Is There an Increase in Television Commercials that Contain Gender Stereotypes? A Content Analysis of MTV Commercials

This study is being conducted to examine whether or not gender stereotypes are present in commercials on MTV. This study is a follow-up on research that was conducted previously by Signorielli, McLeod, Healy (1994), and uses the same coding schemes to analyze the content of the commercials. Commercials were taped for 8 hours on a weekday from 3 p.m.-11 p.m., and for 12 hours on a weekend day from 11 a.m.-1 1 p.m. The commercials were then analyzed using the coding schemes provided by Signorielli et al. (1994), using two coders working independently. The results will be analyzed and compared to the results compiled by Signorielli et al. (1994), and findings are anticipated to show that gender stereotypes will be more prevalent in the commercials analyzed from 2003 as compared to 1994