Gender Sex Role Portrayals in International Television Advertising Over Time: the Australian Experience

Using content analysis, the current study examines sex-role portrayals in Australian television advertisements and contrasts the results with previous studies. The findings indicate that portrayals of women are actually becoming more stereotypical in a way that favours traditional roles. Role portrayals appear to be increasingly distant from women's actual experience. In the global context, this finding is unusual given that many international studies suggest that role portrayals are becoming relatively more reflective of current realities. This study adds to the current literature by highlighting the importance of longitudinal studies