A Gender Portrayal of Children S Television Commercials in Mainlandchina

A gender portrayal of children’s television commercials in mainlandChina

Krystie Wong and Kara Chan

1. Introduction

All cultures harbor gender stereotypes—beliefs about how males and females differ in personality traits, interests and behaviors (Kail, 1998). Williams and Best (1990) attribute stereotypes to a belief system containing generalizations about the characteristics of groups of persons. Gender stereotypes, then, represent general beliefs about men and women. They can be categorized in two dimensions. The first involves gender-role stereotypes, consisting of beliefs concerning the appropriateness of various roles and activities for men and women. The second is about gender-trait stereotypes,referring to the psychological characteristics or behavioral traits that are believed to characterize men and women. According to Best et al. (1977), children begin to learn their culture’s stereotypes for males and females at the start of their elementary school years. By the time of completing elementary school, children tend to form solid perceptions about gender identity from what they have observed about real people, and from what they have seen in the mass media (Berryman-Fink, Ballard-Reisch, and Newman, 1993).

Today, television is the strongest media source from which children stem gender images. With limited ability to read, one may argue, television becomes their windows to the world. A survey conducted by Nielson (1990) indicated that school-age children in the United Statesspend 25 hours watching television on an average week. Young children are particularly receptive to television messages because they often assume that they are watching real people and events, and they tend to take character’s actions at face value (Bryant and Anderson, 1983; Greenfield, 1984). It’s found that gender-bound stereotypes occurred more frequently in children’s programs and commercials than those targeted at adults (Feldstein and Feldstein, 1982). Television commercials and print advertisements construct a significant element of a television program as they take up about 12 to 14 minutes of each program hour in the US. Beal (1994) even claimed that the gender-role is more stereotyped in commercials than in the television program itself. Gender stereotypes are believed to have impact on how children view themselves and other people (Bandura, 1986). Gender stereotype will discourage and forestall understanding between males and females. Thus, stereotypes in advertising on children’s television programs raise a social problem that should be examined.

Two theories of media effects attempt to explain the potential influence of media images on the gender socialization of children. The first one is the social learning theory proposed by Bandura (1977), asserting that media offer many models and depicted behaviors for audience to imitate. Geen (1994) later modified this theory by suggesting that children might not imitate the behaviors shown in media immediately, but would store the information in memory and retrieved it in real life situation when needed. Social learning theorists argued that observational learning was a primary mean through which children learnt“appropriate” gender-role behaviors (Bandura, 1977; Mischel, 1970). Children were more likely to imitate behaviors performed by the same-sex rather than by the opposite-sex individuals. Children were also more likely to model behaviors, culturally defined as “gender appropriate” for the child (Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1961; Bussey and Perry, 1982; Perry and Bussey, 1979).

The second is the cultivation theory. Gerbner et al. (1994) claimed that our perceptions of social reality are heavily influenced by media and portrayals. Studies over the few decades showed a link between the amount of television viewing and the degree of gender-role stereotyping perception among viewers. Heavy television viewers tend to believe that the real world is like the television world (Wober and Gunter, 1988). When children are exposed to gender-stereotyped television portrayal, they will store these distorted images in their mind and develop a central belief that the stereotyped television world is as real as the real life. Children will believe that gender stereotype is normal and there is nothing wrong to act in that way. As a result, their beliefs about gender roles and gender traits are systematically influenced (Wober and Gunter, 1988). In this sense, the phenomenon of gender stereotyping can be seen as a reflection of societal norms, and also a fueling force to maintain them. In order to promote egalitarian gender perception among children, it is of essential importance to monitor existing gender images of television contents that children watch.

1.1Background of Study

1.1.11.1.1The need to study media contents in China

China is a nation with the largest children population in the world. In 2004, there were almost 290 million children under age 15 in China (Population Reference Bureau, 2005). Chinese advertising had its business volume increase at an average rate of about 40 percent every year during the period 1981 to 1995 (Advertising Reference Materials, 1996). Television has become the major advertising medium in China. Television audience reached one billion in 1997 (Journalism Publishing News, 1998). In China, however, there is no restriction on the amount of advertising on children’s television programs, and little regulation of television advertising specifically target at children. A recent survey of 1,758 urban children in China has indicated that a majority of respondents believe that a half of the television commercials were true (Chan and McNeal, 2002). Children residing in a city with more sophisticated advertising in place were more likely to perceive television commercials to be true. Though the percentage of children perceiving that all commercials were true declined consistently with age, it is still worthy to investigate the effect of television stereotype portrayal on children’s cognitive development.

AlthoughChina has such a big children population and a fast growing advertising market, littleeffort has been devoted to gender portrayal via television advertisements on children. Most of the cross-cultural studies of gender stereotyping of television commercial were conducted in the West. For example, Gilly (1988) had done a comparative study on sex roles in television advertising that examined television commercials of Australia, Mexico and the United States. Bartsch, Burnett, Diller and Rankin-Williams (2000) replicated previous studies of O’Donnell and O’Donnell (1978) and Lovdal (1989) to analyze the trends in gender representation in US television commercials. Milner and Collins (2000) adopted Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as the theoretical framework to study television commercials of Japan, US, Sweden and Russia. It is more interesting to note that there is not muchresearch specifically targeted on children’s television commercials, even for those studies conducted in the West.Thus, an analysis of gender portal through television advertisement on children will shed new insights on the existing debate.

Chinese culture has been collective and paternal oriented. The traditional ideology of submissive females did not indicate significant improvement in modern Chinese society (Cheung, 1996). In the past twenty years, China’s economy has been developing in a rapid pace. One may wonder whether the economic development in Chinawould bring about modernization. One of the indicators in modernity is the adoption of egalitarian values of both genders (Yang, 1988). A study of children’s television programs in China concluded that media contents reflected selected modernity values of high educational motivation and retained traditional values of collectivism and high power distance (Chan and Chan, 2004). The research literature recorded only one study that examined the characteristics of children’s television commercials (Ji and McNeal, 2001). It measured the proportion of commercials with male models, male spokespersons, and male voice-overs. It did not examine gender roles or gender traits. The current study attempts to enhance our understanding of gender portrayal of children’s television commercials in China. The research question is: What are the gender-role and gender trait portrayals in children’s television commercials in China?

1.1.2Previous studies on gender portrayal in adults’ advertisements

Furnham and Mak (1999) conducted a meta-analysis of fourteen studies in eleven countries on five continents over 25 years (1975-1999) on the issue of gender-role stereotyping of television commercials. It showed that gender-role stereotyping of television commercials was consistent across different countries during the 25 years time. In nine out of the eleven studies, males were more likely to be the voice-overs of a commercial with females more often visually portrayed. The meta-analysis concluded that a majority of the studies showed gender stereotypes. It was characterized by the following patterns:

1.Males were frequently shown as the authoritative central figures, with female frequently shown as product users.

2.Male always played the roles as interviewers or professionals whereas females were confined as dependent roles.

3.Females were consistently shown as younger than males.

4. Females were more often portrayed at home while males were more often portrayed in outdoor settings.

5. Males were shown to be associated with pleasurable rewards, while females were more likely to be associated with social approval and self-enhancement.

6. Males were shown selling automobiles and sports products while females were always related with home and body products.

7. When there were end comments in the commercials, it was more likely that male characters offered such end comments.

Furnham and Mak (1999) also found that gender stereotyping in television commercials in the West appeared to have declined in the past 25 years. They attributed it to the increasing awareness of gender equality which was popular in the developed countries. However, this trend has not yet been observed in the Asian countries. Gender stereotypes in television commercials havebecome even more profound in Europe in recent years.

Many studies over the past decades supported the above generalizations. There were more ads featuring only males than solely females in the number of single-gender ads (Doolittle and Pepper, 1975; Macklin and Kolbe, 1984; Riffe, Goldson, Saxton, and Yu, 1989; Smith, 1994).Researches also found that the types of interaction portrayed were also gender stereotyped. Males were often shown to display authority, exhibit high activity levels, be dominant and play to win (Doolittle and Pepper, 1975; Macklin and Kolbe, 1984; Smith, 1994; Browne, 1998; Welch, Huston-Stein, Wright and Plehal, 1979).

Although gender stereotyping in television commercials seemed to be a universal phenomenon, the degree of gender stereotypes changed over time. A study to analyze trends in gender representation in television commercials in the US, which replicated that of O’Donnell and O’Donnell in 1978, and Lovdal in 1989, found that there were more women as product representatives in 1998 (59%) than in 1988 (51%) or in 1976 (50%) (Bartsch, Burnett, Diller and Rankin-Williams, 2000).The gender bias in voice-overs also showed significant decrease in which the percentage of female voice-over had a treble increase from 8% in 1976 to 29% in 1998. The findings indicated the continuous existence of unequal gender representation in television commercials. The situation, however, was improvedslowly but surely.

1.1.2Cheng’s (1997) comparison of gender role portrayals in Chinese and US television commercials found similar patterns of gender stereotypes in U.S. as well as Chinese television commercials. Among the Chinese samples, more men were portrayed than women. Men dominated the voice-overs. Men were depicted more often in high-level business/professional roles. Females occurred mainly in the commercials selling home appliances, clothes and cleaning products in China. Cheng suggested that the male-dominant stereotype could be attributed to the lack of gender awareness among advertising professionals in China.

The same result was also found in a study of television commercials in China and Singapore by Siu and Au (1997). Female characters appeared in 28.7 percent of the commercials for women’s products, and only two percent of those men’s products. Also, 69.3 percent and 83.3 percent of women and men appeared in the commercials of products targeted at both sex respectively. Similar pattern of male-dominance also occurred in Singapore.

A study of television commercials in Hong Kong showed that gender stereotyping existed in gender roles as well as gender traits (Furnham, Mak and Tanidjojo, 2000). Men were more frequently depicted as central figures in Hong Kong’s commercials (68.3%). Males were more likely to be voiceovers (67.1%) and to be authoritative endorsers (76.4%). Females were more frequently portrayed visually (75.4%) and as product users (78.5%).

1.1.3 Studies on gender portrayal in children’s advertisements

The only study on gender portrayal in children’s commercials in China was conducted by Ji and McNeal (Ji and McNeal, 2001). They compared children's television commercials shown in China and the United States over a period of eighteen months (1997-1999). They found that Chinese television commercials were more gender biased than theirU.S. counterparts. In China, males were more often used as models in the commercials (China = 67.4%, US = 52.5%), more often featured as the spokesperson in the commercials (China = 28.8%, US = 11.0%), and more likely to be the voice-overs in the commercials (China = 24.2%, US = 10.0%). They concluded that the stronger gender stereotypes portrayed in Chinese commercials reflect the characteristics of a traditionally male-dominate society.

In a study of Hong Kong and Korean’s children television commercials, it was found that the gender portrayal of central characters and the level of gender stereotyping in Hong Kong commercials was similar to those inKorea (Moon and Chan, 2002). Males dominated the voice-over in both samples. There were significant differences in the gender activities in the Korean samples. Males were more likely to be active (M = 42%, F = 23%), while females were more likely to be inactive (M = 47%, F = 59%).

A content analysis of 137 children commercials in Hong Kongindicated that Hong Kong children commercials were less gender stereotyped than U.S. in terms of sex composition, frequencies of female and male central characters and activities of central characters (Chan and Yik, 2001). However, voice-overs were male-dominated even for products targeting both boys and girls. Gender stereotypes mainly occurred in commercials for toys and character toys. Commercials for male gender-typed products more often used male characters only or no human characters. Commercials for female gender-typed products often used female characters only and indoor settings. Aggressive behaviors were rarely seen, but performed by boys only. The authors attributed the lack of gender stereotypes to the types of product being advertised, low level of market segmentation and a general aspiration for modernization and westernization in Hong Kong’s advertising industry.

A qualitative study of toy commercials in Hong Kong indicated presence of stereotypes in gender roles (Wong, 1997). Most toy commercials for boys used a high proportion of “cut” camera editing techniques and at much fast pace. Expressions of aggressiveness and the image of masculinity was demonstrated by the use of active phrases such as “attack”, “challenge” and “fight”. Most toy commercials for girls often used soft color scheme and a high proportion of “fade in” and “zoom in” camera techniques. Girls were featured to be caring, responsible for housework and highly concerned with beauty.

To conclude, previous studies of television commercials in Western countries and greater China have found consistentunder-representation of women and gender stereotypes in television commercials. The degree of gender stereotypes corresponds with the degree of economic and social development of the society. There, however, is a lack of study specifically on gender portrayal in children’s television commercials in China. This study attempts to fill the gap.

1.2Researchhypotheses

Nearly all previous studies found male dominance in the voice-overs in the commercials. In a study of adults’ television commercials in the United States, Mexico and Australia, male voice-overs were dominant to approximately the same extent. More than two-thirds of the voice-overs were males. Female voice-overs appeared in 13 percent in the sample (Gilly, 1988). In a study of adults’ commercials in China and US, male voice-overs appeared in 85 percent of the Chinese sample and 83 percent of the US sample (Cheng, 1997). Moon and Chan’sstudy of children’s commercial (2002) found that male voice-overs were most frequently used in both Hong Kong and Korea samples.Thus, we hypothesize that,

H1: Males will be shown more often as the voice-overs.

Previous studies concluded that gender-role bias is still a problem in television commercials. Gilly’s (1988) study found that males were more often found in employment roles in commercials in the United States (M=52%, F=25%) and Mexico (M=44%, F=18%). Males were also more likely to be portrayed in independent roles in all three countries –the United States (M=58%, F=30%), Mexico (M=51%, F=23%) and Australia (M=53%, F=31%). In Cheng’s (1997) study, male dominated the occupational role in the China sample. The number of males in occupational roles (18%) was significantly more than number of females in occupational roles (5%). Thus, we hypothesize that

H2:Males will more likely be portrayed in employment roles and females will less likely be portrayed in employment roles.

H3: Males will be shown more often in independent roles, while females will be shown more often in relationship roles.

Previous studies showed existence of gender-trait stereotyping in television commercials. Evident in the meta-analysis done by Furnham and Mak (1999) indicated that females were more likely to be shown to possess dependent traits. In the Hong Kong sample, women were more likely to be featured as dependent (55%) than men (19%). In the comparison of television commercials in China and Singapore, Siu and Au (1997) found that males participated in active activities while female participated in inactive activities. In Singapore, commercials showing males in active activities (24%) were almost doubled that of females (14%). In China, commercials showing males in active activities (15%) were seven times more than that of females (2%). Thus, we hypothesize thatH4: Females will more likely be shown in inactive, dependent, caring and sharing activities.

H5: Males will more likely be shown in active and aggressive activities.

1.3 Methods

Content analysis has been employedas the standard analytical tool for advertising studies. Content analysis was used in this study to examine gender portrayal of the children’s commercials in China. Television commercials broadcast during children’s program hours on the Central China Television(CCTV) channel and three regional television channels were recorded in Chinaduring the period May to June 2002.