Representation of masculinities and race in South African television advertising: a content analysis

Abstract

This paper examines how masculinities and race are co-constructed in South African television advertising. A sample of 5803 advertisements was collected that included 876 primary visual male actors. These were coded and analysed by means of traditional content analysis. A coding scheme was developed which was partly based on existing research. Coding categories included advertisement setting and products; race, social class, age and portrayal of primary visual actor; as well as sexuality, toughness, independence, status, responsibility and homophobia norms of traditional masculinity as related to the primary visual male actor. Hypotheses predicted that men would be represented significantly differently in television advertisements depending upon their race. These differences in representation reflect an intersection between traditional gender and race relations in South Africa that are marked by longstanding inequalities. The findings largely supported these hypotheses. White men are represented as exemplars of hegemonic masculinity whilst black men are marginalised. It is argued that these representations serve to maintain hierarchical social relations between men in South Africa. This study provides a foundation upon which further work may be undertaken. Avenues for future research are outlined.Keywords: masculinity; masculinities; race; representation; South Africa; television advertising This paper seeks to examine how masculinities are represented in South African (SA) television advertising. It is anticipated that men are represented differently in television advertisements depending upon their race. These differences reflect an intersection between traditional gender and race relations in society.1 Few studies consider how media representations of gender intersect with other social categories (e.g. Coltrane and Messineo 2000). Likewise a limited number of studies examine gender (e.g. SpencerBowdage 2002, Milner 2005) or race (e.g. Milner 2007) representation in SA television advertising. The current study attempts to address this gap in the literature. A content analysis of SA television advertising provides a useful means through which to examine the co-construction of masculinities and race at a regional or national level.Both Gender and race relations in SA have traditionally been marked by extreme inequality. Gender inequality is evident through measures such as the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI), which ranks SA 109th worldwide in terms of gender equalitarianism (United Nations Development Programme 2009), but is also apparent in literature testifying to traditionalist gender attitudes (Kalichman et al., 2005, Luyt 2005 and discourses (Luyt 2003, Reddy andDunne 2007). Burns (1998) observes how the imported colonial as well as the indigenous African gender systems have served to reinforce and naturalise traditional gender relations in the country.Similarly race inequality is obvious through measures such as the Human Development Index (HDI) where large inter-group differences appear. The whit...

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