Gender Jenga: the role of advertising in gender stereotypes within educational and non‐educational games

Abstract

PurposeThe study which this paper documents aimed to test nine hypotheses through the use of content analysis of gender stereotypes within the advertising of educational/non‐educational children's games.Design/methodology/approachA total of 130 UK adverts, fitting the time period of 1970‐2011, were used. Then 17 dimensions of each advertisement were coded and chi‐squared analyses were carried out. Additional comparisons were carried out examining differences in pre‐1990 and post‐1990 adverts, age and game categories.FindingsNine hypotheses were tested and most were supported, including: males being shown as the main characters in educational adverts compared to non‐educational adverts; gender stereotypes occurring within advertising ‐ adverts aimed at males consisted of males being the main characters, female‐orientated adverts consisted of females presenting the majority of adverts; and young males were displayed alone whereas females were either alone or supervised by another female.Originality/valueThis study is possibly the first to conduct a thorough content analysis of television advertisements for games aimed at children. It reveals the amount of stereotyping found in general advertisements aimed at adults in many western countries.