Johnson and Young

Question 1

Aim J&Y

Answer 1

To analyse children’s toy adverts from the late 90s to investigate if gender stereotypes are used

Question 2

Sample j&y

Answer 2

Adverts on Nickelodeon, regional channels in New England and commercial channels in 1996, 1997 and 1999
Children’s cartoons
Accessible to all TV owners
478 total, 188 toy adverts

Question 3

Method j&y

Answer 3

Researchers conducted a content analysis (categories and tallies) and discourse analysis (tone, vocab and speech)
Commercials were divided into boy oriented, girl oriented or both depending on gender of actors

Question 4

Findings j&y

Answer 4

Name of toys: reinforced gender attributes “Big Time Action Hero”, and “Girl talk”. Boys toys stress size and girls toys stress parenting.

Use of toys: even when toys were categorised similarly, like dolls, boys toys showed more action

Voice-overs: every male advert had a male voice over but 89% of girls adverts had female voice actors. Exaggerated gender stylisation was evident in adverts aimed at one gender but not adverts aimed at both. Girls adverts were high pitched, boys loud / wild / aggressive

Verbs used: competition / destruction words found 113x in boys and 9x in girls.
Feeling / nurturing verbs never found in boy adverts but 66x in girls.

Speaking roles: girl adverts had children speaking more often, reinforcing the stereotype that boys prefer action

Power discourse: words based around power were used in 21% of boy adverts and just once in girl adverts (only because the manufacturer of Barbie’s car was power wheels)

Question 5

Conclusions j&y

Answer 5

Gendered stereotypes are evident in toy adverts
When advertisements only show traditional gender roles, they limit the range of experiences a child can try out, perhaps explaining why some professions are more male/ female dominated. Okay

Question 6

BACKGROUND: Pine and Nash

Answer 6

Asked 50 children to make a Christmas list. This was compared to TV adverts at the time. 40% of children between 7-12 years old asked for at least 1 advertised toy, with younger children being more influenced. Interestingly, the level of exposure to the network that aired the most commercials was a significant predictor of their requests for advertised products.

Question 7

BACKGROUND: Pike and Jennings

Answer 7

Sixty-two first and second grade students (28 boys, 34 girls) were exposed to one of three commercial videotapes in which either all-boys (traditional condition) or all-girls (nontraditional) were playing with a toy. Participants in the control condition were exposed to nontoy commercials. After exposure to one of the conditions participants performed a toy sort where they were asked if six toys, including the two manipulated toys, were “for boys, girls, or both boys and girls.” Participants in the nontraditional condition were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for both boys and girls than were participants in the traditional condition, who were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for boys. This effect was stronger for boys than for girls.