Gender Roles in Advertising

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Measuring and comparing gender stereotyping on public and private TV channels in Germany
Silke Knoll and Martin Eisend
European University Viadrina Deloitte & Touche GmbH

Gender roles in advertising

Josefine Steinhagen

This study discusses and provides a measure for the degree of stereotyping in advertisements. Applying this measure, the study shows to what degree gender stereotypes in advertising differ between public and private TV channels in Germany. The results show that gender stereotyping in advertising still prevails despite the change in the roles of men and women over the years. Contrary to their public mission, public TV channels do not show fewer gender stereotypes in advertisements compared to private TV channels. The degree of stereotyping as related to different stereotyping components differs significantly between these two types of channel. Gender stereotypes on private channels refer to role behaviour and physical characteristics and, thus, function as a means to sell a product. On the other hand, advertisements on public channels stereotype gender in terms of occupational status, and therefore interfere with the major goal of gender equality policy.

Introduction
The social role of women and men has changed in many western societies over the past few years. At the same time, advertisers still depict women and men in tradition-bound roles to promote their products. The pervasive use of television, and its potential to influence audiences’ attitudes and perceptions, have led to growing criticism of marketers lacking sensitivity to reflect the changes in gender roles in advertising. Researchers from various disciplines have shown interest in this topic and contributed to a large body of research on gender role portrayals in advertising over the last four decades. They have
International Journal of Advertising, 30(5), pp. 867–888 © 2011 Advertising Association Published by Warc, www.warc.com DOI: 10.2501/IJA-30-5-867-888

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performed several content analyses in order to investigate whether gender stereotyping in television advertisements exists and how gender roles are depicted (e.g. Sengupta 1995; Cheng 1997). While the authors of these studies generally agree on the fact that television advertising uses stereotyped gender roles (Furnham & Mak 1999), they have failed to provide a measure of how and to what degree gender, in particular women, are stereotyped in advertising. Without such a measure, it would have been impossible to detect the changes in gender stereotyping in advertising over the years. Indeed, authors of previous studies are split in their evaluations. Some authors (e.g. Furnham & Skae 1997; Wolin 2003) consider that advertisements are moving towards a slightly less stereotypical stance, particularly in western societies (e.g. Furnham & Mak 1999), while other authors stress that women and men are still being portrayed in a stereotypical way, and that stereotyping is becoming even stronger (e.g. Ganahl et al. 2003; Milner & Higgs 2004). The major objective of this study is to provide a measure of the degree of stereotyping in television advertisements. For this purpose, we discuss a meaningful standard of representation and baseline for comparison for such a measure, and we perform a content analysis on TV advertisements on two German TV channels in 2008, which applies a measure for the degree of stereotyping. One of the channels is a private channel and the other a public channel. By comparing gender roles on public and private TV stations, the present study is the first that investigates whether, how and to what degree gender stereotypes in advertising differ between public and private TV channels. The present study contributes to the literature therefore in two ways: (1) by developing and providing a measure for the degree of stereotyping; (2) by investigating differences of stereotyping in advertisements on public and private TV channels using this measure for the degree of stereotyping. The organisation of the paper is as follows. We first discuss stereotyping of gender roles in advertising and the way in which stereotyping can be assessed. Then we refer to the particular context of the study, namely private and public TV channels, and propose our research questions. We then describe the method of the content analysis and the quantitative measure of stereotyping; we present the results, and discuss these in the light of the proposed measure and our research questions. We further give

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some practical implications and discuss the limitations of our study, as well as avenues for future research.

Stereotyping of gender roles in advertising
Stereotypes are a set of concepts pertaining to a social category (Vinacke 1957). Gender stereotypes are beliefs that certain attributes differentiate women and men (Ashmore & Del Boca 1981). Research suggests that they have four different and independent components: trait descriptors (e.g. self-assertion, concern for others), physical characteristics (e.g. hair length, body height), role behaviours (e.g. leader, taking care of children), and occupational status (e.g. truck driver, elementary school teacher, housewife) (Deaux & Lewis 1984). Each component has a masculine and a feminine version, with masculine and feminine components significantly more strongly associated with males and females, respectively. Many content analyses have provided a catalogue of variables related to gender roles. Most of the variables can be grouped along these components. For instance, age of central figures in advertising relates to physical characteristics, profession of central figures to occupational status, and a central figure’s expertise as expressed in the ad in terms of role behaviours. Variables that refer to the first component are usually not applied as gender role variables in content analyses, since trait descriptors are not directly observable and need to be inferred from indicators, which leads to problems of validity and reliability in a content analysis. Stereotypes are not necessarily negative judgements, since they can lead to expectations that can provide useful orientations in everyday life. However, they can lead to oversimplified conceptions, misapplied knowledge evaluations, and thus to misleading evaluations of subjects of a social category. For instance, when evaluations of job applicants are strongly based on stereotypes, men are favoured over women for jobs that men have traditionally done (Tosi & Einbender 1985). Such a stereotype threat (i.e. the activation of negative stereotypes when gender is salient) attributes to gender gaps in many areas, and has been shown, for instance, to impact the mind-set of test-takers at school, which leads to different performance of girls and boys in math-intensive fields (Lewis 2005). Hence, stereotyping becomes problematic when stereotypes lead to

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expectations and judgements that restrict life opportunities for subjects of a social category. This is the reason why public policy is concerned about marketing activities that promote stereotypes (e.g. European Parliament 2008). Each gender stereotyping component can lead to negative consequences that restrict life opportunities, particularly for women. Stereotyping of physical characteristics can lead to reduced self-dignity (e.g. as for beauty ideals; see Hogg et al. 1999; Prendergast et al. 2002), stereotyping of role behaviours (e.g. women taking care of children) may lead to restricted opportunities of self-development, and stereotyping of occupational roles may lead to disadvantages in women’s careers. Avoiding such stereotypes and achieving equal life opportunities for both genders in different spheres of life (e.g. income, career) is a central concern of gender policy and has become a socially acceptable objective in many societies (e.g. European Parliament 2008). Such goals are based on the idea that gender roles are mainly determined by the social environment, and not by biology, although both approaches provide explanations for gender roles and sex differences. The major changes in gender roles over the prior years, however, provide some evidence that social rather than biological factors determine these outcomes, because biology has not changed over this period (Ceci et al. 2009). Equal representation in different spheres of life is a main concern in gender policy that can be used as a basis of comparison for gender stereotyping. The ideal of gender equality primarily serves as a basis for comparison when it comes to occupational status and role behaviour as these factors are influenced by the social environment. As for physical characteristics, gender-related differences are biological, so an equality goal is less meaningful. Rather the actual occurrence of certain physical characteristics provides a comparison baseline for an unbiased representation that can avoid stereotyping. In the following content analysis, age of central figures in advertising is the only variable that refers to physical characteristics. An unbiased depiction of the age of women and men in advertising would need to represent all age groups according to the age distribution in society. Since the average age of figures in advertising is less than the national average in a society, there is already a biased depiction of both genders, which may be explained by the fact that more advertisements are directed towards a younger

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than an older audience. In order to find out whether the depiction of women is more or less biased than that of men, age equality of central figures can be assumed as a standard of comparison and the deviation from equality provides a relative, not an absolute, measure of stereo­ typing, showing ‘how much more’ stereotyping occurs for each gender. Taken together, the more the depiction of certain characteristics in advertising deviates from the objective of equality, the higher is the degree of stereotyping across the components of role behaviour and occupational status, as well as regarding age as a particular physical characteristic. As for product type, using equality as a comparison baseline for product type is based on the assumption that the number of female and male decision-makers in the broad categories (domestic products versus other products) that were used for the studies are about equal. For instance, although particular body products may be targeted primarily at women, and therefore more women are shown as product users than men in the advertisements, the broader categories of domestic products comprise products that are targeted at both genders. An equality baseline would further imply an equal sharing of power in decision-making for products of a particular product category. The baseline of equal sharing of decision-making is not only a socially accepted goal but also in line with data on the changing roles of women regarding the products they choose to buy. For example, more than 50% of buyers of new cars, a product that is traditionally perceived as primarily bought by men, are female (Candler 1991). As for body products, the data indicate similar trends with a current growth of men’s grooming or fashion products (Euromonitor International 2009). Furthermore, modern families and shared decision making is becoming the norm for most American couples (Solomon 2004, p. 419).

Gender roles in advertising on German television: the case of public and private channels
Advertising on German television is a particularly interesting candidate for a content analysis on gender roles, for practical and substantial reasons. In practical terms, Germany is an appealing country for advertisers due to the market’s size and the size of the advertising industry: with

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advertising spending of 24 billion US dollars in 2007, Germany ranks second in Europe (following UK with 29 billion US dollars) and sixth worldwide (WARC 2007). Furthermore, with 36.98 million households and a penetration rate of 93.1%, Germany has the largest television market in Europe (European Audiovisual Observatory 2007). Most channels are aired in all German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and some parts of Switzerland), which implies that advertising on German TV channels influences a relatively large number of consumers. Interestingly, the German context seems to provide an appropriate context to conduct a gender role study that is somewhat representative for other countries, as gender-related norms and values are at an average as indicated by gender-related country indices. Although Hofstede’s index provides a value that indicates a slight tendency towards traditional gender norms (with a value of 66 out of a range from 5 to 95 over 50 countries) (Hofstede 2001), the more recent GLOBE-index shows that Germany is moving towards the middle of the scale. The previous differences between East and West Germany regarding gender values are almost negligible (East Germany 4.77, West Germany 4.90 – out of a range from 3.18 to 5.17 over 61 countries, median 4.60) (House et al. 2004). A more substantial issue is the fact that several German television programmes are broadcast not only by private channels, but also by public channels. Previous research on gender roles in advertising has investigated only private channels, neglecting public channels. Comparing gender roles between public and private channels provides an analysis of advertising practice against public policy concerns that are of particular importance to European countries where public television is quite popular. All EU countries broadcast at least one public programme, and this number has increased from an average of two channels per country in 1980 to four channels in 2000 (Eurostat 2002). Public channels hold a higher market share (i.e. share of viewers) than private channels in some countries (e.g. in Denmark 65%, in Belarus 57%, in Croatia 51%, in 2007 (IP&RTL Group 2008)). Public television plays a major role on the German broadcasting market as well: Germany is the EU country with the highest number of public TV channels (Eurostat 2002) and public TV channels hold a market share of 43.3% on the German TV market (AGF 2008).

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Public channels have the mission to inform, educate and entertain society (see, for instance, ARD (2008) for Germany, Department of Culture, Media and Sport (2006) for Great Britain, or RTVG (2006) for Switzerland). In order to avoid influence by interest groups (particularly companies), advertising on public TV channels is more strongly regulated by law than on private channels, and sometimes even completely forbidden (e.g. on the French–German public TV channel ARTE). To serve the best of public interest, public TV channels are expected to provide information in a neutral and unbiased manner (Council of Europe 2009), which includes avoiding stereotypical depictions of women and men (e.g. European Broadcasting Union 2004). One would therefore expect public TV channels to take extra control measures beyond those taken by private channels in order to avoid advertising that communicates gender stereotypes and fosters depictions that support gender equality. That is, the degree of stereotyping between public and private channels should differ. This degree could also vary over stereotyping components. We therefore put the following research questions, which will be answered by using the suggested stereotyping components and the stereotyping measure. R1: Does gender stereotyping in TV advertisements on public and private TV channels differ? R2: In what way do TV advertisements on public and private TV channels differ regarding stereotyping categories?

Method
Sample of advertisements and central figures The most popular public and private TV channels in Germany are ARD (public) with a market share of 13.4% and RTL (private) with a market share of 11.7% (AGF 2008). Both were selected for the content analysis. During a period of four weeks in June 2008, several non-consecutive days were chosen at random. Although choosing one month of a year might lead to seasonal bias in terms of advertised products and consumption, the particular period provides an advantage since it covers the European

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Football Championship. Although public channels usually attract an older audience, the figures are quite even during this time, since ARD had exclusive rights to broadcast the football matches, attracting a younger audience than usual. The data for June 2008 show that the market share in the most relevant target group of 14–49 years is comparable across both channels (ARD 14.3%, RTL 15%) (Quotenmeter 2008). In order to avoid other biases (e.g. due to advertisements that might primarily target men), we ran an additional analysis with advertisements excluded that were referring to the European Football Championship. The results remained unchanged. All advertisements aired between 5 pm and 8 pm on these days were recorded. This was done for the purpose of comparison, because public TV channels in Germany are not allowed to broadcast advertisements before 5 pm and after 8 pm. This time slot equates to prime-time TV in several countries (e.g. the United States), which has another advantage, since it has been shown that the sex and age of audiences are more evenly distributed during prime time than at other times of the day (Craig 1992). As in previous content analyses, repeated TV advertisements were discarded in order to show the full scope of unique advertisements using gender stereotypes (Schneider & Schneider 1979). Advertisements with unidentifiable central figures or the central figures being children and cartoon characters were also excluded from the analysis. Eventually, 183 advertisements were retained for detailed analysis, providing 231 central figures; 113 advertisements with 137 central figures were broadcast on RTL, and 70 advertisements with 94 central figures were broadcast on ARD. Up to two adults portrayed in the advertisement that had the most distinguishable role and appeared for at least three seconds were coded as central figures per advertisement, following the procedure that has been applied in previous studies. Coding procedure and measures The coding procedure closely follows the procedure applied by Furnham et al. (2000), which was originally modelled on the coding procedure of Manstead and McCulloch (1981) and McArthur and Resko (1975). Many other content analysis studies have followed the original coding categories

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used by these authors (for reviews see Furnham & Mak 1999; Furnham & Paltzer 2010). The fact that studies conducted and published after their study contain very few changes and only slight scheme adaptations suggests that the original categories are quite comprehensive and appropriate to use in different years and for different cultures. The following stereotyping variables were chosen for our content analysis: age, credibility, location, product type and role. • Age: the variable describes the central figure’s portrayed age. Stereotyping occurs when men are more often depicted as middle-aged/old than women, who are more often depicted as young. • Credibility describes the basis of the central figure’s credibility, and distinguishes mostly between product users (i.e. the central figure is depicted as a user of the advertised product) and authorities (i.e. the central figure is a source of information regarding the product). Stereotyping indicates that men are more often depicted as authorities than women, and vice versa. • Location describes the location in which the central characters appear. Stereotyping typically occurs when women are more often depicted at home, whereas men are more often shown at work. • Product type refers to the type of product the central figures were associated with. Stereotyping occurs when women are depicted more often with domestic products (e.g. body, home, food) and men are more often depicted with other products (e.g. cars, leisure, alcohol). • Role describes the central figure’s role in everyday life. Stereotyping indicates that women are more often depicted in dependent roles or relative to others (e.g. parent, spouse) and men are more often depicted in autonomous roles or independent from others (e.g. professional, worker, celebrity). The above variables are related to the components of stereotyping as follows. • Occupational status: location, role. • Physical characteristics: age. • Role behaviours: credibility, product type.

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All variables are compared against the baseline of gender equality – that is, an equal distribution of women and men over all categories, as discussed above. To ensure coding reliability, 30% of the advertisements (56 advertisements with 70 central figures) were coded independently by two trained coders, one female and one male (both German). The percentage agreements for each variable are as follows: 93% for credibility, 93% for product type, 89% for age, 84% for location and 81% for role. After initial coding, the differences were discussed and reconciled. Before proceeding with the analysis, several coding categories of the variables were combined (following the procedure in previous studies) in order to have cell sizes that meet the requirements of chi-square tests (i.e. max. 20% of the cells can have counts below 5). The variables already described above were coded as follows. • Age: 1 = young (under 35 years); 2 = middle-aged/old (35 years and older). • Credibility: 1 = product user (when the central figure was depicted primarily as a user of the advertised product); 2 = authority/other (when the central figure was a source of information regarding the product or neither a user or an authority of the product). • Product type: 1 = domestic (body, home, food); 2 = other (auto, sports, leisure, alcohol, entertainment, services, finance, other). • Location: 1 = home/domestic; 2 = work/occupational; 3 = leisure/­ outside; 4 = other/several locations. • Role: 1 = dependent/relative to others (incl. parent, spouse, homemaker); 2 = autonomous/independent from others (incl. professional, worker, celebrity, interviewer/narrator); 3 = other. Analysis and measure of stereotyping The descriptive results are presented in cross-tabs distinguishing between female and male central figures. To test whether the categories of the variables differ between women and men, chi-square tests were applied for both TV channels. In order to provide a measure of the degree of stereotyping that can be compared across TV channels, odds ratios are computed. The odds ratio

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(o) is the recommended measure of choice for measuring associations when the studies are summarised by fourfold tables (Fleiss 1994). The maximum likelihood estimator of the odds ratio with nij as the sample size of a cell of a table with i = 2 rows and j = 2 columns is: o= n11n22  n12 n21 (1)

The odds ratio o is centred around 1, with 1 indicating no relationship. Values greater than 1 indicate that females are overrepresented in the first category of the variable, and values between 0 and 1 indicate that males are overrepresented. For instance, a value of 2 for the variable ‘age’ suggests that the odds that female characters in advertising are ‘young’ are twice the odds for male characters. In order to obtain four-fold tables for variables with more than two categories (role and location), categories were combined as indicated in the following analysis. Statistical analysis and test procedures (t-tests) in order to compare the odds ratios across TV channels are performed on the natural logarithm of o that takes a value of zero when no relationship exists between two factors yielding a similar interpretation as common effect sizes (e.g. correlation coefficients). The standard error of ln(o) is:  1 1 1 1  SE =  + + +    n11 n12 n21 n22 
1/ 2

(2)

Results
Table 1 presents the results of the content analysis; 33% of the central figures on ARD (i.e. 31 out of 94) and 54% of the central figures on RTL (i.e. 74 out of 137) were women; the gender distribution differs significantly over both channels (χ2 = 9.95, df = 1, p < 0.01).

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Table 1: Characteristics of men and women in advertisements as portrayed on public and private TV channels in Germany
ARD – public TV channel (n = 94) Male Female % % (n = 31) (n = 63) 61.3 38.7 87.1 12.9 61.3 38.7 38.7 16.1 38.7   6.5 27.0 73.0 58.7 41.3 39.7 60.3   7.9 22.2 41.3 28.6 16.07**   3.90*   7.69** RTL – private TV channel (n = 137) Female Male % % (n = 74) (n = 63) 47.6 52.4 76.2 23.8 46.0 54.0 20.6 17.5 39.7 22.2   9.61* 1.85 29.32*** 25.54*** 7.50 28.04***   9.65** 5.47 2.54** ARD vs.RTL

Variables Age Young Middle-aged/old Credibility Product user Authority/other Product type Domestic Other Location Home/domestic (1)b Work/occupational (2) Leisure/outside (2) Other/several locations (2) Role Dependent (1)b Autonomous/ independent (2) Other (2)
a b

χ2 10.35**

oa

χ2

oa

t-test

4.28 86.5 13.5 4.74 94.6   5.4 2.41 86.5 13.5 7.33 32.4   2.7 41.9 23.0

23.87*** 7.04 12.08***

54.8 12.9 32.3

23.8 54.0 22.2

15.36*** 3.89 52.7 20.3 27.0

44.4 38.1 17.5

  5.65

1.39 27.00***

o = odds ratio Number in parentheses indicate which categories were combined for computing the odds ratios *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

Age Women were more likely to be in the group under 35 years and men more likely in the group of 35 years and older on both ARD (χ2 = 10.35, df = 1, p < 0.01) and RTL (χ2 = 23.87, df = 1, p < 0.01). The odds that women are younger are more than four times the odds for males on ARD and seven

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times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 12.08, p < 0.01). Credibility Women were presented more often as product users, and men were more likely to be portrayed as authorities/other on both ARD (χ2 = 7.69, df = 1, p < 0.01) and RTL (χ2 = 9.65, df = 1, p < 0.01). The odds that females are presented as product user (vs authority) are 4.7 times the odds for males on ARD and more than five times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 2.54, p < 0.01). Product type Women were more likely to be portrayed with domestic products than men, while men were more likely to be presented with other products on both ARD (χ2 = 3.90, df = 1, p = 0.04) and RTL (χ2 = 25.54, df = 1, p < 0.01). The odds that females are associated with domestic products (body, home, food) are more than twice the odds for males on ARD and more than seven times the odds on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 28.04, p < 0.01). Location Women were more likely to be portrayed at home than men, who were more likely to be portrayed at work on both ARD (χ2 = 16.07, df = 3, p < 0.01) and RTL (χ2 = 9.61, df = 3, p = 0.02). After combining categories, the odds that females are at home/in a domestic environment (vs at work/ leisure­ /outside/other locations) are more than seven times the odds for males on ARD, and almost twice the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 29.32, p < 0.01). Role Women were more likely to be portrayed in a dependent role than men, whereas men were more likely portrayed in independent roles on ARD (χ2 = 15.36, df = 2, p < 0.01) but not on RTL. After combining

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variable categories, the odds that females are presented in a dependent role/relative to others (vs an autonomous role/independent from others/other) are about four times the odds for males on ARD and 1.4 times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 27.00, p < 0.01).

Discussion
Contribution The analysis of advertisements on two German TV channels reveals that female central figures compared to male central figures in advertisements are more likely to be depicted as product users, are younger, are more likely to be depicted with domestic products, and are more likely to be portrayed at home and in dependent roles. On the other hand, male central figures are more likely to be depicted as authorities, are older, are more likely to be depicted with products other than domestic products, and are more likely to be portrayed at other locations than at home and in independent roles. The results support stereotyping of women and men, showing both genders in traditional roles where the professional opportunities of women are limited and traditional masculine ideals are held. These results are in line with stereotypical patterns that have been found in previous studies, such as those in Denmark (e.g. Furnham et al. 2000), in Japan (e.g. Sengupta 1995; Furnham & Imadzu 2002), in the United Kingdom (e.g. Manstead & McCulloch 1981; Furnham & Skae 1997) and in the US (e.g. Bretl & Cantor 1988; Wiles & Tjernlund 1991; Sengupta 1995; Cheng 1997). The findings show that gender stereotyping is still prevalent and persists in TV advertisements in 2008. The odds ratios that are used as a measure for the degree of stereotyping show that this varies to quite some extent, with the odds that females appear in a particular stereotyping category up to seven times the odds for males. This measure is particularly interesting when private and public channels are compared. The stereotyping variables can be ranked along the degree of stereotyping. On the public channel, stereotyping is strongest for location followed by credibility, age, role and product type. On the private channel, stereotyping occurs above all in terms of prod-

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uct type, followed by age, credibility, location and role. When the odds ratios between both channels are compared and tested, the difference in stereo­ typing between both channels provides a clearer picture. Stereotyping on the public channel is significantly higher for the variables role and location, with both of them being related to occupational status as one of the main components of stereotyping. Stereotyping on the private channel is stronger concerning credibility, age and product type – that is, stereotyping on private channels relates more to role behaviour and physical characteristics compared to public channels. The occupational status of women (e.g. as professionals) has changed over the years in western societies, and this component reflects the characteristics of the significant social changes of gender more than others. Hence, stereotyping on public channels seems to deviate even more from socially accepted gender-related goals than stereotyping in advertisements on private channels. Gender stereo­ typing on private channels is more related to the product. Particularly in situations where women are shown with the advertised product, advertisements on private TV channels foster stereotypical gender roles beyond the stereotypes in advertisements on public channels. It seems that stereotyping is used primarily in a functional way – that is, as a means to sell a product, whereas in advertisements on public channels, stereotyping is more prevalent in a context that is not necessarily related to the product. Since gender stereotyping in advertisements on public channels does not directly function as an argument to sell the product, any changes to the advertisement content should be easier to accomplish without altering the main purpose of the advertisement. The findings also show that the degree of stereotyping does not necessarily depend on the target groups of both channels. Usually, the audience for public channels in Germany is older than the audience for private channels. Older people are more prejudiced and prone to stereotyping than their younger counterparts because of age-related deficits in the ability to inhibit information – that is, older people are less likely to replace stereotyped thoughts and attitudes towards various groups with more egalitarian beliefs (Karlins et al. 1969; von Hippel et al. 2000). Hence, advertisers may apply more stereotyping in order to respond to the older audience’s values and needs (Monk-Turner et al. 2007). However, this explanation seems to be only part of the story in terms of our data, since

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the data of our sample indicate an audience that seems comparable across both channels, at least regarding the most important target group of 14–49 years. One would therefore expect equivalent strategies by advertisers for both channels. Furthermore, our data suggest that it is not necessarily the overall degree of, but the kind of, stereotyping that differs between the two types of channel. The content analysis is the first study that provides a measure for the degree of stereotyping by computing odds ratios. Odds ratios provide a quantitative measure by which results over different studies can be compared and tested, in a similar way to that used in this study by comparing public and private channels (e.g. across countries, across products). For this purpose, it is necessary to have a basic instrument that allows comparisons across studies. The McArthur and Resko (1975) procedure seems a feasible instrument, which has been used – sometimes with slight adaptations – for many previous content analyses studies dealing with gender roles in advertising. It is important to note that the odds ratio uses a comparison against a baseline, which can be gender equality. As discussed above, this seems to be particularly appropriate for occupational roles and some role behaviour variables, where equality is a social goal. The comparison baseline for physical characteristics, however, might be the actual distribution in society rather than an equality distribution in order to avoid stereotyped depiction. For instance, body height is simply not equally distributed between men and women, and an equal distribution is not a social goal. An unbiased depiction that prevents stereotyping might therefore be the actual distribution values that can be used as a comparison baseline. The same might apply to trait descriptors (e.g. self-assertion, sense of community). Practical implications The results have some practical implications for public policy. In several countries, gender stereotyping on television is regulated by law (e.g. Finland, Greece and Portugal), while self-regulatory organisations in many other European countries try to control gender stereotyping in the media. The European Parliament has recently issued a resolution on gender stereotyping in the media, and has asked the member countries

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to take actions to avoid stereotypical depictions of women and men on TV (European Parliament 2008). The results of this study support the steps taken by these countries and the European Parliament since the findings indicate that: (1) gender stereotyping still prevails in advertisements on TV channels; (2) self-regulation or other means to control gender stereotyping that are already current practice for public TV channels has not succeeded so far; and (3) especially on public channels, the way gender is stereotyped in terms of occupational roles deviates even more from social goals regarding gender equality than it does on private channels. Limitations and future research The study has several limitations, which are discussed in the following along with some recommendations for future research endeavours. One limitation refers to the seasonal bias induced by a sample of ads that were aired during June. Although this month provides an advantage regarding comparability of audience age, the results might depend on the time of the year due to changing consumption patterns over the year. Choosing one month at random is a common practice in most content analyses studies dealing with gender roles in advertising. In order to avoid seasonal bias, further content analyses should therefore provide results for several periods during the year and compare the results between these periods. Furthermore, the analysis could be extended by including more channels and by focusing on different years in order to provide an analysis of possible changes of gender roles in advertising. The analysis could also be meaningfully extended to other cultural contexts whose values affect portrayals and images in advertising and their effects on consumers (e.g. Nelson & Paek 2008; Barnes et al. 2009; Chang & Li 2010). Content analytical methods are restricted when it comes to providing reasons for analysed differences in the data (Uray & Burnaz 2003). In the same way, content analysis does not provide data on the (economic) consequences of gender role depiction – for instance, whether the use of gender stereotyping in advertisements increases advertising effectiveness (e.g. brand recall, sales). Future research could extend these findings by incorporating dependent variables taken from ad tracking studies, and by considering

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variables that might moderate the effects of stereotyping, such as recipients’ gender (e.g. Choi et al. 2009). The main reason for conducting studies on gender stereotyping in advertisements is related to the assumption that such gender stereotyping may impact the beliefs of consumers. It still remains an open question, though, how the relationship between gender stereotyping in advertising and gender developments in society manifests itself. While public policy relies on the argument that gender stereotyping reinforces public beliefs about women and men (Pollay 1986; Gulas & McKeage 2000), advertisers hold the contrary view to this ‘mould’ argument, namely the ‘mirror’ argument which states that advertising simply reflects values that already exist (Holbrook 1987). Hence, advertising is either a reflection of beliefs and values that already exist in a society or the values and beliefs in a society are shaped and influenced by advertising. Which of these perspectives applies, or whether the relationship follows a two-way path, cannot be answered by single source data from cross-sectional content analysis and remains an issue for further research.

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About the authors
Silke Knoll is a PhD student at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Her research interests include the influence of marketing on consumer quality of life and consumer trust in marketing. Martin Eisend is Professor of Marketing at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. His research activities centre on marketing communication and methods of empirical generalisation.

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Josefine Steinhagen is working as a professional financial consultant at Deloitte & Touche GmbH in Hamburg, Germany. Address correspondence to: Silke Knoll, European University Viadrina, Große Scharrnstraße 59, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Email: [email protected]

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