Gender Representation in TV Advertising regarding Social Interaction : The Construction of Stereotypes through Symbolism and Connotations

Gender representation is a frequently addressed field within media and communication studies in general and in the subject of TV advertising in particular. Previous research mainly focused on the detection of commonly exploited stereotypes that are used to portray women and men respectively. Much emphasize has been placed on the relationship between the sexes regarding social roles and professions, embedded in a cultural and ideological context. The purpose of this scientific work however is to examine how the construction of gender stereotypes in media takes place, which practices are used to connote meaning. Using a qualitative method, namely a visual discourse analysis, the aim of the study is to unveil subtle but also obvious symbols and characteristics that are used to represent feminine and masculine traits respectively in order to expand the current body of research. This proceeding marks an approach to have a closer look at the social interaction of females and males in TV advertisements in order to get an insight in the allocation of power and subsequently, social roles. Four TV advertisements are used as objects of investigation. As a theoretical fundament, the gender theories of sexism, masculinism and feminism are introduced. The findings suggest that the representation of women and men still follows strong patterns of stereotyping, not just on the level of role allocation but also on a behavioral level. However, the study comes to the conclusion that an asymmetric treatment of the sexes is not necessarily the result of gender stereotyping; in the case, both sexes are stereotyped similarly, not depicting either men or women dominating their counterparts in a global context.