Co-Constructions of Gender and Ethnicity in New Zealand Television Advertising

Abstract

This paper reports key findings from a content analysis of gender and ethnic depictions in a sample of 2,120 New Zealand prime-time television advertisements screened in 2006. The study explored the following questions: With what product categories are male and female White, Māori/Pasifika and Asian characters most commonly associated? What are the most common occupational roles of male and female White, Māori/Pasifika and Asian characters? The results reveal highly stereotypical depictions of women and men within each ethnic category. White men dominated advertisements for foodstuffs, telecommunications and financial/corporate/legal services and were over-represented as professionals/white collar workers, while White women were over-represented in advertisements for household products, personal products, and medical products and featured predominantly as homemakers. Māori/Pasifika men were overrepresented as athletes and service and sales workers. Non-White women featured prominently within multi-ethnic groups in advertisements for personal grooming products and most frequently featured as glamour models, while non-White men were over-represented as blue collar workers. Largely absent were Māori/Pasifika women and Asians of both genders, potentially exacerbating the multiple axes of subordination encountered by these groups in the New Zealand context.

The Portrayal of Men and Women in British Television Advertisements: A Review of 7 Studies Published Over a 12 Year Period

“…There continues to be sustained research interest in this topic with papers appearing regularly from many different countries [10,25,26] Most studies are descriptive rather than hypotheses testing. What the research area still lacks is the development of more subtle and upto-date coding categories as well as theoretical frameworks to make specific predictions about cultural or temporal differences.…”

Critiquing Children’s Consumer Culture: An Introduction to The Marketing of Children’s Toys

“…Similar problems exist regarding race stereotyping and representation in children's commercials and children's television, intersecting with problems related to gender representation and stereotyping in various ways (Ellithorpe and Bleakley 2016;Michelle 2012). Scholars have documented that children's television commercials convey an array of racial stereotypes and too often privilege white children's representation (Bang and Reece 2005;Barry and Hansen 1973;Bramlett-Solomon & Roeder 2008;Seiter 1990;Taylor and Stern 1997), and children's television programs likewise feature problematic race representation and stereotyping (Roberts 2004;Bramlett-Solomon & Roeder 2008).…”

Creative Industries Global Conference. Libro de actas

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