Changing gears? Gendered messaging in Australian car advertisements since the 1950s

ABSTRACT

In Australia, a rapid adoption of personal vehicles from the mid-twentieth century onwards has been, at least in part, related to increasingly targeted and pervasive advertising. The result is a consolidation of automobility through exposure, as audiences consume persuasive messaging at conscious and unconscious levels. The argument in this study is that the messaging in Australian car advertisements in the past eight decades has been highly gendered, with women often objectified, infantilised, or dismissed. Meanwhile men have been shown as being in charge – of cars and of life. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 24 high-profile car advertisements shown on television since the 1950s. An improved understanding of the relationships between gender, automobility, and advertising can be used to reconfigure Australians’ cultural connection with cars and alter the latter’s influence on the built environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Advertisements
• commercials
• gender
• automobility
• car culture
• national identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Sales data were extracted from media sources, based on the publications released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI). FCAI is the peak body for Australian vehicle distribution, recording data and storing historical statistics regarding the automotive sector. Digital sales reports, known as “VFACTS,” can be purchased for one-off access or by continuous subscription via a web browser at significant expense. However, other automotive media organisations access VFACTS data and make them publicly available through news articles and verified blog posts. For this study, the data was sourced through the media organisation Best Selling Cars Blog, which supplies ranked Australian car sales data from 1946 to the present. This data source is endorsed as valid by two independent organisations: PD Insurance Blog and Savings.com.au Financial Services.

2. Advertisements released in 2020 and 2021 were considered as representative of the 2020s decade.

3. Pickup trucks in Australian parlance.