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Aunt Jemima Isn't Keeping Up with the Energizer Bunny: Stereotyping of Animated Spokes-characters in Advertising - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, June, 1999 by Kate Peirce, Michael McBride

While there is an abundance of research on advertising spokes-characters - animated characters used to endorse a product or brand - and gender stereotyping in advertising, the two topics have not been examined in relation to each other. The purpose of this project is to look at gender stereotyping in television advertising over time, the use of spokes-characters as product representatives and whether spokes-characters contribute to gender-stereotyped portrayals in television advertising.

Stereotyping in Television Advertising

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Gender-role stereotyping in television advertising has been examined since the early 1950s when Maccoby (1951) published a study on the impact of television on children. It was not until the 1970s that a growing concern about television's effects spawned a flurry of activity. Researchers began examining the numbers of women in advertisements, types of products represented by women versus those represented by men, settings, occupational portrayals, voice overs, and ages of characters. Studies of American television commercials from the 1970s found that men dominated in all areas except in cosmetic and household products (Courtney & Whipple, 1974; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Doolittle & Pepper, 1974; Marecek et al., 1978; O'Donnell & O'Donnell, 1978) and in commercials with voice overs, male voices were used 89-93% of the time (McArthur & Eisen, 1976; O'Donnell & O'Donnell, 1978). Dominick and Rauch (1972) found that 75% of the advertisements using females were for products found in the kitchen or bathroom and that females were on camera 21% of the time. Two years later Courtney and Whipple (1974) found a slight increase in on-camera time for women: 54-58% of the time during daytime hours and 33-35% during evening hours. By 1976 women were product representatives for 86% of domestic products and for 76% of commercials set in the home while men represented 78% of non-domestic products and 65% of commercial settings out of the home.

Men engaged in twice as many occupations as women, who dominated the commercial airways as housewives (Courtney & Whipple, 1974; Dominick & Rauch, 1972). Courtney and Whipple (1974), examining findings in four studies, concluded that women were over-represented in family and home settings and most often seen performing domestic tasks involving the product. Men dominated in the entertainment, business, sales, and management occupations and rarely demonstrated products. They were more often shown as benefiting from the tasks and activities performed by women.

Analyses of children's programming found more of the same. Doolittle and Pepper (1974) found 84% of the commercials were male dominated and that when authority was exercised, males exercised it 85% of the time. Verna (1975) found that in male-oriented and neutral commercials a male voice over was used 100% of the time and in female-oriented commercials a male voice over was used 55% of the time. Females dominated in advertisements less than one-seventh of the time and when they did appear, they were portrayed as passive and dependent.

Studies of commercials in the 1980s found some changes from previous decades. Allan and Coltrane (1996), comparing the 1950s and 1980s, found that the number of female main characters had actually decreased by 5.8% in the 1980s, that 70% of the females were pictured as "free-floating" consumers with no referent to work or family activity while 50% of the men were shown working or parenting. Females were, however, shown in a greater variety of occupations. The authors used the U.S. Department of Labor: "Bureau of Labor Statistics" job code, which includes the categories professional and technical, managers and proprietors, clerical and sales, craftsworkers and line supervisors, operatives, service workers, and laborers. Women were seen in all but the laborer category; however, 79% of women had no occupation at all. Women were still more likely to be pictured with body and home products rather than out-of-home products, but the difference had dropped. Women were six times more likely to be working than parenting. On the positive side, the authors found less stereotypical gender behavior from women. However, 91% of the voice overs were male.

As did Allan and Coltrane, Bretl and Cantor (1988) and Lovdal (1989) found that females were still more likely to advertise in-home products and men out-of-home products and that men accounted for 90% of the voice overs. The results of both studies indicate that men were more likely to be portrayed in occupations and women were more likely to be seen as spouses or parents. Women were still stereotyped as wives, mothers, brides, actresses, and waitresses.

Pierracine and Schell (1995), looking at prime-time commercials in the 1990s, found more remarkable changes. They report similar numbers of men and women in speaking roles, a decrease in the percentage of male voice overs to 70% and more atypical than stereotypical roles for women. Stereotypical roles are defined as those of homemaker, nurse, secretary, and victim or when a man is present and the woman is not in charge or when the woman is presented as a nag or scatterbrain.

Health Care Industry

Aunt Jemima Isn't Keeping Up with the Energizer Bunny: Stereotyping of Animated Spokes-characters in Advertising - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, June, 1999 by Kate Peirce, Michael McBride

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