Gender Stereotyping in Toys and Advertisements: Qualitative Content Analysis

Clint Joshua Constantino

Abstract of the proposal:

Gender stereotypes are generalizations about what men and women are like, and there

typically is a great deal of consensus about them. Gender stereotypes stem from the unequal distribution

of men and women in social positions at home and at work. Similarly, it perpetuates inequality and

reinforce the difference between men and women, rather than viewing individuals as people first

and equals. It is one of the root causes of discrimination, abuse, and violence in multiple areas

and can lead to violations of a wide array of human rights.

Over time, society has recognized that stereotypes of masculine and feminine activities

and behaviors are mistaken and limiting to a child's development. Playing is a serious business

when it comes to a child's health and development as it contributes to their cognitive, physical,

social, and emotional well-being. When playing with a toy, they are using their sensory-motor

skills to explore its properties and conduct "experiments" like a tiny scientist. Children are

therefore learning at a young age that specific toys and behaviors are for certain genders, and

they may never get exposure to those designated for the opposite gender. Hence, this study will

be conducted. It will seek to determine gender stereotyping in toys advertisements so as to

eliminate them and to help end the stigma.

Research Objectives

The study seeks to find out the gender-stereotyping in toys advertisements.

Specifically, it attempts to answer the following questions:

1. What are the implications of gender-stereotyping in toys advertisements?

2. How do advertisements affect children’s gender role association with toys?

3. Based on the findings, what output can be derived from this study?

Theoretical Framework

The study is anchored on the Theory of Cognitive Development, a theory by Lawrence

Kohlberg (1966). Cognitive Development Theory states that acquisition of gender roles takes

place in the child’s head. It stresses the active nature of the child as he organizes his roles

perceptions and role learnings around his basic conceptions of his body and his world. Learning

occurs because the child cognitively recognizes what he or she sees; learning does not occur

from reinforcement or from conditioning.

The theory suggests that there are a series of stages of development that eventually lead to

the acquisition of gender roles. First, children develop a gender identity. By the age of 2 or 3,

they learn the labels boy and girl which they apply these labels to themselves and to other

people. However, if one person has long hair, they think that that person is automatically a girl

and same with people wearing suits they would think they are boys. A child at this age believes

that a person’s sex can change.

 The relation of the theory in this study is that the most important aspect of gender

development is not based on biological instincts; rather, on a child's cognitive understanding of

the social world around them. Child’s gender identity development depends on his or her sense

of being male or female, grows in stages of his or her cognitive development.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND RELATED STUDIES

This chapter presents the background readings undertaken by the researcher on the variables to

be focused in the study. Moreover, the chapter includes readings from the materials as well as

unpublished literature.

Related Literature

Toys in particular convey powerful messages about female and male roles. Toy advertisements

often reflect stereotypes in a way of manipulating the advertisement’s features and design.

Television commercials show girls and boys interacting with toys in quite different ways. Girls’

play with objects was passive (e.g., gentle touching) and involved cooperation with others, while

boys’ play was competitive and action based, involving manipulation and construction of

objects. Even the words in television voice-overs for toy ads differ as a function of gender.

(Kahlenberg and Hein, 2010).

Gendered advertising of toys is also evident in print advertisements. In a study of toy

advertisements in newspapers and catalogues of popular toys, it showed striking differences

between ads targeted to boys and those targeted to girls. Ads for boys’ toys were displayed in
intense bold colors and featured character names and other product attributes that connoted

strength, power, and action. Ads for girls’ toys were depicted in soft pastel colors and featured

character names and product attributes that signified passivity, triviality, and preoccupation with

fashion and physical attractiveness. Thematic content of girls’ toys invoked fantasy and pretend

worlds, while boys’ toys involved complex, real-world endeavors. (Pennell’s (1994) as cited in

Owen and Padron, (2016).

According to Auster & Mansbach, (2012), toys advertised on the internet similarly reflect gender

stereotyping. Girl’s toys emphasized domesticity, nurturance and the importance of physical

attractiveness, while boys’ toys emphasized action and power. The Disney ads, color-coded by

gender, displayed girls’ toys in soft pastels, mostly pink and purple, and boys’ toys in bold colors

of red, black, and brown.

Furthermore, Brown (2014), claimed that although at first glance there seems to be a clear divide

between what a toy is for boys and what a toy is for girls. All toys are gender neutral. What is not

neutral is the way toys are marketed. This is where the divide begins. There are clear differences

in the appearance and function of toys based on gender. Toys intended for girls are often pink

and either are geared to teach them how to embrace their role of taking care of others at a young

age or are some kind of fantasy toy, such as a fairy princess or a pop star. Meanwhile, the toys

marketed to boys often consist of problem-solving and brain stimulation, while some help boys

try out various jobs, so that they can get an early idea of what they want to do with their life in

the future.
Related Studies

According to Frisoli (2019) in her study "How Commercial Advertising Enforces Gender

Stereotypes among Children and the Ways This Affects Them Psychologically,” that although

there are clearly some commercials out there that feature both genders and promote a toy as

marketable to boys and girls, most commercials are separated among genders and have different

traits depending on which gender it is appealing to. For example, boys’ toy commercials use

some of the same rhetoric. This includes words like power, hero, stealth, powerful, vehicle,

blasting, and beat. These words have a lot of power and assertion behind them. Some of these

words are also things that are more available to boys, such as the word “vehicle.” It also includes

language of what a young boy is expected to acquire as he becomes a man, such as the words

“power” and “stealth.” The rhetoric behind commercials geared towards girls are clearly very

different. They feature words such as love, magic, babies, mommy, dress, friendship, style,

glitter, and delicious. It is apparent that these words are more passive than the ones that appear in

commercials geared towards the male gender. They suggest that girls play with things that

involve activity inside of the home rather than outside, are more centered towards romance and

learning compassionate skills, and are more bubbly and fantastical in comparison to the action-

packed vocabulary one might find to describe a boy’s toy.

According to Kolbe & Muehling (2012) in their study “Gender Roles and Children's Television

Advertising,” empirically investigates whether children are aware of gender roles when exposed

to ads containing either traditional (stereotyped) or nontraditional (counter stereotyped) role

portrayals, and whether these portrayals have any measurable effect on their evaluations of the

advertised product and advertisement. Effects due to the gender of the “voice-over” are also
examined. The findings tend to suggest that role portrayals and voice-over gender may have little

effect on ad and product evaluations. Interestingly, however, children's gender-appropriateness

evaluations of the advertised product and advertising setting were influenced by the role-

portrayal manipulations.

According to Pomerleau & Malcuit, et al. (2010) in their study “Pink or blue:

Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life” showed that boys were

provided with more sports equipment, tools, and large and small vehicles. Girls had more dolls,

fictional characters, child's furniture, and other toys for manipulation. Women were the

predominant providers of toys for children. It thus seems that, nowadays, very early in their

development, girls and boys already experience environments which are dissimilar. We may

hypothesize that these differential environments will have an impact on the development of

specific abilities and preferential activities in children.

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