This study focused on cultural differences in the portrayal of gender in British and Japanese television advertisements. In all, 196 British advertisements were analyzed using a coding scheme based on established coding categories. Contrary to prediction, chi-square analyses showed less gender stereotyping in these advertisements than reported in previous British studies. Next, 228 Japanese advertisements were analyzed. It was found that Japanese advertisements showed a high degree of gender stereotyping as could be expected from Japan's high masculinity score. Analyses were (...) carried out for ‘visual’ and ‘aural’ characters, and for advertisements with both one and two central figures. Results for the aural and 2-central figure sub-samples were more significant. (shrink)

This study examined 153 foodstuff commercials on a popular British television channel. Eighty ‘Daytime’ and 73 ‘Evening’ commercials were separately coded for 11 content categories; constituting attributes pertaining to central advertised figures. Although both sexes were portrayed stereotypically for eight daytime and nine evening content analytic categories, daytime advertisements tended to reveal advertisers' awareness of a female audience which tended to be reflected in greater proportions of non-stereotyped female depictions rather than a salience of female stereotypes. Results are discussed with (...) respect to implicated gender ideologies and their accuracy against the wider sex-role climate in society. (shrink)