Abstract
Two sets of television advertisements were video-recorded from weekend children's television in London and New York and were coded by two white women in terms of their gender-role portrayals. The advertised products covered by this analysis included snack and fast food, toys and breakfast cereal. Each advertisement was coded according to nine criteria including the ethnicity and gender of the people appearing, gender of central figure and of any “voice over” in the commercial, presence or absence of music, and other sales-related content. In general, males were more numerous than females in both American and British advertisements. There were more similarities than differences between the two national markets in terms of the nature of gender-role portrayals, with males generally occupying more central and authoritative positions. Only two analyses yielded significant differences. Girls outnumbered boys in American commercials, but the opposite was true of British commercials. Hispanic males were present in American commercials but not in British commercials.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Blakemore, J., La Rue, A. & Olijnik, A. (1979). Sex-appropriate toy preference and the ability to conceptualize toys as sex-role related. Developmental Psychology, 15, 339–340.
Boush, D. M., Friestad, M., & Rose, G. M. (1994). Adolescent scepticism toward TV advertising and knowledge of advertiser tactics. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 165–175.
Brownlow, S., & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1990). Facial appearance, gender and credibility in television commercials. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour, 14, 51–60.
Bulter, M., & Paisley, W. (1980) Women and the mass media. New York: Human Sciences Press.
Callcott, M. & Lee, W.-N. (1994). A content analysis of animation and animated spokes characters in television commercials. Journal of Advertising, 23, 1–12.
Craig, R. S. (1992). The effect of television's daily part in gender portrayals in television commercials: A continuing analysis. Sex Roles, 26, 197–211.
Downs, A., & Harrison, S. (1985). Embarrassing age spots or just plain ugly? Physical attractiveness stereotyping as an instrument of genderism on American television commercials. Sex Roles, 13, 9–19.
Durkin, K. (1985). Television, sex roles and children. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
Ferrante, C., Haynes, A., & Kingsley, S. (1988). Image of women in television advertising. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 32, 231–237.
Furnham, A. (1993). Reaching for the counter. London: Social Affairs Unit.
Furnham, A., & Skae, E. (1997). Changes in the stereotypical portrayal of men and women in British television advertisements. European Psychologist, 2, 44–51.
Furnham, A., & Schofield, (1986). Sex-role stereotyping in British radio advertisements. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 165–171.
Furnham, A., & Voli, V. (1989). Gender stereotyping in Italian television advertisements. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 33, 175–185.
Furnham, A., & Bitar, N. (1993). The stereotyped portrayal of men and women in British television advertisements. Sex Roles, 29, 297–310.
Gilly, M. (1988). Gender roles in advertising: A comparison of television advertisements in Australia, Mexico and the United States. Journal of Marketing, 52, 75–85.
Gunter, B. (1986). Television and sex role stereotyping. London, UK: John Libbey.
Gunter, B. (1995) Television and gender representation. London, UK: John Libbey.
Livingstone, S., & Green, G. (1986) Television advertisements and the portrayal of gender. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 149–154.
Loudal, L. (1989). Gender roles messages in television commercials: An update. Sex Roles, 21, 715–724.
Manstead, A. S. R., & McCulloch, C. (1981). Sex-role stereotyping in British television advertisements. British Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 171–180.
Maraceck, J., Piliavan, J., Fitzsimmons, E., Krogh, E., Leader, E., & Trudell, B. (1978). Women as TV experts: The voice of authority? Journal of Communication, 28, 159–168.
Mazzella, C., Durkin, K., Cerini, E., & Buralli, P. (1992). Sex-role stereotyping in Australian television advertisements. Sex Roles, 26, 243–259.
McArthur, L. Z., & Eisen, S. V. (1976a). Achievements of male and female storybook characters as determinants of achievement behaviour by boys and girls. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 467–351.
McArthur, L. Z., & Eisen, S. V. (1976b). Television and sex role stereotyping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 6, 329–351.
McArthur, L. Z., & Resko, B. G. (1975). The portrayal of men and women in American television commercials. Journal of Social Psychology, 11, 109.
O'Donnell, W. J., & O'Donnell, K. J. (1978). Update: Gender role message in TV commercials. Journal of Communication, 28, 156–158.
Ogletree, S. M., Williams, S. W., Raffeld, P., Masan, B., & Fricke, K. (1990). Female attractiveness and eating disorders: Do children's television commercials play a role? Sex Roles, 22, 791–797.
Rak, D. S., & McMullen, L. M. (1987). Sex-role stereotyping in television commercials: A verbal response mode and content analysis. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 19, 25–39.
Rajecki, D., Dame, J., Creek, K., Barrickman, P., & Reid, C. (1993). Gender casting in television toy advertisements: Distributions, message content analysis and evaluations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2, 307–327.
Schneider, K. C., & Schneider, S. B. (1979). Trends in gender roles in television commercials. Journal of Marketing, 43, 79–84.
Smith, P. K., & Bennett, S. (1990) Here come the steel monsters. Changes, 8, 97–105.
Welch, R. L., Huston-Stein, A., Wright, J. C., & Plehal, R. (1979). Subtle sex-role cues in children's commercials. Journal of Communication, 29, 202–209.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Furnham, A., Abramsky, S. & Gunter, B. A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Children's Television Advertisements. Sex Roles 37, 91–99 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025692804434
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025692804434