Johnson and Young

Question 2

What is advertising?

Answer 2

• trying to motivate consumption
• invades everyone’s consciousness
• strategies to boos consumerism
• image based influence on children that align with gender identity

Question 3

What is television as a cultural resource for children?

Answer 3

• offers models on how to act, speak, and interact (SLT)
• promotes ideas surrounding race, class, gender, and ethnicity e.g., girls talking talk less in ads targeted for both genders = women learn to not take a leading role in conversations
• socialisation = learning gender roles through ads - they are then extrapolated (made real)

Question 4

What are television ads as a cultural environment?

Answer 4

• 20 mins of ads per hour = 1/5
• children’s ad act (USA) = regulated amount of commercial air time

Question 5

What is the background?

Answer 5

commercials being the basis of children’s gender images as a source of meaning

Question 6

What is the aim?

Answer 6

to determine the degree to which language codes that call upon a certain gender are a cultural category for selling

Question 7

What is the method?

Answer 7

a content analysis - ads transcribed and then common themes in language are looked for

Question 8

What is the sample?

Answer 8

NO DIRECT SAMPLE
- New England TV stations (1996-97 and then again in 1999)
- 3 different sources - no subscriptions
- 15 1/2 hours of ads = 478 total ads

Question 9

What is the procedure?

Answer 9

• x4 gender aspects = voice overs, verb elements, speaking lines, word ‘power’
• x5 product categories = toys, food, educational, movies, and recreational

Question 10

What are the key findings?

Answer 10

• more ads were boy oriented (55%)
• boy toys were action figures such as Tonka Mega Crew whereas girl toys were posable figures such as barbie dolls
• there were male voices in every boy and girl oriented ad
• all but 12 adult voices had exaggerated stylisation for targeted ads
• boy ads had more action verbs relating to power and destruction whereas girl ads were more nurturing such as gossipy and powerless
• 1/5 of male ads had the word ‘power’ or ‘powerful’ and this only appeared in one girl ad

Question 11

what are the conclusions?

Answer 11

• reinforced gender polarisation - gender ideology through verbal models (action verbs) and imagery
• advertisers need to take more responsibility and more regulation is needed

Question 12

what are the methodological strengths?

Answer 12

• standardised content analysis = replicable and therefore reliable and internally valid
• quant data makes more scientific and objective - easy to compare and analyse- falsifiable

Question 13

what are the methodological weaknesses?

Answer 13

• socially sensitive - young children and SLT - parents could be labelled lazy for placing their children in front of screens
• ignores individual differences = less reliable and valid
• no direct sample = cannot establish causality - might not be the ad?
• sampling bias - class differences not tested (no subscriptions) - only USA = ethnocentric
• lacks temporal validity
• lacks construct validity - does not test impact of ads

Question 14

what are debate strengths?

Answer 14

• deterministic = allow behaviour to be predicted - interventions and practical applications = useful

Question 15

what are debate weaknesses?

Answer 15

• reductionist = ignores interaction with other children, family values and hobbies etc
• nurture / situational = ignores predisposition