Product Purchase Decision-Making Behavior and Gender Role Stereotypes: A Content Analysis of Advertisements in Essence and Ladies' Home Journal, 1990-1999
Titel:
Product Purchase Decision-Making Behavior and Gender Role Stereotypes: A Content Analysis of Advertisements in Essence and Ladies' Home Journal, 1990-1999
In this study, product categories advertised most and least often by women only, by men only, and by both women and men were examined in 2 women's magazines, 1 that targets a Black female audience, Essence, and 1 that targets a White female audience, Ladies' Home Journal. The goal was to determine if the magazines' readers are being exposed to images that send a message that specific product purchase decision-making behavior is gender based. A content analysis of over 14,000 advertisements revealed that advertisements fail to portray women as either capable of or having the need to make a wide range of product purchase decisions. Most advertisements printed in the magazines featured women making purchase decisions for products that pertain to the appearance of themselves, their children, or their homes. In contrast, the magazines featured few advertisements for financial services and technology products, both of which are important product purchase decisions made by females in general and by female heads of households in particular. Women's magazine advertisements continue to subject women to traditional, patriarchal defined images of women's lives rather than reflections of their daily experiences and aspirations.