For the purpose of creating a general description of the television commercials to which children are exposed, some of the statistical findings will be presented. As I reflected on the results I obtained, it became apparent that a number of the variables I had previously identified, were not necessary for this study. By omitting these variables, I am not denying their importance, however to improve the clarity of this thesis, I am limiting my analysis to those variables that seemed most relevant.
Thursday evenings were the busiest time for advertisements, with an average of 29 commercials per hour block. Saturday mornings weren't as busy, with an average of 14 1/3 commercials per hour. Of particular interest was the lack of commercials on the one Canadian channel on Saturday mornings. CBC had only three commercials during the one hour block I viewed. Removing this block, the Saturday morning average rises to 20 commercials per hour, which is still substantially fewer than the Thursday evening segment (See Table 1).
| Television Station / Day of the Week | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | CBC | Fox | NBC | Totals |
| Thursday | 26 | 27 | 34 | 87 |
| Saturday | 3 | 19 | 21 | 43 |
| Totals | 29 | 46 | 55 | 130 |
The type of commercial by day revealed that the selection of times was appropriate for the study as most commercials were clearly child-oriented. Toy commercials were the most prevalent type of commercial, (52.31%), followed by �other� (19.23%) (i.e. videos, and movies), and groceries (16.92%). Within the grocery category the predominant product was breakfast cereals (See Table 2).
Both time slots had a roughly equal percentage of toy commercials (Thursday: 51.72%; Saturday: 53.49%), however there were some distinctions between these two time slots, as 100% of Personal Hygiene commercials, and 84% of Other commercials were on Thursday, while 100% of Snack Food commercials were on Saturday. Personal hygiene commercials (i.e. L'Oreal Skin Cream) and other commercials (i.e. Canada Savings Bonds) were generally more adult-oriented, and this would appear to indicate a higher percentage of adult oriented commercials during the Thursday segments.
| Type of Commercial | ||
|---|---|---|
| Element | Count | Percent |
| Toys | 68 | 52.308% |
| Groceries | 22 | 16.923% |
| Snack Foods | 2 | 1.538% |
| Restaurants | 9 | 6.923% |
| Personal Hygiene | 4 | 3.077% |
| Other | 25 | 19.231% |
More than half of the total commercials had exclusively male main characters (54.87%). Only 30.89% of the commercials had exclusively female main characters, and 14.16% had main characters of both genders. Most often there were one (37.50%) or two (37.50%) main characters, and their age group was most often school-aged (66.67%). Finally, the main character was most often a consumer, or user of the product advertised (71.68%).
When characters other than the main character(s) were present, they were most often male (44.44%). Interestingly, the second most likely scenario was both male and female minor characters (36.51%). In only 17.46% of the commercials in which a minor character appeared was it exclusively a female character.
In toy commercials, the toy was most often a traditionally male toy (50%) (i.e. Power Spark Welder and Virtua Fighter). Traditionally female toys (29.73%) (i.e. Dream Phone and Bride Surprise), and gender neutral toys (20.27%) (i.e. Bumble Bee Bolters and Play Doh), were similar in their frequencies. This once again indicates the predominance of male characters on television.
The gender of the narrator is important in that this is the voice of authority in most commercials. This role is given to an individual with expertise, who the public feels they can trust. For this reason it is interesting to note that 75.83% of all narrators were male (see Table 4). Only in the category of personal hygiene were women given a higher percentage of narrators (75%). The gender of the narrator was also found to be related to the gender of the main characters (� = 51.042, p = .0001). In 98.21% of commercials with a male main character, there was a male narrator. Conversely, in 68.75% of commercials with a female main character, there was a female narrator. This would indicate that commercials aimed at a male main characters are more likely to have a male narrator, however commercials with female main characters, although more likely to have a female narrator, still have a sizable amount (25%) of male narrators (the remaining 6.25% had multiple narrators of both gender).
| Gender of Narrator by Gender of Main Character | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender of Main Character | Male Narrators | Female Narrators | Both Gendered Narrators | Unclear Narrator |
| Male | 55 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Female | 8 | 22 | 2 | 0 |
| Both | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Unclear | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 77 | 24 | 2 | 0 |
I will now turn my focus to the three additional variables identified as important to this study. These are the loudness of the music, and the darkness of the setting. The loudness of the music was found to have a strong positive correlation to the gender of the main character (� = 40.436, p = .0001). The colours of the setting were also found to have a strong positive correlation to the gender of the main character (� = 34.881, p = .0005), with male characters appearing in commercials with darker settings.
Finally, I looked at the style of behaviour demonstrated by the main
characters in these commercials. This stage began with an analysis of
the number of main characters in the commercial. This should give us
some indication as to the form of interaction that characters are
involved in. In 64.52% of the commercials with male main characters,
there was only one main character. In contrast, 67.65% of the
commercials with female main characters, had two main characters. These
findings indicate play characteristics associated with each gender. Male
characters are expected to play by themselves, thus expressing their
individualism. Opposed to this is the portrayal of female characters,
who played in pairs thus allowing for conversation and cooperation.
In the play activities participated in by the main characters of toy
commercials, male main characters were more likely to be portrayed as
competing (33.33%), manipulating the toy (26.67%), fighting (23.33%), or
building (13.33%). Female main characters, by comparison were most
likely to be portrayed laughing (56.52%), talking (21.74%), and
manipulating the toy (21.74%). This would indicate the socially
cooperative expectations of girls, and the socially competitive
expectations of boys. The play elements took this description further,
with the revelation that boys were most likely to participate in games
(40%), skills / operate (26.67%), and holding product (16.67%), while
girls were most likely to be depicted as caring for the toy (56.52%), or
holding the product (21.74%). Most important here is the competition of
game playing associated with male characters, as opposed to the concern
for others inherent in caring for a toy, most often depicted by female
characters. Finally, the behaviour displayed by the main characters
revealed the overall impression the characters depicted. Aggression was
strongly correlated to male characters (� = 62.54, p = .0001), while
female characters were likewise linked to passivity (See Table 5).
The most obvious indication of the gendered portrayal of these characters was the toy played with by characters in toy commercials. Male main characters played with traditionally male toys 80.65% of the time, and gender neutral toys the remainder of the time. Female main characters played with traditionally female toys 95.65% of the time, and gender neutral toys the rest of the time (see Tables 7). This demonstrates that boys never played with traditionally female toys on their own, and likewise girls never played with traditionally male toys on their own. Interestingly, when the main characters included boys and girls playing together, girls were depicted playing with "boy" toys (40% of cross-gendered main character commercials were for traditionally male toys). Male characters however were never portrayed playing with "girl" toys (0% of cross-gendered main character commercials were with traditionally female toys). The remaining 60% of these commercials were for gender-neutral toys, as expected.
Among those commercials which did not fit the usual mold there seemed to be some indications of an increased flexibility for the male role. Males are more likely to play with their toys with female characters, than the reverse. In four instances, traditionally male toys were played with by male and female main characters. To better understand the functions in which children of different gender were portrayed together, it is interesting to focus on these four commercials. It must be observed that two of these commercials are actually the same commercial, but were presented at different times. Of the four commercials, three were shown on CBC, the Canadian public network. This suggests the intriguing possibility that Canadian and/or public networks, might be more inclined to depict less gendered commercials.
We can also gain information from the types of commercials these were. Two of these commercials were for products by Fisher Price, a leading manufacturer of children's toys. The first of these was for a Fisher Price farm set, and was oriented towards pre-school aged children.
The final advertisement appeared twice, and was the only commercial of this kind to appear on an American network. This commercial was for Reboot Action Figures, and depicted three boys and one girl engaged in play with action figures based on the Reboot television cartoon show. This commercial was interesting, as it fit all of the usual characteristics of a male oriented commercial, with a high level of implied aggressive behaviour (level 4), a generally dark setting (level 4), with loud background music (level 4), and a male narrator. The significant difference from the majority of other commercials being the presence of a female character.
Another sector of the commercials worth examining further was the commercials for toys traditionally viewed as gender neutral. There were fifteen of these commercials, and six of them had only male main characters, six had both gendered main characters, one had only female main characters, and two had no main characters. Three of these commercials had adult main characters (one for a game, and two for McDonalds).
The McDonalds commercials are interesting, as the main character was Ronald McDonald, however the minor characters were the ones actually playing with the toys. In each case, male and female children were depicted playing together with the gender neutral toys offered as incentives to eat at McDonalds. This perhaps depicts an atmosphere in which children have some common interests, fast-food restaurants. This leaves eight commercials that were for gender neutral toys, and depicted school-aged children as the main characters. Of these commercials, six were for board games, or variations on board games, one was for Fantastic Stickers, and one was for Play-Doh.
Of the six board games, five depicted male and female main characters together, the one exception to the cross-gender scenario was an ad for Battledome which had a male main character, and which could arguably be a traditionally male board game. The one commercial with only female main characters, Fantastic Stickers, could arguably be considered a traditionally female toy, as the stickers were depicted as a beautifying agent. The other five depicted one acceptable scenario in which boys and girls are allowed to interact. Presumably, during the competition of a board game, boys and girls are allowed to compete, and play together. Finally, the Play-Doh commercial I will lump with two commercials for Lego which had no main character. These commercials were for toys that involve the manipulating of a product to form imaginative creations. Historically, these companies (Lego and Play-Doh) have been progressive in their non-gendered approach to marketing. Within these relatively neutral commercials however, we can still see how gender can become salient. For example, in the case of the Play-Doh commercial, the product advertised was a Mad Monster Creator, and the main characters involved were male. The implication would seem to be that this product is thus meant for a male consumer. Lego on the other hand, included no identifiable characters in their commercials, instead showing only the hands of the children using their product. These seemed to be an attempt at eliminating the gender factor from their commercials entirely. This method, of not depicting the child�s gender could be used effectively in the future to limit the gender stereotypes attached to toy advertising. These commercials however, have a dark background, a male narrator, and loud music, all characteristics of a male-oriented commercial. Assuming that children pick up on these items, I would expect that only male children would consider playing with this toy.
Finally, I will discuss the presentation of commercials apparently oriented towards pre-school children. There were only three commercials with pre-school aged main characters. Of these, two were for gender neutral toys, and one was for a traditionally male farm set. In two of these commercials, the main characters were of both gender, while one had only a male main character. In these commercials there is little or no indication that the toys are meant to be gender specific. The focus instead seemed to be on children of both genders having fun. The play activity in all three of these commercials was laughing.
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