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

If the sample is limited to those with spouses and children, the distribution of female characters across day parts remains similar to that for the sample of women without children. However, men with spouses and children resemble their wives and are more likely to appear in daytime commercials than men without children (61 versus 32%, respectively). In addition, only 13% of men with spouses and children appear in football commercials. Gender differences reemerge when we restrict the sample to those with children but no spouse. Similar to those without children, men with children but no spouse are more likely to appear in football commercials and less likely to appear in daytime commercials than their female counterparts.

Analysis of Products Advertised

There are also significant gender differences in the products advertised by women and men without children. Women without children are most likely to be shown in advertisements for body products (49%) and are more likely than men to advertise body products and home products. Men without children are most likely to appear in food commercials (37%) and are more likely than women to advertise food and computers and electronics. [6]

When the sample is limited to those with children but no spouse, one gender difference remains significant. Only 1% of women with children but no spouse appear in commercials for computers and electronics compared to 18% of men with children but no spouse. A father and his teenage son are drawn closer by a satellite system in one commercial. Father and son used to do everything together but things change, until the father arrives home with a satellite dish. The son proceeds to help his father by handing him tools and reading directions. Other large (though not statistically significant) differences exist in who advertises body, car, child, and home products. For example, while 29% of women with children but no spouse appear in commercials for children's products, 15% of men with children but no spouse appear in these commercials. One commercial for children's vitamins asserts that "moms choose [brand]." This implies that fathers do not choose their children's vitamins.

Another product that is disproportionately aimed toward men is insurance. This is not immediately apparent in the numbers because many of these commercials are more subtle in their message for men, often through voice rather than appearance. Commercials for life insurance tend to depict men as financial providers and protectors of children. This is apparent in a commercial for health insurance in which a man sitting in a diner with a worried look questions, "What if something happens to my little girl?" In another commercial, three girls are running to school while a male voice says, "The more reasons you have for wanting the most secure life insurance, the better the quiet company sounds." The message is that men should provide for their children. Although no man is actually visible in the commercial, his security looms. He does not have to be there physically but must always be there financially.