| Abstract |
Role portrayals of men and women in advertising have been documented in US, Britain, and Japan. Researchers have analysed advertising content in print and television media to examine the social roles and values reflected in the role portrayals in advertising. No systematic studies of role portrayals have been done in the Indian context. Television advertisements for the years 1996, 1999, and 2002 were obtained from the MAGINDIA database and were analysed for their role portrayal of men and women in Indian advertising. The analysis pool consisted of 128 different male role portrayals and 196 different female role portrayals. It is found that largely stereotypes found in Indian society are reinforced by the role portrayals in Indian advertising. However, encouragingly there is also a small trend of showing men and women in non-stereotypical roles. Comparison with studies from other countries has revealed differences between role portrayals of men and women in western and Indian advertising. |