User:Imunsureofmostthings/Gender in advertising

Article Draft: Gender in Advertising

The article experienced extreme changes after the planning stage but before I put my work into the page so the plans had to be adjusted.

Changes:

• potential sections to add are responses to gender in advertising. (5,7,8,9)
• tv ads in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea section at the bottom for sure. (3)
• YouTube ads in Israel and Germany section at the bottom as well. (1)
• ad to presentation of gender roles. (6)
• 4 can be added to England section

So far all I've changed on the page is "The following shows the impact of television advertising on gender images in four countries: " to three, because it was inaccurate.

Added in Britain section:

Still, there are those who have a deep understanding of the changes made to the ASA, such as Dr. Alexandros Antoniou and Dr. Dimitris Akrivos, who see them as more of a step in the right direction rather than the solution that is truly needed. The line between what is deemed acceptable or harmful was left unclear when advertisements focus on a person’s physical appearance. The guidelines showed a disregard for limiting nudity and sexualization of people in advertisements that are potentially demeaning. The complex interactions between gender and other aspects of a person’s identity were not mentioned at all, and no push was made to make advertisements more inclusionary of people who do not conform to the gender binary. Advertisements viewed as humorous are, at times, allowed by the ASA, even if the advertisements are potentially harmful, so whether or not humor makes an advertisement less harmful may need to be addressed by future ASA guideline changes. Created a new section at the bottom:

Created a new section at the bottom:

In 2022, there were two billion people who used YouTube once a month, and a majority of users were men, although this majority has been diminishing over time. An analysis of online advertisements is becoming increasingly important as YouTube’s users are predominantly young people who are actively forming their beliefs. Many differences were found between YouTube advertisements and advertisements from traditional media forms, as well as the types of gender stereotypes displayed in its advertisements. What kinds of differences those entail relies on where the viewer lives as well as the user viewing history on the site, which was accounted for in any statistics mentioned in this section.

While it is more common for media adverts to focus on stereotypes regarding employment, most gender stereotypes depicted in YouTube adverts are based on physical appearance. Women in adverts in Germany were twice as likely to have a body shape preferred by society, while in Israel, they were five times as likely. Women in Israeli advertising were overwhelmingly the consumers of a product and were rarely if ever, depicted as authority figures. In German advertisements, women were seven times more likely to be young, and in Israel, it was not much better as women were five times as likely to be young. So much of the time, women in these advertisements were young consumers who had appearances viewed as the ideal in society, which alienates the majority of women who do not fall into this demographic and can set sexist and unrealistic expectations. Women were half as likely to be in comedic advertisements. Like in many other cultures, the narration was dominated by male voices in both Israel and Germany. Men in both cultures were three times more likely than women to make fact-based arguments for a product; this rate was twice as high as that observed in traditional advertisements. To sum up, men are more often made to be funny and intellectual, while women tend to be objectified often without having a voice in the same way men do.

created another new section at the bottom:

Television Advertisements in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea

Often, countries and territories in general regions tend to be grouped together, but gender advertisements in any media form will always vary to some degree depending on the culture that produces the media. Still, general trends in advertising tend to be relatively consistent across cultures, as sexist media depictions exist just about everywhere media exists.

In South Korea, men were over 56 times more likely to be fully clothed than women. Women were also four times as likely to be seen in a home setting, and less than .05% of the time, women were seen in the workplace. Of all three places studied, only South Korea had more female advertisers than males. Narration in South Korean advertisements was roughly evenly distributed between men and women, but when beauty and hygiene advertisements were ignored, men were more likely to be narrators.

In Japan, more than 45% of women in advertisements were dressed in a suggestive manner. Japan had arguably the most even overall representation of people in the workplace and people at home, albeit it was still very uneven. Men were 1.7 times as likely to be in a work environment, and women were 1.82 more likely to be in a domestic environment. In both Japan and South Korea men tended to be more middle aged.

Of the three countries, Hong Kong was the most egalitarian in regard to gender. Women were only very slightly more likely than men to appear in advertisements in a home setting, but they were nearly seven times less likely to be in advertisements in a work setting. This was the only place out of the three where men in advertisements were also predominately young. Still, women in the advertisements were often young and suggestively dressed nearly 33% of the time.

In all countries and territories, women depicted in advertisements were young at least 70% of the time. Men were also across all three cultures never suggestively dressed more than 4% of the time. Women were always more likely to be provocatively dressed and were always less likely to be in a work environment. Aside from hygiene and beauty products, which women appeared in at twice the rate of men, women were less often the narrator.

Added to the creation and maintenance of gender normality section:

This is at least in some part due to the fact that when biases are present in an advertisement, they are more easily integrated into the viewer's beliefs, or if the beliefs are already present, then they are strengthened. When viewers saw an advertisement in which men were behaving non-stereotypically, the viewer was less likely to stereotype others on the basis of their gender.

There are three prominent ideologies regarding the relationship between advertisements and societal beliefs. The mirror ideology looks at advertisements as a reflection of the culture from which the advertisements are produced, whereas the mold ideology thinks of advertising as the cast that molds the culture. The last suggested relationship between advertisements and societal beliefs is a mixture of the first two and takes from both sides. Advertising professionals tend to follow the mirror ideology, and while many of them are just as capable as the consumer of identifying sexism in advertisements, these professionals tend to have a higher tolerance for sexist themes. Chinese advertising professionals, when asked in a study, view their adverts as a replication of reality rather than as a pseudo-reality that is replicated by the real world. There is much debate in the advertising world as to whether or not self-regulation is all that is needed to make discriminatory themes less common, with those in favor of this way forward advocating for awards and positive reinforcement to encourage changes while those in opposition argue that this has failed to bring about the necessary changes so far.

Those who do not mimic the stereotypical gender portrayals seen in advertisements and other forms of media may feel that they are inferior because of their differences, which can deter a person from choosing to pursue the life they desire, posing a threat to their mental health.

Added to the displays of feminine gender roles section:

Women are also less often in humorous advertisements, and when advertisements are less comical, the stereotypes they portray tend to be taken more seriously.

Added to the displays of masculine gender roles section:

Advertisements that defy male stereotypes were also found to be mainly targeted towards women.

Added a new section called

Viewers' perception of traditionally gendered advertisements:

There exists a common misconception that gender stereotypes in advertising help boost sales, but this is largely the opposite of the truth. When advertisements’ depictions of gender were non-stereotypical, people generally viewed the brand and product in a more positive light while experiencing a feeling of social connectedness . Reactions are dependent on how one views gender, but generally, when men were the focus of these non-stereotypical advertisements, it resulted in more interest in the product, increased sales, and more attentive viewing of the advertisement. A study conducted in South Africa, the UK, and Poland found that regardless of political affiliation when men played roles where they displayed more warmth at the expense of competence, the advertisements were viewed more positively. The study found that the contents of the stereotype were more important than the fact that there simply existed a stereotype in the advertisement, and this could be an explanation for why studies looking at the effects of female stereotypes on consumer opinion often yielded conflicting results. Often, it seems that positive evaluations lie in likability and warmth rather than gender stereotypes.

Gender stereotypes in advertisements generally have a negative impact on the product and company, but the evaluation of these stereotypes and advertisements by an individual is much more nuanced than any generalization can be. In a South Korean study, it was found that a person’s desire to be unique and whether they tend to be independent or interdependent affected their perceptions of an advertisement that contained gender stereotypes. Those who felt a greater need for uniqueness and viewed themselves as relatively independent had a lower tolerance for gender stereotypes, whereas the opposite was true for those who think of themselves as generally interdependent and do not desire high levels of uniqueness.

A large factor in the evaluation of advertisements depicting gender stereotypes or non-cis gendered people was political ideology. Conservatives in the aforementioned multinational study were found to view advertisements containing traditional gender roles slightly more positively than liberals. Despite conservatives in all countries liking the non-stereotypical advertisement more, in South Africa, conservatives were still more likely to purchase a product with advertising that showed traditional gender norms. The opposite was seen in Poland, but this may have been the result of Polish conservatives fearing being viewed as sexist. Tolerance for LGBTQ imagery depends to some degree on political affiliation. Conservatives often felt a greater level of disgust and did so more frequently than liberals when viewing LGBTQ imagery, aside from lesbian imagery, which was rated similarly to heterosexual imagery. Male homosexuality can be viewed as an affront to masculinity, which might explain why female homosexuality was rated as more favorable. The portrayal of gender in advertisements can elicit emotional responses from people, and generally, heterosexual individuals prefer less overt LGBTQ imagery.

Research:

This was published in the Journal of Gender Studies and should, therefore, be reliable and help establish notability.

Points from the source:

YouTube advertising data was collected from Israel and Germany. Stereotypes related to gender were centered around physical appearance; other forms of media often focus on stereotypes regarding employment. There were similar levels of role-based stereotyping. The prevalence of the different types of stereotypes was country-dependent. Young people are more prone to viewing online media. In 2022, there were 2 billion monthly YouTube users. In 2022, 56% of YouTube’s user base identified was male. Narration was more likely to be performed by a man. Women in advertisements were always more likely than men to possess a culturally preferred body shape. In Germany, it was twice as likely, while in Israel, it was five times as likely. Men were also three times less likely to provide arguments for consuming a product that was unscientific and opinionated in nature, this difference is twice as large when compared to traditional media. Men were half as likely as women to be the central figure in an advertisement for a domestic product. Women were significantly more likely to be younger in advertisements. In other media, the ratio tends to be 3.4 to 1, but in Israel, it was 5 to 1, and in Germany, it was 7 to 1. Men were doubly likely to be in comedic advertisements. All women in Israeli advertisements were consumers of the product as opposed to being figures of authority on topics relating to the product.

This was published in the Journal of African Cultural Studies and should, therefore, be reliable and help establish notability.

*Sadly I am now unable to find access to the article*

This was published in a journal entitled Communication & Society and should, therefore, be reliable and help establish notability.

The study looks at television ads in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. Women were mostly young, whereas men were largely middle-aged. Males were frequently fully clothed, and women were often dressed in a sexualized manner. Men were often in the workplace, and women were in the home setting. Men did most of the voiceovers as well. Beauty products were mostly advertised to women. Hong Kong was the most gender-egalitarian. South Korea was the only country in the study to have more female advertisers than male. Females in all countries were young at least 70% of the time. Only in Hong Kong were a majority of males also young. In Japan and South Korea, over 45% of the women in advertisements were suggestively dressed; in Hong Kong, the number was 32.9%. In all countries, the percentage of suggestively dressed men never exceeded 4%. In South Korean ads women were 56.83 times more likely to not be fully clothed. In South Korea, no women were ever shown in the workplace, or if they were, it was smaller than .05%. In the most progressive culture in this regard, in Japan, men were 1.7 times as likely to be in the workplace; in Hong Kong, this rate was 6.7. In South Korea, women were 3.99 times more likely to be ads at home; for Japan, this number was 1.82, and in Hong Kong, it was 1.03, which isn’t all that significant. South Korean voiceovers were actually relatively even in proportion. When toiletries and cosmetics ads were removed then, the proportion of men and women in ads became even, much like in Japan and Hong Kong; for this category in all countries, women were at least two times more likely to appear.

This was published in the Journal of Media Law and should, therefore, be reliable and help establish notability.

Stereotypical gender portrayals can cause those who deviate to be viewed as inferior, which can limit their freedom to choose to pursue the life they desire while simultaneously harming their mental health. The ASA’s updated guidelines, which are the focus of this source, were found to be a good start to something that must be much larger. It neglects to set a clear boundary of what's allowable regarding adverts focused on one's physical appearance and the harm they cause. It’s guidelines condone potentially degrading nudity and sexualization based on gender. It also adheres strictly to the gender binary and does not push the inclusion of all genders in the media. The ASA also lacks any guidelines regarding the intersections between gender and other aspects of one’s identity. Supposedly, well-meaning biases delivered in subjectively humorous packages were often allowed by the ASA. The new ASA guidelines focus on objectification and sexualization, unrealistic body images, and the ridiculing of people who do not conform to gender norms.

This was also published in the Journal of Gender Studies and should, therefore, be reliable and help establish notability.

The effectiveness of traditional gender norms for women in advertising tends to depend on the study. Thus, there is no solid answer to whether traditional gender roles for women in advertising lead to increased sales. All three of the previous experimental studies regarding this aspect of advertising for men have yielded similar results, where men portrayed in non-traditional roles led to greater effectiveness. This study used data from the UK, South Africa, and Poland. In all countries, advertisements where a man played a paternalist role (low competence, high warmth), were viewed more favorably than an envious role (high competence, low warmth). Both liberals and conservatives reported more favorable views of the non-traditional role advertisements. Being conservative leads to slightly more positive feelings towards the traditional role compared to liberals. The stereotype itself seems to matter more than the fact that it is a stereotype; this could explain the mixed results of past studies done on women on this topic (It’s not about being traditional; it's about being likable or warm). Effectiveness in terms of purchase intent was the only factor that seemed to vary depending on the country. Only in South Africa did attitudes on gender affect purchasing intent, with traditionalists still preferring to buy a product with traditional gender roles in its advertisement. The opposite effect took place in Poland with traditionalists, but this may have been because they were afraid of being viewed as sexist.

More general research in the area. All sources cited in this sandbox are peer edited.

This article focuses on summing up current knowledge related to gender in advertising. Women are often shown in more objectified and family-oriented roles, while men are shown as independent, professional, and authoritarian. Advertisements that are gender-biased make the biases more readily accepted and supported. Two ideologies surrounding the effects of advertising. Either they mirror societal attitudes or mold them. Stereotyping in advertisements still exists, and it has been particularly prevalent among women. Job status is the most gendered part of one's identity in advertisements. The degree of gender bias in advertisements has declined in countries with high masculinity, but other countries have not shared the same decrease. On private German TV channels, gender stereotypes focused on physical appearance and role behavior, whereas on public channels, the focus was primarily on location and occupational status. In humorous ads that use gender stereotypes, the viewers tend not to take the stereotypes as seriously. Women are less often in comedic ads than men. In one study, Chinese advertising professionals did not think about how they strengthen stereotypes as they viewed their work as a replication of reality and Chinese culture. Professionals in the advertising world are just as capable as consumers of identifying when an ad may depict men and women in gendered roles, but advertisers are more tolerant of these stereotypes. Some researchers argue that awards and other forms of self-regulation rather than laws are the best way to limit gender stereotyping in advertisements, while others argue self-regulation has done little good in the past. When men were in non-stereotypical roles, it resulted in increased attention, interest, and sales. After exposure to non-stereotypical depictions of men in advertising, the viewer did not stereotype others based on gender as much. Reactions did depend on one's views regarding gender. The target audience of men in less stereotypical roles in ads was often not men.

Talks about LGBTQ imagery in advertising and how political beliefs of the viewer effect the response they have to the imagery.

Male homosexuality elicited more aggressively negative emotional responses than female homosexuality; this is more noticeable and frequent among conservatives. Conservatives also viewed LGBTQ ads as less favorable than heteronormative ads. How gender is shown in advertisements impacts the viewer's emotions. Lesbian imagery is viewed as more favorable than other LGBTQ imagery. Favorability in lesbian and heterosexual ads was similar, but male homosexuality resulted in more negative responses from conservatives. Conservatives felt greater levels of disgust when compared to liberals when viewing homosexual ads, a disgust that was not felt towards heterosexual or lesbian ads. Heterosexual audiences tend to prefer less overt LGBTQ imagery in advertisements.

This one talks about the benefits of non gender stereotyped ads.

Non-stereotypical advertising in regard to gender has a positive effect on brand attitudes, the perceived quality of the product, and feelings of being socially connected.

Looks at how a need for uniqueness and self view of whether one is more an individual or a part of a group effects ones response to gender norms in advertising.

The effect of advertisements that depict people in non-stereotypical ways in regard to their gender is reliant on whether they perceive themselves as more independent or interdependent, as well as how much they feel they need to be unique. Non-stereotypical gender representation in advertising reduces one’s proclivity towards stereotyping, even if they frequently stereotype. This took place in Korea. Individuals who were more independent and those with a higher need for uniqueness both responded more positively to non-traditional ads, whereas the reverse was true for those who were more interdependent and had a low need for uniqueness.

INCREDIBLY interesting, but has less to do with the ads themselves. Still it offers a view into the advertising world and how gender plays into decision making behind the scenes.