Author(s)

Grace Lim¹, Adrian Furnham^2*

¹Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
²Norwegian Business School (BI), Nydalveien, Olso, Norway.

This study compared portrayals of gender in Malaysian and British television advertisements regarding the portrayal of men and women across these two countries. A total of 236 advertisements were content analyzed for nine variables relating to the primary character of the advertisement. The findings provide evidence of gender stereotyping in both countries for types of products advertised, credibility and role of the primary characters. The results suggest that portrayals in British advertisements are similar to those in Malaysian advertisements despite the cultural gap. These findings are discussed in relation to implications and the limitations of the study are noted.

Television Advertisements, Gender Role, Malaysia, Great Britain, Product Type, Expertise, Location, Credibility

Lim, G. and Furnham, A. (2016) The Universality of the Portrayal of Gender in Television Advertisements: An East-West Comparison. Psychology, 7, 1608-1623. doi: 10.4236/psych.2016.713154.