The Portrayal of Women in Advertising: An Overlooked Area of Societal Marketing

Brown, Samantha; EI-Ansary, A. I.; Darsey, Nancy

doi:10.1177/009207037600400203

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Women"s groups claiming that women were portrayed in a false and discriminating fashion by the advertising industry served as the catalyst for research interest in the issue (Brown, El-Ansary, and Darsey 1976). Since the emergence of the concept of societal marketing in the 1970s, scholars from many disciplines, including marketers, sociologists, broadcast researchers, and organized feminists, have initiated studies to examine the portrayal of women in advertising.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Images in State Tourism Brochures: An Overlooked Area in Socially Responsible Tourism Marketing

Sirakaya

Sönmez

2000

Journal of Travel Research

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Abstract:The purpose of this article is to examine photographs (pictorial displays) presented in state tourism promotional materials for gender depictions within Goffman"s framework. Specifically, the study investigated latent (i.e., facial expressions, gestures) and manifested (i.e., roles, activities) characteristics delineating relationships between men and women and the roles and meanings associated with these depictions. The results suggest that women are depicted in "traditional stereotypical" poses (i.e., subordinate, submissive, dependent) disproportionately more often than men. These findings suggest that tourism advertisers and destination promoters need to be aware of both the subtle and more blatant visual cues that depict the relationship between men and women in tourism advertisements. Article:Aware of the economic contribution of tourism to local economies, destinations around the globe spend billions of dollars on tourism advertising to capture larger shares of the tourism market in an effort to fulfill their tourism potential. In the United States alone, according to a recent report, state tourism offices allocated $478.7 million for promotion in 1997-98; total advertising for U.S. travel and tourism in 1996 was nearly $1.03 billion (U.S. Travel Data Center 1998). Because public monies are spent in search of new tourist dollars, legislators and taxpayers are increasingly holding state tourism divisions accountable (Perdue and Gustke 1992;Schoenbachler et al. 1995). Accountability research has traditionally consisted of conversion studies that deal with the proportion of a dollar converted to tourism purchases as a result of exposure to a specific advertising message. While some advertising agencies might have conducted proprietary research on the topic, little scholarly work has been published that discusses the appropriate format, content, and design needed to increase the effectiveness of promotional messages (Gilbert and Houghton 1991). Published tourism research too often has concentrated on traditional concepts such as the meaning and impact of a tourism setting (sun, sea, sex, and sand) on perceived vacation experiences (e.g., Olsen, McAlexander, and Roberts 1986;Uzzell 1984). The portrayal of tourists in tourism settings and the extent to which tourists are influenced by images of people have not been studied. Research in this area might help destination promoters and tourism offices to theme their promotional messages more effectively toward the intended target market and thereby increase dollar conversions. Because visual advertising (e.g., television and photographs) plays an indispensable role in promotional campaigns, among other types of advertising strategies (Schmitt 1994), the focus of this study is on visual travel promotional literature.Women"s role and status in both the family and society have evolved dramatically in the United States since the 1940s. Women have entered the labor force in substantial numbers and assumed a variety of professional and managerial positions that ...

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%