Campus Access Only

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of University of the Pacific. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Jon Schamber

First Committee Member

Kenneth Day

Second Committee Member

Linda L. Nolan

Abstract

This study investigated the portrayal of men's and women's occupational roles and settings in magazine advertising from 1958-1988. A review of the literature revealed there was a need to update investigations focusing on women's working/nonworking roles. Moreover, there was a gap in the literature investigating the portrayal of men's roles. A content analysis of 240 randomly selected advertisements indicated there were no significant changes in the portrayal of occupational roles. However, the data suggest that the settings in which women were depicted changed more than the settings for men. The majority of the ads showed women in outside/recreational and no settings. Moreover, women were pictured in more varied settings than men including nontraditional portrayals. Although there was a slight increase in the portrayal of women in working roles, the increment was diminished in its significance by the high level of decorative role portrayals. According to past researchers, such a neutral portrayal may be a means of offending fewer consumers and avoiding making judgments about sex roles altogether.

Pages

57

Included in

Communication Commons

Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

Rights Statement

No Known Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/
The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.