Gender stereotypes in Portuguese television advertisements

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  July, 1998  by Felix Neto,  Isabel Pinto

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Age

A 2 x 3 (gender x age) analysis indicated that male and female central figures were depicted in different age categories ([[Chi].sup.2] = 60.70, d.f. = 2, p [less than] .001). Women were more likely than men to be young (under 30), whereas men were more likely to be in the "middle-aged" category.

Argument

Male and female central figures gave different arguments in support of a product ([[Chi].sup.2] = 16.91, d.f. = 2, p [less than] .001). Men were more likely than women to offer factual and opinion arguments, whereas women were more likely to present no argument at all.

Reward Type

Analysis of the 2 x 4 contingency table relating gender to reward type indicated a significant association ([[Chi].sup.2] = 32.11, d.f. = 3, p [less than] .001). More females than males emphasized self-enhancement as a type of reward. Men were more likely than women to stress pleasure.

Product Type

A 2 x 5 contingency table showed a significant association between gender and type of product being advertised ([[Chi].sup.2] = 39.92, d.f. = 4, p [less than] .001). Women were more frequently associated with body and food products than men. Males were more likely to advertise auto and sports products.

Background

There was an association between gender of central figures and type of background ([[Chi].sup.2] = 14.94, d.f. = 4, p [less than] .001). The females were portrayed more often in a female and mixed background and the males were depicted more frequently in a male background and no background (no other human beings appeared in the advertisement).

End Comment

There was a significant association between gender and end comment ([[Chi].sup.2] = 42.26, d.f. = 1, p [less than] .001), with men making an end comment much more often than women.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study indicate that men and women appearing in this sample of Portuguese television commercials were portrayed in not independent ways. The nature of these associations were systematic and in line with traditional gender-role stereotypes. These findings reveal that Portuguese television commercials manifest very similar traditional gender role stereotypes to those found in studies made in Western countries.

It is interesting to compare the present Portuguese findings with similar studies carried out in America (McArthur & Resko, 1975), Australia (Mazella et al., 1992), England (Manstead & McCuloch, 1981; Furnham & Bitar, 1993) and Italy (Furnham & Voli, 1989), in view of the similarity between the coding systems used in these five studies. A problem with this comparative analysis is, however, that it confounds nationality and time. These studies have been done in different countries at different times and it is unclear, if there are differences, exactly which of these two factors is responsible for them.

A number of findings confirmed those of previous studies, while others were different. In terms of frequency of appearance of central figures, given that females constitute 51.8% of the Portuguese population, approximately one half of the central figures in the media might be expected to be women. Moreover, women have been reported to make 75% of consumer purchases in North America (McArthur & Resko, 1975), and a similar percentage might be expected in Portugal where essential shopping is often considered the prerogative of women. One might expect an even greater proportion of central figures to be females, because television commercials are specially geared to a consumer audience. Women, however, did not comprise even one half of the central figures considered in this study - only 34% were females. Thus, the present study found a greater tendency for males to predominate (66%) compared to the American study (57%), a similar tendency compared with the Manstead and McCulloch's (1981) British study (66%) and the Italian study (64%), and a lower tendency compared with the Australian study (74%), the Furnham and Bitar's (1993) British study (74%). This global tendency reflects maybe that TV advertisements are faithfully representing gender imbalances in the kind of situations they depict, rather than themselves distorting the picture.