Portraits of Women: Mexican and Chilean Stereotypes in Digital Advertising

Abstract

By 2020, brands will invest half of their marketing budget on Internet advertising. The Internet has effective potential in advertising, and it can mold stereotypical roles for future generations of consumers. Social norms and beliefs towards respect and gender equality can be reinforced through digital advertising. This study compares empirical evidence of how women are portrayed in digital advertising on Facebook from Mexico and Chile. Samples were compiled by selecting forty fan pages with the most followers-20 from Mexico and 20 from Chile. 1600 posts were examined by quantitative content analysis method. Results show that Mexican posts use 10.2% more sexist stereotypes than Chilean posts. In a traditional role's context, advertising emphasizes behaviors along gender stereotypes, where women are not perceived equal to men. "I love shoes" (97.5%), a Mexican company with the second highest number of followers and "Forever 21," an American juvenile clothing brand (85%) in Chile, are the brands that portray women in mostly traditional roles. These data reinforce the theory that femaleaudience brands support sexist values in advertising. Both countries show women engaged in activities outside the home, but not professionally or as an authority figure. Summary, in many ways, evidence suggests a paradoxical approach to portrayals of women in Mexican and Chilean Facebook fan page advertising.

Cultural values in American and Spanish TV advertising at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic

“…Also, Bhaskaran and Sukumaran (2007) state the importance of the national culture values upon workers, that may surpass that of the organizational culture of a company. However, we must be cautious and run away from stereotypes, which are only beliefs and expectations set up and shared by people about the characteristics that women and men should have in a certain society (Mensa & Bittner, 2020). These stereotypes sometimes include false assumptions about a national culture built over the years.…”

Stereotypes and Sexualization of Girls and Adolescent Girls in Chilean Advertising: A Case Study

“…According to diverse contemporary research, the main media tendency is to reproduce gender inequality (Francisco-Heredero, 2019;Mensa and Bittner, 2020) and representing women stereotypically as the object of sexual desire of men (Cáceres and Díaz, 2008;Lin, 1998;Maioli, 2017;Petroll and Damacena, 2012;Ribero, 2009;Serrano et al, 2018;Sherman, Allemand, and Prickett, 2020;Valiente-Bermejo, 2019;Zarza and Vélez, 2018). This should be interpreted as a reflection of beliefs and implicit assumptions regarding the interest of the public -men and women-, and not so much as a thorough representation of reality (Goffman, 1976).…”

Effect of Cultural Distinctiveness and Perception of Digital Advertising Appeals on Online Purchase Intention of Clothing Brands: Moderation of Gender Egalitarianism

“…Furthermore, in the recent scenario wherein the rapid growth in the internet usage across different parts of the world has developed the World Wide Web as a populous advertising medium [7,8], The Interactive Advertising Bureau stated US digital advertising revenue reached USD 125 billion in 2019 with a 16% annual increase, indicating the prominence of digital advertising [9]. However, among all sectors of e-commerce, fashion and clothing brands demonstrated steady growth in revenues through digital advertising [10]. Given that advertisers are now reaching out to new e-marketplaces to capitalize on digital advertising, the requisite to understand the cultural dynamics are crucial for them [4].…”

“…Given that advertisers are now reaching out to new e-marketplaces to capitalize on digital advertising, the requisite to understand the cultural dynamics are crucial for them [4]. The use of displaying the women models is quite common practice for clothing brands and at times disapproved by consumers owing to the culturally mismatched depiction of women [10]. From the standpoint of advertisers, gender is a prime segmentation variable in evolving digital advertising strategies [11] and in terms of detecting cultural patterns [12,13].…”