Gender analysis of frightening film newspaper advertisements: A 50‐year overview (1940–1990)

Given the perceived influence of advertising as an agent of socialization and concerns of violence raised by recent content analyses of horror films, the visual content of newspaper horror film advertising was examined over a 50 year period, 1940–1990. Results indicate that male protagonists consistently outnumbered females and females were more often depicted as victims at least until recently. However, the most common depictions were those of aggression and victimization involving characters of undetermined gender.

Key concepts:

• Horror films
• newspaper advertising
• female victimization
• media violence
• content analysis