Food advertisement and gender stereotypes on Austrian television
- 15.04.2015
- English Articles
- Benjamin Missbach
- Siegfried Allemann
- Elke Szalai
- Jürgen König
Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: September 16, 2014 | Revision accepted: February 5, 2015
Introduction
Eating habits are formed as a result of diverse societal influences. They develop as a whole throughout one’s lifetime and are considered highly complex [1]. Modern television, together with other media (print, radio, internet), plays a major role in data dissemination [2] and contributes to the broad presentation of dietary stereotypes.
Gender as community forming category
Different demands of men and women for products and services have prompted many corporate divisions to conduct research and are incorporating their findings in technology development, marketing and planning. Marketing strategies, and/or product designs are used to reinforce gender stereotypes and consequently manifest societal male/female perceptions of product use and are accordingly applied in their promotion. The orientation toward these societal norms is evident in product designs, including food products. Numerous studies point out differences in male and female eating behavior [3, 4], but do not elaborate on the influence on diet these standards have in product advertisement and package design. Symbolic gender order reinforces values and therefore clearly influences male and female behavior [5].
Summary
The goal of this paper is the analysis of food advertisements on Austrian television as to the subject of gender specific stereotypes. Over a two-week-period, 45 hours of television footage were recorded, coded, analyzed, and evaluated using seven screening categories. The analysis revealed that men, in comparison to women, are frequently depicted as performing some type of work and are often older (> 50 years), or of middle age (35–50 years of age). Food, such as meat and beer, are more commonly associated with men; milk, coffee and tea rather with women. In addition, women are often portrayed as young (< 35 years of age), in stable relationships and shown while performing housework. As a result, gender manifestations are evident in food advertisements and implications regarding stereotypical role models referring to dietary identities and food communication can be derived.
Keywords: food advertisement, television, gender stereotypes, gender, marketing
