Advertising as a Medium of Gender-Biased Communication — страница 4

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middle aged - which may enhance this commonly presented image as authoritative experts. The content category "reward types" showed many gender role effects. There is a significant association between gender of product user and reward type. The general pattern is that males are shown to be associated with pleasurable rewards, while females are more portrayed as rewarded with social approval and/or self-enhancement. Women were more likely to appear in adverts for body products and most likely to be associated with food products. 2.2 Gender role stereotyping in radio advertisements Less work appears to have been done on gender roles on radio.26 A study by Furnham and Schofield27 compared the extent of gender role stereotyping in commercials on British radio with that of

the content of commercials on television content. They found that in radio advertisements men were more often portrayed as authorities on products and women as users of products; men were more likely to be portrayed as narrators or celebrities than women; and women were more likely to be portrayed in the home than man. Furnham and Schofield concluded that, compared with advertisements on British television, British radio advertisements were gender role stereotyped on fewer dimensions. Hurtz & Durkin28 replicated the study using 100 Western Australian radio advertisements. They found that males were more often central characters; more often in authority roles. Females were most often portrayed in dependent roles and in their home, while they were portrayed as customers or

girlfriends in the workplace. The research was concentrated on the following parameters. Credibility. Central figures were, categorized as "user" when they were depicted primarily as users of the advertised product, while those who were depicted primarily as sources of information concerning the product were categorized as "authority." Central figures depicted as neither use nor authorities were categorized as "other." Role. Central figures were classified according to one of the following apparent roles: "dependent," meaning primarily financially dependent (spouse, home-maker, girlfriend), "narrator/celebrity," "professional," or "other" (including "worker"). Location. Central figures were

categorized according to the location in which they were depicted, either: "home," "occupational setting," or "other." Type of reward. Four categories of reward were coded: "self-enhancement" where the purported benefit of the product was an improvement in health or appearance, "practical" where the purported benefit was a saving of time or effort, or where the main emphasis was on the relative in expensiveness of the product, "social or career advancement" where it was suggested that ownership of the product would assist progress in some social or occupational hierarchy, "other" where the rewards could not be coded in any of the above (including `family approval' and `fun/enjoyment'"). Type of Product.

Four categories were coded: "Body/Home/Food" where the product or service involved bodily health, hygiene, cleansing, the home or housework, food, and drink, "Auto/Technical/Occupational" which included automobiles and accessories, and technical and occupational products; and "other" if none of the above categories was applicable. Narrator. Central figures were categorized according to whether they portrayed a character, ("character") or narrator/presenter ("neutral").29 The analysis of the research data showed that, in all, only three data were significant: role, reward, and product. On two specific criteria, men and women were portrayed in significantly different ways on British radio advertisements. Overall men were more often

portrayed suggesting practical and social career advancement as a reward for product purchase, and women as suggesting self-enhancement as a reward for the product. Men were more likely to be portrayed in advertisements for automobile, technical and occupational products and women more likely to appear in advertisements for body, home and food products. In addition, women were more likely than men to be shown in dependent roles. Males were also significantly more likely to have a role of narrator/celebrity than females were. It is concluded that the amount of gender role stereotyping in advertisements varies depending on the target audience. There are inevitably many other social, economic and political factors that influence gender role development, portrayal and understanding.