Sex-Role Stereotyping in Television Commercials: A Review and Comparison of Fourteen Studies Done on Five Continents Over 25 Years - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  Sept, 1999  by Adrian Furnham,  Twiggy Mak

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Australia. Mazzella et al. (1992) showed no significant differences between males and females against different backgrounds.

Asia. Females were more likely than males to be shown against a female background in Hong Kong (21.5 vs. 13.6%); also, they were shown more often with children (12.3 vs. 9.3%). On the contrary, males were often depicted against a male background and a mixed background (23.6% and 25.7% respectively). No significant differences were found in the Indonesian study.

End Comment

United Kingdom. Furnham and Skae (1997) indicated that although most central figures made an end comment in an advertisement, males were still more likely to make an end comment (82%) compared to females (60.4%).

Europe. The Italian study demonstrated that males were three times more likely than females to make an end comment (68.2 vs. 22.7%), while females often did not make an end comment (77.2%). Results from Denmark showed that most central figures made an end comment; however, males more frequently made an end comment (93.1%) compared to females (78.1%). Commercials in France tended not to have central figures making end comments, so results were not significant. Results from the Portuguese content analysis was very clear: when the advertisement did have an end comment, males were much more likely to make it (59.6 vs 13.01%).

Asia. Results in Hong Kong were highly significant: men frequently made an end comment (63.6%) as opposed to women (36.9%). In Indonesia, results were not significant. Both females and males were as likely to give an end comment.

DISCUSSION

Table II indicates that sex-role stereotyping tends to be surprisingly consistent across different countries during these 25 years. Perhaps the most consistent difference across the analyses was sex difference in the mode of presentation. Mode of presentation sex-role effects occur in 9 of 11 studies: males are consistently more likely voice-overs of an advertisement, while females are often visually portrayed.

Two patterns appear from the results of the content category "credibility." The first one shows that males are frequently shown as the authoritative central figures, whereas females are more likely to be users of the advertised products: McArthur and Resko (1975) and Manstead and McCulloch (1981) showed this pattern in the study of America and the United Kingdom respectively, while studies in Italy, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Portugal also showed such a pattern. The second pattern refers to advertisements that comprise mostly central figures as users of a product: although both males and females appear more as users, men are still relatively more likely than women to act as authoritative central figures, whereas women tend to be depicted relatively more as users. Studies in America by Bretl and Cantor (1988), in Mexico by Gilly (1988), in Denmark and France by Furnham et al. (1999), and in Portugal by Neto and Pinto (1998) all showed the second pattern. These two patterns serve one central claim: m ales are more likely than females to act as the authority of a product.