1. Gendered Advertising to Children: An Analysis of Differences in Male- and Female-Targeted Television Commercials
Hi everyone, I’m Meredith and for the past year I’ve been conducting research for my honors thesis on gendered advertising to children and what differences might be present in female-targeted commercials compared to male-targeted commercials.
By Meredith Ford
Communication Studies, Advised by Dr. Alexis Lauricella
NSF Grant #BCS

2. Children’s Media Use
Increase in popularity of child-targeted TV programming and near universal access to televisions (Vandewater et al., 2007)
58% of children ages 0- to 8-years-old watch TV at least once a day (Common Sense Media, 2013)
Children watch a lot of TV. In the past few years there has been an increase in popularity of child-targeted television programming and that coupled with near universal television access results in a high amount of viewing. 58% of children watch television at least once a day for an average of just under an hour each day and 96% of children live in a household with at least one television so they’re never really more than a room away from this media.

3. Impact of Advertising on Children
Children are impressionable consumers but don’t understand advertising intent until they reach 8-years-old (Kunkel et al., 2014)
Children emulate what they see on screen
With more TV comes more advertisements. Children are impressionable consumers, so the advertisements they see can have extraordinary impact on their consumption behaviors. The problem with this influence is that children they don’t understand advertising intent until they reach 8 years old, so they don’t recognize that everything that they see within the commercials, including character behaviors, appearances, and the product itself, might not be presented in the most accurate way. Children emulate what they see on screen. The behaviors, appearances, and interactions shown in commercials influences how they behave in real life and how they expect others to behave so it’s important for them to be exposed to positive and diverse images.

4. Present Study
Wanted to explore gender representation in commercials targeting boys and girls given today’s social climate around gender inequity
RQ1: How do networks differ in commercials targeting boys and girls?
RQ2: How are spokescharacters used in commercials targeting boys compared to commercials targeting girls?
RQ3: How is each character’s gender represented in commercials targeting their own gender and commercials targeting the opposite gender?
Given society’s increasing pressure as of late to emphasize gender equity and the strong effects of media on children, I wanted to explore gender representation in commercials targeting boys and girls in this social climate. I decided to look at 3 areas:

5. Method Initial Sample Coded Variables Final Sample
467 total commercials from 20 episodes of children’s programming
Coded Variables
TV network
Spokescharacters
Number of characters & character gender
Male- or female-targeted
Product, color, pacing, voiceover, clothing & accessories
Final Sample
323 gender-targeted commercials aimed at children
For my research, I collected 20 episodes of children’s programming. In those episodes, there were 467 total commercials. I then watched each commercial and coded it for a variety of variables and characteristics. I had 50 codes to go through for all commercials, but for the purposes of this talk, I will focus on the three largest areas of my research. The first variable was the network, …. The second variable I looked at was how spokescharacters were presented, …The last area was if the commercial was overall male- or female-targeted or neutral. This was decided by using a combination of metrics used in other research about the gendered-ness of media. Those measures included the genre of the product, the color of the product, how fast the commercial was paced, the gender of the voiceover, and what clothing or accessories the characters were wearing. These clothing accessories were what was considered stereotypical of each gender. 323 of the commercials from my initial set were gender-targeted so those were the commercials included in my final sample and analysis. I then analyzed the data using a series of chi-square analyses and z-tests to see where any trends or significant differences lied.

6. Results – RQ1
Largest number of male-targeted commercials (n=84) was on Cartoon Network
Largest number of female-targeted commercials (n=59) was on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon was the only network to feature more female- than male-targeted commercials (60% female-targeted)
First, I looked at the networks and found that networks were highly gendered. The largest number of male-targeted commercials was on Cartoon Network and the largest number of female-targeted commercials was on Nickelodeon. However, Nickelodeon was the only network to feature more female- than male-targeted commercials and that was only 60% in favor of female-targeted commercials whereas Cartoon Network was almost 90% male-targeted commercials. Every network except Nickelodeon was weighted towards having more male-targeted commercials.

7. Results – RQ2
76% of male-targeted commercials had zero female spokescharacters
91% of female-targeted commercials had zero male spokescharacters
90% of female-targeted commercials featured 2 or more female spokescharacters
70% of male-targeted commercials featured 2 or more male spokescharacters
Next, I looked at how spokescharacters were used in commercials targeting boys or girls. I defined spokescharacters as 3rd party characters who were interacting with the product but weren’t necessarily associated with the brand, so not Tony the Tiger with Frosted Flakes but rather the boy eating the bowl of cereal, kind of these generic characters. I found that 76% of male-targeted commercials had zero female spokescharacters and that 91% of female-targeted commercials had no male spokescharacters. Gendered commercials reliably featured more characters of the target gender than of the opposite gender. Additionally, 90% of female-targeted commercials featured 2 or more female spokescharacters but only 70% of male-targeted commercials features 2 or more male spokescharacters. This means that girls are more likely to be portrayed in groups and as more reliant or dependent and boys and more likely to be portrayed individually showing signs of independence and strength.

8. Results – RQ3
Lastly, I looked at how these spokescharacters were physically portrayed in commercials targeting their own gender & the opposite gender. In female-targeted commercials (which are the blue lines up here), girls were shown wearing dresses 40% of the time, wearing jewelry 86% of the time, and wearing pink 77% of the time. This seems expected, but what’s surprising is that they were also subject to the generalization of female stereotypes in male-targeted commercials. In those, they were shown wearing a dress 15% of the time, jewelry 36% of the time, and pink 55% of the time. For males, it’s different. In male-targeted commercials (the red lines), boys were shown wearing dark colors 55% of the time as well as sporting accessories 55% of the time. However, in female-targeted commercials, males were shown wearing dark colors 90% of the time but never shown wearing sporting accessories. This could be because there are not many sports products that are advertised to girls or that an easy way to make boys stand out from girls who are wearing pink and purple most of the time is to put them in black and blue.

9. Implications
Male-targeted commercials feature boys, female-targeted commercials feature girls
Boys are less likely to cross gender lines and girls are more likely to be stereotypically portrayed
Despite prominent changes, there are strides that still need to be taken to present children in less stereotyped ways in the media
As boys and girls watch television, they are being exposed to commercials that further portray gendered toys intended for use by only one gender. It is unlikely that children will change their interest in gender-stereotyped toys if they are only privy to their own gender playing with one type of toy.
This is unlikely to change but to encourage boys to explore new toys, American Girl has made their first male doll to expose them to a new product genre. Also, many toy companies have been making STEM toys catered to girls in order to help females escape stereotypical portrayal and pursue something scientific. However, despite these prominent changes, there are still strides that need to be taken to present children in less stereotyped ways in the media. Efforts must be made by toy companies, advertisers, and educators alike to continue the promotion of gender equality in boys and girls through character representation in mainstream media.

10. Thank You