Abstract:
Research on gender portrayals in advertising are prolific and mostly focus on stereotypical
roles. However, there is no previous research report analysing portrayals that fall into the
“other” category of female roles. This paper aims to provide an outline of female role
portrayals in advertising and, importantly, to examine the “other” role category for new
portrayals. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on samples of South African
magazine and television advertisements. The findings indicate that the stereotypical
decorative role was prevalent in magazine advertisements. In television advertisements the
product user was the person most often featured. A detailed analysis of the “other”
category in both media revealed four new role portrayals. These new roles represent a
different view of the modern woman and may be used to differentiate effectively those
brands in media that are cluttered with advertising messages. The research provides
direction for future content analytic studies on the topic of female portrayals in advertising.
