Gender stereotypes in commercial versus educational children's television

¶ … images commercial vs. educational children's television. I research paper include sections/information: I. Introduction: You spark interest discuss: A. Why topic significant study? B.

Stereotypes presently dominate society, even with the fact that it has experienced notable progress in the last few years and discrimination is presently on a lower level. When considering children television, one is likely to observe that, depending on its purpose, it can be more or less stereotypical. On the one hand, advertisements are typically shown in a cliched, as girls are portrayed playing with dolls and cooking while boys are pictured as being more aggressive, more competitive, and generally determined to attain as much power as possible. On the other hand, children also have access to educational television, this normally making it easier for them to understand social order and moral matters.

Literature Review

Ever since its appearance approximately half a century ago, television has played a major role in children's lives. "Early studies of communities recently introduced to television found that, among families that had television sets, the average amount of time children spent watching television ranged between 1 hour, 36 minutes and 2 hours, 54 minutes per day -- the equivalent of approximately 11 to 21 hours per week" (Fisch, 2004, p. 2). Matters have escalated in the recent years as most children have come to spend as much as 20 hours per week in front of their television sets. Considering the number of hours children watch television, their exposure time to characters in televised programs might even be greater than the time they are exposed to the behaviors of their own parents.

Children start forming their identities at a young age and look for inspiration in practically every environment that they interact with. While they also tend to imitate adult characters around them, they are also heavily influenced by the mass media. Most children are likely to have formed a personal identity even before they reach primary school. Television programs currently use aggressive techniques of drawing children audiences and this can have severe effect on children (Krendl & Warren, 2004, p. 71).

According to Fisch, first-rate "early childhood programs can produce short-term gains in IQ and sizable long-term effects on school achievement, grade retention, placement in special education, and social adjustment" (Fisch, 2004, p. 35). With children's brains being much more active than brains in adults, it is only natural that children should be provided with quality educational material at an early age. However, there is much controversy regarding children's programs as a result of the advertisements shown between shows. Commercials during Saturday morning cartoons show girls as they play house or as they play with make-up and boys as they play sports, engage in action figure fighting, or race cars. Girls are typically presented playing inside the house and rarely leaving it, as they are presumably too vulnerable to do so. In contrast, boys are portrayed as having access to a wider range of environments and as being freer in general. Girls normally take on passive roles as a result of having sex-role expectations and perform activities characteristic to housewives, secretaries, and fashion models. In contrast, Boys take on more active roles as they engage in activities that are emblematic for construction workers, doctors, and policemen (Brasted, 2010).

Although some might confuse action figures for dolls, they are actually two distinct categories, as, from the perspective of children, dolls are meant for girls and action figures are meant for boys, with the latter being able to use aggression and generally being predisposed to fighting. Gender stereotypes encourage boys to play with action figures but make it abnormal for them to play with dolls. The fact that some dolls are called action figures contributes to boys wanting to play with them, as these are apparently more appropriate for them because they emphasize the concept of action (Brasted, 2010).

Gender role reinforcement frequently happens in advertisements, considering that boys are never shown playing with girl toys and girls are never portrayed playing with boy toys. Even when products are not directed at a particular gender, boys are typically shown explaining how the toy works or controlling the game they play with girls. Color is also particularly important when considering gender role, as advertisements showing inflatable castles show girls as they stay in pink castles and boys as they stay in grey castles. Such advertisements associate color with gender and have children identify with certain colors, depending on their sex. Most people are likely to consider that there is nothing wrong with advertisements, as they are simply trying to get people to buy things. However, advertisements directed at a child audience have a negative effect on children because they practically teach them in regard to gender roles and concerning the expectations that they are supposed to have. These advertisements virtually tell children what is and what is not ok for boys and girls to do. Although some advertisements are not meant to influence children in regard to gender roles, they do so because most children are inclined to imitate behaviors seen in same-sex models. Furthermore, tutors are likely to reward children when they imitate same-sex models, and, respectively, to punish them when they replicate behaviors they observe in opposite-sex models (Brasted, 2010).

Boys are typically inclined to remember behaviors put across by same-sex characters that they see in televised programs. In contrast, girls are likely to imitate behaviors seen in female characters present in the shows that they viewed. "Boys' social groups had strong norms against any interest in romantic content, resulting in several critical and negative statements about such content. Further, boys often referred to the fictional machinations of production when making such comments, further distancing themselves from any interest in love stories" (Krendl & Warren, 2004, p. 71). The influence that televised programs have on children also depends on the environment that they are present in, given that girls are probable to express interest in romantic affairs and attractive clothes when they are around other girls and possible to employ critical analysis in regard to TV shows when they are in cross-sex discussion parties. Similarly, education levels have a severe effect on the way that children perceive programs, as individuals who received limited education are less likely to attempt to filter the information that they receive. Environments also have an effect on children's impression concerning a particular show, as they are their enjoyment of the respective televised program is likely to be negatively affected if the majority of their friends say that the show is uninteresting.

One of the reasons for which television has an influential effect on children during their early lives is the fact that they cannot read and are thus inclined to focus on one of the environments that they can easily understand. In contrast to children's programs, adult programs are normally directed at a unisex audience and rarely put across gender stereotypes. Marketing directors, however, are perfectly aware that children are more vulnerable when it comes to their ability to filter information and thus feel that it is easier for them to influence children in developing an interest in a particular object. Most children already have a prejudiced understanding of gender roles when they reach the age of seven, thus being extremely difficult for someone to present them with a more objective view in regard to the matter. By being presented with live role models, children find it problematic to assume an impartial attitude in regard to gender.

Analyzing the degree to which children are affected by televised advertisements is very important, especially considering that "the average child will be exposed to 600,000 television commercials in the first 20 years of life" (Larson, 2001, p. 41). It is difficult to study the effects that commercials have on children because their influence might not be reflected immediately after the child views it, as he or she can store it as a cognitive script to follow in the future. When he or she comes across a situation resembling the one he or she saw in the commercial, he or she is probable to adopt a similar attitude with the one that he or she saw on television.

Educational televised programs are normally meant to prepare children as they integrate society. However, at the point when they enter school, some children can be less prepared in comparison to others, thus making it obvious that education has a very important effect on children's upbringing. There are numerous televised programs directed at a child audience and meant to instruct children in regard to fields like mathematics, literature, and science. However, while these programs prepare children as they enter society, some of them put across gender stereotypes. It is difficult to determine whether this happens because producers believe that it is easier for children to learn when they identify with characters or whether it is involuntary. In addition to curricula that they are expected to learn in school, children are also provided with instructions concerning socialization into projected gender roles.

Television producers have gotten actively involved in creating shows that can educate children in regard to gender roles and to life in general. Research started in the 1960s and has successfully introduced educational concepts in many children's televised programs. However, marketing companies have also studied the domain and came up with methods to influence children in assuming particular roles. The fact that many children are able to distinguish between commercials and television programs during their early lives assists them in avoiding being influenced by advertisements. However, it is more difficult for children to avoid being influenced by animated sitcoms, as they consider that these are educational and cannot possibly affect them negatively. Parents are typically inclined to put across a similar attitude on the subject of educational television and normally encourage children to learn from these programs. Moreover, the fact that many parents tend to teach children that advertisements are bad for them can actually have a negative effect on children because they cannot understand advertising techniques and are unable to filter information when they have to. Researchers typically focus on exposure to messages involving gender stereotypes and how children perceive gender behavior.

Advertisements show children how they are expected to behave and encourage them in engaging in self-labeling processes. Children struggle to find a personal identity and are influenced by a wide range of environments in doing so. Even when they are instructed by parents and teachers, children continue to evaluate gender roles in accordance with the knowledge that they already have. Television is generally prominent when considering the effect that it has on children's thinking.

III. Method

The present study is going to compare the effects that seven hours of commercial television has on children with the effects that seven hours of educational television. The comparison will focus on gender stereotypes, their presences in programs, and whether they affect viewers or not.

Commercials used in this study came from a wide range of environments and were used across the year, so as for them not to deal with only a limited amount of objects (summer or Christmas toys, for example). All of the commercials presented identifiable real or animated children in order for children watching to be able to associate the characters they saw with real-life individuals. All of the programs were directed at a very young audience and programs that were meant for teenagers were not included in the sample. All commercials needed to present the picture of at least one child who was younger than 10 and any characters which displayed characteristics typical for teenagers (anything from behavior to looks) were excluded from the study. The number of female and male characters in commercials that contained a limited number of individuals was counted with the purpose of determining if boys were predominant. Commercials that presented domestic environments were also taken into account in order to determine whether female characters were present in larger numbers in such settings.

The predominant type of contact was considered and the following categories were emphasized:

1. Collaboration (playing collectively)

2. Competition (playing and trying to defeat each-other)

3. Comparable (playing independently)

The type of action that children were performing was also taken into account:

1. Sports

2. Playing

3. Dynamic/educational

The educational programs chosen for the study were Barney & Friends, Teletubbies, and Sesame Street. The principal factors used in assessing each sitcom were similar to the ones analyzed in commercials.

IV. Results

Consequent to examining commercials, findings showed that the female and male characters were equally distributed, but that advertisements that were single-gendered pictured significantly more boys. When considering the setting that these characters were present in, it appeared that girls were more often shown inside of houses or in an environment that was safe. In contrast boys were portrayed in relatively unsafe environments, but were shown putting across authoritarian attitudes that assisted them in overcoming difficult situations.

The majority of commercials showed children playing, with the most girl-only commercials being included in this category while less than half of the boy-only commercials being shown playing. A disturbing find was that boys pictured together were shown eating more than any other category and girls were rarely portrayed eating. Food commercials normally involved both girls and boys and toy commercials typically portrayed a particular gender. When considering violence, it dominated boy commercials and was seldom present in girl commercials. Even though boys were generally not responsible for causing episodes including aggression, most of them eventually used violence (or were assisted by violent characters) as a means to defeat antagonists.

Barney & Friends show two of the purple dinosaur's friends, the three-year-old Baby Bop and her older brother BJ putting across gender stereotypes as the girl is silly and needs protection while her brother is constantly looking from trouble. Similarly, Ms. Etta, the lavender bird that puts on a protective attitude in regard to the whole cast of the show and her companion, Scooter, put across stereotypical gender roles. Male characters in the sitcom are generally shown as being unwilling to subject to society's rules. In contrast, female characters appear to be more responsible and typically determined to follow rules, even when they feel that it is wrong for them to do so.

The Teletubbies show presents the characters of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po as they try to provide audiences with educational information. Even though Tinky Winky and Dipsy are both boys, they are shown expressing a lot of feminine attitudes. Similarly, Laa-Laa and Po feel that it is not abnormal for them to get involved in activities that are characteristic to boys simply because they are girls. Noo is a gender neutral character that takes on anthropomorphic attitudes, but does not display girl or boy characteristics.

Sesame Street was initially directed at young audiences with the purpose of providing them with education. Most characters in the series are male, with a few exceptions such as Miss Piggy, Prairie Dawn, and Betty Lou. Some of the most representative characters of the show are male and Miss Piggy is the only individual in the series representing women in general, with other female characters having insignificant roles in general. Also, male characters in the sitcom are shown as being predisposed to performing foolish acts.

VI. Conclusion

When considering the number of girls and boys shown in commercials, the behaviors that they enact, and the methods they use in expressing feelings, one is likely to agree that these mediums are focused on using stereotypes as a means to address the exact public that they are interested in. Parents normally consider that there is nothing wrong for their sons and daughters to imitate what they see on television, especially if they consider that such behavior is characteristic to boys, and, respectively, to girls. This is, however, harmful for society in general because children are practically provided with attitudes that they replicate for the rest of their lives and are in most cases unable to find their personal identities.

Although large companies are mainly interested in selling their products and in transmitting particular messages to the audience that they focus on, they tend to ignore the side-effects that their campaigns might have on people. In addition to wanting to buy products as a result of watching commercials or to being provided with constructive information as a result of viewing educational programs, children are also left with a stereotyped understanding of gender roles and they come to take on attitudes that are not necessarily beneficial for them.

Works cited:

Brasted, Monica, "Care Bears vs. Transformers: Gender Stereotypes in Advertisments," Retrieved October 12, 2011, from the Socjournal Website: http://www.sociology.org/media-studies/care-bears-vs.-transformers-gender-stereotypes-in-advertisements

Calvert, Sandra L., Kotler, Jennifer A., Zehnder Sean M., Shockey, Erin M., "Gender Stereotyping in Children's Reports About Educational and Informational Television Programs," Retrieved October 12, 2011, from the Georgetown University Website: http://cdmc.georgetown.edu/papers/gender_stereotyping_in_children's_reports.pdf

Fisch, Shalom M. Children's Learning from Educational Television: Sesame Street and Beyond (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004)

Ingham, Helen, "Children, Television and Gender Roles," Retrieved October 12, 2011, from the Aberystwyth University Website: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9402.html

Oskamp, Stuart & Schultz, Wesley P., "Attitudes and opinions," (Routledge, 2005)

Seels, Barbara & Fullerton, Karen & Berry, Louis and Laura J. Horn, "12 Research on Learning from Television," Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, ed. David H. Jonassen, 2nd ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004)

Strom Larson, Mary, "Interactions, Activities and Gender in Children's Television Commercials: A Content Analysis," Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 45.1 (2001): 41

Wong, Christie & Chan, Kara, "A gender portrayal of children's television commercials in mainland China," Retrieved October 12, 2011, from the Academia Website: http://hkbu.academia.edu/KaraChan/Papers/801201/A_gender_portrayal_of_childrens_television_commercials_in_mainland_China