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

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

While some previous studies suggest a faster change in men's s image than behavior, results from this study suggest that even images are slow to change. The image of men in most commercials, especially daytime commercials, is not one of involved husband and father. Contrary to the finding by Lamb and colleagues (1982) that real fathers are as competent as mothers, husbands and fathers in commercials are, for the most part, passive, incompetent, or dependent on their wives. The image of the involved family man presents itself in few commercials. The father baking cookies is literally 1 in 1000. The expansion of fathers' roles in commercials to include more nontraditional roles may, in some ways, still be traditional. While they appear to be involved family men, the men portrayed often rely on products that appeal to traditional men. When we take into account the actual products being advertised, we see that only certain product types can sustain male involvement, and these product types lend themselves to tra ditional men. Those that are involved need not know how to cook or clean or care for a sick child. Instead, their knowledge of traditionally male products is sufficient. These images are important given their extensiveness and potential to influence attitudes. Commercials may act as a socializing agent for parents, especially for fathers. In a time when men's roles are changing, real men need a point of comparison. They cannot look to their own fathers. This leaves friends and neighbors and cultural images, including those 30-sec spots that break up our favorite television shows and sports events. If this is the case, real husbands and fathers may look to the images of husbands and fathers for their daily lessons on what, when, where, and how much is expected.

Future research should continue to monitor the image of men as husbands and fathers in television commercials and the media more generally. Studies that consider men's changing image will be especially important. In this regard, the next step would be to obtain longitudinal data. Another direction for further research is to consider the influence of television on adult men. Are men making comparisons, directly or indirectly, to the images they see on television? More needs to be done to investigate the influence of media on gender role attitudes and child care behaviors of men.

(1.) An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1996 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York. I would like to thank Kevin Bell, Phil Brown, Voon Chin Phua, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on earlier drafts.

(2.) To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Sociology, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina 28036.

(3.) The difference in time slots is due to the airing of talk shows at 3:00 PM on NBC.

(4.) It is less expensive to advertise during the day. Also, there are a greater number of commercials for other television shows and more advertisements for local news during prime time than during daytime.