Author

  • Abid Ali

    • Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
    • Pakistan

  • Raza Ali

    • Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
    • Pakistan

  • Dileep Kumar

    • Universiti Utara Malaysia, College of Business, Sintok, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

  • Muhammad Haroon Hafeez

    • Universiti Utara Malaysia, College of Business, Sintok, Malaysia
    • Malaysia

  • Bushra Ghufran

    • Air University Multan, Pakistan
    • Pakistan

Abstract

This study aims to observe the gender role portrayal in food and non-food television advertisement in Pakistan, in order to find out gender discrimination (if any) and association of gender with different content variables. Content analysis of selected TV commercials was used to fulfill the purpose of this study. Services of two independent coders (business graduates) were utilized to code content variables for a sample of 103 commercials (54 food and 49 non-food commercials). Based on the extant literature, seven content variables were selected for this study including: main product user, voiceover, primary character, end comment, soundtrack level, activity level and aggression level. The gender role portrayals in both food and non-food commercials have been compared and discussed. There exists gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement, where males dominate more. The reason behind this phenomenon is expected to lie in social and cultural values. This male dominance is higher in food advertisement as compared to non-food advertisement. Results also favor the association of male character with the relatively higher activity and aggression levels in television commercials. The findings of this study are supportive for key players in advertising industry like advertisers and advertising agencies, for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns with respect to gender role. However, more important implication for them is to know about the forces of traditional cultural values and preferences of target audience, for effective planning of the commercials and forecasting their impact. Such knowledge can provide them a better base to assess the need for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns, guiding them towards making more successful commercials. This study reflects the true picture of gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement. It has been concluded using a well defined methodology, provides original data for Pakistan and can be considered a good reference for further analysis.

Keywords

References

  • Alreck, P. L., Settle, R. B. & Belch, M. A. (1982). Who Responds to Gendered Ads, and How? Journal of Advertising Research, 22(2), 25-32.
  • Alvesson, M. & Billing, Y. (1997). Understanding Gender and Organizations. London: Sage.
  • Bartsch, R. A., Burnett, T., Diller, T. R. & Rankin-Williams, E. (2000). Gender Representation in Television Commercials: Updating and Update. Sex Roles, 43(9/10), 735-743.
  • Bellizzi, J. A. & Milner, L. (1991). Gender Positioning of a Traditionally Male-Dominant Product. Journal of Advertising Research, 31(3), 72-79.
  • Bretl, D. J. & Cantor, J. (1988). The portrayal of men and women in U.S. television commercials: A recent content analysis and trends over 15 years. Sex Roles, 18, 595-609.
  • Browne, B. A. (1998). Gender stereotypes in advertising on children’s television in the 1990s: A cross-national analysis. Journal of Advertising , 27, 83–96.
  • Childs, N. M. & Maher, J. K. (2003). Gender in food advertising to children: Boys eat first. British food journal, 105(7), 408-419.
  • CIA Fact Book . (2012). Pakistan . Retrieved June 21, 2012 from the CIA World Fact Book website: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html
  • Coltrane, S. & Adams, M. (1997). Work-Family Imagery and Gender Stereotypes: Television and the Reproduction of Difference. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50(2), 323-347.
  • Darley, W. K. & Smith, R. E. (1995). Gender Differences in Information Processing Strategies: An Empirical Test of the Selectivity Model in Advertising Response. Journal of Advertising, 24(1), 41-56.
  • Debevec, K. & Iyer, E. (1986). The Influence of Spokespersons in Altering a Product’s Gender Image: Implications for Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 15(4), 12-20.
  • Elliott, R., Eccles, S. & Hodgson, M. (1992). Gender Repositioning in Advertising: A Semiotic Analysis. Paper presented in Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the European Marketing Academy, K. G. Grunert and D. Fuglede, eds. Denmark: European Marketing Academy.
  • Ford, J. B., LaTour, M. S. & Lundstrom, W. J. (1991). Contemporary Women’s Evaluation of Female Role Portrayals in Advertising. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 8 (1), 15-28.
  • Ford, J. B., Voli, P. K., Honeycutt, E. D. & Casey, S. L. (1998). Gender role portrayal in Japanese advertising: a magazine content analysis. Journal of Advertising, 27(1), 113-24.
  • Furnham, A. & Bitar, N. (1993). The stereotype portrayal of men and women in British advertisements. Sex Roles, 29(3/4), 297-310.
  • Furnham, A. & Li, J. (2008). Gender portrayal in food and beverage advertisements in Hong Kong: a content analytic study. Young Consumers, 9(4), 297-307.
  • Gallup, S. & Gilani, P. (2010). Advertising Expenditure (Adex) in Pakistan. Special Annual Edition 2010. Islamabad : Author
  • Gilly, M. C. (1988). Sex Roles in Advertising: A comparison of television advertisements in Australia, Mexico, and the United States. Journal of Marketing, 52(2), 75-85.
  • Hoek, J. & Laurence, K. (1991). Television Advertising to Children: An Analysis of Selected New Zealand Commercials. Marketing Bulletin, 4, 19-29.
  • Khairullah, D. H. Z. & Khairullah, Z. Y. (2009). Cross-cultural analysis of gender roles: Indian and US advertisements. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 21(1), 58-75.
  • Knupfer, N. (1998). Gender Divisions across Technology Advertisements and the WWW: Implications for Educational Equity. Theory into Practice, 37(1), 54-63.
  • Kolbe, R. H. & Burnett, M. S. (1991). Content-analysis research: an examination of applications with directives for improving research reliability and objectivity. Journal of Consumer Research, 18(2), 243-250.
  • MacKay, N. J. & Covell, K. (1997). The Impact of Women in Advertisements on Attitudes toward Women. Sex Roles, 36(9/10), 573-583.
  • Macklin, C. & Kolbe, R. H. (1983). Sex role stereotyping in children’s advertising: current and past trends. Journal of Advertising , 13(2), 34-42.
  • McArthur, L. Z. & Resko, B. G. (1975). The portrayal of men and women in American television commercials. The Journal of Social Psychology, 97, 209-220.
  • McDaniel, S. R. & Kinney, L. (1998). The Implications of Recency and Gender Effects in Consumer Response to Ambush Marketing. Psychology and Marketing, 15(4), 385-403.
  • Ministry of Finance. (2012). Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-2012. Islamabad, Pakistan: Author.
  • Mwangi, M. W. (1996). Gender Roles Portrayed in Kenyan Television Commercials. Sex Roles, 34, 205-214.
  • Neto, F. & Pinto, I. (1998). Gender stereotypes in Portuguese television advertisements. Sex Roles, 39, 153-65.
  • Neto, F. & Santos, A. (2004). Gender role stereotyping in radio advertisements: A Portuguese and crossnational analysis. Journal of Radio Studies, 11, 131-145.
  • Peirce, K. & McBride, M. (1999). Aunt Jemima Isn’t Keeping Up with the Energizer Bunny: Stereotyping of Animated Spokes-Characters in Advertising. Sex Roles, 40(11/12), 959-966.
  • Penaloza, L. (1994). Crossing Boundaries/Drawing Lines: A Look at the Nature of Gender Boundaries and their Impact on Marketing Research. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 11(4), 359-379.
  • Perreault, W. D. & Leigh, L. E. (1989). Reliability of nominal data based on qualitative judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 26(2), 135–148.
  • Schneider, K. C. & Schneider, S. B. (1979). Trends in sex roles in television commercials. Journal of Marketing, 43, 79-84.
  • Severn, J., Belch, G. E. & Belch, M. A. (1990). The Effects of Sexual and Non-Sexual Advertising Appeals and Information Level on Cognitive Processing and Communication Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(1), 14-22.
  • Siu, W. & Au, A. K. (1997). Women in advertising: a comparison of television advertisements in China and Singapore. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 15, 235-243.
  • Sullivan, G. L. & O’Connor, P. J. (1988). Women’s Role Portrayals in Magazine Advertising: 1958–1983. Sex Roles, 18(3/4), 181-188 .
  • Uray, N. & Burnaz, S. (2003). An Analysis of the Portrayal of Gender Roles in Turkish Television Advertisements. Sex Roles, 48(1/2), 77-87.
  • Verna, M. E. (1975). The Female Image in Children's TV Commercials. Journal of Broadcasting, 19(3), 301-309.
  • Wee, C., Choong, M. & Tambyah, S. (1995). Sex role portrayal in television advertising: A comparative study of Singapore and Malaysia. International Marketing Review, 12 , 49-64.
  • Welch, R. L., Aletha, H. S., John, C. W. & Robert, P. (1979). Subtle Sex-Role Cues in Children's Commercials. Journal of Communication, 29(3), 202-209.
  • Whipple, T. W. & McManamon, M. K. (2002). Implications of using male and female voices in commercials: An explanatory study. Journal of Advertising, 31, 79 - 91.
  • Wolburg, J. M. & Pokrywczynski, J. (2001). A Psychographic Analysis of Generation Y College Students. Journal of Advertising Research, 41(5), 33-52.

Downloads

No downloads have been recorded for this article yet. Figures appear here once readers begin downloading the full text.

How to Cite

Ali, A., Ali, R., Kumar, D., Hafeez, M. H., & Ghufran, B. (2012). Gender Role Portrayal in Television Advertisement: Evidence from Pakistan. Information Management and Business Review, 4(6), 340-351. https://doi.org/10.22610/imbr.v4i6.988

Share this article

License

Copyright (c) 2012 Abid Ali, Raza Ali, Dileep Kumar, Muhammad Haroon Hafeez, Bushra Ghufran (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team  edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.

This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.

Keywords

Section

Research Paper

Published in

Vol. 4 No. 6 (2012) Women, Enterprise & Digital Culture View issue contents

Published

2012-06-15

Submissions

Have research to publish? Information Management and Business Review welcomes submissions.

Make a Submission