Gender Appeal and Gender Identity in Magazine Alcohol Advertisements

INTRODUCTION: This thesis examines the appeal alcohol advertisements have to both genders, and how individuals may form their perceptions of gender identity based upon what they view in advertisements. METHODS: Content analysis was applied to magazine alcohol advertisements. A convenience sampling of magazine alcohol advertisements was taken from Cosmopolitan and Sports Illustrated from issues published during May to October 2010. The content analysis focused on five variables: product type, language used, scene, tonality, and which gender the advertisements appealed to overall. Content analyses of alcohol advertisements have typically focused on adolescent exposure to advertisements. In contrast, the focus of this research is on gender appeal and gender identity formation. RESULTS: Gender appeal is the most important variable in addressing the overall point of the thesis. Using Fisher’s Exact Test, results showed that, of the variables examined, only the type of language utilized in the advertisement was dependent on the general gender appeal of the advertisement. The variables of tonality, type of product, and scene were shown not to be dependent on the gender appeal of the advertisement. Given the data gathered, and in view of the changing presence of sexuality in alcohol advertisements, it appears that the topic of gender identity is unfounded. CONCLUSION: The results of the research do not show statistically significant relationships between most of the variables. The findings do suggest, however, that there is some gender appeal present in magazine alcohol advertisements, especially when the type of language used in the advertisements is taken into account