Gender Role Stereotyping in Radio Advertisements: A Portuguese and Cross-national Analysis

Most previous research into gender role stereotypes in the mass media has concentrated on television or print. Using content analysis, gender role stereotyping in radio commercials was examined. The goals of the study were to: (1) provide current data on level and content of gender stereotyping in Portuguese radio advertising; (2) compare levels of stereotyping in three countries. One hundred and sixty six advertisements were content analyzed into nine categories referring to the central figure, credibility, role, location, argument, reward, product, accent, and narrator. As previously found, male and female characters were portrayed in different ways particularly on credibility (males as authorities, females as users), role (males as celebrities/narrator, females as dependent), location (males in occupational setting more than females), and narrators (females as characters more than males). The patterns of bias in Portuguese radio commercials are consistent with, though less marked than, those in television commercials. Concerning the cross- national analysis, results showed more similarities than differences.