Gender Stereotypes in Spanish- and English-Language Television Advertisements in the United States

Abstract

This study analyzed 394 U.S. Spanish- and English-language television advertisements from 2013 for differences in gender representation. The findings indicate a high prevalence of gender stereotypes in both samples. For example, more women than men were depicted as young and were usually shown at home. Men actors were generally fully dressed, whereas women were often suggestively dressed. Voice-overs were clearly dominated by men, and product categories were stereotypically associated with gender. Despite allegedly more traditional Latina/o gender role attitudes in society, this study found little variation between Spanish- and English-language television advertisements in terms of gender stereotypes. The potential effects of such representations on audiences are discussed based on social cognitive theory and cultivation theory.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Prof. Angharad Valdivia and the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for accommodating me in this research. I would also like to thank Dr. Todd Holden, Dr. Florian Kohlbacher, and three anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of the manuscript and their many insightful comments and suggestions.

Notes

¹ Although we acknowledge that the standard definition of Latina/os also includes people with roots in Brazil, in this article we use the term Latina/os only for people with roots in a Spanish-speaking nation from Latin America. This reflects the way the U.S. census defines Latinos/Hispanics (excluding people with roots in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, but including Spain), as well as the situation in the United States that “in terms how Latina/os are envisioned in relation to the dominant-culture population, they are thought of as Spanish speakers” (Valdivia, 2010, p. 16).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Hallym University Research Fund, 2012 (HRF-201212-005).

Notes on contributors

Michael Prieler

Michael Prieler (Ph.D., Tohoku University, 2007) is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Hallym University, South Korea. His research focuses on media representations of gender, race/ethnicity, and older people.