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The aim of this study was to reveal gender portrayal types in Japanese television advertisements through content analysis. Five hundred and thirty-one adult main characters were coded for sex, age, ethnic background, credibility, role, place, dress, background, persuasion type, camera work, camera angle, product type, target, and sex of voice-over. Five types were found by performing quick cluster analysis: "beautiful and wise housewives," "young ladies attracting people's attention," "young celebrities," "middle- and old-aged people enjoying private time," and "middle-aged worker bee." The first three were mainly women and the latter two were mainly men. The results indicate that in Japanese television advertisements men and women are portrayed differently, and the differences correspond with traditional gender stereotypes.
KEY WORDS: advertisements; gender; stereotypes.
Television advertisements are a rich source of data for social scientists to investigate. One reason is that the images they contain are drawn from society at large, and therefore they can be seen as a reflection of prevailing cultural values (e.g., Manstead & McCulloch, 1981). Another reason is that they are likely to play an active role as a socializing agent (e.g. Murray, Rubinstein, & Comstock, 1972). According to Millum (1975), an advertisement has to be easily comprehended by its target audience in order to be effective. To be understood easily, advertisements need to represent typical people and typical situations, in other words, stereotypical situations tend to be portrayed. These ideas were revealed through one major stream of research on television advertisements that employed content analysis.
Since the early 1970s, many studies, most of which were done in the United States, have revealed that men and women were depicted differently in television advertisements and the differences were in accordance with traditional gender roles (e.g., Courtney & Whipple, 1974; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Furnham & Shofield, 1986; Harris & Stobart, 1986; Manstead & McCulloch, 1981; McArthur & Resko, 1975). In the 1970s and 1980s, some changes in the content of television advertisements occurred, but content analyses showed that the advertisements have not reflected the actual roles that women have fulfilled in American society (e.g., Bretl & Cantor, 1988; Russo, Feller, & DeLeon, 1982). For example, Bretl and Cantor (1988) showed that the difference in the frequency of depiction between men and women inside the...