Advertisements for Technical and Vocational

Advertisements for technical and vocational schools abound in local newspapers and television. Their target audiences include new high school graduates as well as middle to lower-income individuals, because consumers of technical and vocational education most likely do not already have advanced degrees. The advertisements usually appeal to young adults, although age is less of an issue than gender. Technical and vocational schools target men and women differently, and the content of the ads change depending on the department or program being offered the differences in the advertisements often reflect traditional gender roles and norms. For example, a recent advertisement for DeVry University touted its nursing program with three photos of females from different ethnic backgrounds. The lack of male models in the advertisement clearly played up the stereotype that nursing is a female profession. On the contrary, an ITT Tech advertisement promoted its School of Information Technology programs with photos of women surrounded by electronic gadgets. The advertisement implied that it and related technology fields are gender neutral. Both DeVry and ITT Tech offer vocational training and degree programs, but each school's advertisements capitalize on gender roles and norms to appeal to their target group.

The DeVry advertisement for the Chamberlain College of Nursing uses imagery of females in traditional gender roles, whereas the ITT Tech advertisement uses imagery of females in nontraditional gender roles. Females have been systematically ushered into the helping professions like nursing instead of towards medical school. The Chamberlain College of Nursing hopes to attract female consumers based on their traditional values. The advertisements appear in local newspapers to encourage females with traditional social values to pursue a career in an accepted field for their gender.

Vocational and technical schools sometimes direct their ads at target groups to clearly appeal to more progressive gender roles. The ITT Tech advertisement appeals to young females with progressive gender identities. Because the advertisement shows three females working with advanced technologies, the school appeals to women who want to work in traditionally male professions. The advertisement appeals to women who believe that gender roles are changing. Careers in the sciences and technology fields do not necessarily need to be dominated by men. What ITT tech is stating in their advertisements is that they are a progressive school. They will attract female consumers who are put off by ads like the Chamberlain one. Essentially, the ITT Tech advertisement suggests that their female consumers can do or be anything they want, with the help of ITT Tech. The DeVry Chamberlain School of Nursing advertisement, on the other hand, suggests that their female consumers can achieve traditional goals within a traditional framework.

However, the advertisement for DrVry Chamberlain School of Nursing succeeds in not only attracting female consumers with traditional gender norms. The advertisements also appeal to female consumers who have families, who want to start families, or who work full-time. For example, the advertisement for the Chamberlain College of Nursing shows the female models and the text portion of the ad mentions receiving the nursing degree "on your own time" and with "flexibility." The continuing education products that DeVry's Chamberlain School of Nursing offer appeal to those consumers who cannot afford to attend school full-time. The non-traditional degree programs are sometimes offered as distance education or in other ways that appeal to middle to lower income consumers as well as to stay-at-home mothers. The gender roles are implied not just in the photos of the female nursing students but also in the text portion of the advertisement.

Of the fifteen basic appeals of advertising, both the ads for vocational schools rely on the need to achieve. In fact, both advertisements use the word "achieve" somewhere in their text. Females are the target group for both the advertisements and the needs to achieve financial security, independence, or freedom from traditional gender roles are expressed in the DeVry and ITT Tech advertisements. Words like "You can become..." introduce the consumer to the idea that they can change who they are by enrolling in the private school. The need to achieve is powerful, because of our culture's emphasis on social status.

However, the Chamberlain School of Nursing and the ITT Tech advertisements differ in how they appeal to the need to achieve. The Chamberlain School of Nursing appeals to the need to achieve educational and professional goals in a traditional way, whereas the ITT Tech advertisement appeals to the need to achieve educational and professional goals in an untraditional way. Therefore, the ITT Tech advertisement appeals more to the need for autonomy, and the need to dominate. A female who is drawn to a career in science or technology expresses a need for autonomy because her career choice is not traditional. The female consumer attracted to the ITT Tech advertisement also needs to obtain power over her destiny. The Chamberlain College also appeals to the need for autonomy, but more in the sense of being independent from the restrictions of the traditional classroom environment than in standing apart from the crowd. The advertisement for the nursing college also appeals to the need for autonomy in the sense of being financially independent. In fact, the advertisement explicitly mentions "achieving your personal goals." On the other hand, the ITT Tech advertisement appeals to autonomy in the sense of standing apart as a female student. Because the ITT Tech advertisement shows the female models working independently, the need for autonomy is clearly expressed. The Chamberlain School of Nursing advertisement, on the other hand, shows the female models working with coworkers or with other patients.

The DeVry and ITT Tech advertisements also appeal to the need for affiliation, and the need for prominence. The Chamberlain School of Nursing advertisement stats, "Be a part of something." Therefore, the advertisement appeals to the need for affiliation. Imagery of the nurses working with others and helping patients proves that the Chamberlain advertisement also appeals to the need to nurture, which is not as present in the ITT Tech advertisement. Appeals to sex and aesthetics are not so much a part of either of these technical school advertisements. However, some need to satisfy curiosity is included in both the advertisements because they both list the degree programs offered in addition to the main ones touted in the advertisements.