Gender portrayals in food commercialsa content analysis of Spanish television advertisements

Resumen

Content analysis of media messages from a gender perspective has a long tradition. Regarding advertising, most of the researches have been focused on generic samples of advertisements or on the advertising traditionally associated to one gender or the other. However, few authors have analyzed gender contents in food advertising, in spite of the close relationship between gender structures and the social processes of food purchase and preparation. Thus, gender representations in food advertising broadcast in Spanish television are analyzed in this article. The main results obtained show clear gender differences. This way, there is a clear predominance of the male gender in the voices-over and a more balanced situation regarding the protagonists. Besides, female protagonists are more frequently located indoors, portrayed as attractive women and connected to advertising claims related to beauty or to the healthy qualities of the product.