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The Portrayal of Men's Family Roles in Television Commercials [1] - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Sept, 1999 by Gayle Kaufman

Gayle Kaufman [2]

This study examines the portrayal of men in family roles, as fathers and husbands, on television commercials. A content analysis of commercials aired during football, daytime, and prime time is carried out. The sample size of characters is 944, most of whom are middle-class, non-Hispanic whites. Men with children but no spouse are more likely to be shown during football than are women with children but no spouse. Advertisements for computers and electronics are more likely to include men with children but no spouse than women with children but no spouse. Men appearing alone with children are more likely to be shown outside than women alone with children. Men are less likely to be portrayed cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, and shopping than women. Men without spouses are more likely to be shown with boys and less likely to be shown with infants than women without spouses. Men are infrequently shown taking care of a child and are never shown caring for girls. However, men are often shown teaching, reading, ta lking, eating, and playing with children. To the extent that men are shown as more involved in family life, they still tend to depend largely on knowledge and activities that are stereotypically male.

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There have been a number of changes in the structure of the family, including increases in age at marriage, decreases in number of children, and increases in divorce (Cherlin, 1992). Along with these changes, there has been a tremendous increase in female employment, especially among mothers (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995). By the mid 1980s, only 10% of families were traditional families in which the father worked while the mother stayed home to take care of the children (Levitan, Belous, & Gallo, 1988). Women have been expanding their roles to include working outside the home as well as being wives and mothers. At the same time, men's involvement in more domestic roles has increased (Gershuny & Robinson, 1988), but at a slower pace than women's entrance into the labor market. Goldscheider and Waite (1991) find that wives do four-fifths of the cooking, laundry, and shopping as well as two-thirds of the child care, cleaning, and dishwashing. Household maintenance and yard work are the only tasks that are not done mainly by wives. Even when wives work outside the home, they perform more housework than husbands (Demo and Acock, 1993).

Still, studies suggest that the image of an involved family man has become increasingly popular. Pleck (1987) describes these new fathers as being more involved than previously, participating in child care as well as play activities. However, several researchers have noted the speedier changes in image than in actual behavior (LaRossa, 1988; Thompson & Walker, 1989) and the overstated changes described in popular accounts (Demo & Acock, 1993). Others have suggested that the new father image is an ideological construct based on middle- or upper- middle-class men (Messner, 1993). This study seeks to explore further men's family image, and whether that image is of an involved family man, by examining the portrayal of men in family roles, as fathers and husbands, on television commercials.

Viewing men's family roles in commercials is important because Americans are extensively exposed to the influential images of commercials. In 1 week, Americans watch an average of more than 30 hr of television (Kellner, 1990; Signorelli, 1991) and see over 500 commercials (Bretl & Cantor, 1988). With this constant barage of images, it is no surprise that researchers have found a connection between commercials and gender role attitudes. Commercials can influence the gender socialization process (Blakeney, Barnes, & McKeough, 1983). The portrayal of women in stereo-typically traditional roles may encourage or validate attitudes that are supportive of more traditional roles for women even if women's television roles do not correspond to their roles in real life (Signorielli, 1990), and the effect on female adolescents' perceptions can be especially great (Perimenis, 1991; Tan, 1979). Television seems to play an important role in shaping children's attitudes. Commercials have a detrimental effect on elementary s chool children's views of women's occupational roles, and girls may even change their occupation preference to ones portrayed by women in commercials (O'Bryant & Corder-Bolz, 1978). In addition, exposure to television among children increases attitudes that stereotype gender roles (Kimball, 1986).

However, society also appears to influence the content of commercials, with gender role stereotypes being more prevalent in more patriarchal societies (Huang, 1995). Whether commercials influence society or society influences commercials, there is a connection between popular thinking and the media. This paper focuses on the presence of men in families on television commercials and how they are portrayed, whether they are involved or uninvolved, what kinds of activities they are involved in, and how these activities vary depending on the age and gender of the children with them. Often the goal of commercials is to get viewers to want to be like the people in the commercials and therefore to want the product. How men are portrayed in commercials may have a profound impact on the way people think about gender roles and their view of themselves and others. Indeed, a recent study by Garst and Bodenhausen (1997) finds that at least nontraditional men's attitudes are influenced by exposure to traditionally masculi ne models in magazine advertisements. As men's role at home changes, men may look to others for role standards. One possible source for this is television.

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The Portrayal of Men's Family Roles in Television Commercials [1] - Statistical Data Included

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Sept, 1999 by Gayle Kaufman

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