The presence of gender stereotypes in television commercials in Croatia: Analysis of food and beverage commercials

Reklame predstavljaju neodvojiv dio medija, a isto tako imaju snažan utjecaj na publiku i konzumente. Glavna svrha reklama je na što bolji način predstaviti proizvod i zadržati pozornost publike. Kako bi u tome uspjeli stručnjaci za reklame služe se stereotipima koji su javnosti dobro poznati. Nakon prikaza teorijskog dijela, u radu su izneseni rezultati istraživanja. Cilj istraživanja bio je kroz analizu sadržaja reklama za hranu i piće na hrvatskoj televiziji analizirati način prikaza žena i muškaraca i prisutnost rodnih stereotipa sukladno s predmetom istraživanja. Istraživanja je provedeno na tri hrvatska televizijska programa – HRT2, RTL i Nova TV, kroz šest dana u rujnu 2018. godine. Rezultati su ukazali na to da su žene vizualno zastupljenije u reklamama, dok su muškarci dominirali kao naratori. Žene su češće prikazane kao majke koje brinu o djeci te su se češće nalazile u privatnom prostoru, dok su muškarci predstavljeni kao zaposleni i uglavnom na radnom mjestu ili javnom prostoru. Mliječni proizvodi i proizvodi od žitarica prezentirale su samo žene, a reklame za meso i alkoholna pića uglavnom su bile povezane uz muškarce. Povezivanjem žena ili muškaraca uz određene proizvode želi se istaknuti njihova ženstvenost ili muževnost. Na taj se način kroz reklame šalju poruke što bi bilo poželjno da žene ili muškarci konzumiraju te tako stvaraju predodžbu o hrani/piću kao proizvodima koji su rodno specifični. Sve to vodi daljnjim problemima u društvu te se stoga ova tematika treba detaljnije dalje istraživati.Advertising is an inseparable part of the media and also has a strong impact on the audience and consumers. The main purpose of advertising is to represent the product in its best way and keep the audience's attention. In order to do this, the advertising experts serve stereotypes that are well-known to the public. After the theoretical part is presented, the paper presents the results of the research. The aim of the research was to analyze the representation of women and men and the presence of gender stereotypes in accordance with the subject of the study through the analysis of the content of food and drink commercials on Croatian television. The research was conducted on three Croatian television programs - HRT2, RTL and Nova TV, for six days in September 2018. The results indicated that women were more visually represented in commercials, while men dominated as narrators. Women are more often shown as mothers who care about children and are more often in a private area, while men are represented employed and mostly at work or in the public space. Dairy and cereal products were presented only by women, and meat and alcoholic beverages were mostly related to men. Representation of women or men related with certain products wants to highlight their femininity or masculinity. This way, they send messages through advertisements what would be desirable for women or men to consume and thus create a concept of food / beverage as products that are gender-specific. All this leads to further problems in society and hence this topic needs to be further explored