Gender and Advertising in Southern Africa

Gender and Advertising in Southern Africa


Date: March 2, 2012
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A ground breaking study on gender and advertising in Southern Africa, conducted by Gender Links, has revealed that women are more likely to be seen than heard; they predominate in billboards and still images and hardly feature in voice-overs; and it is in these still images that we see blatant stereotypes at their worst.

Covering 1650 radio, television, print and billboard advertisements in Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the study aimed to establish how women and men are represented in advertising.
Precisely because of its power over the mind, advertising is a critical area of concern for transforming gender relations. The good thing is that women are far more likely to be reflected in advertising that in news content. The bad news is that this is often for all the wrong reasons as women continue to be type cast as homemakers and cooks. What is interesting about this research is that audiences are alive to these biases. Women and men warmed to the increasing number of “gender bendersÀ in advertising.


ISBN: 978-0-620-38765-1
Download : Chapter 1
Download : Chapter 2
Download : Chapter 3
Download : Chapter 4
Download : Chapter 5
Download : Chapter 6

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