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- Published at the International Journal of Advertising, 30 (5)

SILKE KNOLL, MARTIN EISEND, JOSEFINE STEINHAGEN

GENDER ROLES IN ADVERTISING:

MEASURING AND COMPARING GENDER STEREOTYPING ON

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TV CHANNELS IN GERMANY

Abstract

This study discusses and provides a measure for the degree of stereotyping in advertise-

ments. Applying this measure, the study shows to what degree gender stereotypes in advertising

differ between public and private TV channels in Germany. The results show that gender stereo-

typing in advertising still prevails despite the change in the roles of men and women over the

years. Contrary to their public mission, public TV channels do not show less gender stereotypes

in advertisements compared to private TV channels. The degree of stereotyping as related to dif-

ferent stereotyping components differs significantly between these two types of channels. Gender

stereotypes on private channels refer to role behavior and physical characteristics and, thus, func-

tion as a means to sell a product. On the other hand, advertisements on public channels stereo-

type gender in terms of occupational status, and therefore interfere with the major goal of gender

equality policy.
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1. Introduction

The social role of women and men has changed in many Western societies over the past

years. At the same time, advertisers still depict women and men in tradition-bound roles to pro-

mote their products. The pervasive use of television and its potential to influence audience’s atti-

tudes and perceptions have led to growing criticism of marketers lacking sensitivity to reflect the

changes in gender roles in advertising. Researchers from various disciplines have shown interest

in this topic and contributed to a large body of research on gender role portrayals in advertising

over the last four decades. They have performed several content analyses in order to investigate

whether gender stereotyping in television advertisements exists and how gender roles are depict-

ed (e.g., Cheng 1997; Sengupta 1995). While the authors of these studies generally agree on the

fact that television advertising uses stereotyped gender roles (Furnham & Mak 1999), they have

failed to provide a measure of how and to what degree gender, in particular women, are stereo-

typed in advertising. Without such a measure, it would have been impossible to detect the chang-

es in gender stereotyping in advertising over the years. Indeed, authors of previous studies are

split in their evaluations. Some authors consider that advertisements are moving toward a slightly

less stereotypical stance (e.g., Furnham & Skae 1997; Wolin 2003) particularly in Western socie-

ties (e.g., Furnham & Mak 1999), while other authors stress that women and men are still being

portrayed in a stereotypical way, and stereotyping is becoming even stronger (e.g., Ganahl et al.

2003; Milner & Higgs 2004).

The major objective of this study is to provide a measure of the degree of stereotyping in tel-

evision advertisements. For this purpose, we discuss a meaningful standard of representation and

baseline for comparison for such a measure and we perform a content analysis on TV advertise-

ments on two German TV channels in 2008 that applies a measure for the degree of stereotyping.
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One of the channels is a private channel and the other one a public channel. By comparing gen-

der roles on public and private TV stations, the present study is the first study that investigates

whether, how, and to what degree gender stereotypes in advertising differ between public and

private TV channels. The present study contributes to the literature therefore in two ways: (1) by

developing and providing a measure for the degree of stereotyping, and (2) by investigating dif-

ferences of stereotyping in advertisements on public and private TV channels using this measure

for the degree of stereotyping.

The organization of the paper is as follows. We first discuss stereotyping of gender roles in

advertising and the way how stereotyping can be assessed. Then we refer to the particular con-

text of the study, namely private and public TV channels, and propose our research questions.

We then describe the method of the content analysis and the quantitative measure of stereotyp-

ing; we present the results, and discuss these results in the light of the proposed measure and our

research questions. We further give some practical implications and discuss limitations of our

study, as well as avenues for future research.

2. Stereotyping of gender roles in advertising

Stereotypes are a set of concepts pertaining to a social category (Vinacke 1957). Gender ste-

reotypes are beliefs that certain attributes differentiate women and men (Ashmore & Del Boca

1981). Research suggests that they have four different and independent components: trait de-

scriptors (e.g., self-assertion, concern for others), physical characteristics (e.g., hair length, body

height), role behaviors (e.g., leader, taking care of children), and occupational status (e.g., truck

driver, elementary school teacher, housewife) (Deaux & Lewis 1984). Each component has a

masculine and a feminine version with masculine and feminine components significantly more
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strongly associated with males and females, respectively. Many content analyses have provided a

catalogue of variables related to gender roles. Most of the variables can be grouped along these

components. For instance, age of central figures in advertising relates to physical characteristics,

profession of central figures to occupational status, and a central figure’s expertise as expressed

in the ad to role behaviors. Variables that refer to the first component are usually not applied as

gender role variables in content analyses, since trait descriptors are not directly observable and

need to be inferred from indicators, which leads to problems of validity and reliability in a con-

tent analysis.

Stereotypes are not necessarily negative judgments, since they can lead to expectations that

can provide useful orientations in everyday life. However, they can lead to oversimplified con-

ceptions, misapplied knowledge evaluations, and thus to misleading evaluations of subjects of a

social category. For instance, when evaluations of job applicants are strongly based on stereo-

types, men are favored over women for jobs that men have traditionally done (Tosi & Einbender

1985). Such a stereotype threat (i.e., the activation of negative stereotypes when gender is sali-

ent) attributes to gender gaps in many areas, and has been shown, for instance, to impact the

mind-set of test-takers at school which leads to different performance of girls and boys in math-

intensive fields (Lewis 2005). Hence, stereotyping becomes problematic when stereotypes lead

to expectations and judgments that restrict life opportunities for subjects of a social category.

This is the reason to why public policy is concerned about marketing activities that promote ste-

reotypes (e.g., European Parliament 2008).

Each gender stereotyping component can lead to negative consequences that restrict life op-

portunities, particularly for women. Stereotyping of physical characteristics can lead to reduced

self-dignity (e.g., as for beauty ideals see Hogg et al. 1999; Prendergast et al. 2002), stereotyping
 5

of role behaviors (e.g., women taking care of children) may lead to restricted opportunities of

self-development, and stereotyping of occupational roles may lead to disadvantages in women’s

careers. Avoiding such stereotypes and achieving equal life opportunities for both genders in

different spheres of life (e.g., income, career) is a central concern of gender policy and has be-

come a socially acceptable objective in many societies (e.g., European Parliament 2008). Such

goals are based on the idea that gender roles are mainly determined by the social environment,

and not by biology, although both approaches provide explanations for gender roles and sex dif-

ferences. The major changes in gender roles over the prior years, however, provide some evi-

dence that social rather than biological factors determine theses outcomes, because biology has

not changed over this period (Ceci et al. 2009). Equal representation in different spheres of life is

a main concern in gender policy that can be used as a basis of comparison for gender stereotyp-

ing.

The ideal of gender equality primarily serves as a basis for comparison when it comes to oc-

cupational status and role behavior as these factors are influenced by the social environment. As

for physical characteristics, gender related differences are biological, so an equality goal is less

meaningful. Rather the actual occurrence of certain physical characteristics provides a compari-

son baseline for an unbiased representation that can avoid stereotyping. In the following content

analysis, age of central figures in advertising is the only variable that refers to physical character-

istics. An unbiased depiction of the age of women and men in advertising would need to repre-

sent all age groups according to the age distribution in society. Since the average age of figures

in advertising are less than the national average in a society, there is already a biased depiction of

both genders, which may be explained by the fact that more advertisements are directed towards

a younger than an older audience. In order to find out whether the depiction of women is more or
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less biased than that of men, age equality of central figures can be assumed as a standard of

comparison and the deviation from equality provides a relative, not an absolute measure of stere-

otyping, showing “how much more” stereotyping occurs for each gender. Taken together, the

more the depiction of certain characteristics in advertising deviates from the objective of equali-

ty, the higher is the degree of stereotyping across the components of role behavior and occupa-

tional status, as well as regarding age as a particular physical characteristic.

As for product type, using equality as a comparison baseline for product type is based on the

assumption that the number of female and male decision-makers in the broad categories (domes-

tic products versus other products) that were used for the studies are about equal. For instance,

although particular body products may be targeted primarily at women and therefore more wom-

en are shown as product users than men in the advertisements, the broader categories of domestic

products comprise products that are targeted at both genders. An equality baseline would further

imply an equal sharing of power in decision-making for products of a particular product catego-

ry. The baseline of equal sharing of decision-making is not only a socially accepted goal but also

in line with data of the changing roles of women regarding the products they choose to buy. For

example, more than 50 percent of buyers of new cars, a product that is traditionally perceived as

primarily bought by men, are female (Candler 1991). As for body products, the data indicate

similar trends with a current growth of men`s grooming or fashion products (Euromonitor

International 2009). Furthermore, modern families and shared decision making is becoming the

norm for most American couples (Solomon 2004, p. 419).

3. Gender-roles in advertising on German Television: The case of public and private chan-

nels
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Advertising on German Television is a particular interesting candidate for a content analysis

on gender roles for practical and substantial reasons. In practical terms, Germany is an appealing

country for advertisers due to the market’s size and the size of the advertising industry: with ad-

vertising spending of 24 billion US dollars in 2007, Germany ranks second in Europe (following

UK with 29 billion US dollars) and sixth worldwide (WARC 2007). Furthermore, with 36.98

million households and a penetration rate of 93.1 %, Germany has the largest television market

in Europe (European Audivisual Observatory 2007). Most channels are aired in all German

speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and some parts of Switzerland), which implies that adver-

tising on German TV channels influences a relatively large number of consumers. Interestingly,

the German context seems to provide an appropriate context to conduct a gender role study that

is somewhat representative for other countries, as gender-related norms and values are at an av-

erage as indicated by gender-related country indices. Although Hofstede’s index provides a value

that indicates a slight tendency towards traditional gender norms (with a value of 66 out of a

range from 5 to 95 over 50 countries) (Hofstede 2001), the more recent GLOBE-index shows

that Germany is moving towards the middle of the scale. The previous differences between East

and West Germany regarding gender values are almost negligible (East Germany: 4.77, West

Germany: 4.90 out of a range from 3.18 to 5.17 over 61 countries, median 4.60) (House et al.

2004).

A more substantial issue is the fact that several German television programs are broadcasted

not only by private channels, but also by public channels. Previous research on gender roles in

advertising has only investigated private channels, neglecting public channels. Comparing gen-

der roles between public and private channels provides an analysis of advertising practice against

public policy concerns that are of particular importance to European countries where public tele-
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vision is quite popular. All EU countries broadcast at least one public program and this number

has increased from an average of two channels per country in 1980 to four channels in 2000

(Eurostat 2002). Public channels hold a higher market share (i.e., share of viewers) than private

channels in some countries (e.g., in Denmark 65%, in Belarus 57%, in Croatia 51% in 2007

(IP&RTL Group 2008)). Public television plays a major role on the German broadcasting market

as well: Germany is the EU country with the highest number of public TV channels (Eurostat

2002) and public TV channels hold a market share of 43.3% on the German TV market (AGF

2008).

Public channels have the mission to inform, educate, and entertain the society (see, for in-

stance, ARD (2008) for Germany, Department of Culture Media and Sport (2006) for Great Brit-

ain, or RTVG (2006) for Switzerland). In order to avoid influence by interest groups (particularly

companies), advertising on public TV channels is more strongly regulated by law than on private

channels, sometimes even completely forbidden (e.g., on the French-German public TV channel

“ARTE”). To serve the best of public interest, public TV channels are expected to provide in-

formation in a neutral and unbiased manner (Council of Europe 2009) which includes avoiding

stereotypical depictions of women and men (e.g, European Broadcasting Union 2004). One

would therefore expect public TV channels to take extra control measures beyond those taken by

private channels in order to avoid advertising that communicates gender stereotypes and fosters

depictions that support gender equality. That is, the degree of stereotyping between public and

private channels should differ. This degree could also vary over stereotyping components. We

therefore put the following research questions that will be answered by using the suggested ste-

reotyping components and the stereotyping measure.

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R1: Does gender stereotyping in TV advertisements on public and private TV channels dif-

fer?

R2: In which way do TV advertisements on public and private TV channels differ regarding

stereotyping categories?

4. Method

4.1. Sample of advertisements and central figures

The most popular public and private TV channels in Germany are ARD (public) with a mar-

ket share of 13.4% and RTL (private) with a market share of 11.7% (AGF 2008). Both were se-

lected for the content analysis. During a period of four weeks in June 2008, several non-

consecutive days were chosen randomly. Although choosing one month of a year might lead to

seasonal bias in terms of advertised products and consumption, the particular period provides an

advantage since it covers the European Football Championship. Although public channels usual-

ly attract an older audience, the figures are quite even during this time, since ARD had exclusive

rights to broadcast the football matches, attracting a younger audience than usual. The data for

June 2008 show that the market share in the most relevant target group of 14-49 years is compa-

rable across both channels (ARD: 14.3% and RTL: 15%) (Quotenmeter 2008). In order to avoid

other biases (e.g., due to advertisements that might target primarily men), we run an additional

analysis with advertisements excluded that were referring to the European Football Champion-

ship. The results remained unchanged.

All advertisements aired between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. on these days were recorded. This was

done for the purpose of comparison, because public TV channels in Germany are not allowed to

broadcast advertisements before 5 p.m. and after 8 p.m. This time slot equals prime time TV in
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several countries (e.g., USA), which has another advantage, since it has been shown that sex and

age of audiences is more evenly distributed during prime time than during other times of the day

(Craig 1992).

As in previous content analyses, repeated TV advertisements were discarded in order to

show the full scope of unique advertisements using gender stereotypes (Schneider & Schneider

1979). Advertisements with unidentifiable central figures or the central figures being children

and cartoon characters were also excluded from the analysis. Eventually, 183 advertisements

were retained for detailed analysis providing 231 central figures. 113 advertisements with 137

central figures were broadcasted on RTL and 70 advertisements with 94 central figures were

broadcasted on ARD. Up to two adults portrayed in the advertisement that had the most distin-

guishable role and appeared for at least three seconds were coded as central figures per adver-

tisement, following the procedure that has been applied in previous studies.

4.2. Coding procedure and measures

The coding procedure closely follows the procedure applied by Furnham, Babitzkow, and

Uguccioni (2000), which was originally modeled on the coding procedure of Manstead and

McCulloch (1981) and McArthur and Resko (1975). Many other content analysis studies have

followed the original coding categories used by these authors (for reviews see Furnham & Mak

1999; Furnham & Paltzer 2010). The fact that studies conducted and published after their study

contain very few changes and only slight scheme adaptations suggests that the original categories

are quite comprehensive and appropriate to use in different years and for different cultures. The

following stereotyping variables were chosen for our content analysis: age, credibility, location,

product type, and role.

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Age: The variable describes the central figure’s portrayed age. Stereotyping occurs when

men are more often depicted as middle-aged/old than women who are more often depicted as

young.

Credibility describes the basis of the central figure’s credibility and distinguishes mostly be-

tween product users (i.e., the central figure is depicted as a user of the advertised product) and

authorities (i.e., the central figure is a source of information regarding the product). Stereotyping

indicates that men are more often depicted as authorities than women and vice versa.

Location describes the location in which the central characters appear. Stereotyping typically

occurs when women are more often depicted at home, whereas men are more often shown at

work.

Product type refers to the type of product the central figures were associated with. Stereotyp-

ing occurs when women are depicted more often with domestic products (e.g., body, home, food)

and men are more often depicted with other products (e.g., cars, leisure, alcohol).

Role describes the central figure’s role in everyday life. Stereotyping indicates that women

are more often depicted in dependent roles or relative to others (e.g., parent, spouse) and men are

more often depicted in autonomous roles or independent from others (e.g., professional, worker,

celebrity).

The above variables are related to the components of stereotyping as follows:

• Occupational status: location, role

• Physical characteristics: age

• Role behaviors: credibility, product type

All variables are compared against the baseline of gender equality, that is, an equal distribu-

tion of women and men over all categories, as discussed above.

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To ensure coding reliability, 30 % of the advertisements (56 advertisements with 70 central

figures) were coded independently by two trained coders, one female and one male (both Ger-

man). The percentage agreements for each variable are as follows: 93 % for credibility, 93 % for

product type, 89 % for age, 84 % for location, and 81 % for role. After initial coding, the differ-

ences were discussed and reconciled.

Before proceeding with the analysis, several coding categories of the variables were com-

bined (following the procedure in previous studies) in order to have cell sizes that meet the re-

quirements of chi-square tests (i.e., max. 20% of the cells can have counts below 5). The follow-

ing variables that were already described above were coded as follows:

• Age: 1 = young (under 35 years), 2 = middle-aged/old (35 years and older).

• Credibility: 1 = product user (when the central figure was depicted primarily as a user of the

advertised product), 2 = authority/other (when the central figure was a source of information

regarding the product or neither a user or an authority of the product).

• Product type: 1 = domestic (body, home, food), 2 = other (auto, sports, leisure, alcohol, enter-

tainment, services, finance, other).

• Location: 1 = home/domestic, 2 = work/occupational, 3 = leisure/outside, 4 = other/several

locations.

• Role: 1 = dependent/relative to others (incl. parent, spouse, home-maker), 2 = autono-

mous/independent from others (incl. professional, worker, celebrity, interviewer/narrator), 3

= other.

4.3. Analysis and measure of stereotyping

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The descriptive results are presented in cross-tabs distinguishing between female and male

central figures. To test whether the categories of the variables differ between women and men,

chi-square tests were applied for both TV channels.

In order to provide a measure of the degree of stereotyping that can be compared across TV

channels, odds ratios are computed. The odds ratio (o) is the recommended measure of choice for

measuring associations when the studies are summarized by fourfold tables (Fleiss 1994). The

maximum likelihood estimator of the odds ratio with nij as the sample size of a cell of a table

with i = 2 rows and j = 2 columns is:

n11n22
(1) o=
n12 n21

The odds ratio o is centered around 1, with 1 indicating no relationship. Values greater than

1 indicate that females are overrepresented in the first category of the variable, and values be-

tween 0 and 1 indicate that males are overrepresented. For instance, a value of 2 for the variable

“age” suggests that the odds that female characters in advertising are “young” are two times the

odds for male characters. In order to obtain four-fold tables for variables with more than two

categories (role and location), categories were combined as indicated in the following analysis.

Statistical analysis and test procedures (t-tests) in order to compare the odds ratios across TV

channels are performed on the natural logarithm of o that takes a value of zero when no relation-

ship exists between two factors yielding a similar interpretation as common effect sizes (e.g.,

correlation coefficients). The standard error of ln(o) is

1/ 2
 1 1 1 1 
(2) SE =  + + + 
 11
n n12 n 21 n 22 

5. Results
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Table 1 presents the results of the content analysis. Thirty-three percent of the central figures

on ARD (i.e., 31 out of 94) and 54 % of the central figures on RTL (i.e., 74 out of 137) were

women. The gender distribution differs significantly over both channels (χ2 = 9.95, df = 1, p <

.01).

Table 1. Characteristics of men and women in advertisements as portrayed on public and

private TV channels in Germany

ARD – public TV channel RTL – private TV channel ARD

(n=94) (n=137) vs.RTL
Variables Female Male Female Male
% % % %
(n=31) (n=63) χ2 oa (n=74) (n=63) χ2 oa t-test
Age
Young 61.3 27.0 10.35** 4.28 86.5 47.6 23.87*** 7.04 12.08***
Middle-aged / old 38.7 73.0 13.5 52.4

Credibility
Product user 87.1 58.7 7.69** 4.74 94.6 76.2 9.65** 5.47 2.54**
Authority/other 12.9 41.3 5.4 23.8

Product type
Domestic 61.3 39.7 3.90* 2.41 86.5 46.0 25.54*** 7.50 28.04***
Other 38.7 60.3 13.5 54.0

Location
Home/domestic (1)b 38.7 7.9 16.07** 7.33 32.4 20.6 9.61* 1.85 29.32***
Work/occupational (2) 16.1 22.2 2.7 17.5
Leisure/outside (2) 38.7 41.3 41.9 39.7
Other/several locations (2) 6.5 28.6 23.0 22.2

Role
Dependent (1)b 54.8 23.8 15.36*** 3.89 52.7 44.4 5.65 1.39 27.00***
Autonomous/independent (2) 12.9 54.0 20.3 38.1
Other (2) 32.3 22.2 27.0 17.5
a
o = odds ratio.
b
Number in parentheses indicate which categories were combined for computing the odds ratios.
*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p<.001

Age: Women were more likely in the group under 35 years and men more likely in the group

of 35 years and older on both ARD (χ2 = 10.35, df = 1, p < .01) and RTL (χ2 = 23.87, df = 1, p <
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.01). The odds that women are younger are more than four times the odds for males on ARD and

seven times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 12.08, p < .01).

Credibility: Women were presented more often as product users, and men were more likely

to be portrayed as authorities/other on both ARD (χ2 = 7.69, df = 1, p < .01) and RTL (χ2 = 9.65,

df = 1, p < .01). The odds that females are presented as product user (vs. authority) is 4.7 times

the odds for males on ARD and more than five times the odds for males on RTL. The difference

is significant (t = 2.54, p < .01).

Product type: Women were more likely being portrayed with domestic products than men,

while men were more likely to be presented with other products on both ARD (χ2 = 3.90, df = 1,

p = .04) and RTL (χ2 = 25.54, df = 1, p < .01). The odds that females are associated with domes-

tic products (body, home, food) is more than two times the odds for males on ARD and more

than seven times the odds on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 28.04, p < .01).

Location: Women were more likely to be portrayed at home than men who were more likely

to be portrayed at work on both ARD (χ2 = 16.07, df = 3, p < .01) and RTL (χ2 = 9.61, df = 3, p =

.02). After combining categories, the odds that females are at home/in a domestic environment

(vs. at work/leisure/outside/other locations) is more than seven times the odds for males on ARD,

and almost two times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is significant (t = 29.32, p <

.01).

Role: Women were more likely being portrayed in a dependent role than men, whereas men

were more likely portrayed in independent roles on ARD (χ2 = 15.36, df = 2, p < .01) but not on

RTL. After combining variable categories, the odds that females are presented in a dependent

role/relative to others (vs. an autonomous role/independent from others/other) is about four times
 16

the odds for males on ARD and 1.4 times the odds for males on RTL. The difference is signifi-

cant (t = 27.00, p < .01).

6. Discussion

6.1. Contribution

The analysis of advertisements on two German TV channels reveals that female central fig-

ures compared to male central figures in advertisements are more likely to be depicted as product

users, are younger, are more likely to be depicted with domestic products, and are more likely to

be portrayed at home and in dependent roles. On the other hand, male central figures are more

likely to be depicted as authority, are older, are more likely to be depicted with products other

than domestic products, and are more likely to be portrayed at other locations than at home and

in independent roles. The results support stereotyping of women and men, showing both gender

in traditional roles where professional opportunities of women are limited and traditional mascu-

line ideals are held. These results are in line with stereotypical patterns that have been found in

previous studies such as in Denmark (e.g., Furnham et al. 2000), in Japan (e.g., Furnham &

Imadzu 2002; Sengupta 1995), in the United Kingdom (e.g., Furnham & Skae 1997; Manstead &

McCulloch 1981) and in the U.S. (e.g., Bretl & Cantor 1988; Cheng 1997; Sengupta 1995; Wiles

& Tjernlund 1991). The findings show that gender stereotyping is still prevalent and persists in

TV advertisements in 2008.

The odds ratios that are used as a measure for the degree of stereotyping show that the de-

gree of stereotyping varies to quite some extent, with the odds that females appear in a particular

stereotyping category up to seven times the odds for males. This measure is particularly interest-

ing when private and public channels are compared. The stereotyping variables can be ranked
 17

along the degree of stereotyping. On the public channel, stereotyping is strongest for location

followed by credibility, age, role, and product type. On the private channel, stereotyping occurs

above all in terms of product type, followed by age, credibility, location, and role. When the

odds ratios between both channels are compared and tested, the difference in stereotyping be-

tween both channels provides a clearer picture. Stereotyping on the public channel is significant-

ly higher for the variables role and location, with both of them being related to occupational sta-

tus as one of the main components of stereotyping. Stereotyping on the private channel is strong-

er concerning credibility, age, and product type. That is, stereotyping on private channels relates

more to role behavior and physical characteristics compared to public channels. The occupation-

al status of women (e.g., as professionals) has changed over the years in Western societies, and

this component reflects the characteristics of the significant social changes of gender more than

others. Hence, stereotyping on public channels seems to deviate even more from socially accept-

ed gender-related goals than stereotyping in advertisements on private channels. Gender stereo-

typing on private channels is more related to the product. Particularly in situations where women

are shown with the advertised product, advertisements on private TV channels foster stereotypi-

cal gender roles beyond the stereotypes in advertisements on public channels. It seems that stere-

otyping is used primarily in a functional way, that is, as a means to sell a product, whereas in

advertisements on public channels, stereotyping is more prevalent in a context that is not neces-

sarily related to the product. Since gender stereotyping in advertisements on public channels does

not directly function as an argument to sell the product, any changes to the advertisement content

should be easier to accomplish without altering the main purpose of the advertisement.

The findings also show that the degree of stereotyping does not necessarily depend on the

target groups of both channels. Usually, the audience of public channels in Germany is older
 18

than the audience of private channels. Older people are more prejudiced and prone to stereotyp-

ing than their younger counterparts because of age-related deficits in the ability to inhibit infor-

mation; that is, older people are less likely to replace stereotyped thoughts and attitudes toward

various groups with more egalitarian beliefs (Karlins et al. 1969; von Hippel et al. 2000). Hence,

advertisers may apply more stereotyping in order to respond to the older audience’s values and

needs (Monk-Turner et al. 2007). However, this explanation seems to be only part of the story as

concerning our data, since the data of our sample indicate an audience that seems comparable

across both channels, at least regarding the most important target group of 14-49 years. One

would therefore expect equivalent strategies by advertisers for both channels. Furthermore, our

data suggest that it is not necessarily the overall degree of, but the kind of stereotyping that dif-

fers between the two types of channels.

The content analysis is the first study that provides a measure for the degree of stereotyping

by computing odds ratios. Odds ratios provide a quantitative measure by which results over dif-

ferent studies could be compared and tested similar to what has been done in this study by com-

paring public and private channels (e.g., across countries, across products). For this purpose, it is

necessary to have a basic instrument that allows comparisons across studies. The McArthur &

Resko (1975) procedure seems a feasible instrument that has been used – sometimes with slight

adaptations – for many previous content analyses studies dealing with gender roles in advertis-

ing.

It is important to note that the odds ratio uses a comparison against a baseline, which can be

gender equality. As discussed above, this seems to be particularly appropriate for occupational

roles and some role behavior variables, where equality is a social goal. The comparison baseline

for physical characteristics, however, might be the actual distribution in society rather than an
 19

equality distribution in order to avoid stereotyped depiction. For instance, body height is simply

not equally distributed between men and women, and an equal distribution is not a social goal.

An unbiased depiction that prevents stereotyping might therefore be the actual distribution values

that can be used as comparison baseline. The same might apply to trait descriptors (e.g., self-

assertion, sense for community).

6.2. Practical implications

The results have some practical implications for public policy. In several countries, gender

stereotyping on television is regulated by law (e.g., Finland, Greece, and Portugal), while self-

regulatory organizations in many other European countries try to control gender stereotyping in

the media. The European Parliament has recently issued a resolution on gender stereotyping in

the media and has asked the member countries to take actions to avoid stereotypical depictions of

women and men on TV (European Parliament 2008). The results of this study support the steps

taken by these countries and the European Parliament since the findings indicate that (1) gender

stereotyping still prevails in advertisements on TV channels, that (2) self-regulation or other

means to control gender stereotyping that are already current practice for public TV channels has

not succeed so far, and (3) that especially on public channels the way gender is stereotyped in

terms of occupational roles deviates even more from social goals regarding gender equality than

on private channels.

6.3. Limitations and future research

The study has several limitations which are discussed in the following along with some rec-

ommendations for future research endeavours.

 20

One limitation refers to the seasonal bias induced by a sample of ads that were aired during

June. Although this month provides an advantage regarding comparability of audience age, the

results might depend on the time of the year due to changing consumption patterns over the year.

Choosing one month at random is a common practice in most content analyses studies dealing

with gender roles in advertising. In order to avoid seasonal bias, further content analyses should

therefore provide results for several periods during the year and compare the results between

these periods.

Furthermore, the analysis could be extended by including more channels and by focusing

on different years in order to provide an analysis of possible changes of gender roles in advertis-

ing. The analysis could also be meaningfully extended to other cultural contexts to whose values

affect portrayals and images in advertising and their effects on consumers (e.g., Barnes et al.

2009; Chang & Li 2010; Nelson & Paek 2008). Content analytical methods are restricted when it

comes to providing reasons for analyzed differences in the data (Uray & Burnaz 2003). In the

same way, content analysis does not provide data on (economic) consequences of gender role

depiction, for instance, whether the use of gender stereotyping in advertisements increases adver-

tising effectiveness (e.g., brand recall, sales). Future research could extend these findings by in-

corporating dependent variables taken from ad tracking studies, and by considering variables that

might moderate the effects of stereotyping such as recipients’ gender (e.g., Choi et al. 2009).

The main reason for conducting studies on gender stereotyping in advertisement is related

to the assumption that such gender stereotyping may impact the beliefs of consumers. It still re-

mains an open question, though, how the relationship between gender stereotyping in advertising

and gender developments in society manifests itself. While public policy relies on the argument

that gender stereotyping reinforces public beliefs about women and men (Gulas & McKeage
 21

2000; Pollay 1986), advertisers hold the contrary view to this “mold” argument, namely the

“mirror” argument that states that advertising simply reflects values that already exist (Holbrook

1987). Hence, advertising is either a reflection of beliefs and values that already exist in a society

or the values and beliefs in a society are shaped and influenced by advertising. Which of these

perspectives apply or whether the relationship follows a two-way path cannot be answered by

single source data from cross-sectional content analysis and remains an issue for further research.

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