Gender steriotypes in advertising panels

Abstract

Studies on gender stereotype in advertising have occupied on outstanding area of research. The issue has been discussed from various perspectives. One of the most important investigation related to this issue was made by American Sociologist Erving Goffman in his study of gender stereotyping in print advertisements (Gender advertisements) from 1979.This study was about the representation of men and women in advertising panels, the aim of this study is to analyse typical stereotyped portrayals of men and women in advertising panels, images in Algerian panels are chosen as a corpus of this investigation, where gender is the focus of attention. The study is of paired objective. First, to negotiate the unequal relationships between men and women in advertising images. Second, it aims to explore how males and females are represented in advertising panels. As far as the first aim of this study is concerned, some images are selected from Algerian panels and analysed based on the six categories of Goffman model (1979) : relative size, feminine touch, function ranking, family, ritualisation of subordination and licensed withdrawal. Second, to meet the second aim of the study, 17 images are selected from the Algerian panels (Mostaganem and Jijel), Data have shown that Goffman model still applies to contemporary advertisements in the Algerian panels. In addition, the results show that stereotypical representations of women defined by Goffman are still widespread in print advertisements.