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AGE AND GENDER STEREOTYPING IN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS By Susan E. Waters M. A. , Pittsburg State University, 1997 Submitted to the Department of Communication Studies and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Chairperson Date defended: UMI Number: 3214748 UMI Microform 3214748 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.
O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ii The Dissertation Committee for Susan E. Waters certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: AGE AND GENDER STEREOTYPING IN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS Committee: Chairperson Date approved: iii ABSTRACT Susan E. Waters, Ph. D. Department of Communication Studies, May 2005 The University of Kansas Character age, sex, ethnicity, product type, primary setting, occupation, and traits were investigated for age and gender stereotyping of primary characters (N = 532) in a content analysis of 360 prime-time television commercials from four broadcast stations.
Loglinear analysis of category frequencies showed that representation by age and ethnicity fit patterns reported in earlier research, with White characters overrepresented and older characters underrepresented in comparison to their presence in the population. Results for product type, occupation, and setting showed that characters were presented in ways that fit traditional sex and age stereotypes, as predicted. Specifically, in comparison to male characters and younger characters, female characters and older characters were presented more often with domestic products, in lower status occupations, and in home settings.
Characters’ portrayal of 5 stereotypical gender and age traits (warmth, competence, vitality, health, and mental orientation) were rated on 5-point scales. Multivariate analysis of variance of the trait ratings provided no support for the hypothesis that age traits would be stronger in the portrayal of older characters, particularly older female characters, than would gender traits. However, main effects of character age and sex suggested that age stereotypes play a stronger role in the portrayal of characters than do gender stereotypes. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I could not have realized this goal without Dr.
Mary Lee Hummert, who had the stamina to endure several years of working with me to improve my writing and research abilities. For your time and expertise, I am forever grateful. You are my mentor and guide and I will never be able to thank you for all you have done for me. To my committee: Dr. Yan Bing Zhang, Dr. Tracy Russo, Dr. Nancy Baym, and Dr. David Ekerdt, thank you all for your expert advice, your time, and your help in completing this project. You are why I knew the University of Kansas was the choice for my doctorate. You are the exemplars of a caring and committed faculty who want their students to succeed.
To my friends at Missouri State: Dr. Carey Adams, Dr. Gloria Galanes, Dr. Deborah Larson, Dr. Sam Dyer, and others who knew that I would finish the dissertation, I thank all of you for your faith in me. Thank you, Dr. Karen Anderson. Without you I could not have completed this endeavor. You steered me in the direction I needed to go many times. Thank you to my close friend, Dr. Carolyn Hale, who encouraged me every step of the way. And finally, thank you to my loving and supportive husband and family who were confident that I would finish, even when I was discouraged. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………………………. viii Chapter 1: Introduction and Review of Literature……………………………………………….. 1 General Perspectives on Stereotypes- Theoretical Framework ………………………….. 6 Significance: Cultivation Theory…………………………………………………………………… Gender Stereotypes and Television ……………………………………………………………… 11 Content of Gender Stereotypes ……………………………………………………………….. 11 Representation of Gender Stereotypes on Television…………………………………. 14 Age Stereotypes and Television…………………………………………………………………… 20 Content of Age Stereotypes ……………………………………………………………………. 21 Representation of Age Stereotypes on Television ……………………………………… 5 Divergence and Convergence of Age and Gender Stereotypes ………………………… 29 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33 Chapter 2: Method ………………………………………………………………………………………… 35 Sample for Study……………………………………………………………………………………….. 35 Character Variables……………………………………………………………………………………. 6 Coding Procedures …………………………………………………………………………………….. 45 Chapter 3: Results …………………………………………………………………………………………. 49 Testing Hypothesis 1: Distributions by Age and Sex will Correspond to Prior Research………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49 Analysis 1: Demographic Distribution by Sex, Age, and Ethnicity …………….. 51 vi Analysis 2: Distribution of Characters by Sex, Age, and Product Type……….. 5 Analysis 3: Distribution of Characters by Sex, Age, and Primary Setting ……. 58 Analysis 4: Distribution of Characters by Sex, Age, and Occupation………….. 61 Testing Hypothesis 2 and Hypothesis 3: Age Traits will be more Prominent than Gender Traits in the portrayal of Older Characters, Particularly Older Women ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 64 Summary of Results…………………………………………………………………………………… 8 Chapter 4: Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………. 70 Correspondence to Prior Research on Character Age and Gender in TV Commercials …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 71 The Intersection of Age and Gender Stereotypes …………………………………………… 75 Cultivation Theory Implications ………………………………………………………………….. 78 Stereotyping and Underrepresentation of Older Characters …………………………….. 0 Suggestions for Practitioners ………………………………………………………………………. 83 Limitations and Future Directions ……………………………………………………………….. 84 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 86 References…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 89 Appendix A: Study Codebook ……………………………………………………………………….. 110 Appendix B: Appendix B: Definitions for Codebook ……………………………………… 116 Appendix C: Table of Traits for Codebook …………………………………………………….. 118 Appendix D: Answer Sheet for Coders ………………………………………………………….. 119 Appendix E: Tables of Frequencies of Characters by Age and Ethnicity ……………. 120 vii Appendix F: Frequency of Characters by Age and Type of Product…………………… 121 Appendix G: Frequency of Characters by Age and Primary Setting…………………… 122 Appendix H: Frequency of Characters by Age and Occupation…………………………. 23 Appendix I: Group Means and Standard Deviations for Gender and Age Traits by Character Age and Sex……………………………………………………………………….. 124 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Gender Stereotypes Found by Deaux et al. (1985)………………………………… 13 Table 2: Gender Display Categories of Allan and Coltrane (1996)……………………….. 19 Table 3: Age Stereotypes Found by Hummert et al. (2004) …………………………………. 23 Table 4: Fiske et al. ‘s (2002) Stereotype Content Model ……………………………………. 0 Table 5: Description of Stereotypical Trait Categories ………………………………….. 41, 42 Table 6: Pilot Study Reliability of Character Traits ……………………………………………. 47 Table 7: Frequency of Characters by Age and Sex……………………………………………… 53 Table 8: Frequency of Characters by Sex and Ethnicity……………………………………… 54 Table 9: Frequency of Characters by Age and Ethnicity…………………………………….. 55 Table 10: Frequency of Characters by Sex and Type of Product …………………………. 7 Table 11: Frequency of Characters by Age and Type of Product…………………………. 58 Table 12: Frequency of Characters by Sex and Primary Setting ………………………….. 60 Table 13: Frequency of Characters by Age and Primary Setting …………………………. 61 Table 14: Frequency of Characters by Sex and Occupation………………………………… 63 Table 15: Frequency of Characters by Age and Occupation ……………………………….. 64 Table 16: Group Means and Standard Deviations for Traits by Age and Sex………… 6 Table 17: Group Means and Standard Deviations for Traits by Age ……………………. 67 1 Chapter 1: Introduction and Review of Literature Advertising is a $200 billion a year industry (Berger, 2004). The Super Bowl in 2005 charged $2. 4 million for 30 seconds of airtime, with approximately 108 million households as its audience (New York Daily News, 2005). The cost of producing a commercial for a national brand can range from $500,000 to $1 million. For a local or regional level commercial, the production cost can range from $15,000 to $100,000 (Elin & Lapides, 2004).
A typical television viewer watches over 150 commercials a day and more than 1,000 a week (Berger, 2004). The dominance of advertising in our culture permeates what we eat, what we wear, where we live, how we vote, and how we play. Gender and age stereotypes exist within these advertising messages (Mazzella, Durkin, Cerini, & Buralli, 1992; McArthur & Eisen, 1976; Miller, Leyell, & Mazachek, 2004; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978; Peterson & Ross, 1997). The study of the messages advertising conveys in television commercials recognizes some basic assumptions (Huston, Donnerstein, Fairchild, Feshbach, Katz, Murray, et al. 1992): (1) Television is always more than entertainment. It is educational even when it is not intended to be educational. (2) Frequent and repeated long-term exposure to television messages cultivates “shared conceptions of reality among otherwise diverse publics” (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, & Shanahan, 2002, p. 44). (3) The television viewer has characteristics and goals that mediate the effects of television on that viewer. The content of the program or commercial 2 being watched also affects the interaction between the viewer and the medium.
Studies of the older person’s presence on television have reported that there are stereotypical age representations (Davis & Davis, 1985; Francher, 1973; Gerbner, Gross, Signorielli & Morgan, 1980; Harwood & Anderson, 2002; Miller et al. , 2004). Gender representation in commercials has been frequently investigated (Allan & Coltrane, 1996; Bartsch, Burnett, Diller & Rankin-Williams, 2000; Bretyl & Cantor, 1988; Coltrane & Messineo, 2000; Courtney & Whipple, 1983; Signorielli, McLeod & Healy, 1994), concluding that there are stereotypical gender representations in media as well.
One of the limitations of past media research has been its inability to investigate age and gender stereotypes simultaneously in order to discover the interrelationship between age and gender. Although some studies have examined both gender and aging, their focus has been on comparing the proportion of characters from different genders and age groups to their proportion in the U. S. population (Arima, 2003; Gerbner et al. , 1980; Harris & Feinberg, 1977; Hiemstra, Goodman, Middlemiss, Vosco, & Ziegler, 1983; Roy & Harwood, 1997; Signorielli & Bacue, 1999).
Social psychological research suggests that this is a critical limitation of prior media research. Such studies have documented ways in which the perceptions of age stereotypes differ depending upon the gender of the target and vice versa (Bassili & Reil, 1981; Canetto, Kaminski, & Felicio, 1995; Deutsch, Zalenski, & Clark, 1986; Diehl, Owen, & Youngblade, 2004; Kite, Deaux, & Miele, 1991; Locke-Connor & 3 Walsh, 1980; O’Connell & Rotter, 1979; Walsh & Connor, 1979). Some of this research suggests that gender stereotypes are consistent across target ages (e. g. Canetto et al. , 1995), whereas others report that age stereotypes are more predominant in perceptions of older men and women than are gender stereotypes (e. g. , Kite et al. , 1991). The extent to which such perceptions are reflected in media portrayals has not been examined. Through the use of multiple criterion measures, a more complete and detailed description of age and gender can be obtained and can maximize information gain (Stevens, 2002). In addition, information about one trait of a stereotype greatly influences inferences about other traits (Kite et al. 1991). Negative consequences are associated with the portrayal of negative gender and age stereotypes. Self-objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) “argues that one consequence of being a woman in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body???for example, through male gaze???is that girls and women are gradually socialized to internalize an observer’s perspective of their physical self” (Tiggemann, 2001, p. 244) and is a form of self-consciousness.
The habitual monitoring of the female body could lead to unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. In a study by Hargreaves and Tiggemann (2002), television commercial viewing of stereotypical models led to anger, body dissatisfaction and decreased confidence for women, but not for men. Likewise, Park (2005) found that beauty and fashion magazine use by females increased body dissatisfaction. When studying age stereotypes, Donlon, Ashman, and Levy (2005) found that older adults who watched television for longer lengths of time harbored more negative stereotypes of aging than did those adults who watched television for shorter lengths of time. Additionally, negative age stereotypes are related to poor health of older adults (Levy, 2003) and can alter the physical function (i. e. , gait speed) of older adults (Hausdorff, Levy, & Wei, 1999). Whether or not age and gender are interrelated when studying stereotypes on television is one of the focal points of this study. Understanding this relationship will elucidate how advertising represents gender and age stereotypes.
Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, and Xu (2002) explored a mixed (both age and gender) stereotype content model (SCM) represented by two central dimensions of warmth and competence with four key clusters: an in-group of both high warmth and high competence eliciting primarily pride and admiration (e. g. , students, Whites, middle class, Christians), a low warmth and high competence group eliciting both envy and admiration (e. g. , rich people, men, Jews, Asians, professionals, feminists, educated people), a high warmth and low competence cluster eliciting both paternalistic prejudice and pity (e. . , housewives, elderly people, retarded people), and a low competence and low warmth cluster eliciting both pity and contempt (e. g. , poor people, welfare recipients, homeless people). For the purposes of this study, only the specific gender and/or age examples in the mixed stereotype clusters will be investigated. This study builds on the existing social psychological and media research by examining the behavioral portrayal of gender and age by characters in television commercials. In doing so, this study allows examination of the relative prominence of gender and age stereotypes in commercial portrayals. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent that portrayal of older and younger characters reflects age and gender stereotypes. Five separate yet interrelated sections comprise the literature review for this study. First, the historical background of stereotype research is explained and three perspectives for the understanding of stereotypes are given. These are the sociocultural orientation, the psychodynamic orientation, and the cognitive orientation.
The social cognitive orientation is expanded upon more than the other two approaches, since the present study is based on the social cognitive perspective of a stereotype. Next, cultivation theory is briefly presented. Cultivation theory suggests television commercial stereotypes can alter an individual’s perception of reality, especially for heavy viewers. Third, gender stereotypic traits ascribed to males and females; along with how these gender stereotypes are depicted on television is considered. These depictions frame social reality by their utilization of characters’ occupations and the products assigned to a particular gender.
Fourth, age stereotypic traits ascribed to older and younger adults are examined, and how age stereotypes are portrayed in television commercials is described. Nine studies illustrating age stereotypes of older persons in television commercials are delineated. Finally, the divergence and convergence of age and gender stereotypes are examined, highlighting how social psychological research on stereotypes of age and gender stereotype traits provides understanding about how characters’ ages and gender may interrelate in stereotypical portrayals. General Perspectives on Stereotypes- Theoretical Framework Lippmann’s publication of Public Opinion (1922) marked him as the father of the term “stereotype” in social scientific literature (Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981). His (1922) definition of stereotypes as “the pictures in our heads” (part of chapter 1 title), led to the identification of stereotypes as cognitive structures for processing information. “This is the perfect stereotype. Its hallmark is that it precedes the use of reason; is a form of perception, and] imposes a certain character on the data of our senses before the data reach the intelligence” (Lippmann, 1922, p. 65). Ashmore and Del Boca (1981) identified three conceptual approaches to understanding stereotypes. These are the sociocultural orientation, the psychodynamic orientation, and the cognitive orientation. Much of media research reflects the sociocultural approach, which interprets how children are socialized with culture’s norms and values and the social structure of a particular group’s position in society (Deaux & Kite, 1993).
Eagly’s social role theory (Eagly, 1987; Eagly & Stephen, 1984) most closely develops the social structural view of stereotyping, which “argues that differential role occupancy in the family and occupations fosters gender stereotypes by which each sex is expected to have characteristics that equip it to function adequately in its typical roles” (Diekman & Eagly, 2000, p. 1172). The second approach, the psychodynamic perspective, focuses on psychological characteristics within an individual, that predispose an individual to stereotype (Hummert, 1999) and has been used only sparingly.
The present research emphasizes the third approach, the social cognitive orientation. From this perspective, 7 stereotypes are categories of groups, events, people, or issues that exemplify a basic categorization process that facilitates generalizations in perceivers (Hummert, 1999; Pearson, 1985). This study acknowledges the contemporary social cognitive orientation as its foundation. This approach considers stereotyping to be a standard component in the development of perceptions and behaviors. Social cognition recognizes the innate information-processing ability of a person to hold a stereotype (Deaux & Kite, 1993).
Within this process, cognitive theorists are most concerned with how the person perception schema is used and its outcomes. Stereotypes as person perception schemas “represent organized prior knowledge structures that facilitate interpretation of new information” (Hummert, 1999, p. 176). This social cognitive definition of stereotypes assumes that stereotypes can be viewed as negative or positive, differing from the sociocultural and psychodynamic perspectives that stress the negative characteristics of stereotyping (Hummert, 1999).
Since stereotypes are used to predict the behaviors of others in common interactions, stereotypes are not limited to differentiating traits or personality trait adjectives, but can include expected patterns of behavior, feelings of group members, and identifying characteristics (Hamilton & Trolier, 1986). Along with sociocultural processes, the social cognitive orientation adds cognitive mechanisms for the improvement of our understanding of stereotypes (Hamilton & Trolier, 1986).
The social cognitive approach is beneficial for media research because it offers a more complete evaluation of complex stereotypes to 8 which people of all ages adhere. This study employs the social cognitive perspective, because it is the most process oriented, and incorporates the questions of when and how stereotypes are prominent, whereas the sociocultural approach and the psychodynamic approach do not answer these questions (Hummert, 1999). Significance: Cultivation Theory Cultivation theory constitutes one of the underlying principles for the present research.
Theoretical developments in cultivation over the years (Hawkins & Pingree, 1981; Morgan & Shanahan, 1997; Shrum & O’Guinn, 1993) have concluded that television contributes to people’s views about social reality. Most researchers agree that media unintentionally influence a person’s beliefs and attitudes about society (Sparks, 2002). This study did not measure viewers’ perception or amount of viewing, as do some cultivation studies, but rather examined the messages that were conveyed on television and attempted to understand the perceptions about age and gender that are being promoted in those messages.
This research tested the hypothesis that gender traits would be more prevalent in television advertising portraying young persons more frequently than older persons, while age traits would be more prevalent in advertising portraying older persons more frequently than young persons. Cultivation theory posits that television is ubiquitous as a socializing agent and has taken over the role of storyteller from families, churches, and communities (Gerbner, 1994). Nielsen (2000) reported that television is on for seven hours and twelve minutes a day in an average U. S. ome and 66 % of Americans regularly 9 watch television while eating dinner, demonstrating how pervasive television has become in the lives of Americans. Viewers watch 1633 hours of television per viewer per year, which breaks down to 5. 4 hours a day per viewer (Suhler, 2001) compared to persons reading magazines, which averages to about 80 hours per year (Straubhaar & Larose, 2004) or 13 minutes a day. Adults between the ages of 35 and 64 average about six hours a day viewing television, and watch 22 more minutes a day of television than adults between the ages of 18 and 34 (Paul, 2003).
Adults 65 and over watch even more television than do middle-aged and young adults (Davis & Westbrook, 1985; Kubey, 1980; Schreiber & Boyd, 1980). McConatha, Schnell, and McKenna (1999) ascertained that women over the age of 55 probably watch more television than any other age group. The self-concept of older persons varies with what they watch, the functions that television provides for them, and how they perceive older persons are portrayed on television. Older persons who watch a great deal of television are likely to have inferior self-concepts (Korzenny & Neuendorf, 1980; Kubey, 1980).
U. S. homes have an average of 2. 41 sets per household, with more televisions (98% own at least one television set) than phones per household (Pavlik & McIntosh, 2004). More Americans receive news and entertainment from television than from any other medium (Pavlik & McIntosh, 2004). Television is the most influential medium of mass communication, with advertising revenues topping $81 billion in 2000 in the U. S. as reported by the Television Bureau of Advertising Online (n. d. compared to a little over $20 billion for magazine advertising. 10 Cultivation theory could be considered a theory of long-term media effects except that cultivation does not measure change (McQuail, 2000). Instead, it is usually explained as a theory concerning television as a cultural agent, with television representing the “cultural arm of the established industrial order [which] serves primarily to maintain, stabilize, and reinforce rather than to alter, threaten, or weaken conventional beliefs and behaviors” (Gross, 1977, p. 80). Cultivation is about how “television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources” (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1986, p. 18), these former primary sources being families, churches, and communities (Gerbner, 1994). The media mediate culture as they articulate, interpret, and help create a society’s culture (Griffin, 1994). Gerbner’s cultivation hypothesis maintains that a totally immersed viewer of the heterogeneous culture of the United States will ecome homogenized or mainstreamed by an extended period of exposure to television (Gerbner & Gross, 1976; Littlejohn, 2002) and television reality can become for such a viewer indistinguishable from actual reality (McQuail, 2000). “Heavier viewing makes a consistently negative contribution to the public’s image of the personal characteristics of the elderly, and the quality of their lives . . . television seems to be telling younger people that old age, especially for women, begins relatively early in life” (Gerbner et al. , 1980, p. 47).
To summarize, cultivation theory informs us that gender and age stereotypes can be instilled and reinforced by heavy television viewing. 11 Gender Stereotypes and Television Television socializes us about how to be a man or woman (Signorielli & Bacue, 1999) and reveals how these gendered roles change throughout the years. Gender is “a social, symbolic construction that expresses the meanings a society confers on biological sex and varies across cultures, over time within any given society, and in relation to the other gender” (Wood, 2003, p. 342).
Goffman (1979) explained this process when discussing the “natural” expressions of gender in commercial advertising. “If anything, advertisers conventionalize our conventions, stylize what is already a stylization, and make frivolous use of what is already something considerably cut off from contextual controls. Their hype is hyperritualization” (Goffman, 1979, p. 84). Content of Gender Stereotypes Evidence for specific traits associated with gender stereotypes has been reported in research since the 1970’s (Aries, 1996; Bem, 1974; Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972; Busby, 1975; Deaux, 1976; Heilbrun, 1976).
Male-associated traits are generally considered more desirable in the workplace and labeled agentic or instrumental (Bakan, 1966), contrasted to femaleassociated traits that are generally considered less desirable and characterized as expressive or communal (Deaux, 1976). “In most cases, competence, assertiveness, stability, independence, rationality, and less concern for the well-being of others were indicated to be among the advantages of being male in the corporate world” (Dennis & Kunkel, 2004, p. 155). 12 An abbreviated list of traits that are stereotypically masculine ncludes: aggressive, arrogant, assertive, autocratic, conceited, confident, cynical, deliberate, independent, objective, dominant, and competitive. These masculine traits can be compared to the following examples of traits for women: appreciative, considerate, contented, cooperative, dependent, emotional, excitable, fearful, feminine, fickle, subjective, tactful, warm, and have feelings easily hurt (Aries, 1996; Bem, 1974; Heilbrun, 1976). Replicating a 1957 gender role traits analysis, Werner and LaRussa (1985) observed little change in the descriptors of males and females from 1957 to 1978.
Bergen and Williams (1991) and Fecteau, Jackson, and Dindia (1992) reached similar conclusions in their research. Specific subtypes of men and women chosen on the basis of frequency in a study by Deaux, Winton, Crowley, and Lewis (1985) generated “athletic woman,” “business woman,” “housewife,” ” sexy woman,” “athletic man,” “blue-collar working man,” “businessman,” ” and “macho man. ” The most frequent attributes associated with these eight stereotypes are provided in Table 1. The male stereotype in this study appears to be more homogeneous than the female stereotype.
That is, the image of a man evoked little diversity, while the image of a woman varied more widely. This could suggest that the stereotypes of women are more influenced by situational variations than are stereotypes of men (Deaux et al. , 1985). 13 Table 1. Gender Stereotypes Found by Deaux et al. (1985) Stereotype Trait Stereotype Trait Housewife Cleans things Cooks Takes care of kids Motherly Busy Muscular Good body Strong Aggressive Masculine Good figure Long hair Good dresser Nail polish
Pretty face Smart Nice clothes Unmarried Hard-working Organized Blue-collar Working man Factories Hard worker Middle-lower class Uneducated Union member Muscular Healthy Strong In shape Good body Muscular Hairy chest Face hair Attractive Self-centered Wears suits Office with a view College education Smart Good appearance Athletic woman Athletic man Sexy woman Macho man Business woman Business man Personality traits within gender stereotypes have been the focus of much of early gender research outside of media studies.
Most findings to date in media research concentrate on variables such as sex of the main product representative, gendered product use, occupational differences between males and females, perceived ages of the male and female, context of commercial, dress, product advertised, 14 primary roles of males and females (Bartsch et al. , 2000, Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Ferrante, Haynes, & Kingsley, 1988). The few exceptions are studies such as those by Goffman (1979), Allan and Coltrane (1996), Browne (1998), and Kang (1997) who studied behavioral phenomena.
A small number of media studies focus on stereotypical behaviors of actors in commercials, which is the concentration of the current work. Representation of Gender Stereotypes on Television When all characters in advertisements have been examined, research has revealed that male characters were generally more prevalent than female characters in advertising for all kinds of products, except for health and beauty products (Ganahl, Prinsen, & Netzley, 2003). Some research suggests that the underrepresentation of women is more pronounced for main characters.
In research that examined the era of the 1950s compared to the 1980s, Allan and Coltrane (1996) found that the percentage of women main characters in commercials actually decreased by 6% over that period of time. This unequal representation of the sexes was evident in much of television research (Ferrante, Haynes, & Kinsley, examined characters on screen for at least three seconds, 1988; Lovdal, 1989, examined product representatives; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978, examined product representatives).
Regardless of character sex, however, characters were predominantly White (Atkins, Jenkins, & Perkins, 1991; Hiemstra et al. , 1983; Roy & Harwood, 1997). Females’ occupations were primarily in the home/family category with about 20% portrayed in work settings (Allan & Coltrane, 1996), while males’ occupations 15 were represented principally in the business/sales/management and celebrity/media sector (Courtney & Whipple, 1974; Dominick & Rauch, 1972).
Males were more likely to be employed than females (Bretyl & Cantor, 1988, coded only primary characters), and females were more likely to be in a male-dominated profession than were males to be in a female-dominated profession (Schneider & Schneider, 1979, coded characters that had three seconds of screen-time). The female role was described as being dependent on relationships with labels like “wife, girlfriend, or parent. ” The male role was identified as being independent with labels like “professional, worker, or celebrity” (McArthur & Resko, 1975).
Allan and Coltrane (1996) claimed that the outlook for women is changing, with increasing proportions being depicted in work situations and diverse occupations. Contradicting this view, Ganahl et al. (2003) found that men monopolized the traditional male categories of Restaurant, Auto/Supplies, Electronics/Appliance, Insurance, Financial, and Political commercials, while women were disproportionately depicted in the traditional female categories of Retail Stores, Health & Beauty Aids/Pharmacy, and Clothing commercials. Ganahl et al. s’ (2003) traditionally female category f Food Product featured significantly more men than women in their study of television commercials, although women were the primary purchasers of food products (Mediamark Research, 1997). Conversely, Ganahl et al. ‘s (2003) traditionally male product category of Automobiles (from Scott, 1976) was found to be disproportionate in favor of men, even though Mediamark Research 16 (1997) recognized that females ‘were slightly more likely to be the principal drivers and decision-makers in automobile purchases” (Ganahl et al. , 2003, p. 249). Lovdal (1989) differentiated products according to being either domestic or nondomestic. Domestic products included items used in the home such as foods, cleansing products, cosmetics, and home remedies . . . Nondomestic products included cars, trucks, or any out-of-home items . . . such as cameras, film, American Express, and travel packages on United Airlines” (Lovdal, 1989, p. 719). When the use of domestic products is compared to the use of non-domestic products, women dominated the use of domestic products, and men the use of non-domestic products (Bartsch et al. , 2000), with little change since the 1970s (Lovdal, 1989; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978).
In television commercials, a female was typically situated in the home, especially the kitchen or bathroom (Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Ferrante et al. , 1988), advertised the domestic product (Bretyl & Cantor, 1988) and was more often the product user rather than the product authority (Harris & Feinberg, 1977). Researchers McArthur and Resko (1975) determined that males were more often the product expert and presented the argument for using the product, contrary to Bretyl and Cantor (1988) who found that females and males were similarly employed when presenting the argument.
As males age in television commercials, their authority increases, while the females’ authority and self-esteem decrease (Harris & Feinberg, 1977). 17 Thus far, depictions of males and females in commercials such as representations in types of occupations, and the use of domestic or nondomestic products have been discussed. This is consistent with the majority of television commercial studies that focus on counting variables that are easily apparent, such as how many men and women are in the commercial, ethnicity and occupation of characters, and the setting of the ommercial. In sum, women in commercials were typically portrayed as deficient in credibility, product users but not product authorities, most often situated in domestic locations, having no occupation except homemaker, and demonstrating a dependent role. This is contrasted with men in commercials who were typically portrayed as credible, product authorities, situated outdoors or at work, have an important occupation, and were powerful in their independent roles (Arima, 2003; Bretyl & Cantor, 1988; Browne, 1998; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Furnham & Skae, 1997; Ganahl et al. 2003; Lovdal, 1989; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978; McArthur & Resko, 1975; Schneider & Schneider, 1979). However, gender stereotyping can also be revealed by traits, such as the traits of being independent and dependent (Furnham & Skae, 1997; McArthur & Resko, 1975). Allan and Coltrane (1996) adopted this approach, examining groups of traits termed gender displays in television commercials that constituted gender displays or gender stereotypes.
Five were masculine (leader, respected, independent, aggressive and instrumental) and five were feminine gender displays (follower, deferential, dependent, passive, and emotional), as shown in Table 2. Allan and Coltrane arrived at this list by condensing the data from various sex role inventories (Broverman et al. , 18 1972; Bem, 1974; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). Gender display was treated as a dichotomous-nominal variable, with ten female or male traits coded as present or absent for each character.
Their results showed that from the 1950s to the 1980s, portrayals of women in commercials had become less traditional; with female characters’ use of feminine gender displays (traits) declining by almost 30%. In contrast, portrayals of men had become more traditional, with the use of masculine gender displays increasing by almost 10%. Allan and Coltrane (1996) attributed this to the fact that if a woman was depicted working in the 1980s, she was probably portrayed having a nontypical feminine gender display, whereas men depicted working were most likely shown using typical masculine gender displays. 9 Table 2. Gender Display Categories of Allan and Coltrane (1996) Stereotype Trait Stereotype Trait Leader (man) Authoritative Dominant Directive Instructive Passes judgment Gives punishment or approval High status Holds honor Has admiration Gets special treatment Autonomous Self-directed Secure, decisive Assertive Self-confident Bold Forceful Competitive Boastful Angry Possessive Calculating Unemotional Self-serving Selfish Rational Follower (woman)
Takes orders Receives advice Asks questions Follows instruction Listens to authority Respected (man) Deferential (woman) Submissive Shows deference Shows respect Averts eyes Independent (man) Dependent (woman) Other directed Insecure Indecisive Needs support Needs confirmation Gentle Kind Loving Merciful Nonaggressive Peaceful Sensitive Cries easily Shows feelings Expressive Shows verbal selfdisclosure Aggressive (man) Passive (woman) Instrumental (man)
Emotional (woman) 20 By implementing an analysis of behavior in the form of gender traits (Allan & Coltrane, 1996; Deaux et al. , 1985) to the characteristic demographic categories of ethnicity, age and sex, and related character categories of type of product advertised, primary character settings, and character occupations, the present study will provide a more comprehensive picture of gender stereotyping in television commercials today.
Age Stereotypes and Television Much of the research in the area of aging supports the view that the older person is underrepresented in media. With the older adult population comprising about 16% of the total population (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000b), past studies reveal that the older adult has only a 3% presence on television (Gerbner et al. , 1980; Harwood & Anderson, 2002; Robinson & Skill, 1995; Signorielli & Bacue, 1999).
The older adult to a certain extent is absent on television commercials and this invisibility represents a lack of importance (Vernon, Williams, Phillips, & Wilson, 1990). Some studies state that television programming depicts older people primarily as unhappy, evil, and a failure (Aronoff, 1974; Korzenny & Neuendorf, 1980; Schreiber & Boyd, 1980), while other studies contradict this view and find that TV portrays older people somewhat positively (Bell, 1992; Miller et al. , 2004; Roy & Harwood, 1997; Swayne & Greco, 1987).
Yet, because of a lack of visibility, the older person could be regarded as unimportant, not worthy of media attention, not significant in society, and typically marginalized (Vasil & Wass, 1993). The older 21 adult becomes invisible on television by being ignored or shown in neutral, brief, or flimsy roles (Vernon et al. , 1990). Advertising considers that first and foremost “youth equals popularity, popularity equals success, and success equals happiness” (Fisher, 1968, p. 17), and concentrates on maximizing images of youth rather than old age, clearly indicating marginalization of the older adult. On a macro-level, global stereotype studies concentrate on the valence (the positive or negative direction) of the attitude toward the target (Hummert, 1990; Kite et al. , 1991), while on a micro-level, some studies focus on particular characteristics that influence those attitudes (Slotterback & Saarnio, 1996). These characteristics or attributes can be classified into traits examining cognitive (e. . , forgetful, wise, or intelligent), personal-expressive (e. g. , mean, happy, or unwanted), and physical (e. g. , healthy, active, or pretty) categories. Slotterback and Saarnio (1996) reported that the physical attribute category illustrates the strongest negativity toward older adults (see also Gekoski & Knox, 1990, for a discussion about health and age), while attitudes toward younger adults’ physical attributes were highly positive. Other stereotype studies support the concept of multi-dimensional age classifications (e. . , Brewer, Dull, & Lui, 1981; Hummert, Garstka, Shaner & Strahm, 1994; Schmidt & Boland, 1986) as an alternative to the stereotypical negativity toward older adults and stereotypical positivity toward younger adults. Content of Age Stereotypes Older adults. One approach to the study of age stereotypes has examined the hierarchical structuring of categories that describe older adults. Brewer’s studies with 22 Dull and Lui (1981) and later with Lui (1984) illustrate the usefulness of this approach.
In several studies employing picture-sorting, trait-rating, and statementsorting tasks relating to older persons, Brewer et al. (1981) demonstrated that stereotyping occurs at a subordinate or basic level with categories such as grandmother and senior citizen, rather than at the superordinate level of older adult. Each of these subordinate levels was found to have distinguishing characteristics. For example, in the schema of grandmother, traits of accepting, helpful, calm, and cheerful were salient. Continuing with this line of research, Hummert et al. (1994) identified 97 traits for depicting older persons.
Groupings of these traits produced by young, middle-aged, and older participants indicated both positive and negative stereotypes of older persons. These stereotypes and their representative traits are presented in Table 3. The negative stereotypes that were found (Hummert et al. , 1994) were labeled “Severely Impaired,” “Despondent,” Shrew/Curmudgeon,” and Recluse” and the positive stereotypes that were found were labeled “Golden Ager,” Perfect Grandparent,” and “John Wayne Conservative. ” These seven stereotypes may be considered to represent “cultural archetypes of aging.
That is, adults of widely varying ages have stereotypes corresponding to these categories even though their individual cognitive schemas for the stereotypes may include slightly different configurations of traits” (Hummert et al, 2004, p. 92). 23 Table 3. Age Stereotypes Found by Hummert et al. (2004) Negative Stereotypes Severely Impaired Traits Slow-thinking Incompetent Feeble Incoherent Inarticulate Senile Depressed Sad Hopeless Afraid Neglected Lonely Complaining Ill-tempered Prejudiced Demanding Inflexible Selfish Jealous Stubborn Nosy
Positive Stereotypes Golden Ager Traits Lively Adventurous Alert Active Sociable Witty Independent Well-informed Skilled Productive Successful Capable Volunteer Well-traveled Future-oriented Fun-loving Happy Curious Healthy Sexual Self-accepting Health-conscious Courageous Interesting Kind Loving Family-oriented Generous Grateful Supportive Trustworthy Intelligent Wise Knowledgeable Patriotic Religious Nostalgic Reminiscent Retired Conservative Emotional Mellow Determined Proud Despondent Shrew/Curmudgeon Perfect Grandparent Recluse Quiet Timid Naive
John Wayne Conservative 24 Younger adults. Research on traits and subtypes of older individuals is quite prolific (see Kite, Stockdale, Whitley, & Johnson, 2005, for a meta-analysis), whereas the number of studies on traits and subtypes of younger persons is much smaller (Chasteen, Schwarz, & Park, 2002; Hummert, 1990; Matheson, Collins, & Kuehne, 2000). Using Schmidt and Boland’s (1986) list of 99 traits, Hummert (1990) created a set of 84 traits that were sorted by informants as belonging to a younger adult, older adult, both or neither (miscellaneous).
Several of the traits emerged as negative for younger adults that were considered positive for older adults (e. g. , conservative, wealthy, tough). One limitation of Hummert’s (1990) research is that it started with traits associated with older people. Matheson et al. (2000) reported specifically about multiple stereotypes of young adults, using Schmidt and Boland (1986) and Hummert’s (1990) research method of attitude and typicality ratings. With attitude and typicality highly correlated, their highest rated positive subtypes of stereotypical young adults were comprised of: Valedictorian, Professional, Thoughtful, and Outgoing.
Their highest rated negative subtypes were comprised of Introverted Worry Wart, Risk Taker, Hopeless, and Cynic. Some examples of stereotypical traits of young adults within each subtype are Valedictorian: hardworking, happy, good, and good citizen; Professional: ambitious, confident, discipline and educated; Outgoing: health conscious, hopeful, idealistic, and attractive; Thoughtful: sense of humor, kind, polite, and respectful of others; Introverted Worry Wart: unhappy, shy, naive, and unsophisticated; Risk Taker: stubborn, thrillseeker, and sexually active; Hopeless: 5 misunderstood, lost spirituality, low self-esteem, and poor prospects; and Cynic: burdened, immature, confused, and indifferent. In another study of both older and younger adult stereotypes, Chasteen et al. (2002) examined implicit measures of age-based stereotyping in younger and older individuals by first pilot testing 60 traits (Hummert, 1990; Schmidt & Boland, 1986) and narrowing the pool to 44 traits by stereotypicality and valence. Examples of positive traits that Chasteen and colleagues’ participants generated for the stereotypically young are: energetic, healthy, adventurous, excited, and carefree.
Examples of negative traits are: inexperienced, reckless, rebellious, lazy, and wasteful. Representation of Age Stereotypes on Television Most content analyses of commercials simply count characters in different age categories to discover each age group’s percentage of representation in the television population compared to the U. S. Census figures (Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Furnham & Skae, 1997; Ganahl et al, 2003; Schneider & Schneider, 1979). These studies concluded that there is a 3% to 6% representation of the older person on television compared to about 16% representation in the population (U.
S. Census, 2000b), and regardless of age, most characters were Caucasian. As the demography of the United States changes with adults living longer, television was not reflecting this change (Robinson & Skill, 1995). Even though older (65+) women comprise over 56% of this cohort (Hooyman & Kiyak, 1999), much research has shown that older men on television (age 65 +) 26 outnumber women on television, sometimes as much as by 3 to 1 (Arnoff, 1974; Gerbner et al. , 1980; Northcott, 1975; Peterson, 1973). Ganahl et al. 2003) stated that such results suggest, “men gain power and stature and women lose power and stature with age” (p. 548). Alternatively, Swayne and Greco (1987) determined that older women were more prevalent than older men on television, although only 3. 2% of their television population was comprised of older individuals. Then again, Robinson and Skill (1995) reported the percentage of men ages 65 and older from 1975 to 1990 had actually decreased from 4. 8% to 1. 8% of the total characters. They also noted that the proportion of female characters aged 50 to 64 from 1975 to 1990 had increased from 7. % to 12%, whereas the proportion of male characters in this age group declined from 22. 3% to 18. 9% during that same period. There are nine studies in the United States that have examined age stereotypes of older persons in television commercials beyond measuring an age group’s representation in the television population. These are Atkins et al. , (1991), Francher (1973), Harris and Feinberg (1977), Hiemstra et al. (1983), Miller et al. (2004), Peterson and Ross (1997), Roy and Harwood (1997), Stern and Mastro (2004), and Swayne and Greco (1987).
Negative stereotypical images of older persons in television commercials show them portrayed as primarily having medical problems and unhealthy (Francher, 1973), uninteresting, unromantic, (Harris & Feinberg, 1977) and less active than their younger counterparts (Stern & Mastro, 2004). Francher (1973) examined 100 27 commercials and found that most of the commercials concentrated on having a youthful appeal, with just two commercials depicting older persons. Older persons in commercials had few relationships with family and their attire was primarily informal (Atkins et al. 1991) or sloppy (Hiemstra et al. , 1983). Older men and women were the least attractive and most conservatively dressed age group, and older women were the heaviest (Stern & Mastro, 2004). Most commercials had males typically older than females, younger females were more likely to be more physically fit than were older males, and females were more likely to be portrayed as physically attractive and sexier than were males (Lin, 1998). Models over age 45 were portrayed less attractively than were their younger counterparts, including ads that were targeting the mature consumer (Peterson & Ross, 1997).
Swayne and Greco (1987) indicated that older persons were not being utilized for main characters or featured exclusively, but were primarily being presented as advisors in television commercials. The home setting for the young and older female was the most popular context (Swayne & Greco, 1987), while young and older males were typically portrayed outdoors (Stern & Mastro, 2004), although Roy and Harwood (1997) found older adults to be situated in a business situation or an outdoor setting.
No prior research compared primary settings and occupations of older, middle-aged, and young characters, a limitation that was addressed in the current study. Most media content analytic studies incorporate the category of product type, with the specific categories changing frequently since the 1970s. In an early study 28 Harris and Feinberg (1977) determined that older persons were not represented in the product categories of clothing or cleaning products, and barely represented in the product category of appliances, with the largest representation in the category of health aids.
Roy and Harwood (1997) observed that older adults were targeted primarily for financial services and retail chains, though still underrepresented in every product category. Older adults do spend more on medicine than younger adults (Perrien, Roy, Guiot, & Bastin, 1998), but they also spend more than their younger counterparts on insurance, new cars, home appliances, vacations, and food purchases (Allan, 1981). Older women were not portrayed as forceful or authoritative (Atkins et al. , 1991) and they were not portrayed in a professional occupation as often as were older men (Stern & Mastro, 2004).
Older characters’ traits on television appear to be frequently negative, such as being unhealthy (Francher, 1973) unromantic (Harris & Feinberg, 1977), and not very active (Stern & Mastro, 2004). Yet, not all researchers found the portrayal of the older persons in commercials to be mostly negative (Miller et al. , 2004, Roy & Harwood, 1997). In Roy and Harwood’s (1997) study, older adults were found to be “strong, happy, and active” (p. 51). Miller et al. (2004) examined stereotypes of older persons from Hummert et al. 1994), these being Golden Ager, Perfect Grandparent, Despondent, Recluse, Shrew/Curmudgeon, Mildly Impaired, and Vulnerable. The stereotypes Perfect Grandparent, Adventurous Golden Ager, and Productive Golden Ager (Golden Ager bifurcated by Miller et al. , 2004) were discovered to be the most 29 prevalent stereotypes in commercials, with very few negative images uncovered in their longitudinal analysis of U. S. commercials from the 1950s to the 1990s. Divergence and Convergence of Age and Gender Stereotypes Most characters on television, like people in general, embody a number of different social categories (e. . , age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc. ). Portrayals may emphasize one of those social categories over the other. Although the primary purpose of the present study is to examine the intersection of age and gender stereotypes, initial analysis will consider the extent to which current commercials reflect the results of past studies concerning the frequency of distribution of primary characters with relation to sex, age, race/ethnicity, type of product advertised, primary character settings, and character occupations in prime-time television commercials.
It is expected that these frequencies will mirror the results of past research (Hypothesis 1) described in the previous sections. Although a few media studies around 1990 found more women in various occupational roles and men less likely to be shown stereotypically (Allan & Coltrane, 1996; Bretl & Cantor, 1988; Signorielli, 1991), more recent studies indicate that stereotypical associations of characters by age and/or gender with particular settings, occupations, etc. , still remain, as does the less frequent appearance of women and older characters in comparison to men and younger characters (Bartsch et al. 2000; Ganahl et al. , 2003; Harwood & Anderson, 2002; Robinson & Skill, 1995; Signorielli & Bacue, 1999; Stern & Mastro, 2004). This study will add to prior research by considering the relative emphasis on gender and age stereotypes in the portrayal of young and older characters in television 30 commercials. Although this question has not been addressed in prior media research, social psychological research on beliefs about the relationship between age and gender stereotype traits over the lifespan provides insights into how characters’ ages may affect the emphasis on gender in their portrayals.
Fiske et al. (2002) argue that gender and age stereotypes are similar in that they are mixed stereotypes. According to Fiske et al. , mixed stereotypes can be delineated along two dimensions, “competence and warmth, … defined by low ratings on one dimension with high ratings on the other” (p. 880). Gender and age stereotypes are typical of mixed stereotypes as defined by Fiske et al. in that stereotypes of males fall into the high competence/low warmth quadrant, whereas those of females and older people fall into the low competence/high warmth quadrant, as shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Fiske et al. ‘s Stereotype Content Model (2002) Low competence High competence Low warmth Poor, homeless, welfare recipients Housewives, elderly, disabled people Rich people, men, Asians, Jews, professionals Christians, middleclass, Whites, students High warmth Despite the overlap that Fiske et al. (2002) propose between age and gender stereotypes, the age stereotype literature has highlighted some traits that are uniquely related to age. For the purposes of this study, the stereotypical traits of health, 1 vitality, and mental orientation were selected as traits that most strongly delineate young and old stereotypes: (a) older adults are stereotyped as less healthy than younger adults (Braithwaite, 1986; Gekoski & Knox, 1990; Slotterback & Saarnio, 1996); (b) older adults are stereotyped as less vital than younger adults (e. g. , sexuality, Deutsch et al, 1986); and (c) older adults are stereotyped as less mentally oriented than younger adults (e. g. , slow-thinking, Hummert et al. , 1994).
In general, studies illustrate the primacy of age stereotypes over gender stereotypes in the perceptions of older men and women (Bassili & Reil, 1981; Deutsch et al. , 1986; Kite et al. , 1991; O’Connell & Rotter, 1979). Bassili and Reil (1981) found, for example, that whereas stereotypes related to gender, ethnicity, and occupation were important in evaluations of 35-year-old targets, age stereotypes were primary in evaluations of 70-year-old targets. As a result, views of older persons were more homogeneous than views of younger persons. Similarly, Kite et al. 1991) reported, “When attributes freely generated by respondents are considered, target age has the greater impact, and target sex plays a relatively minor role. Apparently, …people categorize others most readily on the basis of their age” (p. 24). If the producers of commercials are sensitive to these same perceptual biases, then (Hypothesis 2) they would emphasize age traits and stereotypes over gender traits and stereotypes in the portrayal of older characters, whereas they would emphasize gender traits and stereotypes over age traits and stereotypes in the portrayal of younger characters. 2 Other social psychological research, however, suggests that the emphasis of age over gender stereotypes in portrayals may be greater for one sex than the other, although it is unclear which gender may be affected. The findings of O’Connell and Rotter (1979), for instance, suggest that older male characters will be portrayed as less masculine than younger male characters, but older and younger women will be portrayed as equally feminine.
These researchers found that the masculine traits of effectiveness and autonomy are perceived to diminish with age “and both [older] males and females are perceived as equally ineffective and dependent” (p. 227), while the stereotypical feminine attribute of personal acceptability is believed to be consistent across the life cycle. These findings are certainly in harmony with the emphasis on frailty and dependence in negative age stereotypes, and the centrality of warmth and supportiveness to positive age stereotypes (Hummert et al. , 1994). On the other hand, research conducted by Deutsch et al. 1986) would support the opposite prediction. They reported that raters evaluating photographs of people of different ages judged women as diminishing in femininity with age, while they viewed men as maintaining the same level of masculinity throughout the lifespan. This result is consistent with Susan Sontag’s (1979) description of a “double standard of aging” for men and women based primarily on a greater perceived loss of sexual appeal and attractiveness with age for women than for men. It is unclear which of these findings may apply when portrayals of older men and women are examined in television commercials.
However, the emphasis on visual images suggests that the “double standard of aging” favoring older men over 33 older women may occur in the portrayals. Thus, the third hypothesis that will be investigated in this study is: Gender traits will be less prominent in portrayals of older women than in portrayals of older men. Conclusion The present study builds on the existing research and examines the interrelationship of gender and age stereotypes in television commercials. The double standard of aging speculates that our culture treats middle-aged and older women more negatively than men of the equivalent age (Sontag, 1979).
That is, men increase their status, become more distinguished, and can age more gracefully than can women. Media research to some extent supports the existence of this double standard, portraying women of all ages as incompetent, inferior, deferential, dependent, passive, deficient in credibility, product users but not product authorities, most often situated in domestic locations, having no occupation except homemaker, and demonstrating a dependent role (Allan & Coltrane, 1996; Arima, 2003; Bretyl & Cantor, 1988; Browne, 1998; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Furnham & Skae, 1997; Ganahl et al. 2003; Lovdal, 1989; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978; McArthur & Resko, 1975; Schneider & Schneider, 1979). The social cognitive literature is more uncertain on this subject. Some research supports Sontag’s (1979) double standard of aging (e. g. , Deutsch et al. , 1986); however, other studies do not (e. g. , O’Connell & Rotter, 1979; Kite et al. , 1991). This study will extend prior research by adding gender and age traits to the traditional demographic (age, sex, ethnicity), setting, and product categories of media 34 research.
Four character age groups; old-old adult (75+), young-old adult (60-74), middle-aged adult (35-59), and young adult (18-34), will be examined. The study will test three hypotheses, one regarding the correspondence of the data to prior media research, and two regarding the intersection of age and gender stereotypes in commercials: Hypothesis 1: Distribution of primary characters with relation to sex, age, race/ethnicity, type of product advertised, primary character settings, and character occupations in prime-time television commercials will mirror the results of past research.
Specifically: H1a. Women and older characters will be underrepresented in comparison to census data, while men and younger characters will be overrepresented; H1b. Characters will be predominantly White; H1c. Product type, primary setting, and occupation of characters will reflect the gender and age subdivisions identified in prior research. Hypothesis 2: Age traits will be more prominent than gender traits in the portrayal of older characters in television commercials, whereas gender traits will be more prominent than age traits in the portrayal of younger characters.
Hypothesis 3: Gender traits will be less prominent in portrayals of older women than older men. 35 Chapter 2: Method One of the limitations of past media research has been its failure to test gender and age stereotypes simultaneously. This study used content analysis to investigate sex, age, type of product, primary setting, occupation, age traits, and gender traits of characters in prime-time television commercials. A pilot study using about thirty commercials collected at an earlier time was completed to test the reliability of the category definitions for the variables.
Sample for Study Eighty-four hours of programming were videotaped from 7 p. m. to 10 p. m. CST during fourteen consecutive days in March 2005, with one complete week videotaped per network (NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox). This method replicated those used in similar studies (Bartsch et al. , 2000; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Lovdal, 1989; O’Donnell & O’Donnell, 1978). The videotaped programming database contained 2160 commercials (473 from Fox, 560 from CBS, 595 from ABC, and 532 from NBC). Systematic sampling was employed to select 6 % of the commercials from all networks for analysis.
Using a random starting point, every third commercial was coded (Kaid & Wadsworth, 1989; Poindexter & McCombs, 2000), until 90 comme