Gender Roles

Research on gender roles in advertising revolves around three main topics: the assessment and occurrence of gender roles, the advertising effectiveness of gender roles, and the social effects of gender roles on consumers and society. The current knowledge of each topic reveals several gaps. To fill these gaps and increase the general knowledge regarding gender roles, future research should address several points. The first point includes the improvement of assessing gender roles in advertising. Here, researchers should use a broader concept of gender, explore new ways to characterize and operationalize gender roles, develop a meaningful standard of comparison to decide about stereotyping, and explore differences in gender roles across media and advertising formats. Regarding advertising effects, researchers should investigate moderators to determine how negative effects of advertising with gender roles can be avoided. As for social effects on consumers and society, researchers should investigate the relationship between social and brand-related effects of gender roles. Finally, future research should develop an overarching framework for stereotype-prone portrayals in advertising and discuss the responsibility of advertisers who use stereotype portrayals.