out traditional male roles. These male type roles included playing football and fishing (Smith, 1994).
In 1982, Morgan found in his study that female subjects who reported higher levels of television viewing throughout the study demonstrated an increase in their sexist beliefs. In comparison, female subjects who reported lower levels of television viewing did not experience any increase in their sexist beliefs. This study indicates a relationship between television viewing and sexist beliefs in children (Morgan, 1982). Similarly, Signorielli (1989) has proposed that as the amount of television viewing increases, children's conceptions of reality increasingly reflects the "realities" of television. It is important to see how females are portrayed in commercials because like Signorielli concluded, the beliefs of child viewers regarding gender roles, come to reflect the gender roles being portrayed on television (1989).
Introduction:
This study involved a content analysis of television commercials that contain children and are aired during times most often viewed by children. Weekday samples were taken between two p.m. and five p.m. Weekend samples were taken Saturday morning between seven-thirty a.m. and ten-thirty a.m. The time slots were chosen with consideration for the time most children are out of school, and for the abundance of children's programming aired at that time. These hours seem to be "prime-time" for children viewers. Kline (1993) has stated that the best time for television advertisers to target children is during the "children's ghetto" of television on Saturday mornings and after school. The commercials were analyzed with particular attention paid to the female child in comparison with the male child.
Data Collection:
This stage of the study began with the selection of television stations from which to gather data. In order to get a random sample, two American networks were chosen; Fox and WB. The stations were chosen after scanning the T.V. Guide for programming that appeared to be targeted at children. Each of these stations was then taped for three-hour time blocks. Both stations were taped simultaneously on the same days in order to get a fair representation. Fox and WB were taped from two p.m. to five p.m. on Tuesday and from seven-thirty a.m. to ten-thirty a.m. on Saturday morning.
Coding of Data:
After all recording of commercials was completed, a coding scheme was established. Each commercial was given a number starting with one and running consecutively. For each commercial, the sex of the main character, the product, the company, the television station, and day of the week was identified. The data correlated by sex was broken into the following groups: female, male, both female and male, or unclear. The products advertised were divided into four groups. These groups were toys, food, personal hygiene, sports, and other (for those that did not fit into any of the categories). The dominant setting was then identified: in the home, out of the home, in school, both in and out of the home, and other. More specifically, those commercials advertising toys were broken up into three categories: generally a female product, generally a male product, and gender neutral products. Products associated with the female are dolls, kitchen sets, and make-up kits. Those products seen as male include cars, tools, action figures, and sporting goods. Board games and cards were recorded as gender neutral products. Toys were also divided into categories according to the style of behavior exhibited by the children. These seven categories include playing with the toy, fighting, competing, building or fixing, laughing, talking, and observing. Where both males and females are present in the commercial, the height of the two sexes was compared.
Saturday mornings were the busiest time for television advertisements with an average of 33 commercials per hour. Tuesdays weren't as busy with an average of 23 commercials per hour. The total commercials viewed on WB and Fox within the two time blocks were very close, with 114 on FOX and 110 on WB (See Table 1).
The number of commercials with children in them revealed that the selection of times was appropriate for the study as approximately 56% of the commercials contained children. Saturdays contained an average of 18 commercials with children per hour. Tuesdays were relatively lower with only 13.5 commercials with children per hour (See Table 2).
Of the 126 commercials found with children, the lack of commercials fitting into the personal hygiene, sports, and other categories was unexpected. In the eight hours analyzed, not one commercial contained an advertisement for personal hygiene, sports, or other. Commercials categorized as food were most prevalent on each day with 41 on Tuesday, and 43 on Saturday. Approximately 67% of all children's commercials were advertising a food product. Within the food category, the predominant product was breakfast cereal. Toy commercials were significantly lower in abundance than expected with only 33%. The low representation of toy commercials is reflective of the lack of holidays during this period of time (See Table 3).
In all of the commercials with children, males were more prevalent than females. Males alone occupied 39% of commercials while females occupied only 25%. Males and females were seen together in commercials 32% of the time. Unclear main characters took up 4% of the commercial time. Males, female, both males and females, and unclear were most often in food commercials (67%) over toy commercials (33%). More specifically, females were extremely more likely to be in food commercials (71%) than in toy commercials (29%). Males were almost equally in food (51%), and toy commercials (50%). When both sexes were seen together, they were more often in food commercials (78%) than in toy commercials (22%) (See Table 4).
The gender of the main character or characters coincided with the gender related to the advertised product in toy commercials. 100% of female expected toys (i.e. Blossom Barbie) had female main characters. No male children were represented in these commercials. Similarly, 100% of male expected toys (i.e. Power Rangers Megasword) had male main characters with no females depicted in the commercials. 21% of commercials advertising neutral toys (i.e. Monopoly Jr.) contained both males and females equally. In 67% of all toy commercials male children were seen, and only 33% of toy commercials featured female children (See Table 5).
When male children were seen in toy commercials, 34% of the time they were building/ fixing they toy, 29% they were playing with the toy, and 21% of males were seen fighting. Males were not seen laughing, but they were seen 4% of the time observing , 4% talking, and 8% competing. Females observed were not competing, fighting, or building/ fixing in toy commercials. 33% of females were found laughing, 22% talking, 22% observing, and 22% playing with the toy. When both males and females were present, 55% of the time they were playing with the toy, 33% laughing, 11% observing, 22% talking, and 11% competing. Both males and females were never fighting, building/ fixing, or talking (See Table 6).
The style of behavior demonstrated by the main character was looked at. Of the 126 commercials, 80 depicted definite male or female gender. These were analyzed for style of behavior. The behavior displayed by the main character, either female or male, revealed the overall impression that the character displayed. Aggression was strongly correlated to male children, while female children were linked to passivity (See Table 7).
The dominant setting seen with genders proved to be very interesting. Males were extremely likely to be found out of the home. Male children were out of the home 85% versus in the home only 13%. Male children were only seen in school a minor amount of time, only 2%. Females occupied in the home settings 53% and out of the home settings a mere 44%. Females, like males, were rarely seen in school (3%). When both male and female children appeared in a commercial, 53% of the time they were found out of the home, and in the home only 15%. Both sexes together were seen in school 12%. When both sexes were represented, the setting of in and out of the home was occupied 20%. When males or females were seen separately, they did not occupy the in and out of home setting (See Table 8).
Finally, where both male and female children were seen together, relative size was examined. The study showed that males were taller than females 67.5% to 32.5%. This result is one of great concern with the commonality of female children being taller than male children until puberty is reached. This height difference does not follow this idea of the male being shorter (See Table 9).
From the results, it is clear that stereotypical gender images and roles predominate in children's commercials. The dominance of males over females can be seen in several areas of these commercials. For instance, there was a predominance of the number of males over females seen as main characters in the entire sample of commercials. Also, when male characters were seen, they were in more active roles than females. This was expected after reviewing the Welch et.al. (1979) study that showed boys as loud and active and girls as quiet and meek.
Most often, female characters were found in the home, and male characters were out of the home. This finding coincided with Smith's (1994) study which found similar results. Also assumed on the basis of O'Connor's (1989) research, was that girls more likely than boys, would appear in the personal hygiene category. Surprisingly, not a single commercial analyzed during the eight hours of programming was advertising personal hygiene products. The only possible explanation for this might be that advertisers know children do not care about being clean as much as they care about food and toys. An analysis of evening and night commercials may have contained female children in the personal hygiene category. Reasoning for this hypothesis lies in the fact that most children wash up for dinner or bed, and brush their teeth. However, this information would need to be studied further.
Images of female children were not only traditionally stereotypic in the setting and behavior. Females were also seen as less than males with regards to relative size. In commercials with both genders present, Gofmann's idea of relative size showed as expected, that male children were greater in size and height than the female children, showing that males are more powerful and females are inferior (1967).
Where product gender of toys and corresponding main characters were looked at, females were seen playing with dolls, and males were seen playing with cars and action figures. Traditionally female toys only contained female characters. Likewise, male characters were seen with traditionally male toys. This was expected because of an earlier study by Welch at.el. (1979) which showed similar results.
The lack of commercials fitting into the sports, personal hygiene, and other categories was very unexpected. This finding brings up reason for further investigation. The focus of this study was not particularly harmed by the lack of information found in these categories. It would be interesting to see if other time slots (i.e. during sporting events) would provide data in these other areas. Overall the time slot chosen provided the necessary information needed to see how female children are portrayed in television commercials.
The overall message of child oriented commercials continues to be extremely gender based. This was an expected finding, however it is nonetheless disappointing given the re-emergence of the Women's Movement. Based on this study, there is little evidence found that the image of the "advertiser's woman" has changed to represent females more equally in child-oriented advertising. This research found that children in television commercials contain little to challenge stereotypical gender roles. Taking into consideration, the amount of time children spend watching television, and the fact that their gender behaviors have been shown to be influenced by television, the absence of a new female image is of relevance for those concerned with challenging gender based stereotypes in their search for equality among the sexes.
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