Children’s Responses to Gender-Role Stereotyped Advertisements

1. RESEARCH
Children’s Responses to Gender-
Role Stereotyped Advertisements

2. RESEARCHERS
 Aysen Bakir-assistant professor of
Marketing at Illinois State University
 Jeffrey G. Blodgett- associate professor
of marketing in the college of business
and economics at North Carolina A&T
state university
 Gregory M. Rose- professor of marketing
at the University of Washington, Tacoma
 published in the journal of Advertising
research, Marketing Pluralism, Volume
48, No.2 in June 2008

3. Focus Area
• This study examines whether young
children’s attitudes toward gender-
stereotyped advertisements vary by
age and gender.
• Researchers are focusing on the
relationship between children’s
gender-role stereotypes and their
reactions to different types of
advertising appeals.

4. SAMPLING
 Total 280 participants
 140 boys and 140 girls;
 70 were in kindergarten and 70 were
in 3rd grade;
 68 percent were Caucasian, 30
percent were African-American, and 2
percent were Asian or Hispanic.

5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 Advertising storyboards were used as
stimulus materials.
 One set of advertising storyboards
conveyed on agentic theme, while the
other set conveyed a communal
theme.
 Both the storyboards contained 4
frames depicting various dimensions
for agentic and communal attributes.

6. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 The agentic storyboard was
operationalized to reflect
independence, competition, strength
and decisiveness,
 The communal storyboard was
operationalized to reflect nurturance,
empathy, harmony, and need for
affiliation.
 The storyboards were presented on a
laptop computer screen, one frame at

7. HYPOTHESIS
 The first set of hypothesis focuses on
gender.
H1A: Preadolescent boys will have a
more favorable attitude for an
advertisement embedded with agentic
attributes, as compared to an
advertisement that is embedded with
communal attributes.
H1B: Preadolescent girls will report a
more favorable attitude for an
advertisement embedded with communal
attributes as compared to an
advertisement that is embedded with

8. HYPOTHESIS
 The second set of hypothesis focuses on
age.
H2A: Preadolescent boys who are in a
younger age group will exhibit a more favorable
attitude for an advertisement embedded with
agentic attributes than will Preadolescent boys
who are in an older age group.
H2C: Preadolescent girls who are in a
younger age group will exhibit a more favorable
attitude for an advertisement embedded with
communal attributes than will Preadolescent
girls who are in an older age group.

9. Hypothesis Testing
Formula:
 ANOVA design was used to assess
the effects of age, gender, and ad type
on children’s attitude towards the
advertisement

10. DATA ANALYSIS
 Table 1
In first table researchers have focused on gender and
they have calculated each set with respect to ad type.
Cell Means- Attitude towards the Advertisement (Full Sample,
N=280)
Age x Ad Type
N= 280, 70 per cell
Agentic Communal
3rd and 4th 4.28 4.06 4.17
Kindergarten 4.12 4.17 4.14
4.20 4.11 4.16

11. Age x Gender
N= 280, 70 per cell
Boys Girls
3rd and 4th 4.23 4.10 4.17
Kindergarten 4.11 4.18 4.15
4.17 4.14 4.16
Gender x Ad Type
N= 280, 70 per cell
Agentic Communal
Boys 4.16 4.19 4.18
Girls 4.24 4.04 4.14
4.20 4.11 4.16

12. Table 2
In second table, researchers have focused on age and
they have calculated each set with respect to ad type.
Cell Means for Boys and Girls- Attitude towards Advertisement
Gender = Boys
Age x Ad Type
N = 140, 35 per cell
Agentic Communal
3rd and 4th 4.21 4.26 4.24
Kindergarten 4.10 4.12 4.11
4.16 4.19 4.16

13. Gender = Girls
Age x Ad Type
N = 140, 35 per cell
Agentic Communal
3rd and 4th 4.35 3.85 4.10
Kindergarten 4.13 4.23 4.18
4.24 4.04 4.14

14. THEORY
 Hypothesis H2C proved which states
preadolescent girls report more
favorable attitude towards the
communal advertisements rather than
girls of 3rd and 4th.

15. FINDINGS
 Marketers do not need to create one
set of advertisements preadolescent
boys and other set for preadolescent
girls of same age when advertising
products aimed at both genders.
 Advertisements targeting older
preadolescent girls should embed
fewer communal attributes and more
agentic attributes.

16. LIMITATIONS
 Only one experiment is conducted and
hence gender role perceptions could not
get fully assessed.
 Secondly children enjoyed the
experiment as they knew they would be
able to pick a prize when finished. This
effect might have resulted to act children
favorably to all kind of advertisements.
 It is also possible that youngsters wanted
to please the experimenters and hence
responded as “good subjects”.

17. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
RESEARCH
 Children constitute a large market
segment and they influence the
marketers thus are interest to
advertisers.
 Many products are specifically
designed for young boys or girls,
whereas others are targeted to
children of either gender.