What the Experts Say I

Gender in advertising

In my previous post I already mentioned that advertising, posts in magazines or on the internet use stereotypes which can harm children as they may see these images as realistic portray of their future role in society. If you look at the pictures above, as an adult you know they should not be taken literally or seriously even though they may be offensive to someone. But … What about children? They cannot recognize if message they received is meant to be ironical or joke. We cannot forget they think everything they see or hear is true. What experts think according to this problem?

British Food Journal published article called “Gender in food advertising to children: boys eat first.” According to this article, most of children´s advertisement exhibit stereotypical gender portrayals, where man plays dominant roles. They also find out that commercials use male voice-overs more often than female and that there are more boy actors that girls. Furthermore, girls are never playing with products designed for boys, and they are less frequently shown with products that are non sex-typed such as educational books. During their research they also find out that boys were dominant users in food advertisements. Moreover, food advertisements do not exhibit lower activity level which is surprising because children´s consumption of food is generally not an “active” behavior.

Watch a video to gain better understanding about this topic! 

Sources

D. (2012). A Different Perspective on Gender Roles Within the Media. Retrieved April,  2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6Q72Gq850

Childs, N. M., & Maher, J. K. (2003). Gender in food advertising to children: Boys    eat first. British Food Journal, 105(6), 408-419. Retrieved                    from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224679133?accountid=17238