A Comparative Analysis of the Roles Portrayed by Women in Print Advertisements: 1958, 1970, 1972

Abstract

A content analysis on the portrayal of women in print advertisements is reported. A comparison with 1970 and 1972 studies suggests that advertisements have not kept up with the times in portraying women in the wide variety of roles they play in today's world.

Images of Women in Online Advertisements of Global Products: Does Sexism Exist?

“…To illustrate, most studies suggest the prevalence of sexism through the depiction of women in derogatory ways in advertising (Belkaoui and Belkaoui, 1976;Ferguson et al, 1990;Sexton and Haberman, 1974;Soley and Kurzbard, 1986), whereas some other studies suggest that female role stereotyping seems to be decreasing over time (Allan and Coltrane, 1996;Kerin et al, 1979;Klassen et al, 1993). Moreover, authors approach sexism as a multidimensional construct that encompasses the notions of hostile and benevolent sexism, which are manifested in categories of female role stereotypes in advertising Fiske, 1996, 1997).…”

“…In order to investigate images of women in advertisements, researchers have classified female role stereotypes into various categories ranging from those depicting women in clichéd roles to those projecting egalitarian images (Belkaoui and Belkaoui, 1976;Courtney and Lockeretz, 1971;Lysonski, 1983;Poe, 1976;Sexton and Haberman, 1974;Wiles et al, 1995). In our attempt to investigate this theme in the context of online advertising, in the current study we classify female role stereotypes under four broader categories: women in traditional roles (dependent and housewives), women in decorative roles (concerned with physical attractiveness and sex objects), women in non-traditional roles (nontraditional activities, career-oriented women and voices of authority), and women in neutral roles (portrayed as equal to men).…”

“…Ferguson et al, 1990). This classification of female stereotypes in the four themes presented in Table I is based on prior categorizations of images of women in media advertising encountered in the literature (Belkaoui and Belkaoui, 1976;Lysonski, 1985;Mitchell and Taylor, 1990;Zotos and Lysonski, 1994).…”

“…Women shown as equal to men Sources: Belkaoui and Belkaoui (1976), Mitchell and Taylor (1990), Lysonski (1985), Zotos and Lysonski (1994).…”

“…First, we seek to provide empirical evidence on how women are portrayed in online advertising by drawing insights from a sample of Internet advertisements. The literature examining female depictions concentrates largely on the study of advertisements in traditional media (Bartsch et al, 2000;Belkaoui and Belkaoui, 1976;Courtney and Lockeretz, 1971;Lysonski, 1983;Milner and Collins, 2000). Besides, we investigate web pages of solely global products, and therefore, the findings can potentially apply to female images worldwide.…”