Gender representations in East Asian advertising: Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea

Abstract

Gender representations in television advertisements have been a subject of academic research for many years. However, comparatively few studies have looked into television advertising's gender representations in Confucian societies, particularly from a comparative perspective. This study compares the representation of males and females in 1,694 television advertisements from Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. It uncovers stereotypical gender representations related to age (females were predominantly young, males were middleaged), clothing/nudity (females were more suggestively dressed, males were fully clothed), work (females were depicted more often at home, males were typically depicted in the workplace), authority (males were used for voiceovers more than females, with males being the so-called "voice of authority"), and beauty (more females than males advertised for the cosmetics/toiletries product category). Overall, gender representations were highly stereotypical in all three cultures, which may be due to a shared common cultural background based on Confucianism. In terms of the degree of gender stereotyping, Hong Kong was more gender-egalitarian than Japan and South Korea; this finding is consistent with results from Project Globe's gender egalitarianism index and the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) by the United Nations, but not with Hofstede's masculinity index. These results suggest a relationship between gender representations and some gender indices. Finally, this article discusses the possible effects of stereotypical gender representations on audiences in relation to social cognitive and cultivation theories.

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

“…The proportion of women in this study (48.90%) was higher than that found in advertisements from some Asian countries (Malaysia; Bresnahan et al, 2001 ; Japan; Furnham and Imadzu, 2002 ; Hong Kong and South Korea; Prieler et al, 2015 ), but lower than in other Asian countries (Taiwan; Bresnahan et al, 2001 ; Singapore; Lee, 2003 ; the Philippines; Prieler and Centeno, 2013 ; Turkey; Uray and Burnaz, 2003 ). The percentage of female voice-overs in this study (22.6%) was higher than that found in Malaysia, Taiwan ( Bresnahan et al, 2001 ), and Korea ( Kim and Lowry, 2005 ), while the percentage of male voice-overs (56.80%) was lower than the Asian countries’ average percentage (70%) for male characters ( Furnham and Paltzer, 2010 ).…”

“…In addition, men and women were equally likely to advertise domestic products during children's TV programming (69.80% vs. 87.20%), a finding contrary to that of other Asian studies (Furnham and Paltzer, 2010). This notable finding weakens the view that men are not associated with domestic items, and recent Asian studies indicate a shift in trends (Malaysia; Lim and Furnham, 2016;Philippines;Prieler and Centeno, 2013;Hong Kong;Prieler et al, 2015). The proportion of women appearing in domestic products (87.20%) was higher than that found in studies conducted in several Asian countries (Malaysia and Taiwan; Bresnahan et al, 2001;Japan;Furnham and Imadzu, 2002;Singapore;Lee, 2003;the Philippines;Prieler and Centeno, 2013;South Korea;Prieler et al, 2015;Turkey;Uray and Burnaz, 2003).…”

“…The frequency of women portraying dependent roles in this study (48.10%) was lower than that found in advertisements in several Asian countries (Japan; Furnham and Imadzu, 2002 ; Malaysia; Lim and Furnham, 2016 ; Hong Kong and Korea; Moon and Chan, 2002 ; Turkey; Uray and Burnaz, 2003 ). In the context of location, the proportion of women portrayed in domestic/home settings was relatively high (51.10%) compared to all Asian countries except Turkey, the Philippines, and South Korea ( Uray and Burnaz, 2003 ; Prieler and Centeno, 2013 ; Prieler et al, 2015 ). Regarding product arguments, the findings for men favoring fact-based arguments (71.90%) and women favoring opinion-based arguments (55.60%) were higher than those for Japan ( Furnham and Imadzu, 2002 ) and Turkey ( Uray and Burnaz, 2003 ), but not those for Malaysia, where both men and women preferred opinion-based arguments ( Lim and Furnham, 2016 ).…”

“…Most Asian research on adult-focused television advertising supports H2 (mode of presentation), H3 (credibility basis) and H4 (role), which propose that male characters often perform voice-overs and are portrayed as product authorities and in autonomous roles, while females are often presented in a visual context and are portrayed as product users and in dependent roles (For H2: Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan; Bresnahan et al, 2001;India;Das, 2011;Japan;Furnham and Imadzu, 2002;Korea;Kim and Lowry, 2005; the Philippines; Prieler and Centeno, 2013;Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea;Prieler et al, 2015;For H3: Furnham and Mak, 1999;Furnham and Imadzu, 2002;Furnham and Paltzer, 2010;Malaysia;Lim and Furnham, 2016;Turkey;Uray and Burnaz, 2003;For H4: Japan;Arima, 2003;Lim and Furnham, 2016;Saudi Arabia;Uray and Burnaz, 2003;Nassif and Gunter, 2008). Similarly, it is expected that women, compared with men, are portrayed in domestic settings (H6) and are more closely associated with domestic products (H8); several Asian studies have found this to be true in adult-focused television advertising (Bresnahan et al, 2001;Furnham and Imadzu, 2002;Uray and Burnaz, 2003;Kim and Lowry, 2005;Das, 2011;Prieler et al, 2015). H1 (sex), H7 (product argument), H9 (reward type), and H10 (end comment), have been tested in several Asian countries in the context of adult-focused television advertising (Furnham and Mak, 1999;Furnham and Paltzer, 2010); however, the four hypotheses based on the McArthur and Resko coding method (H5: narrator role, H7: product argument, H9: reward type, and H10: end comments) have not been evaluated for gender representation in Indian television advertising for either adult-focused or children's channels.…”

“…Men outnumber women in television advertisements, according to the majority of Asian studies ( Furnham and Mak, 1999 ; Furnham and Paltzer, 2010 ). Several Asian studies have found that men were featured more frequently in voice-overs, while women were portrayed visually in television advertisements ( Bresnahan et al, 2001 ; Furnham and Imadzu, 2002 ; Kim and Lowry, 2005 ; Das, 2011 ; Prieler and Centeno, 2013 ; Prieler et al, 2015 ). Regarding the nature of the portrayals, females were more frequently depicted at home and as consumers of domestic products.…”