1
Master of Arts Thesis
Euroculture
University of Groningen(First semester)
University of Uppsala (Second semester)
August 2020
Exploration of Gender Portrayals in European and
Japanese Commercials, 2017-2020
Submitted by: Asako Kobayashi S3539989 (Groningen) 046413 (Uppsala) Bordercollies7@gmail.com Supervised by: Professor Janny de Jong Associate Professor Per-Erik NilssonJapan, August 30th, 2020 Asako Kobayashi
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MA Programme Euroculture Declaration
I, Asako Kobayashi hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “Exploration of Gender Portrayals in European and Japanese Commercials Using Two Case Studies”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography.
I declare that the written (printed and bound) and the electronic copy of the submitted MA thesis are identical.
I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture.
Signed Asako Kobayashi Date August 30, 2020
3 Abstract
Studies of gender portrayals in media has been around for decades, and has been conducted in different countries, and between countries. Much of the existing literature that focus on gender portrayals in television commercials looks at a large number of commercials, and provides quantitative results based on their findings. This study takes a qualitative to the topic, focusing on two case studies. The purpose of this study is not to generalize but to provide an insight into how gender portrayals are similar or different between Europe and Japan, for the same product or company. By comparing the two, it is possible to learn how the European and Japanese brands perceive gender roles in the societies, or how they want the audience to associate their product with. Instead of looking at hundreds of commercials, two case studies have been used for a closer examination. Through a literature review, and a close study of the television commercials chosen, how gender is portrayed similarly or differently can be observed.
Number of Words: 28720 words
4 Table of Contents
1. Introduction/Overview ……..………... 7
1.1 Research Problem and European Dimension ………..… 7
1.2 Background ………..… 8
1.3 Research Questions ……… 11
2. Literature Review ………...………. 13
2.1 Television Commercials and Gender ………. 13
2.2 Gender, and Television Commercials in Europe ………... 19
2.3 Gender, and Television Commercials in Japan ………..……… 38
3. Theoretical Framework ….………... 52
4. Methodology ………..……….. 55
4.1 Research Design ……… 55
4.2 Data Sources ……….. 56
4.2.1 Case Study One: Car Commercials ……… 59
4.2.2 Case Study Two: Yakult Commercials ………... 64
4.3 Data Analysis Methods ……….. 67
4.4 Ethics ………...……….. 69
5. Data Analysis ………... 70
5.1 Case Study One: Car Commercials ………... 70
5.1 Case Study Two: Yakult Commercials ………...……... 79
6. Discussion ……… 83
6.1 Television Commercials and Gender …..………... 83
6.2 Gender Portrayals in European Television Commercials ……….. 85
6.3 Gender Portrayals in Japanese Television Commercials ………...… 86 6.4 Similarities and Differences in Gender Portrayal Between Europe and Japan . 88
5
6.4.1 Case Study One: Car Commercials ……… 88
6.4.2 Case Study Two: Yakult Commercials ………... 93
7. Conclusion ………..………. 95
7.1 Limitations ………. 97
7.2 Further Research ………...…………. 98
6 Preface
The reason and motivation for choosing this topic as my thesis comes from my bachelors’ dissertation, which was on a similar topic. I studied how Japanese
undergraduate students received and understood gender portrayals in Japanese television commercials. Gender studies is a field which I only became familiar with from my bachelors, and it has interested me since, and made me think about the society in which we live in. Initially the aim was to do a similar study for this Euroculture Master’s thesis, but due to lack of resources, personal family issues, and the Covid outbreak, it was necessary to alter the topic and shift the focus. I still wanted to study gender portrayals in television commercials, and after discussions with my supervisors, the decision was made to focus on studying the television commercials themselves and comparing them between Europe and Japan.
I would like to thank both my supervisors, Professor Janny de Jong from the University of Groningen where I spent my first and third semesters, and Associate Professor Per-Erik Nilsson from Uppsala University where I spent my second semester. Due to a lot of factors, the process of writing this thesis has not been a smooth one, but they have stayed with me and supported me through it. Without their assistance and guidance, this would not have been possible.
7 1. Introduction/Overview
1.1 Research Problem and European Dimension
The purpose of this study is to compare and explore the way gender is being portrayed in European and Japanese television commercials. The significance lies in gaining an insight into both sides, allowing it to not only encompass the European dimension but also the Japanese dimension. By comparing the two, the characteristics of each will be emphasized by the differences or the similarities that are discovered analyzing the data. What is accepted or wanted by the European audience and society are not always going to match what is accepted or wanted by the Japanese audience and society. The goal of a television commercial is to make the audience feel that they want to purchase the product being advertised. How the companies approach the audience, or how to make the product seem appealing to them may differ when the target audience is different. On the other hand, there may also be similarities between the two, in how the companies perceive the societies to be like in terms of gender. These will be connected to ongoing gender discussions within each of the two regional areas, providing one way to learning and understanding how the topic of gender is communicated today.
As the reception, or how the audience receives, understands, and makes sense of the television commercials varies for each person and is an important topic on its own, this study will focus only on the transmission side. This means that television commercials, which are or have been aired on television in Europe or Japan, are the data sources that will be analyzed. The aim is to understand if, and how, gender is portrayed differently between Europe and Japan by the television commercials of the same product, by the same company. By gender portrayal, this study will cover gender roles, stereotypes, and also gender ratio for example. This will be further explained in the methodology section in detail. The findings from this study could work as a measure of what gender ideas and views are present, or what images the companies are trying to achieve through the
8 television commercials of their products. It is important to keep in mind that this study does not aim to, and will not be making generalizations based on the literature review or the data analysis. Unlike most of the past research on gender portrayals in television commercials, this study focused on two specific products, and three companies. As mentioned in the tile, the focus will be on two case studies that have been chosen and analyzed, giving an introduction, or showing a part of a larger picture. This is different from many of the existing literature on gender portrayals in television commercials, which focus on one country, or compare numerous commercials between countries.
This masters’ thesis is composed of eight different chapters, including the introduction, which is the first chapter. A brief background to the topic and some key concepts are explained in the background, and the research questions are listed in the research questions subsection. The second chapter is a literature review. A general overview of the past literature on gender portrayals in television commercials including common factors which researchers focus on are explained. Following this, situations related to gender, and gender portrayals in television commercials for Europe and Japan have each been covered in the subsections. The third chapter explains the theoretical framework that has been used and referred to in the construction of the study. The fourth chapter is on the methodology for collecting and analyzing data. Research design, data sources, data analysis methods, and ethical concerns have been explained. The fifth chapter, data analysis, builds on the methodology to produce results. The sixth chapter provides a discussion based on the findings in the previous chapter. The seventh chapter concludes the thesis, discussing the main findings and facts, as well as limitations for the current study and recommendations for further research. A full bibliography is provided in the eighth chapter.
9 In living one’s daily life in the world today, it is extremely difficult, almost impossible to avoid being in contact with any form of media. Whether it is in the house, walking to the station, working in the office, or in the supermarket, we are surrounded by various forms of media all sending some kind of message to us. The word “media is the plural of the term medium, which refers, essentially to the means through which content is communicated between an origin and a destination.”1 It can also be defined as “the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded collectively.”2 There are different types of media, from newspapers and posters to television, social media, and even music. In the form of words, pictures, or sounds, even if you are not paying attention to them and consciously taking in the information, the messages are still being sent out and anybody that comes into contact with it, is taking in the information. “On our own and in the company of others, media entertain us, enable connections with friends and communities, provide interpretations of the world around us and offer resources for the forging of identities and imaginations.”3
Being a part of our everyday lives in various situations, it is obvious that media, in all its forms, have an influence on us, culture, and society as a whole. Culture is a term that is often discussed in two different senses. The first is related to the way of life, and can be defined as “the way of life of a particular people, especially as shown in their ordinary behavior and habits, their attitudes towards each other, and their moral and religious beliefs.”4 This definition includes aspects such a values and meanings in society, as well
1 Paul Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction (SAGE Publications Ltd, 2011), 2,
https://books.google.co.jp/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oTmPDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=media+mirr
or+society&ots=wO-LJk3nSg&sig=dP4yfq92sZ-Vy9Sajn-QgWsdtkU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=media%20mirror%20society&f=false.
2 “Media | Definition of Media by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com,” LEXICO, accessed August 29,
2020, https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/media.
3Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction, 2.
10 as identities and norms of the group.5 The second is related to the arts, and can be defined as “the arts of describing, showing, or performing that represent the traditions or the way of life of a particular people or group; literature, art, music, dance, theater, etc.”6 This definition covers the creative and artistic expression in different forms, and used to be associated with the high culture, of its literature, music, and arts. Over time, this definition spread to cover popular culture as well, the arts that are familiar to a wider range of the population. Though there are two different approaches to the word culture, in many cases it refers to both definitions simultaneously, or is used to point to a mixture of the two meanings instead of only either one.7 Society is “people considered as a group, or a groups of people who love together in a particular social system.”8 The term society is related to culture, but is broader, and covers the entire social world in which we live in. Here, there is an emphasis on social relations – interactions of people, and on the groups and categories that exist based on certain criteria such as gender or nationality, for example.9
The main reason for focusing on the media form of television commercials above others, is because it is something that we do not choose to watch. Unlike the television programs where we intentionally change the television channels to view and take in the information, the television commercials are part of the program but not the part we want to see. Though it is based on the sponsors, which television commercials are going to be displayed is quite random and difficult to predict. In addition, unlike the advertisements on other media forms that use a combination of visual and audio effects such as YouTube
August 29, 2020, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/culture.
5 Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction, 3. 6 Cambridge University Press, “CULTURE.”
7 Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction, 3.
8 “SOCIETY | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary,” Cambridge University Press, accessed
August 29, 2020, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/society.
11 for example, television commercials cannot be skipped, unless you change the channel or use TV on demand. Taking the example of YouTube, many of the advertisements that are shown before, during, or after a video can often be skipped after around five seconds. Commercials aired on television do not allow this, and shows several different commercials consecutively. Therefore, even if the channel is changed or the viewers do something else during this time, they often end up watching some part of the commercial. With the spread of TV on demand and social media, there are other options for entertainment and information in more recent years, not limiting the source to television. However, television commercials are still important. TV on demand often requires a person to create an account and make monthly payments, and social media requires a device to access it, and to create an account for it. For both, the content people access is limited to what they choose to see. This may limit the age range or type of the users. Television is a media that can reach a wide audience, equally.
1.3 Research Questions
The research questions for this study are designed in order to better understand the gender portrayal in each of the television commercials in Europe and Japan. Through the observation of the gender portrayals, we can learn about the gender ideologies the society holds, or the images the television producers want to send out to their audiences. In addition, in order to achieve this, it is important to also understand the general, larger picture of the connection between gender and television commercials, not only focusing on the case studies used in this study. Therefore, there will be some research questions that are more general and some that are more specific.
The research questions for this study are:
1. How are gender and television commercials connected?
12 3. How is gender depicted in Japanese television commercials?
4. What are the similarities and differences between European and Japanese
television commercials regarding gender portrayal?
The first three research questions which are more general questions, will be discussed through the literature review section. Research questions two and three will also be covered in the data analysis section. The fourth research question will be a part of the data analysis and discussion sections, and further made sense in the discussion section.
13 2 Literature Review
2.1 Television Commercials and Gender
As briefly touched upon in the earlier section, television has been regarded as having power to influence its audience, and the society. In order to better understand this influence and the connection between television commercials and gender which is the central theme of this study, the power of television will be explained first, followed by the addition of the gender aspect. “Television’s emphasis on moving pictures is deemed to have extended the emotionally enticing qualities of the photograph, combined with sound, and, in so doing so, intensified the domination of communications by voyeurism and spectacle.”10 Television’s strength lies in the combination of visual and audio aspects to deliver its message. Because it allows its audience to see, as well as hear the action or story being told, the reality and persuasion of its message increases. These messages, outsourced through the television content, is related to events that occur in the real world, as well as to the trends and hot topics in the society and to the values that are important to the culture in which it is aired. However, what content is aired is selected by the transmission side, which chooses and decides what to include and how to present the selected elements. By repeatedly watching and hearing the ideas and concepts or events displayed, it influences how the audience perceives themselves, the society in which they live in, and how they behave in the society. Television, as a form of mass media, reaches out to and covers a large population, to provide content such as entertainment and information.11
Ganahl, Prinsen, and Netzley states that “television is a powerful socializing agent and is particularly influential in the arena of gender identity.”12 They state how it is a
10 Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction, 21. 11 Hodkinson, Media, Culture and Society: An Introduction, 5-26.
14 process, of being exposed repeatedly to the images shown on television reinforces messages which then become to be accepted by the culture as the cultural norms and as the mainstream.13 “While sex differences are rooted in biology, how we come to understand and perform gender is based on culture.”14 Many, not though all, television commercials depict a character or characters to advertise and sell their products. These can be real human beings such as actors, models, or artists, or they can be characters that are human, or animals, or something else. A key factor for the production side of television commercials, is for the audience to connect or emphasize with the characters and their lifestyle, so that after watching the television commercial, they would want to purchase the product or visit a location. Relevance becomes very important, and having characters that are similar to the potential customers and the target in the television commercials with the product in an everyday life setting increases the effectiveness. Through these characters and how they are depicted sends out a message on how each gender should be or act, and how they fit into society.15 These can be stereotypical, traditional, or newer ideas that society holds – this differs between cultures and how the companies that produced the commercial wish to present their company brand and their products.
Much of the older studies on the connection between gender and television commercials have focused only on the primary characters. They would analyze how the central character was represented, and not consider other factors that were included in the television commercials. However, studies have moved on to looking at other characters
Commercials: A Contextual Framework of Gender Representation,” Sex Roles 49, no. 9 (November 2003): 545-511, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025893025658.
13 Ibid.
14 Dwight E. Brooks and Lisa P. Hébert, The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Communication (SAGE
Publications, Inc., 2006), chap. 16, http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_gendercomm/n16.xml.
15 and taking into account several factors which may, and do, contribute to the overall message being sent out. It is important to also consider how supporting roles such as secondary characters assist in creating the credibility of the primary character and lead the attention of the audience to them.16 In addition, it is common for the studies to pay attention to the portrayal of women, specifically how often they are shown, and in what ways they are represented. Not a lot of focus has been made on the way men are portrayed.17
The power relation between male characters and female characters is an important point that is discussed to understand gender portrayals and roles in television commercials. In many studies, it was found that to be that male characters are often portrayed as the central character with authority in a professional setting, such as in a managerial position , while women, when they were depicted in a workplace, were in service positions. The positions and type of jobs that the employed female characters are in, are often what has been traditionally considered to be female workplaces and occupations.18 While male characters are shown as the breadwinner, depicted in the public sphere working, doing politics, or working with technology, female characters are shown in the domestic sphere. They are portrayed as a mother figure, busy with the home and family, showing love, and connecting with friends.19 Division of labor, especially within the home in a domestic sphere is an approach to study gender roles in television commercials. Who performs
16 Ibid.
17 Hye-Jin Paek, Michelle R. Nelson, and Alexandra M. Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals
in Television Advertising across Seven Countries,” Sex Roles 64 (February 2011): 192-207, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9850-y.
18 Ganahl, Prinsen, and Netzley, “A Content Analysis of Prime Time Commercials,” 545-551; Paek,
Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across Seven Countries,” 192-207.
19 Tonny Krijnen, “Gender and Media,” The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and
16 which household chores reveals gender role ideas within the house. Who cleans the house, who takes care of the children, and who maintains the yard, for example, can show how the society views and divides what is considered a task for mothers and a task for fathers.20 It has been described that this resembles, or was an example of the traditional and stereotypical roles of gender, where the male was at the center, shown to be stronger than the female, who was depicted as the secondary character. Depending on the product being advertised, it is also not so uncommon for the female character to be shown as subordinate, and depending on the male character, depicted rather as a decoration.21 This, according to Krijnen, demonstrates how the societal understandings and structures about gender ideas are slow to change.22 Another point is on the age of the characters that appear in the television commercials. Often times, past studies found a tendency for the female characters to be younger than the male characters that were depicted in the television commercials. This was also described as the traditional gender role or model, where the power and status would increase for males as they get older, and vice versa for females, where power and status would decrease as they got older.23
There are some past studies that suggest that the type of product being advertised can be connected to a gender image. This means that depending on the product type, there is an intended gender that is the target audience, and therefore the advertisement itself will also portray that gender. When including the type of product in their studies, researchers
20 Erica Scharrer et al., “Working Hard or Hardly Working? Gender, Humor, and the Performance of
Domestic Chores in Television Commercials,” Mass Communication & Society 9, no. 2 (2006): 215-238, https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327825mcs0902_5.
21 Ganahl, Prinsen, and Netzley, “A Content Analysis of Prime Time Commercials,” 545-551; Paek,
Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across Seven Countries,” 192-207.
22 Krijnen, “Gender and Media,” 1-9.
17 often create several categories. Though there are some variations between studies depending on their study scale or design, each of the categories are associated to either women or men. Types of products which are associated with the home or the body tend to be regarded as feminine. For example, product categories such as health, beauty, pharmacy, and fashion related products tend to be grouped as products for women. On the other hand, automobiles, electronics, finance and politics related products and campaigns tend to be grouped as products that are masculine. More male characters are seen in television commercials for cars and sports equipment, while more female characters are seen in television commercials for body care products and food.24 Looking at the type of product and the gender portrayals can be useful in understanding the bigger picture.
The voice-over, or the narration of the television commercials are an aspect to analyze when studying gender portrayals. Lovdal defines the term voice-over as “a voice is heard but no person is visible.”25 This is different from the primary or secondary characters speaking to the audience, as the characters are visible. The voice-over is close to narration, where only the voice is heard – therefore, there are television commercials that do not include voice-overs. Even though there is a gap in evaluation of the results for the effects of male or female voices, the production side views male voice-overs to have more credibility and authority, and therefore more convincing to the audience, compared to female voice-overs.26 Until the 2000s, approximately 90% of television commercials used male voice-overs. When a female voice was used, it was mostly for domestic
24 Paek, Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across
Seven Countries,” 192-207.
25 Lynn T. Lovdal, “Sex role messages in television commercials: An update,” Sex Roles 21 (December
1989): 716, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00289804.
26 Paek, Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across
18 products – such as cosmetics, food, cleaning and home products –, and when a nondomestic product – such as cars, cameras, and products used out of the home – was advertised, male voices were likely to be used.27 However, when the gender of the voice and the associated gender of the product type match, the reception from the audiences becomes more positive. This refers to when a male voice is advertising a product which is considered to be a masculine product type, and when a female voice is advertising a feminine type of product.28
With the advancement of technology and the increase in the usage of social media, the relationship between mass media such as the television and the audience has changed from a few decades ago, and has become more complex. An example of this would be the #MeToo movement, which went viral in 2017.29 The #MeToo movement was founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, originally aiming to fight sexual violence and provide assistance and support to women of color. Now, what started as a local movement has spread to become a global one, supporting anybody who needs their help.30 The hashtag gained attention when actor, Alyssa Milano used the phrase in a tweet she made. Following her tweet, millions used various social media tools to disclose their #MeToo experiences. Public figures and celebrities also joined in, and as women and men from different countries and continents used the phrase, this became a global movement. There were variations created in the hashtags, such as the #balancetonporc in French and #YoTambien in Spanish. These confessions have had the power to even suspend some political figures
27 Robert A. Bartsch et al., “Gender Representation in Television Commercials: Updating an Update,”
Sex Roles 43, no. 9 (November 2000): 735-743, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007112826569.
28 Paek, Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across
Seven Countries,” 192-207.
29 Krijnen, “Gender and Media,” 1-9.
30 “Get to Know Us | History & Inception,” me too., accessed August 29, 2020,
19 from their positions.31 The #MeToo movement even reached the European Parliament. Debating about the ways to combat these situations, members shared their experiences of being sexually harassed.32 As the movement gained more participants and became to have presence, mass media also moved to take up the problem, and broadcast it. This shows how the influence has now changed from an arrow pointing in one direction – from the media to its audience –, but there is also an arrow that points back – from the audience to the media –. The media not only provides information and ideas, but also offers a stage for action to be made.33
2.2 Gender, and Television Commercials in Europe
The gender equality index, developed by the European Institute for Gender Equality, allows for the gender equality progress of the European Union to be measured, with the maximum score being 100. Started in 2005, this effort shows that although the change is not a fast one, the situation has been improving and moving in line with the policies and goals set by the European Union. The domains included are: work, money, knowledge, time, power, health, violence and intersecting inequalities.34 Sweden has the highest score with 83.6, Greece has the lowest score with 51.2, and the European Union has a score of 67.4 for 2019. From 2005, the score has seen a 5.4 increase and, and compared to the previous study in 2015, the score has risen 1.2 points. Not all domains are performing equally well. For the European Union as a whole, health and money domains are performing the best, with both domains reaching 88.1 points and 80.4 points
31 Nadia Khomami, “#MeToo: how a hashtag became a rallying cry against sexual harassment,” The
Guardian, October 20, 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/20/women-worldwide-use-hashtag-metoo-against-sexual-harassment.
32 Milan Schreuer, “A #MeToo Moment for the European Parliament,” The New York Times, October 25,
2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/world/europe/european-parliament-weinstein-harassment.html.
33 Krijnen, “Gender and Media,” 1-9.
34 “About | Gender Equality Index,” European Institute for Gender Equality, accessed August 29, 2020,
20 respectively. Power is the domain that has the lowest, with only 51.9 points, but is also the domain which has seen the largest rise since 2005.35 These numbers demonstrate how the legislations adopted by the European Union and enforced in the member states has been effective. Of course the degree and speed to which the independent member states have improved or implemented the changes will differ, but the European Union overall has been moving forward in various domains to become a gender equal society.
Employment rates seem to reflect the scores discovered through the gender equality index. Eurostat reports that for the population aged between 20 to 64 years old, the employment rates were 67% for women and 78% for men in 2018. Sweden had the highest percentage for women with 80%, and Greece the lowest with 49% among the member states of the European Union. They state that though the gender gap for employment has been narrowing over the years, there was no member state that showed higher employment rates for women than men. In addition, of the women that were employed, 30% had a part time job, whereas only 8% of men held a part time job. This trend was present across all of the member states. With 74%, the Netherlands had the highest percentage share of women with a part time job. The percentage for men was 23%.36
In Europe, the average time a person spends watching television daily is about 220 minutes which is above the global average.37 Of the top ten countries for the amount time spent watching television, Poland ranks second, Italy sixth, followed by Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The number of minutes a person on average spends
35 “Gender Equality Index,” European Institute for Gender Equality, accessed August 29, 2020,
https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/2019.
36 “Women’s employment in the EU,” Eurostat, last modified March 6, 2020,
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20200306-1; “Gender statistics,” Eurostat, last modified February 2020,
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Gender_statistics#Labour_market.
37 “One Television Year in the World,” Glance, published April 8, 2019,
21 watching television were 264 minutes, 248 minutes, 233 minutes, 223 minutes, 223 minutes, and 212 minutes respectively.38 According to a survey conducted in November 2019 with 27382 participants on their television viewing habits, the average for the 28 countries in the European Union who watched television on a television set either every day or almost every day was 77% of all respondents. As the question was in the form of ‘to what extent’, there were other options available as answers. Respondents were all at least 15 years old. Among those who answered every day or almost every day, Portugal had the highest share, with 94%. On the other hand, the country with the lowest share was Luxembourg, with 62%. Only Portugal and Croatia showed results over 90%. Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Hungary, Spain, and Greece were between 80% and 89%. Ireland, Poland, Belgium, Malta, Austria, France, Cyprus, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Lithuania, United Kingdom, and Slovania were between 70% and 79%. Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Luxembourg were between 60% and 69%.39 These numbers show that television is still a strong mode of media in Europe. The amount of time spent watching television is globally high, and the frequency of people watching television is also quite high. Even the lowest percentage share for Luxembourg was at 62%, suggesting that television is still a major source of information, entertainment, or a way to pass time. Over half of the respondents watched television either every day or almost every day. Even in this modern society where there are various other options such as social media and video and movie services, television still has a solid audience. This particular survey asked about watching television on a television set. This means that the results presented in this survey does not cover other modes of watching television, such as on their phones or laptop. Therefore, this could mean that the number of people
38 “Which Country Watched the Most TV?,” Daniel Maina Wambugu, World Atlas, published October 1,
2018, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-country-watches-the-most-tv.html.
39 “Daily television usage penetration in European countries 2019,” Joseph Johnson, Statista, Published
22 who watch the television content on a daily basis or very frequently may be much higher, if the different modes of doing so are also covered.
Covering existing literature on television commercials and gender for all of the countries included in the category of Europe would exceed the range and limits for this masters’ thesis. In addition, not all European countries have been studied to the same depth. Therefore, only a few of the countries have been explored here. Past studies which have studied gender and television commercials from Portugal, Germany, and Spain have been included in this section. Portugal, Germany, and Spain have been found to be member states in the European Union which hold high rates of television consumption. It is understandable that the television commercials from these countries have been analyzed in the past. The Netherlands is a member state which is often scoring near the average number of the 28 member states. This is true for the gender equality index and television viewing behavior which were explained earlier. Some other countries such as Poland and Sweden have been briefly touched upon in some cross cultural studies. Findings of the gender portrayals in television commercials from the countries covered in these studies will be explained as well.
Furnham and Paltzer reviewed and analyzed 30 existing literature on men and women’s portrayals in television commercials until the year 2000. Their work had a cross cultural sphere, and different countries from different continents were included in their findings. They took independent studies, reviewed them, and sorted their findings according to the categories based on the coding – a total of ten categories were made.40 Only the results of the European countries, not necessary limited to the 28 member states of the European Union but countries regarded to be ‘Europe’ will be mentioned here. The
40 Adrian Furnham and Stephanie Paltzer, “The portrayal of men and women in television
advertisements: An updated review of 30 studies published since 2000,” Scandinavian Journal of
23 first coding category is the mode of presentation, which points to whether the actors in the television commercials are visually present, can be heard, or both. In European television commercials, a trend was found. Though the difference between male and female voice-overs were not too large, there was still a significant difference. The likelihood of the voice-over to be done by a male voice was higher. They observed that there was a difference between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, with the east portraying fewer differences. Studies on Austrian television commercials found that the tendency for the over to be male was much higher – one study found male voice-overs to make up 70.6% of the commercials analyzed while female voice-voice-overs made up 22.9%, and another study found that there were no female voice-overs, and 21.6% of the television commercials had a male voice-over.41 The results, though they demonstrate the same situation, are quite different. The difference could be due to different sample size, a different time frame, or other factors, though a more detailed study would be required to pinpoint them. Findings on television commercials in Serbia showed 81% to have a male voice-over, and 71.4% to have a female voice-over. Turkish television commercials showed little difference between the gender of the voice-overs, with 58.8% being male and 52.6% being female. The second coding category is end comments. End comments are the comments made at the very end of the television commercials, to summarize it. For this category, only the results of a study on Poland is available for European countries. According to the researchers, among the television commercials they analyzed, 42.1% of male characters were seen presenting an end comment. On the other hand, 80.6% of the female characters were not found as presenting an end comment.42 The lack of data on this category may be due to many researchers not including them as a separate category when analyzing gender portrayals in television commercials – they
41 Ibid. 42 Ibid.
24 could be merged with a different category when being coded.
The third coding category is credibility. This refers to how the characters present in the television commercial established their credibility, or how they were presented. This could be as an authoritative figure, an expert in the field, or as a satisfied customer using the product being advertised. Furnham and Paltzer states that the credibility is one of the most important factors to consider for any form of advertisement, and at the same time, the credulity of the characters depicted in them. Much of the European countries were found to show women as the main character using the product being advertised. Television commercials from Sweden, Poland, and Bulgaria depicted 80% of the females presented as the users of the product being advertised. Each of these countries gave similar results. While 80% of the women were depicted as being the product user, this did not mean that men are not shown as being the user of the product – 42.9% of the male characters present were depicted also as the user of the product. 38.1% of the men in the television commercials were portrayed to be an authority.43 It is interesting that in the past literature they reviewed, the authors did not find any female authoritative figures to be present in the television commercials. The fourth coding category is the role the primary character is portrayed in. Example of roles would be of a professional, an advisor, or a consumer. For Bulgaria and Poland, men were portrayed in an autonomous role more often than women, and women were more likely to be depicted as being dependent, or having a familial role. 83.8% of the male characters in Bulgarian television commercials, and 57.9% of the male characters in Polish television commercials were shown to be autonomous. On the other hand, 45.6% of the female characters in Bulgarian television commercials were depicted in a dependent role, and 48.4% of female characters in Polish television commercials were seen in a role connected to the family.44 These results could
43 Ibid. 44 Ibid.
25 suggest that the traditional gender roles are still rather present in the European television commercials. Based on these findings, it appears to be that there are no strong female character being portrayed.
The fifth coding category is age. Researchers create several age groups when analyzing the characters portrayed in the television commercials. The number of groups, and how they create the groups differs between studies, and how the groups are called also differs. Among the European countries, all showed a tendency for the female characters to be younger. Turkish, Swedish, Polish, Bulgarian, and Austrian television commercials were each found to be depicting 60% of the female characters as being young. This was found to be twice the amount when compared to female characters in other age groups. In addition, the television commercials from Austria showed 64.1% of the male characters depicted as middle aged, which was double the number of female characters that were middle aged. For both male and female characters, older characters were rarely depicted. For Serbia they did not observe any, and for many of the other European countries, the number of old characters in their television commercials were approximately 5%.45 These findings show that women tend to be portrayed as younger, while men tend to be portrayed as older than women. The low percentage of old characters presented in television commercials could be because of several reasons, such as the target group for the brand or product.
The sixth coding category is the argument. Arguments, which are the rationale or the persuasion towards the audience to choose, purchase, or use the brand or product, can be either explicit or implicit. Analysis of the television commercials from Poland and Turkey found that there were high percentages where no argument was made. When arguments were made, the arguments presented by the characters were both facts based, and opinion
26 based. The percentages where no arguments were presented were 42.1% and 56.2% for the male characters, and 67.7% and 60.7% for the female characters, respectively. Serbia was the only European country found to see a difference in the type of arguments presented by the characters based on their gender. 67.6% of the male characters presented arguments that were based on facts, while 57.1% of the female characters presented arguments that were based on opinions.46 If Serbian television commercials followed the trend that Bulgarian and Polish television commercials in regard to the category for the role the characters were portrayed in, an explanation to this could be possible. However, no significant differenced were reported for the difference in roles played by gender. The reason for the difference in argument type by gender of the characters could be related to a different factor not mentioned. The seventh coding category is the reward type, which explains what kind of rewards or effects customers can experience by purchasing and using the specific product. Poland and Turkey showed that rewards of social and self enhancement or approval were more likely to be correlated with female characters. 37.7% of female characters in Polish television commercials, and 44.4% of female characters in Bulgarian television commercials were portrayed with this type of reward. Serbia was the only European country to see an opposite result. In Serbian television commercials, male characters were more likely to be depicted with results for social and self enhancement or approval.47
The eighth coding category is product type. Similar to the coding category for age, the type of products are grouped, and this grouping differs from researcher to researcher. The number and type of products have a large range, and what is available or allowed to be advertised in television commercials is affected by legal and cultural aspects. Due to these reasons, it is up to the researcher to decide how to group them, and the groups can
46 Ibid. 47 Ibid.
27 be very broad or narrow. Television commercials from Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, and Poland observed that female characters were more likely to be portrayed when advertising body products – 41.9% for Spain, 31.4% for Austria, 30.4% for Bulgaria, and 29% for Poland. The numbers were triple the percentage for Austria and Poland, and double for Bulgaria, when the percentages were compared between female and male characters. Male characters were found to be advertising outdoor products more compared to female characters in Bulgarian television commercials, and female characters were found to more in television commercials for products related to the home than male characters. Food, across many European countries, appear to be a type of product that often portrays male characters as the advertiser.48 This is in line with the findings in the coding category for reward type, where more female characters were depicted for social and self enhancement or approval. Body products, which were found to be connected to a higher number of female characters portrayed, is for caring for yourself. Through the usage of the body products, self-care is achieved, and the consumer will be able to gain the reward of self enhancement.
The ninth coding category is the background. By background, is the setting the characters are in, both social and physical. Characters other than the primary or secondary characters, often the characters without a speaking role, are included in this category. In Polish and Serbian television commercials, more female characters were found to be depicted in a setting where children were present in the background. 20.9% of female characters and 7.1% of male characters in Serbian television commercials were seen with children present in the background. As for the Polish case, 9.7% of female characters were portrayed in television commercials with children in their backgrounds, while there were no male characters in such a situation. The tenth, and last coding category is the location,
28 or the physical environment. At home, at work, on vacation at a beach, are all examples of locations. Female characters were more often portrayed in a residence in studies from Poland and Bulgaria. Male characters, on the other hand, were more often portrayed in a workplace in studies from Spain and Bulgaria.49 The results from these two categories can be seen as supporting the traditional gender role model, where women are associated with family, children, and the home and men are associated with work. There were no results from the reviewed past literature, where the opposite was observed – no television commercials where there were more male characters at with children, or in a home setting, none where there were more female characters in a location connected with work. However it should be noted that this does not mean that there were no television commercials which showed the non-traditional gender roles. The studies reviewed by Furnham and Paltzer each analyzed a large number of television commercials in each of the countries, and do not focus closely on each of the commercials when presenting their findings, as many studies give quantitative results.
Matthes, Prieler, and Adam also conducted a cross-cultural study on gender role portrayals. They found that specific cultural aspects do not play such a big role in shaping the stereotypes related to gender as it was imagined. Their findings indicated that gender stereotypes existed in television commercials across the globe. They analyzed primary characters, voice-overs, age, type of product, and settings. Their study analyzed 1755 television commercials from 13 different countries. In this section, only the findings of the European countries – Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and the United Kingdom – will be presented. Referring to Hofstede’s masculinity index, and studies which have developed from his ideas, they chose which countries to include in their study.50 The masculinity index is a part of a framework of cultural values
49 Ibid.
29 created by Geert Hofstede. The masculinity index is a measure used to judge whether the countries which Hofstede compared, are masculine or feminine. The scores of the countries gives an idea about the gender roles in the society. Masculine countries are considered to focus on productivity, and variables related to work and success are more often depicted in the television commercials. Feminine countries are considered to focus on relationships, and variables related to relationships of the characters or on the quality of life. More feminine countries are thought to be more gender equal.51 According to the index, Austria and Slovakia were considered to be more masculine with a higher score, and the Netherlands less masculine, with a lower score. They also included other countries which they found to be considered gender equal, or countries that were frequently studied in past literature, or convenience. They recorded 15 hours of prime time public television channels in 2014,which had the largest audience size. The definition of prime time differs between researchers, but here they decided to use the term to refer to the time frame of 18:00 to 23:00. They collected 150 television commercials from each of the countries, and excluded any television commercials which were not seen as fitting to the aims of the study.52
No dominance of male characters as being depicted as the primary character was found in their study. Their results suggested that the differences in the likelihood for a male to be the primary character more than a female was not present. Austrian, German, French, Spanish, and Slovakian television commercials showed a pattern where the female characters were depicted as being younger when compared with the male
Across the Globe,” Sex Roles 75 (October 2016): 314-327, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0617-y.
51 Paek, Nelson, and Vilela, “Examination of Gender-role Portrayals in Television Advertising across Seven Countries,” 192-207.
52 Matthes, Prieler, and Adam, “Gender-Role Portrayals in Television Advertising Across the Globe,” 314-327.
30 characters. It was more likely that the female primary character was of a younger age than male primary characters that were present in these countries. Except for France, all countries showed a tendency for the voice-overs to be done by a male voice. Television commercials from France was the only ones that had more voice-overs with a female voice. In all of the European countries, the types of products related to beauty and personal care, or toiletries and cleaning, were associated more with female characters. Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands were found to associate products from technology and automobile categories with male characters. Connected to this, more female characters were found in a setting related to the home than male character for German, Dutch, Romanian, and Spanish television commercials. On the other hand, the tendency for male characters to be found in a work-related setting was high in Austrian, German, French, Dutch, and British data samples. Associations between the male character and an occupational role was only present for Austrian, French, Dutch, Slovakian, and British television commercials.53 It is interesting how Germany and the Netherlands were the only countries which showed significant differences in the categories for setting, but the association between male characters and occupational roles were not found in German samples. While both the Netherlands and Germany appear to be portraying their characters in a traditional gender role model for where they are seen – in the home or in the workplace –, occupation was not connected to this in Germany.
Knoll, Eisend, and Steinhagen studied gender roles and gender stereotyping in television commercials aired on public and private channels in Germany. They took samples from both a private and a public channel in 2008. Aiming to fill the gap on the differences between how the gender stereotypes were portrayed in television commercials on a private channel and a public channel, 183 samples were collected – 113 from the
31 private channel, and 70 from the public channel. The researchers state that German television provides an interesting analysis. Germany has a big market which is appealing for advertisers. Also, Germany, following the United Kingdom, ranks second in the amount of money the attribute to the advertising industry and sixth in the world. With a large population, Germany actually has the largest market for television amongst the European countries. The channels aired on German television are also aired in the other countries where German is spoken in, such as Austria and Switzerland. This extends the reach of the content to increase, covering not only limited to one country. Much of the existing literature only focused on private channels and did not include public channels in their data. The authors state that as all countries in the European Union have at least one public channel, and that at the time the study was conducted, Germany had the highest number of available public channels, with a relatively large market share. Television commercials aired on the public channels are more regulated to stay neutral and unbiased, as these channels exist to not only entertain, but also to inform and educate the audience.54
ARD, a German public television channel, and RTL, a German private television channel were selected as they were the most popular and held the highest market share. For this study, prime-time was defined as between 17:00 and 20:00, the time frame where German public television channels were allowed to air commercials. The age, role and credibility of the primary characters, the location they were portrayed in, and the type of product advertised were the variables analyzed. Based on their analysis, they found that 33% of the primary characters in television commercials aired on ARD were female, while the percentage for female primary characters was 54% for RTL. Both the channels showed that female characters tended to be younger than male characters. The female
54 Silke Knoll, Martin Eisend, and Josefine Steinhagen, “Gender roles in advertising: Measuring and
comparing gender stereotyping on public and private TV channels in Germany,” International Journal of
32 characters were often under 35 years old, and male characters were often over 35 years old. Domestic products which were related to the home, were often associated with female characters, and they were also portrayed in a home setting more often compared to male characters, who were associated with other products, and portrayed in a work setting. Female characters depicted as the users of the product being advertised while male characters were depicted as in a position of authority was another trend that was present in both the channels.55 These results suggested that the gender portrayals in television commercials in Germany were rather stereotypical. Female characters were portrayed as younger, at home, and users of domestic products. Male characters were portrayed as older, at work, and in an authoritative role. It could be said, that these are supporting the traditional ideas of femininity and masculinity. According to their analysis, the degrees to which the different variables were stereotypical differs between ARD and RTL. ARD showed higher degrees for location and credibility, which were both related to occupation. RTL showed higher degrees for stereotypes in general, but was especially higher for the type of product, age, and credibility. The physical appearances of the characters portrayed, and how they behave in their roles are more present in the private channel.56
Neto and Silva analyzed Portuguese television commercials. Portugal has a high employment rate for women, and surveys conducted indicated changes have started to take place for household labor. The authors analyzed television commercials from 1996 and 2003, to identify changes, and to see whether the changes in Portuguese society have been reflected in the television commercials. The time frame they used were 19:00 to 23:00. 304 television commercials from 1996, and 319 television commercials from 2003 were collected as data samples. Overall, they found that there were more women present
55 Ibid. 56 Ibid.
33 in television commercials collected in 2003 than 1996. Though the findings point to a traditional gender role model, similar to the findings in previous studies, there has been some change. Female characters were more often in a domestic setting, as users of products, and associated with products for body care. Male characters were more likely in a workplace or occupational setting, and associated with automobile or sports products. However, the largest difference was seen where there was an 8% increase in the percentage of female primary characters present.57
Studies on Spanish television commercials are rich. Valls-Fernández and Martínez-Vicente analyzed 400 television commercials from three major television channels in 2005. The three channels were Televisión Española 1, Antena 3, and Telecinco, and the time frame chosen was 20:30 to 0:00, which had the most audience. Aiming to analyze the differences of how the characters were portrayed, they used several variables and content analysis. Results showed that 50.6% of the primary characters observed were male, and 49.4% were female, which was a balanced representation of both genders. The narrator, or voice-overs were not so balanced. 68.3% of the voice-overs were done by a male voice, while the percentage of a female voice-over was only 19.9%. The remaining 11.2% were television commercials with both, mixed, or not present. Similar to the findings from previous studies, they also found that female characters were more likely to be associated with body products, while male characters were more likely to be associated with automobiles. Also, female characters were often found to be young, while more male characters were middle aged. However, the proportion between the gender of the characters becomes similar when they are older – 6.9% for female characters, and 6% for male characters. Home settings, childcare, and housework were all variables where
57 Félix Neto and M. Carolina Silva, “Changing Patterns of Gender Portrayals in Portuguese Television
Advertisements,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 39, no. 5 (April 2009): 1214-1228, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00479.x.
34 more female characters were observed. Work settings, and professional work were variable where more male characters were observed.58
A different study focused on gender roles and sexism in Spanish television commercials, analyzing 370 television commercials. Similar to the previous study, the television commercials were collected from a 20:00 to 0:00 time frame, and three television channels were chosen – TVE1, Antena 3, and Tele 5. The authors found that female characters were shown playing to role of the homemaker more frequently than male characters, with the percentages being 15% and 4.5%. Male characters were more frequently seen in roles of office workers – 10.6% and 4.7% – or in a professional role – 17.9% and 11.2% – compared to female characters. Automobile and electronic devices were types of products associated with male characters, and household goods, beauty and self care goods were associated with female characters.59 These findings are in line with other studies, and supports the traditional views related to gender.
Sexism is a category which was not included in many other studies. In this study, five levels of sexism were identified to measure the sexism in the television commercials. Levels 1 and 2 were considered to be high sexism, level 3 was moderate sexism, and levels 4 and 5 were low sexism. 54.7% of male characters were portrayed in traditional gender roles, and 38.5% of female characters were portrayed in traditional gender roles. After analysis, they found that levels 1, 4, 5 showed higher percentages for female characters. For level 1, which indicated high levels of sexism, the percentages were 11.7% for female characters and 2.2% for male characters. This means that for Spanish television,
58 Federico Valls-Fernández and José Manuel Martínez-Vicente, “Gender Stereotypes in Spanish
Television Commercials,” Sex Roles 56 (May 2007): 691-699, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9208-2.
59 Marcelo Royo-Vela et al., “Adaptation of Marketing Activities to Cultural and Social Context: Gender
Role Portrayals and Sexism in Spanish Commercials,” Sex Roles 58 (March 2008): 379-390, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9341-y.
35 more women were likely to be presented in a sexual manner, or as objectified. While the female characters in the television commercials were portrayed more in roles that were sexist at level 1, male characters were portrayed in traditional roles, but not in a sexist way, at level 2. However, a high percentage, 39%, was found for female characters at level 4. 60 These results show that there are two sides, or two realities being demonstrated. On one side, traditional gender ideas are portrayed, but on the other side, non-traditional gender ideas are portrayed, showing a more gender equal society. This shows the complexity of the societies both in real and through the television commercials.
The study by Pennock-Speck focuses on the portrayal of violent women in three Spanish television commercials. He analyzed the television commercials aired between 2012 and 2013, for the following products: Utabon a spray used to clear congested noses, Ariel First Timers a laundry detergent, and biManán PRO a diet food product aimed at women. The products being advertised were not products which were connected to
physical violence or aggression. Violence used by the women in the television
commercials were not severe.61 Each of the three television commercials were described,
to follow the story line, but will not be included here as it will take up space. The sections
of the violence, and the relationship of the characters portrayed will be briefly mentioned
to make sense of the final findings. For Utabon, it was the wife hitting the husband on the
head with a pillow to get him out of his fantasy. For Ariel First Timers, it was a wife
slapping the husband’s hand to stop him from talking in an inappropriate manner. For biManán PRO, it was the wife loudly slapping the husband’s hand when he tries to take
a crepe. In all three cases, violence is used when the male character disengages from
60 Ibid.
61 Barry Pennock-Speck, “Violent women in Spanish TV ads: Stereotype reversal or the same old same
old?,” Discourse & Communication 10, no. 4 (June 2016): 363-377, https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481316638151.
36 reality, to bring them back to the real world. All three of the male characters were not
angry or upset when the female characters hit or slapped them. Pennock-Speck explains
that the use of violence, though not severe, was probably allowed to be used because it
was not inducing serious harm, and that it was violence by a female to a male character.
He also observes that in all three of the television commercials, the female character
seemed to be shown as having control, while in reality they were depicted as taking care
of the husband, or keeping the family together. The male characters are depending on the
female character, as the care giver.62 This study focuses on a smaller sample compared
to other studies, but therefore allows for each of the samples to be closely examined, to
understand not only percentages but also the story line and messages that are being
communicated by them towards the audience. Taking a more qualitative approach, the
analysis revealed not only surface level results – violence used by women – but also
deeper, hidden gender portrayals – women as care givers.
How gender is portrayed in television commercials can affect brand image and on the decision by potential customers whether to purchase the product or not.63 Keith Weed from Unilever, stated that Unilever would ban sexists advertisements, putting an end to stereotypical portrayals in their marketing tools. Weed not only described the reason behind the company’s decision to not only be of morality, but also of economics.64 According to their own research, “50 percent of ads at large portray women in a stereotypical way”65, and “40 percent of women no longer recognize themselves in the
62 Ibid.
63 Matthes, Prieler, and Adam, “Gender-Role Portrayals in Television Advertising Across the Globe,”
314-327.
64 Jan Benjamin, “Adverteerders: We willen stoppen met seksisme in tv-reclames,” NRC-Handelsblad,
July 4, 2016, https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/07/04/reclamemaker-wil-graag-veranderen-3018287-a1504989.
65 Russ Martin, “Cannes 2016: How Unilever succeeded with social good,” Marketing, June 23, 2016,
37 images that the advertisers send out into the world. And Unilever can no longer reach those customers.”66 In addition, “progressive advertising yields 12 percent more returns: more involvement with the brand.”67 By creating more progressive advertisements which challenge the stereotypes, they are working to make the female characters in their advertisements more real.68 Many large companies are following Unilever’s footsteps, for their television commercials.
Heineken69 recently launched a campaign which played with traditional gender stereotypes, to break them down. Maud Meijboom, the Director of the Brand Development and Communication for Heineken stated, “The idea for this campaign was inspired by real life experiences that everyone can relate to. Breaking down these stereotypes involves acknowledging them and we wanted to do this in an entertaining way through our hero film."70 Beer has been a type of product which have historically been associated with men, and the television commercials have shown to be dominated by male characters.71 The television commercial shows different scenes where women are served cocktails, wine, champaign, anything other than the beer they actually ordered. Men are shown always served or offered beer. The mistake is revealed when the women look confused, and swaps the drink with beer. In all the situations, it is assumed that the cocktail was ordered by the female, and the beer was ordered by the male. After the fifth
66 Benjamin, “Adverteerders.” 67 Ibid.
68 Martin, “Cannes 2016.”
69 “Home,” Heineken, accessed August 29, 2020, https://www.theheinekencompany.com/.
70 Alexandra Jardine, “Heineken takes a playful look at gender stereotypes in spot aimed at female
drinkers,” AdAge, February 12, 2020, https://adage.com/creativity/work/heineken-takes-playful-look-gender-stereotypes-spot-aimed-female-drinkers/2235936.
71 Jeff Beer, “Heineken tries, fails to play with tired gender stereotypes in alcohol marketing,” Fast
Company, June 2, 2020,
