Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
6th International Early Childhood Education Congress, Kars, Türkiye, 2 - 05 Ekim 2019, ss.901-902
Objective
The purpose of this study is to examine gender stereotypical occurrences in television
advertisements targeting young children. A content analysis of two major children’s television channels
was conducted to review approximately 80 hours of television content. Commercials will be analyzed
based on their target audience, pink-blue gender coding, gender of the characters and voiceover
(narration).
Introduction
A person’s sex refers to biologically constructed categories of female and male; which are differentiated by genes, chromosomes, and hormones. Gender, on the other hand, refers to the socially constructed categories of male and female. According to Bern’s Gender Schema Theory and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, the development of children’s thinking and behaviors regarding differentiation of males and females during early childhood period. Children’s gender schema begins to be formed and develop in early years of life. Moreover, children start to discover the notion of being female or male with the help of observing their society from the point of gender. The considerable amounts of these observations, which help children to explore the concept of being female or male, are made through the medium of television. The amount of time children spend watching television has increased nearly one hour per week to a total of more than 23 hours in between ages of 6 and 14. Apparently, watching television has become an important component of children’s daily life. Advertising on television has been one of the most dominant ways of communication that is used by marketers for years to reach their target audience, e.g. children. When connection of commercials and gender topics are considered, it can be said that children’s daily lives are permeated by commercials, because they are exposed to commercials especially when they are watching cartoons on children’s channels. Recent studies have shown that the advertising market reflects gender stereotypes and this can be observed in the voiceovers. The products linked with females, such as cosmetics, have female voiceover; whereas the products linked with males, such as cars, have male voiceover. In addition, from the middle of the last century, pink and blue colors are usually linked with the sexes, and so a color–gender association has been formed. Especially, for young children blue items are obligatory for boys and pink items essential for girls makes the children to have knowledge about building this formation. Method The current study attempts to answer this question: How gender (particularly gender stereotypical occurrences) is portrayed in television commercials that specifically address younger audience? Two popular children’s TV channels, Minika Go (a domestic TV channel), and Cartoon Network (an international TV channel with domestic and international content) was selected for the content analysis. The data will be collected from all the commercials broadcasted on aforementioned TV channels over a random weekend. The data will be analyzed based on gender of the characters, voiceovers and gender associated colors. The findings will provide important clues regarding the amount, format and presence of the gender biased/stereotypical content young children are being exposed via television advertisements on a daily basis. The results of this study are most likely to assist parents, educators and policymakers in making informed decisions in terms of protecting young children from gender biased TV content. Finally, the researchers hope to further the discourse on the healthy portrayal of gender roles on television to the young television viewers with impressionable minds.
Keywords: Keywords: gender, children, commercials, children’s television