Data on gender representation in food and beverage print advertisements found in corner stores from Guatemala and Peru

Abstract

Objectives Data on gender representation in food and beverage advertisements may allow for a better understanding of how the food industry is targeting different audiences based on gender. Nonetheless, scant research on food and beverage print advertising with a gender approach has been conducted. Therefore, we sought to assess the prevalence of gender focus in print advertisements found inside corner stores in two cities: Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Lima, Peru. Data description We developed two complementary datasets as part of the study: (1) a dataset of digital photographs of 200 food and beverage print advertisements found in corner stores located near schools (100 ads per country selected according to criteria such as product type, image quality, and uniqueness); (2) a quantitative dataset with data of the content analysis of these photographs. We employed 19 variables to record the general information and gender assessment of the ads. These datasets should allow scholars and public officials to identify gender-specific marketing strategies of the food industry that might impact children’s and adolescents’ nutrition differently.

Gender representation in food and beverage print ads found in corner stores around schools in Peru and Guatemala

“…We explain methods in detail elsewhere (Rozas et al, 2020; 2021) but we brie y describe them here. Researchers visited four areas (400-meter radius each) around public and private schools in Lima, Peru, and Guatemala City, Guatemala.…”

“…Moreover, researchers photographed some ads more than once in different eldwork areas, which meant discarding duplicated images according to pre-established image quality criteria (focus, sharpness, clarity, and absence of unnecessary visual elements in the photograph). A complete set of criteria for capturing and selecting images for analysis is published as supporting documentation in an open data repository (19).…”

“…Together, we identi ed variables for the analysis based on their expertise in gender advertising and added other variables from prior studies (23-26): brand, product category, general communication concept, color, product representation, environment/featured activity, number, and gender of the persons shown in the ad, health claim, values/emotional appeal, gender of the main character, role model/ public gure, public to which it is visually directed, focal point, typography, scales, shape, and contrast. A document with the variable de nitions, as well as a document specifying the speci c values for coding, are available together with the datasets of the study that we published in an open data repository (19,20).…”

Gender representation in food and beverage print advertisements found in corner stores around schools in Peru and Guatemala

“…We have explained the methods in detail elsewhere [ 19 , 20 ] but we briefly describe them here. Researchers visited four areas (400-m radius each) around public and private schools in Lima, Peru, and Guatemala City, Guatemala.…”

“…Moreover, researchers photographed some print advertisements more than once in different fieldwork areas, which meant discarding duplicated images according to pre-established image quality criteria (focus, sharpness, clarity, and absence of unnecessary visual elements in the photograph). A complete set of criteria for capturing and selecting images for analysis is published as supporting documentation in an open data repository [ 19 ].…”