Character Portrayal: Examining Gender Roles in Television Commercials Targeted at Children in India and the United States

Bakir, Aysen

doi:10.1080/08911762.2013.804612

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Portrayals of boys tend to emphasize masculine gender roles and stereotypically masculine play and toys, whereas portrayals of girls tend to emphasize feminine gender roles and stereotypically feminine play and toys (Cherney and London 2006 ; Kahlenberg and Hein 2010 ). These gendered messages are communicated through various forms of children’s media, including television programming and advertisements (Bakir 2013 ; Bakir and Palan 2013 ; Merskin 2002 ), books (Foster 2016 ; Skinner 2013 ), video games (Miller and Summers 2007 ; Sheldon 2004 ), and print magazines (Spinner et al 2016 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Peer Toy Play as a Gateway to Children’s Gender Flexibility: The Effect of (Counter)Stereotypic Portrayals of Peers in Children’s Magazines

2018

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Extensive evidence has documented the gender stereotypic content of children’s media, and media is recognized as an important socializing agent for young children. Yet, the precise impact of children’s media on the endorsement of gender-typed attitudes and behaviors has received less scholarly attention. We investigated the impact of stereotypic and counter-stereotypic peers pictured in children’s magazines on children’s gender flexibility around toy play and preferences, playmate choice, and social exclusion behavior (n = 82, age 4–7 years-old). British children were randomly assigned to view a picture of a peer-age boy and girl in a magazine playing with either a gender stereotypic or counter-stereotypic toy. In the stereotypic condition, the pictured girl was shown with a toy pony and the pictured boy was shown with a toy car; these toys were reversed in the counter-stereotypic condition. Results revealed significantly greater gender flexibility around toy play and playmate choices among children in the counter-stereotypic condition compared to the stereotypic condition, and boys in the stereotypic condition were more accepting of gender-based exclusion than were girls. However, there was no difference in children’s own toy preferences between the stereotypic and counter-stereotypic condition, with children preferring more gender-typed toys overall. Implications of the findings for media, education, and parenting practices are discussed, and the potential for counter-stereotypic media portrayals of toy play to shape the gender socialization of young children is explored.

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confidence: 99%

Peer Toy Play as a Gateway to Children’s Gender Flexibility: The Effect of (Counter)Stereotypic Portrayals of Peers in Children’s Magazines

2018

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“…The differences constitute both, an increase in the child audiences and the way the child was portrayed. Bakir (2013) found a strong age difference and gender role stereotypes in advertisements to children. Similarly, in another study by Banik and Dhar (2021), advertisement recall was found to significantly impact purchase decisions.…”

Section: Related Research On Advertising To Childrenmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…For example, the content analysis by Kelly et al (2010) did not collect responses from children directly and considered parents' responses due to limitations. Similarly, in other studies, content analysis is more driven towards gender roles, children's perception towards the product, attitude towards commercials and perception about advertisements (Bakir, 2013;Moore, 2004;Buijzen and Valkenburg, 2002;Shabbir, 2016;Banik and Dhar, 2021). In addition, the role and relationship of the children in the advertisement with the advertised product has not been studied in the existing literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing portrayal of children in Indian advertisements: a comparative study of the three decades

Choudhary¹,

Roy

2022

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Purpose This study aims to analyse the roles in which children have been portrayed in advertisements over three decades (1990–2000, 2000–2010 and 2010–2020) and what have been the changes in the portrayal of the children, including the changes in product type and target audience. Design/methodology/approach The content of 212 television advertisements was analysed for the study; 32 advertisements belonged to 1990–2000, 38 belonged to 2000–2010 and 142 belonged to 2010–2020. Findings It could be observed that in 2010–2020, marketers had primarily focused on children as their central idea behind making any advertisement. They were projecting children as an emotional and informational tool for attracting adults and children, directly or indirectly. Research limitations/implications The implications of this study are manifold. Firstly, the study supports the theories of socialisation and the changing role of children in the same. Secondly, the trend over the decades hints at the marketer’s changing strategy behind using children in advertisements to target adult audiences. Practical implications The significant implication for the practitioner is the possibility of having a child protagonist in an ad for the non-children target audience. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to analyse the changing role of children in advertisements over a long time horizon.

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“…By contrast, few research articles have examined the gender portrayals targeted at children in India. Bakir (2013) analyzed characters’ self-presentation behaviors on children’s networks in India and the United States using Goffman’s (1976) coding scheme. Relevant elements, such as voice-overs, indicated gender differences, and male voice-overs were used in more than half of the advertisements in both countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender representations and portrayal of adults in children’s television advertising: content analysis of prime cartoon channels in India

Chitra,

Senthilkumar

2023

Front. Psychol.

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IntroductionGender stereotyping in television advertising is a universal phenomenon and has the potential to influence children’s perceptions of gender roles. Despite India’s enormous child population, gender representation in television advertising is hardly researched.MethodsThis study was conducted using a content analysis methodology to examine gender stereotypes in children’s television advertising in India. A total of 189 unique advertisements were selected from six prime cartoon channels, namely Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Hungama, Cartoon Network, Discovery Kids, and Pogo TV. A stratified constructed sample of 319 central figures from 102 hours of TV viewing was collected over two consecutive weeks in November 2018 during children’s prime-time viewings.ResultsThis study examines gender role cues in children’s television advertising using McArthur and Resko’s coding method. The sample was subsequently analyzed using chi-square statistics, and the findings were contextualized and compared with those from other Asian nations. The results indicated that men significantly dominate (voice-over, product authority, autonomous roles, fact-based arguments, other products, end comments, pleasure, and practical rewards), whereas females are stereotyped (dependent roles, product users, portrayal of domestic products in domestic settings, opinion-based arguments, and self-enhancement rewards).DiscussionHowever, the results reveal a reduction in certain stereotypical aspects, such as a significant increase in women performing voice-overs and portraying characters with product authority and autonomy, while men exhibit increased involvement with domestic products and rewards such as self-enhancement, practical, and pleasure rewards. The theoretical (social learning and role congruity theory) and practical implications for advertisers and marketers are discussed based on these findings.

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Character Portrayal: Examining Gender Roles in Television Commercials Targeted at Children in India and the United States

Cited by 7 publications

References 28 publications

Peer Toy Play as a Gateway to Children’s Gender Flexibility: The Effect of (Counter)Stereotypic Portrayals of Peers in Children’s Magazines

Peer Toy Play as a Gateway to Children’s Gender Flexibility: The Effect of (Counter)Stereotypic Portrayals of Peers in Children’s Magazines

The changing portrayal of children in Indian advertisements: a comparative study of the three decades

Gender representations and portrayal of adults in children’s television advertising: content analysis of prime cartoon channels in India

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