What is the role of Gender in Advertisement: A multiple case study in a socio-cultural context?

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AbstractAdvertisement is an important marketing link without which the overall functions of the

business are broken and the overall performance of the business may be hampered. This

dissertation focused on how the element of gender in advertisement is dependent upon the

culture of the society that the advertisement is focusing upon. The methodology applied in the

dissertation is mixed and through a combination of secondary data sources it has been found

that the stereotypical gender roles in a society are both impacted by and a factor of influence

for the portrayal of gender in the advertisements broadcast in that society.

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List of Figures

Fig 1: Theoretical Framework

Fig 2: Advertisement for a Concert in Jeddah

Fig 3: Cellular Network Advertisement

Fig 4: Billboard for Welcoming People into the City

Fig 5: Advertisement in Saudi Arabia for a Pure Female Product

Fig 6: Advertisement in India for a Movie

Fig 7: Indian Clothing Brand Advertisement

Fig 8: Advertisement for Pakistani Movie

Fig 9: Advertisement for Stone Age Jeans

Fig 10: Advertisement for a Weekly Soap (USA)

Fig 11: Advertisement for a Weekly Soap (USA)

Contents

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Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................3

Chapter One: Introduction..........................................................................................................................7

1.1 Research Background........................................................................................................................7

1.2 Explaining Gender..............................................................................................................................8

1.3 Gender and Advertisement...............................................................................................................9

1.4 Methodologies and Previously Done Researches..............................................................................9

1.5 Research Aims and Objectives.........................................................................................................10

1.6 Research Questions.........................................................................................................................11

1.7 Research Scope and Significance.....................................................................................................11

1.8 Rationale for Conducting the Research...........................................................................................12

Chapter Two: Literature Review................................................................................................................14

2.1 Overview of Advertisement as a Business Function........................................................................14

2.1.1 Advertising Evolution....................................................................................................................17

2.1.2 Models and Theoretical Frameworks of Advertising....................................................................17

2.2 The Element of Gender in the Advertising.......................................................................................19

2.2.1 The Gendered Strategy.................................................................................................................20

2.3 Overview of the notion of culture with respect to researches, society and economic decision making...................................................................................................................................................22

2.3.1 Culture and Gender......................................................................................................................25

Chapter Three: Research Methodology.....................................................................................................27

3.1 Research Approach..........................................................................................................................27

3.2 Research Design...............................................................................................................................28

3.3 Primary data Collection...................................................................................................................28

3.4 Secondary Data Collection...............................................................................................................29

3.4.1 Stage One.................................................................................................................................29

3.4.2 Stage Two.................................................................................................................................29

3.5 Ethical Issues under Consideration..................................................................................................33

3.6 Limitations of the Research.............................................................................................................34

Chapter Four: Data Analysis......................................................................................................................35

4.1 Gender Roles in the Culture.............................................................................................................35

Saudi Arabia...........................................................................................................................................35

India.......................................................................................................................................................38

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Pakistan.................................................................................................................................................39

United States of America.......................................................................................................................40

4.2 Gender Roles in Advertisements.....................................................................................................41

Coca Cola...............................................................................................................................................41

Cadbury’s Chocolates............................................................................................................................43

Pantene Shampoo.................................................................................................................................45

Telecom Commercials...........................................................................................................................47

Chapter Five: Conclusion...........................................................................................................................51

References.................................................................................................................................................56

Appendix A: Tabularized Culture Findings with respect to Gender............................................................60

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Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Research Background

An effective form of communication, advertising is used to attract readers or viewers’ attention

towards a product or service being offered by a company or an individual (Shah, 2009). The

desired outcome is to cause amplified use of a product by endeavouring to propel a particular

behaviour in the consumer concerning a saleable offering. Various conventional and modern

means are employed for advertising messages such as magazines, newspaper, television, e-mail

service, websites etc. Being a highly effective tool of marketing communication advertising has

always been part of business through centuries and a multitude of creative techniques have

been dynamically active all along for promotion of products and services.

One of the most exciting phenomena, advertising, has also been a pivotal point of research in

more than a few disciplines such as sociology, social psychology, mass communication,

marketing etc.

More recently one particular aspect that has fascinated a profusion of attention is the study of

advertising for the purpose of gaining insight on the effect that cultural and gender factors have

on the value, norms and advertising strategies of the organization and also to study how the

stereotypical roles are depicted in advertising. Further to study how design and composition of

advertisements create meanings and then as to how they affect the audience and larger society

over time (Niaz Ahmed 1996, p. 11). It has been found that advertising, beyond any doubts,

occupies a unique status within the economic organization of a modern society, and it doesn’t

deal only with economic affairs. (Niaz Ahmed 1996, p. 11) Advertising is strongly connected

with ideas, attitudes, and values, as it gives them "cultural form through its signifying practices"

(Sinclair, 1987). Interestingly however, through the review of literature, it can be noted that

research on the role of advertising on a business organization, the impact that this marketing

function has on the sales of the organization and on the burden of operations is vast but, the

research on the idea of advertising in a more sociologically inclined context is quite less and

therefore allows new researchers to input more into the academic pool of knowledge and

findings.

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It is, therefore, imperative to explore messages in fashion advertising found both in men’s and

women’s magazines to determine how the images play their role in persuading class and

gender, and, particularly, how women are being depicted and shown to men in their capacity of

being consumers. Hence, this advertising field is considerably important since fashion, that is,

fashion advertising, might be a strong factor in shaping cultural views of class, women, and

gender. As Thompson (2000) intimates:

“Advertisements showcase attitudes and ideas; the corresponding power to influence is

formidable because advertising can also change values, such as those surrounding the display

and meaning of the body. Nowhere is the potency of advertising more evident than in the

arena of selling clothing and appearance related commodities” (Thompson 2000, p. 178).

In the above explanation of advertisement, the author is basically focusing on the power that

advertising is observed to have on normal lives of people especially in regards to their

purchasing decisions. As will be studied later in the dissertation, another element that has

really strong impact on the lives and the behaviours of the individuals of a society is the culture.

What this dissertation wants to explore is the power that the presence of some particular

culture has on the already existing incorporation of gender in advertising. While the

introduction section will be briefly explaining the ideas of gender and advertising, chapter two

will be presenting an in depth research of the sociological ideas, particularly culture and the

impact that they have on the role of gender in advertising.

1.2 Explaining Gender

A well known term, gender, is employed frequently with regard to diverse types of studies

which include advertising as well. According to Ellen Friedrichs gender identity is actually the

feeling of belonging to a particular group in the society (male, female or transgender). This

feeling is actually harnessed by various sociological factors such as family, school and

upbringing.

Gender, hence, symbolizes for differences between men and women, though these differences

are not dependent on merely physical differences, as social and psychical behaviours too are

considered and are unavoidably important in the subject. Next is the debate on gender

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differences in a particular society and culture, since gender differences hold varied shapes in

different cultures, so much so that they seem different even within one culture.

According to the social role theory, the sexual division of labour is being argued. The theory

states that the different roles that men and women take in the society are actually the sexual

division of labour and these role difference lead to the difference in behaviours and

expectations of what a particular gender is or is not required to do (Ember Carol R. and Ember

Melvin, 2004).

1.3 Gender and Advertisement

Advertising is an essential part of media and media influences human society on a universal

basis. It affects human perception and opinion. Media and, in particular, advertising produces

models that accredit certain behaviour to a particular gender. People are almost bound to

consider these models as general, right and true. Commercial ads being shown on television, or

in magazines and through other sources are instruments by which gender stereotypes are

embedded in our minds (Michaela Rusinova 2010, p. 17). Advertising has been the focus of

research and application for several decades however the focus on intercultural advertising is

actually a recent development in the advertising literature (Niaz Ahmed, 1996, p. 11).

The impact of culture, too, cannot be neglected in advertising field. Rasa Jakštaitė and Kristina

B. Podoski (2008) point out that cultural value affect the consumer behaviour and the

marketing strategies for advertising. These are also important on deciding upon the market

segmentation and positioning.

1.4 Methodologies and Previously Done Researches

This conduction of this research has been done through mostly the focus on secondary data

that was available in the form of advertisements of products in different cultures. The basic

reason for focusing on secondary data and not primary (studied in depth in chapter three) is

because of budget time and authority limitations that prohibited the researcher from actually

creating different advertisements for different cultures. A wide-ranging secondary data

research was conducted to facilitate understanding into the current situation exclusively

focused on the male and female facial care markets. In addition, a far-reaching investigation

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was conducted on the past and up- to-date literature on the topics of gender and advertising,

and culture and advertising.

As the research was focused on the impact of culture on gendered advertisements in four

different cultures of the world, to address these issues more aptly and accurately, a wide range

of magazines and advertisements from both countries was selected.

A newly launched research can never be of any worth unless it successfully manages to

encompass, first, all relevant studies, or at least a few important ones out of them, so as to

examine and learn what heights the journey of brainstorming and research concerning this

topic has already touched, and where is it exactly one needs to start from to support this study

to take a few further steps. For example, Fischer and Arnold (1994) study that offers highly

valuable research and information concerning gender and advertisements.

Similarly, equally enlightening was the experience to go through the studies offered by Milner

and Collins (2000), Skelly and Lundstrom (1981) and Meyers-Levy and Sternthal (1991). They all

have offered very valuable and thought-provoking materials on the subject by “exploring the

consumption of males and females, the relationship between gendered advertising and

different media, or even the influence ability of gender differences through advertisements,

shaping a more sociological point of view” (Wolin, 2003).

Accordingly, I made it my top concern to first probe into a few important studies that should

enlighten me and guide me towards all those complexities that still need to be resolved, or at

least ask for a little addition towards resolving them. Hence, as it was significant to first go

through various studies already existent on the subject of gender and advertisements, I very

painstakingly researched and read materials from as many such studies as was humanly

possible for me.

1.5 Research Aims and Objectives

It is important to state the reason as to why the research is actually conducting the research.

The drive and the curiosity need to be finely defined if the research methodology and the data

analysis need to efficiently craft.

The aim for conducting this particular research is

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“To analyze the impact that sociological factors have on gendered advertisements, mainly

culture”

The objectives for conducting this research then are as follows:

i) To analyze the link of advertisement with various sociological factors

ii) To specifically explore the element of gender in advertisements

iii) Finally to understand whether the effect of culture on gendered advertisements can

be empirically modelled for prediction purposes.

1.6 Research Questions

The research in all its data collection and its analysis were directed by specific research

questions. This was done so that the research does not get lost in generalization and theoretical

framework and also so that the analysis reported is actually relevant to the aims and objectives

stated. For this research, the following research questions were crafted.

i) What are the role, function and importance of advertisement in business?

ii) How is gender incorporated in advertisements and what impact do they have?

iii) How does culture effect the gender perception and related behaviour in the society?

iv) What impact does this relationship between gender and culture have on the

advertising functions of organizations?

v) Finally, how can advertisers make use of this function to enhance their competitive

positioning in the market?

1.7 Research Scope and SignificanceThe research will basically be looking at the function of advertising from a sociological and

marketing perspective and both will be done through the eyes of the organizations focused in

the business. The research will not be limited to any specific world markets. As will be studied

later in the research methodology section, the research will be focusing upon different cultures

and not specific markets.

As far as the significance of the dissertation is concerned, it is important to mention that it will

be an extremely important one for the purpose of setting academic marks and applications for

future uses. The issue of both culture and gender affecting the advertisement function and thus

the sales of the organization is extremely important however, the issue has not been brought

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up into the academic studies at a great pace. Advertisement, culture and gender have

separately been studied several times but as for these three elements together, the literature

present is fairly limited. This research then will be able to aid in the better understanding of the

relationships that exist in the society and business organizations regarding these three

elements. Finally, this research is also significant because it will not be limited to any specific

firm, market or culture.

1.8 Rationale for Conducting the ResearchResearch is basically a systematic process of interrogation or a way to solve a curiosity

(Goddard and Melville, 2004). This systematic process however, always has a drive or a thrust

that the one conducting it feels. Moreover, it is systematic and seeks to expand the boundaries

of the knowledge and therefore, for a researcher to have chosen a particular topic there is

always a reason or a rationale. For having chosen the focus upon gender, culture and

advertisement, the rational was simple but important.

Gender has been studied for quite some time in a number of social sciences. The same holds

true for culture and also, the same hold true for the study of gender under the light of culture.

Through the literature, it has been found that advertisement as a study has found focus of

culture, and that of the gendered roles that have been portrayed in it.

For conducting this research however, it is considered that it is immensely important to see the

first relationship mentioned, that is the one between culture and gender having an impact on

the third relationship mentioned, and that is advertisement and gender.

The rational for conducting this research is to know first and foremost how various gender roles

are portrayed in various advertisements and how those roles have been affected by the how a

specific gender exists in a specific culture. For marketers and advertisers, and especially for

those advertisements which cast male or female models to somehow portray the message, this

research is going to play an immensely important role and aiding them analyze the situation

better is basically way this topic was chosen in the first place. This idea and the merging of the

two sociological ideas with a management one is the foundation for conducting the research.

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Chapter Two: Literature ReviewThis section of the research report will be presenting to the reader the secondary data collected

for the purpose of this research. It is noted that secondary data is of substantial importance in

the arena of conducting the research and as Saunders (2003) points out, this is because of a

number of reasons. The first and the foremost reason especially for the students is that

literature review is an essential part of the research overall and without which, the research

would not be complete. On the other hand, the secondary data allows the researcher to

basically build the support system for the analysis and also to gain methodological ideas.

For the better understanding of the topic selected for research, the literature review section

will be divided into a number of sections.

2.1 Overview of Advertisement as a Business Function Advertisement is a part of the broader management field, marketing. This has been noted in

greater detail and more meaning by Jenkins (2009, p. 23),

“Marketing is more than just distributing good from the manufacturer to the final customer. It

comprises all the stages between the creation of the product and the aftermarket which follows

the eventual sale. One of these stages is advertising. The stages are links in a chain, and the

chain will break if one of the links is weak. Advertising is therefore as important as every other

stage or link and each depends on the other for success.”

So basically according to the definition and brief explanation of advertising provided by Jenkins

(2009) advertising is an internal process for the organization and is basically a way to reach to

the end consumers of the organization’s products and services. The importance of advertising

then can also be determined by the explanation that it is a strong link in the overall marketing

strategy of the organization. After the processes of manufacturing, packing and stocking are

complete Jenkins (2009) notes that,

“Without advertising, the products or services cannot flow to the distributors or sellers and on to

the consumers or users.”

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The first factor that needs to exist is obviously the goods and service that are to be advertised.

Sometimes the organizations do advertise aggressively even before the product is launched into

the market however, the product is in the phase of manufacturing or has already been

manufactured. With just an idea and without the actual product, advertisement cannot exist.

The next factor that needs to exist for advertising to exist is the competition between providers

of the same kinds of goods and services for which there needs to be a significant potential

market. The point is that if there is only one producer for a given commodity in the market,

then there will be no point in actually advertising because the consumer will already be

focusing on the sole producer that exists in the market. In this case then, advertisement will

only be an additional expense for the organization which will not actually receive a lot of

profitability in return. So basically, for advertising to have an incentive strong enough for the

businesses to actually use it, competition needs to exist. Thirdly, the means of advertising to a

large number of people need to be cheap. The point is that if the cost of advertising actually out

runs the revenue generated because of it in the shape of attracted customers, then the

organization might as well not advertise anything and remain fine with the status quo, that is,

no advertising. The fourth and the final factor as noted by Petley (2002) that has to be there for

advertising to exist is a population with sufficient education to be able to understand

advertising. This is so that the messages can be received and understood by those being

targeted. Unless the people of the society are not educated and smart enough to actually

understand the message, the message will become useless and thus the advertising will actually

be an additional cost for the organization giving very little or no return in the end.

In the evolved markets of today then, the importance of the distributors and the retailers, for a

number of reasons has gained immense importance. For the manufacturers and producers of

goods and services to flourish, they have to realize the blown importance of distributors of

today and therefore, make strategies that would actually attract them towards their product or

service (Kotler, 2003).

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Shah (2009) says that advertising plays a very important role in increasing awareness about a

product or service in the customers and that awareness then leads to the generation of

revenue for the organization. The idea is that the customers of the organization are the ones

who’s interest and attraction (in the form of the purchases) acts as the revenue for the

organization. Shah (2009) further develops the idea that dividing the field of marketing into

various categories, advertising falls into the section of marketing communication which is

actually the promotions part in the overall marketing mix. About marketing communications

Shah (2009, p. 9) says that,

“It involves all activities concerned with effectively communicating product information to

selected target audiences. A target audience is the group of consumes to whom marketing

communication messages are directed.”

Muijnck (2009) focuses on the way that advertisement actually works. Muijnck (2009) says that

the aim of advertisement is to pick up certain attitudes from the society and then to change

them for the benefit of the business if necessary. Attitude then has been described as a social

psychology term and has been defined to note the disposition of a person regarding a person,

an organization, a product or an idea. Furthermore, it has been noted that the attitude of a

person is made up of three elements. The first element is the affective component of the

attitude and it is related to the emotional reaction towards object, action or organization. The

second component of attitude is the one related to the thoughts and beliefs and basically the

thinking process of individuals about an object or an organization. For this part of the attitude,

the thoughts and beliefs are made up of the relevant facts (mostly defined by logic) and are not

impacted upon by emotions. Finally, the third element is the behavioural component of

attitude. This third and final component according to Muijnck (2009); Crites, Fabrigar and Petty

(1994) is related to the actions and deeds and the observable behaviour towards the attitude

related to the organization, idea and objects. When it is noted that an advertisement relates to

the attitudes of an individual, it basically means that the ad will be focusing on one or two of

the three components mentioned above. This obviously depends on the purpose of the ad and

on its target audience. It has been focused upon that depending on the aim of the aim then,

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emotions are sometimes depicted to allow the audience of the ad to identify with them and

therefore to develop positive feeling (positive reinforcement) or avoid negative feelings

(negative reinforcement) through the purchase of the good or service represent in the

advertisement.

To describe the advertisement in a better manner, they are divided by the social psychologists

into emotional based advertisements and cognitive based advertisements.

Describing again the basics of advertising Petley (2002) notes that, advertising is basically the

means to promote goods and services of the organization to the general public! The aim of

advertising has been noted by Petley (2002, p. 4) to be,

“The advertiser’s goal is to increase sales of these goods or services by drawing people’s

attention to them and showing them in a favourable light.

Furthermore, Petley (2002) says that for advertising to exist, there have to be a number of

factors in place for the organization, the market and the consumers.

2.1.1 Advertising EvolutionIt has been studied by Liles (2009); Robinson, Wysocka and Hand (2007) notes that with the

increase in the development and incorporation of technology, and especially internet, the

overall nature of advertisement has shifted slightly and that after 1994, when the first online

advertisement appeared on a webpage, online marketing has actually increased substantially in

its incorporation by the businesses. As noted by Liles (2009); Ha (2008), the online advertising

revenue in the United States of America alone has risen from 1.8 billion dollars in 1998 to over

20 billion dollars in the year 2007. So basically, given the sharp upward sloping trend of the

response rate and the use in of online advertisement, it is imperative for the business

organization to focus on, and incorporate online advertising in their business.

2.1.2 Models and Theoretical Frameworks of AdvertisingErickson (2002) studies the dynamic modelling of advertising competitions and notes that there

are in fact three types of model frameworks that come in this category. The first model is the

Lanchester model which basically captures the dynamics of competition in the state of a

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duopoly. The structure of the Lanchester model of advertising is actually fairly simple and

suffers from a number of drawbacks however it is the only model which has actually received

considerable attention in the advertising literature which basically focuses upon the modelling

of competitive advertising decisions for non durable goods (Wang, 1996).

The next classic model for advertising has been studied by Sethi (1975). Sethi (1975) mentions

that the Vidale and Wofle advertising model was actually developed as a simple model to study

the response of sales to advertising This was done basically through two effects on sales. The

first was through the affect that advertising had on the unsold portion of the market and the

second was the loss due to forgetting to advertise on that unsold portion. Even through the

model created was dynamic in nature the model was actually simple and gathered a lot a lot of

criticisms such as the optimal control problem.

Even though the Lanchester model of advertising and the Vidale and Wolfe model of

advertising are relatively old given the current literature present on advertising, these models

still are the classic ones being used and studied in the literature. Another important advertising

model, appearing in most of the advertising literature is the hierarchy model studied by

Thorson and Duffy (2011). The basic argument of the model, an actually a convincing one is that

the attention to a message leads to a desire for the idea or the object which leads to an action

to comply with the advertising advocated. Basically, it’s the hierarchy of steps through which

the advertising of a product or idea actually impacts the consumer behaviour.

Barker and Angelopulo (2005) focus on some of the newer advertising that is emerging in the

theories and in the applications of the advertising literature and note that these models can be

separated into two broad classifications. These are the advertising theories of effectiveness or

procedure and this category include the Relevance Accessibility Model of advertising

effectiveness (RAM) and the Preston’s Association Model of advertising communication

process. These models basically focus on the procedures and the requirements for the

advertising messages to be effective. The second category of advertising models regards those

which explain the response prices through which consumers move when they are exposed to

advertising. These include the traditional response hierarchy models as already discussed.

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These then further include the AIDA model: developed to illustrate the phases or stages

through which the salesperson takes the consumer when practicing personal selling. The AIDA

model describes the buyer as passing through attention, interest, desire and action phases

(Barker and Angelopulo, 2005). Next, there is the innovation adoption model which represents

the stages a consumer passes through in adopting a new product or service. The model argues

that after becoming aware of the advertising message, the consumer must be interested in the

product.

Each of these models holds their special place and look at advertising as an important

component of increasing the sales revenue for the organization. Moving from the hierarchy

models to the Lanchester and WV models, the literature of the modelling of advertising seems

to be progressing actually fast and the marketers are basically found focusing on the consumers

more and more.

2.2 The Element of Gender in the AdvertisingFrom here onwards, the review of literature will be focusing upon the element of gender in the

overall function of advertising. It has been noted in the section above that advertising can

actually impact people emotionally, cognitively or behaviourally. Gender then is also actually

something that affects a person in these three manners. Also, in the social context, gender and

the knowledge of gender has a very strong role to play. Now if advertising is actually the focus

on the society to achieve some results, gender is something that needs to be considered.

Wood (2010) says that gendered advertising is actually one of the strongest media for the

portrayal of stereotypical roles for men and women that might appear in the society otherwise

as well. This form of portrayal, as Wood (2010) points out then can actually have a very strong

influence on the attitudes and view of men and women in the society. There are a number of

reasons why gendered advertisements can have a strong impact on the society and the

reinforcement or fading effect of gender idea in the society.

The first reason that has been provided by Woods (2010) for this media to have a very strong

impact is the rate of repetition of it. It has been noted in social psychology that a message that

is constantly repeated to the audience does finally sit in, in the memory of the audience and

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can have a long lasting or at least a changing impact on the person. Advertisements such has

those on TV, magazines, and billboards are repeated to the senses of the person a number of

times and therefore they sink in pretty well. Next on, the majority of the ads emphasize on the

visual images which are actually less subject to the conscious analysis by an individual than the

verbal claims. Whereas the visual image may appeal more to the emotional aspect or the

behavioural aspect of the person, the verbal images attract more the cognitive aspect of the

individual. In this then, the overall idea and the impact expected of the ad might be lost which

is actually not because of the aid of visualization that is taken. Thirdly, advertising can have a

significant impact on the learning and the attitudes of the people because people think that

they are immune to it and therefore will not be affected by it. People lower their guards to the

advertisement and therefore they end up being more affected by it than they would have been

had they been watching the ad more consciously and looking at each and every aspect of it.

Woods (2010, p. 269) says that,

“Although many people think they don’t buy a particular brand of jeans or beer because of ads,

research suggests differently-ads do affect what people purchase and what they consider

attractive, feminine, masculine, etc.”

So basically, what Wood (2010) is trying to say is that even though advertisements pick things

from within the organization, they sometimes are also actually the ones affecting the society’s

view about certain things in the first place! For example, the idea of masculinity is now actually

being used by a number of brands for the purpose of advertisement. Being existent actually in

the society or not, after the constant portrayal in the ads, the idea will finally end up catching

fire.

2.2.1 The Gendered StrategyHill and Helmers (2004) say that gendered advertisements or those focusing on the gendered

environment are in fact one of the strategies used in the advertising’s visual rhetoric. Hill and

Helmers (2004, p. 156) say that,

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“Advertisements that combine images of nature with narratives of gender offer consumers

visualizations that cloak the nature of consumption on the environment with essentialist

fantasies of masculinity or femininity.”

From an aspect of sociology, the authors further emphasize upon the fact that the rhetoric of

gendered environments which are being exploited by the organization usually found to be more

compelling in the environments where gender is problematic and when the natural

environments are found to be under threat. Through the advertisement then, the organization

is actually promoting to solve the perceived problem in the environment and helps the

consumers in expectedly solving the gender related tensions. The advertisements based on

gender related issues basically affirm two traditional ideologies (Hill and Helmers, 2004). The

first is the belief in the distinct gender attributes as essential to sexual identity in which people

of a society may believe that some activities may be tabooed for a man or a woman because it

questions the sexual identity of that individual. The second belief is in an infinite, unchanging

and natural world in which the females are supposed to possess passivity and the males of the

society are supposed to conquest.

Ettore and Riska (1994) say that there is no doubt about the fact that advertising is an essential

marketing component and is necessary for the purpose of promoting goods and services in the

market based commodities. However, the way that the goods and services are promoted

sometimes, by the way of more than just strictly giving the consumers the information of the

product is an important consideration for the society as a whole. Ettorre and Riska (1994) then

identity that advertising is usually done through two ways: The first way is the way as identified

is the gender typing of commodities. “For example, automobiles or alcoholic beverages are sold

as a sign of masculinity, and detergents and household items as a sign of housewifery.” This

basically creates gendered marketing for the goods and services. It has also been pointed out

by the authors that the current change in the gendered environments and the perceived roles

of men and women has actually caused a challenged for the advertisers who were at first good

at identifying the gender related requirement of advertisement of a given product or service.

The second way is that of gender metaphors. These are implying pictures without portrayal of

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humans and it constitutes an important device in rug advertising. These usually appear in drug

advertisements and are generally analyzed by means of semiological approach to decode the

symbols and tacit messages (Hills and Helmers, 1994). In this context of changing gender roles

in the society, Chauduri (2001) focuses mostly on the market of India. The author focuses on

the point that images of women India are usually portrayed and accepted in the traditional

home maker or mother context. However, it has been studied with regards to the male models

in adverts today that the role of man and the notion of power and success, initially un deniable

and un compromised in India are changing to argue more for liberalization.

Fitzgerald and Arnott (2000) note that the research and application gone into the combination

of advertising and gender is much more massive than the research gone into the field of any

other variable related to marketing communications.

A different aspect of gendered advertisement has been noted by Fitzgerald and Arnott (2000;

Darley and Smith (1995) who say that the advertising messages about a given product are

actually differently interpreted and processed by the females and males in the society. Similarly

Fitzgerald and Arnott (2000); Leigh et al (1987) note that after the different interpretations and

the processing of information by the females and males, there has also actually found to be

difference in response and behaviours existing after the advertisements. Fitzgerald and Arnott

(2000); Jaffe and Berger (1994) further note an interesting phenomenon for advertising. It has

been noted that the most effective portrayal of gender roles in advertising for household goods

aimed at the female purchaser were those using an egalitarian image depicting a husband and

wife sharing household chores, concluding that firms will be rewarded for the astuteness to

women’s changing needs.

Finally Thompson (2004) note that there is a clear difference or bias found in the drug

advertisements. The study shows that sexual distribution is found to exist in the medications for

various problems. The results have depicted that the advertisements were focused more on the

males of the society for these ads than the women. However for diseases such as arthritis and

pain, the bias found was almost negligible in the advertisements.

22

2.3 Overview of the notion of culture with respect to researches, society and economic decision makingJenks (2005) questions the idea of culture and starts with questioning the power that this idea

has that it actually makes man forget his original nature and “locate his actions and practices

within an endowment of socially produced symbolic forms.”

Jenks (2005) then notes that the emergence of the idea of culture actually came into being in

the eighteenth century when people were actually moving away from the mass culture. It has

been noted that these moves towards modernity was something that actually led the people to

question what some people are believing in and behaving upon and what was originally

believed and socially accepted. Jenks (2005) says that the changes that occurred in the society

were controversial at an all social, political and personal level and led to confusion. This then,

through evolution led to the overall growth in the divisibility of people in the society. In this

regards, the idea of culture can be said to be originating metaphorically and derivatively and

not descriptively from the processes of agriculture or horticulture and cultivation. Jenks (2005,

p. 8) says that,

“Whereas the former concept of civilization is descriptive of a kind of stasis, a membership a

belonging, indeed a status once achieved not to be relinquished; the latter, culture is a resonant

with other ideas of emergence and change, perhaps even transformation.”

Simply, it can be implied from the explanation above that culture results from the division of

people into various sects because of the differences in opportunities that they find to exist in

the various methods of production and methods of the sustenance of life.

Eagleton (2004) focusing upon the complexity that the idea of culture represents, says that

culture is actually considered to be one of the three most complicated words in the English

language and a term for which the opposite, nature is commonly awarded the accolade of

being the most complex of all.

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The author however further notes that today it is considered a fashion by various branches to

see nature as a derivative of culture whereas, culture is a concept that is derived from the idea

of nature.

Throughout the history, the idea of culture has had a number of meanings. Eagleton (2004)

notes the first to be husbandry meaning that culture is basically the tending of the natural true

and this then holds similar to the words of law and justice, sterling and capital. So through this,

one can derive from this that, culture is in fact a way of living and, a law for the natural growth

of people. The author also notes the various roots that culture has and says that in Latin, the

word culture means anything from cultivating and inhabiting to worshipping and protecting. Its

meaning as inhabit have evolved from the Latin colonus to the contemporary colonialism so

that the titles like culture and colonialism are once again mildly tautological.

Giles and Middleton (2003) study culture and say that it is one of the central concepts in the

understanding of how modern societies work and that for this reason it is worth spending time

considering the different ways in which the term culture has been and is used. Giles and

Middleton (2003); William (1976) identifies that there are three broad categories of general

usage of culture. The first one notes that culture is a general process of intellectual, spiritual

and aesthetic development. The second idea is that culture is basically a particular way of life

for all people, time, group or humanity as a while. Finally, culture is noted to be the works and

practices of intellectual and especially artistic activities that are happening around the society in

a given time.

Casson (2006) then notes the culture of a society to have a substantial impact on its economic

performance. The authors study that culture is defined as a sharing of values and beliefs and

that this idea can actually impact the performance of a society economically in a number of

ways and that, culture for a group or a nation can be regarded as a particular kind of intangible

public good that needs to be administered, properly led and worked upon accordingly.

Streeten (2006) also focus upon the fact that economic development, apart from just a static

economic performance is also impacted by the culture of a society and that the culture can

actually hinder or help the overall economic development that a society is making. Streeten

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(2006) studies the literature and says that culture through previous researches was being seen

to be one of the major obstacles in the development process of the economic development.

However, in the more recent studies, culture is regarded as an opportunity through which the

development of a human centered society can be made rather than the development of a

goods centered economy. The author notes that the difference between the two is that initially

the societies and the economies were considered to be only about the goods and services that

were being produced. However as of today, the ideas have shifted and the focus is now on the

development of goods and services because of the actual development of the humans.

Finally, Chebat, Kerzazi and Zourrig (2010) say that culture is an important element which can

help the people in understanding the dissatisfaction of the customers and how they express

their ideas of dissatisfaction about products or services.

2.3.1 Culture and GenderThis final section of the literature review will be focusing on the impact that culture will have on

gender issues in the organization. Deutsche (1997, p. 27) interestingly questions the entire

concept of gender. It has been said that,

“The sex or gender debate belongs to the period in feminist theory when gender behaviour was

understood as culturally constructed. Gender was distinguished from sex understood as the

biological fact of being man or woman. Emphasizing the culture constructions of gender was an

important move in feminism because it denaturalized stereotypes of masculine and feminine

behaviour.”

It basically means that gender as a phenomenon is actually not naturally occurring and it is

actually a culturally constructed idea. This implies that with the variation in culture, the

perception of gender in the society and the responses to the gender related issues will change.

If this feminist theory is considered to be true, focusing on the culture related gender issues can

help define the marketing or the advertising strategies of the organization. Assuming that the

advertisers already know this fact, the advertisers already account for the cultural impact of the

ads that they produce.

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Philips (2010) also considers the relationship between gender and culture and says questions as

to whether gender can be studied and theorized in isolation from the cultural aspect. The

author says that there are a number of issues when one considers looking at gender free from

culture. The fist problem is the expanse of feminist literature and that women in minority

cultures may be rendered invisible by their cultural traditions. The cultures are then presented

as more unified and uncontested. The second problem in doing so regards the gender equality

has actually become attached to the nations which do not have any specific cultures, or any

specific dominant culture.

Promoting then, the relationship between culture and gender Philips (2010) argues that

without a dominant culture, the relationship between the two sexes is considered to be more

emancipated and less patriarchal than is the case within minority cultural groups.

The final problem in seeing the two elements of culture and gender as separate entities is that

gender inequities that arise out of cases invoking cultural considerations will actually be

misread as the effects of cultural defence. This in turn will lead to the view that there has been

too much accommodation of minority cultures, and that this is why “women as a separate

gender” will be disadvantaged thus provoking the criticism of the feminist groups for the

theories looking at culture and gender distinctly.

About the sociological relationship between culture and gender, Milestone and Meyer (2012)

argue that in the United States of America in 1970s, culture amongst other goods and services

was actually being mass produced through the work of the media. Assuming then that the

relationship between culture and gender hold, this actually further destroys the ground for the

concept of naturally occurring gender issues. The argument is that if the culture is artificially

produced in some parts of the world, then the ideas of gender in it will also be artificial nature.

Finally Ember and Ember (2003) extensively analyze the effect that cultural underpinnings have

on the gender roles in the society. The authors (2003, p. xi) note that,

“Cultural expectations have profound effects on how males and females grow up in a society, so

much so that many researchers prefer to use the terms gender differences or gender roles to

26

reflect the large impact of culture on differences between the sexes. The terms sex differences

and sex roles now usually refer to differences that are thought to derive primarily from

biological differences. The advantage of the term gender is that it also allows us to deal with

situations where societies conceptualize more than two genders or who have individual who

change gender role in the course of their lifetimes. The problem for social science is that we

often do not know whether a particular difference is due to culture or biology or both.”

27

Chapter Three: Research MethodologyBefore starting off with the presentation of the actual research methodology for this

dissertation, it is important to note what research actually is. This is important so that the

researcher, using the basics can prove that the methodology is basically the core reason why

the results came out to be the ones that they did.

It has been noted in the introduction section of the research report as well that research is a

systematic enquiry into a subject matter which is basically seeking to answer some unasked

questions, ask the questions that have not been considered at first and expanding the overall

boundaries of knowledge and policy frameworks regarding an issue.

In alignment with the aims and objectives of the research, the paper followed a methodology

for the conduction of the research that was considered fit. The research methodology is

basically the systematic way through which an element of curiosity or a phenomenon of the

world is solved. Having taken that into account, it is actually immensely important to design it is

such a way so that the quality of the research, the aims and objectives and the ethical issues.

The following methodology then was used for the dissertation.

3.1 Research ApproachIn having to choose between the two research philosophies, positivism and interpretivism, the

chosen research philosophy was interpretivism. The idea behind it was that a sociologically

inclined business related research will better be explained subjectively and theoretically. The

reason being, that such a research cannot be provided a quality explanation through trying to

find its law like generalizations (Saunders, 2003). The reason is that for every culture and for

everybody in the culture, the advertisement might hold different things. That is, in regards to

the items portrayed for purchase or in regards to the way through which the items are

portrayed. Like the research methodology has an important impact on the overall quality of the

research and has a power to influence the overall findings and the resulting conclusion of the

dissertation, similarly, the method through which an advertisement is shown to the public has a

massive influence on how the masses will react. It is important to create a methodology for

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advertisements in alignment to the aims and objectives and because the aim is to influence the

“people” and because the notion of gender for the people is immensely important and

effective, the right methodology for the advertisement needs to be chosen in the light of the

gender roles in the society. However, the research has too many sociological underpinnings to

actually try to generalize and model it for one culture or the entire population of the world. As

mentioned, positivism will not be able to effectively study the issue mostly because converting

culture, gender and advertisement into numerical indexes will actually be impossible.

Interpretivism however, that is the subjective explanation of each element will be better able to

study the phenomenon and guide the researcher towards the right conclusion and the right set

of recommendations. So, in short, the approach adopted for this research is interpretivism.

Following this philosophy, the research approach adopted will be inductive. The data analysis

will seek to develop a theoretical reasoning background with it findings and understand

whether culture actually plays a role in how genders are depicted in advertisements across the

world.

3.2 Research DesignThe design or the strategy to answer the research questions is that five different gendered

advertisements, for five different cultures have been analyzed. The product chosen for the

research will be kept the same and this will be acting as the control in the research. The analysis

that has been provided in chapter four of the research has looked into the depicted gender

roles in the advertisements separately and then will be comparing one with each other to reach

to a conclusion. Before the actual analyses however, the data analysis portion has looked into

the gender roles in those cultures so that a ground is set for gendered and cultured analyses. As

obvious then, the research is looking at the problem through qualitative perspective and the

analyses has also been looked into through the qualitative perspective.

3.3 Primary data CollectionAs has been mentioned already, primary data for the research aims and objectives and to

answer the research questions precisely was not possible. For this dissertation, the already

existing advertisements had to be made use of and the variation of representation of gender in

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different cultures had to be analyzed. In this regards, secondary data as explained below

seemed to be the most efficient strategy in doing so.

3.4 Secondary Data Collection

3.4.1 Stage OneThe first stage of the secondary data collection, present in the form of an in depth literature

review in the second chapter of the report and will later be presented as a study of cultures of

the countries chosen for the gender roles, actually forms an important part of this report and

one of the most important reasons is that the knowledge gained from the literature review is

actually applied to the findings and the analysis of the advertisements.

The resources for the secondary data collection will be the research journals available online

and the books on the topic of all culture, gender and advertisement.

Internet is being used as the medium of getting to the sources mostly because it allows the user

a great deal of efficiency for research which is actually an extremely important thing given the

short deadline for the research. Also, internet allows the researcher to look into several things

at one time therefore allowing him or her to achieve greater information in the same time.

3.4.2 Stage TwoFor the second stage of the secondary data collection procedure, five different advertisements,

for four different products was seen and then analyzed. For each country, multinationals

usually use different advertisements, incorporating the effect of differences in the culture, the

preferences and the elements of perception of people. Mikhailitchenko et al (2008) note that

the image related advertising are significantly dependent on the brand familiarity and the

culture media and therefore, the secondary elements that the culture affects become

automatically important for the advertiser. Similarly, Samie (2003) finds out through the

research that the standardization of advertising programs of the multinational varies greatly

across nations. Basically meaning that it is not at all necessary for the multinational

corporations develop just one advertisement and then broadcast it in all the countries and

cultures in which it is operating. This is primarily because they understand that unless the

30

people can relate to the advertisement, they will not be convinced enough to be attracted

towards the product that the organization is offering.

So basically, research also indicates that cultural factors do impact advertisements. As is

evident, the focus is mostly on the behaviours of the multinational corporations because they

are dealing with more than one culture at the same time and because these are the ones which

have the strongest reason to actually study and act according to the gender roles in a specific

culture.

Now the research wants to find out how culture effects the gendered advertisements. For this

neutral goods had been chosen that is, some like a shaving gel (which is specific to the use of

the male population usually) or sanitary pads (which is specific to the use of the female

population) or something that is used by the transgender population has not be chosen to

study upon. However, goods such as shampoos and deodorants which have different branches

for males and females have been chosen. The basic idea for choosing neutral products is to

make sure that the product related gender effect is wiped out from the product and only the

culture related gender effect is brought into the research for analysis. For this, the following

five products have been chosen. All these products, as organizations are operating in more than

more countries in the world and therefore are dealing with more than one culture. It is to be

noted that the goods the fast moving consumer items so that the direct impact of the consumer

psyche can be understood through it.

i) Coca Cola

ii) Cadbury’s Chocolates

iii) Clear Shampoo

iv) Kellogg’s Cornflakes

The medium chosen for looking at the advertisement is television and the advertisements will

be seen on a video hosting website. These products have been chosen because they are

present in more than one country and therefore in more than one culture.

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As stated, the basic reason for choosing these four products is that they operate in more than

one country and are therefore subject to more than one culture. Each product as analyzed for

different country and thus a different culture for the gender roles that are portrayed in the

advertisements will help in coming to a conclusion about the effects that presence of certain

culture has on the type of gender roles portrayed in each country. Another reason for choosing

a multinational organization and thus a multinational product instead of a local one was to

account for the differences in vision, mission and core strategy of the organization. Any biases

or differences that could have risen because of these variations were kept constant and

therefore multinational products, and their respective advertisements in each country. Finally,

multinational products were taken into account because these organizations took into account

the cultures of different countries as external elements. Only United States of America, chosen

as a country for analysis for the reasons that will be mentioned in the next section

headquarters three of these products. All the products are external investments in the

remaining three countries. The basic point of this is that is that the organizations have to

seriously consider the element of gender. For example, a local producer from Saudi Arabia may

just naturally come up with an advertisement that is culturally fit and influential for that

country’s people. For an external country however, this might not be true. What was required

for the purpose of this dissertation was that the management of the organizations to

consciously consider and manage culture and gender factors to strategically align their

advertisement to yield the best results. The countries chosen for the analysis are as follows:

i) United States of America

ii) Pakistan

iii) India

iv) Saudi Arabia

The advertisements will each be seen three times and the role of the gender as visible in the

advertisement will be stated. The reason for choosing these four countries is because culturally

speaking these four countries is very different from each other. This has been discussed in

further detail in chapter four of this report. These four countries nonetheless acted as four

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individual data sets across which the variation in the gender portrayal in the advertisements

was seen. The basic framework can be explained better by the following diagram.

Fig 1: Theoretical Framework

By looking at the framework, it can be seen clearly that through the countries, the differences

in the gender variation is being analyzed and through the products, the gender part of the

thesis statement is being focused upon. Together these two variables have allowed the

researcher to study the impact that culture has on the way gender roles are portrayed in the

marketing of the products that are consciously designed to fit different cultures. The differences

in the cultures of the four countries (especially in regards to the gender ideas) have been

analyzed in the fourth chapter however to mention the variations briefly, it is considered

important to note that in Saudi Arabia, women are almost given negligible freedom. They are

not the people who can be employed and by law, women are prohibited to drive and also, they

cannot vote or study even after high school. On the contrary, the culture for women in America

is completely different. There is almost perfect equality between the genders and the two

genders are mostly noted to be perfectly comfortable with each other’s presence. This is a

notion which is growing very strongly in India as well. As their education and media is

progressing, the gender equality and the acceptance of the two genders to coexist are facing a

positive slope. The same could be said for Pakistan too but only for its urban centres (which

make up only 30 percent of the population in the country) and even there too in a limited

manner. The cultural and religious boundaries are wider and stronger in Pakistan however,

33

Four Countries, basically representing four

Portrayal of Gender in advertisement

Four multinational products keeping constant the effect of inherent culture

Variation in gender role because of culture in multinational products

Culture affected gender

much less than those in Saudi Arabia. Together then, these four countries present four different

cultures and therefore four different expected gender roles.

On the next step, the information regarding the cultures of the countries, and the gender roles

will be analyzed and will be noted down. This will be done through secondary study and

therefore will be noted in the secondary data collection section. In the data analysis section the

two are to be compared and contrasted together and the overall impact of culture on the

advertisement in the five countries have been seen. For each of the advertisements, the time

period chosen have been the same that is; all the advertisements broadcasted from the year

2008 to 2010 have been included in the analysis. This has been done to hold the variable of

time constant and to make sure that any time changes have not resulted in a change in the

gender roles as depicted by the advertisement. This notion has also been analyzed in the

literature review that is, over time, culture tends to change and so do the roles and behaviours

of people adhering to it.

3.5 Ethical Issues under ConsiderationEven though this was a sociologically inclined research, there were not many ethical

considerations that had to be catered to fortunately. Because the primary data collection did

not involve any specific person to be a participant of the research, the research did not have to

cater to the ethical issues such as anonymity and confidentiality, debriefing, deception and any

other social, personal or sociological harm to any people involved.

However, in regards to respectfully dealing with each culture, care was taken that the culture

be described in the most objective manner possible and any biases and any offensive material

about a culture may not be included as a part of the report. This was done to make sure that

any culture, through the report is not disrespected or harmed in any manner. It was taken as a

duty to respectfully and ethically describe all the cultures.

The real problem however that, the ethical considerations of the report catered to, is that of

plagiarism. In order to avoid that and to give due credit to the researchers, of their efforts put

into the research, a proper system of referencing was followed. Throughout the report and in

34

the bibliography, the Harvard system of referencing was followed and thus the ethical issue of

plagiarism and the stealth of anybody else’s work were avoided.

3.6 Limitations of the ResearchThe biggest and the most important limitation of this research is considered to be the fact that

it is not able to mathematically draw out analysis and conclusion about the role of culture in

gendered advertisement. If the analysis of this could have been achieved through the positivist

perspective, this could have seriously benefitted the marketing and business world and the

overall significance of the research would have been massive. However, cultures are almost

impossible to be studied through mathematical and law like ways mostly because one standard

culture is not available to the world and also because it will be offensive to state one culture as

default and general and any other cultures as deviations.

Moreover, the research is limited because there was only limited time to research given the

due date upon which the research had to be submitted. This actually hampered the ability of

the researcher to look into the issue of cultural impact on the gendered advertisements. It

would have been possible to look into more advertisements related to cultures with respect to

different gender roles had there been more time available however, given the time awarded,

the research is considered to be effectively studying the topic.

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Chapter Four: Data Analysis

As mentioned, for the data analysis, television commercials for four products were seen for

four countries. These countries were Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United States of America and India.

It is to be noted that for each of the country, the culture varies greatly and therefore, the

variations in the advertisements, keeping all other things constant such as the effect of

population, the level and response sensitivity of consumer demand and finally the efficiency of

management of the branch of the multinational out of other factors will be assumed to be

constant. This then implies that the focus of the research while seeing the advertisements was

just on the depiction of gender in the advertisement. This then will be related to the findings of

the culture about each country.

The data analysis section will be broken down into three parts. The first part will be describing

the advertisements and will be looking at how gender in each has been portrayed.

The second part will be focusing upon the explanation of culture of each country. In this part,

special focus will be placed upon the gender roles in the culture. And finally the third part of

this section will analyze the two together coming to a comparative analysis between the

gendered advertisements as being affected by the specific culture.

4.1 Gender Roles in the CultureThis section will look into the gender roles that each culture that is the ones for the countries

discussed have been in the last section.

Saudi ArabiaAccording to Human Rights Watch (2008), the gender roles in Saudi Arabia are actually one of

the strictest ever. Saudi Arabia is one of the fundamentalist believer of Islamic laws and has

continued to be a conservative nation overall. This obviously is one of the reasons of why the

social growth in Saudi Arabia is less.

In the country, there are no special roles to be defined for the men, however, because of the

roles that have been strictly defined for the female social counterparts the male domination in

36

the country comes into significance. The Human Right Watch (2008) notes in a report that in

the country, women are not being given the basic right to education as they have to be

withdrawn from education after secondary schooling. One of the reasons for this is that they

consider that it is the men who have to earn and provide for the households so the resources

might as well be used up where the country will actually gain something. The women then are

also not allowed by the law to have an employment. Women are not allowed to work at all in

the country as their true role is considered to be managing the households and the children

(Long, 2005). Also, the women do not have the right to refuse to sexual intimacy that a husband

desires at any time of the day however on the other hand, a husband by law is not obligated to

give the women sexual pleasure as long as he is providing for the family.

Next, the women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive and according to BBC (2011), a

woman was sentenced for 10 lashes for not listening to the state and defying the ban on

driving. Finally, as far as a political say is concerned, the women in the country still do not have

a right to vote and also, they are not given the right to stand up for the official positions.

According to BBC (2011) however, this law is to be amended in 2015 where women will be

allowed to vote for the government and will also be allowed stand up for government position.

This position of gender in the culture of the country can also be seen though the following

illustrations:

Fig 2: Advertisement for a Concert in Jeddah Fig 3: Cellular Network Advertisement

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Fig 4: Billboard for Welcoming People into the City

The analysis of these available figures yields the fact that females are significantly missing from

public display in the country. This is in alignment with the culture of the country where the

authority and most of the freedom lies with the men of the country. An interesting

advertisement found regarding the Arabic women during the phase of cultural research for this

dissertation.

Fig 5: Advertisement in Saudi Arabia for a Pure Female Product

Fig 5 shows the advertisement for a product for which a male model would not have made

sense and probably the advertising agency wanted to portray the message through a human

38

model. It is to be noted however that the model for this advertisement is barely visible and

looking at the figure immediately brings into mind the Arabic women.

So in short, in the world of advertisement and culture in Saudi Arabia, the role of women is

limited and prohibited by law and serious implications are there for women who disregard the

law (Long, 2005).

IndiaBradely (2010) notes from a visit to India to study the gender inequality in the country that

there is no doubt about the fact that gender inequality and oppression for women in the

culture of India exists however it was noted that there is a certain and very large actually

degree of respect that the society overall holds for the female counterparts. Furthermore the

author notes that the respect for women is increasing at a fast rate (Kalman, 2010). Next

however the author also notes that the conservatives and the orthodox people that are present

in the country are actually one of those who still leave the baby girls (if born to them) at other

people’s doorsteps and also the Indian culture is known for the killing of the girls if born.

Moreover, it was noted by Bradley (2010) that women who gave birth to female babies were

also the ones suffering the wrath of their husbands and their parents in laws and that

sometimes, the women were actually killed for giving birth to female children. However, the

Indian culture as of today is an extremely dynamic one and female counterparts in the society

especially the ones in the urban areas are facing equality with man and they are reaching and

working in all the spheres of the society (Kalman, 2010). The freedom of dressing publicly that

the women are given in India then are also depicted from the dressing that their movie stars

and models do. One of the strongest political names in India, Sonia Gandhi is a female and the

similarly, by law, women are allowed equal rights as men.

For the better description of the culture of Indian advertisement, the following illustrations are

considered helpful.

39

Fig 6: Advertisement in India for a Movie Fig 7: Indian Clothing Brand Advertisement

Quite the contrary of pictorial analysis for the media and cultural findings of Saudi Arabia, the

Indian cultural portrays an ease of the participation of women and the comfortable socialization

of the men and women in the society. Both the advertisements show a comfort in the styles

and the portrayal of the genders in the country. The point to be noted here is that if these were

not accepted by the public then a bold publicity campaign like the one shown in fig 6 would not

have been possible. In short then, this means that the two genders are more comfortably

displayed in India than they were found to be displayed in Saudi Arabia.

PakistanThe status of women in Pakistan is greatly variable across castes, regions and classes. The

culture of Pakistan then and the gender roles that are there are very strongly similar to the

ones in India. There are parts of the country which do not allow women any right at all. In some

parts of the country then, the only purpose of a female body is to cook, provide sexual pleasure

to the man and produce babies (Black, 2003). In these parts then, girls are not allowed to have

education, even primary and are sometimes also considered to be a threat to the honour of the

family. Honour killing in the country is also one of the major problems because of the females.

However, in other parts of the country, women are found to be highly educated and working.

One of the most significant and rich political leader of Pakistan, and twice the prime minister

was a woman. So basically, the roles of women in the country are changing substantially

(Qadeer, 2006). Women are being given more and more rights and are being allowed freedom

of education and work (which actually they are assured by the law however the regional law is

stronger when it comes to situations like these and there is no significant forum to take the

40

matters up with the actual courts of the country). These findings are also better understood by

the following illustrations:

Fig 8: Advertisement for Pakistani Movie Fig 9: Advertisement for Stoneage Jeans

United States of America

Fig 10: Advertisement for a Weekly Soap (USA) Fig 11: Advertisement for a Weekly Soap (USA)

As depicted by the figures above, in this country then, there are basically no special gender

roles to be discussed. Women and men are treated as equal in all aspects. The government and

also the culture allow no discrimination on the basis of gender (Bigsby, 2006). In fact, there is a

monitoring department in the country which makes sure that there is no breach of equality in

the United States of America on any grounds. Women then, have the right to education as

41

much as they want to have it. They have no restriction to take care of the house and can choose

their career over their personal life if they see it to be fit for them. And finally, the women have

the right to stand up in the general elections and lead the masses if they consider (and if the

public considers) it to be viable.

4.2 Gender Roles in Advertisements

Coca ColaThe first advertisement viewed was for the multinational beverage organization coca cola. It is

to be noted that coca cola operates in a number of countries however, more importantly it

operates in the four countries selected. Furthermore, the advertisements viewed all fall into the

period of being broadcasted in 2011, that is, that are all a year old with plus minus 3 months

standard deviation.

The first coca cola ad viewed was for Saudi Arabia and was one of the “brrrr” campaigns for the

company. In this, the scene of a black market for the country is being depicted. In the main role

is a famous personality (male) dressed up in a casual coat and pant with a red scarf and desert

hat. The person is walked with on the two sides with two girls, one of which is holding an

umbrella for the famous male and the other one is just walking along showing the expression of

feeling immensely hot. Both the girls are dressed up in western clothes. Behind these three, is a

group of men. The scene depicts that it is very hot and the famous personality needs to drink

something when he enters this shop where the shopkeeper (male) gives him coca cola and

makes the personality after drinking coca cola go “brrrr”. Next, the shopkeeper in traditional

attire goes “brrrr” too. The scene changes to that of a highway where two cars stop

simultaneously on a signal (driven by men) drink coca cola and go “brrrr”. The scene changes

again to show a football scene and then a concert scene. In both, no girls are visible. Next, in a

college scene, a group of boys drinking coca cola g “brrr” after eyeing a group of passing girls

and finally, a beach scene where a group of three girls buy coca cola from a café and go “brrr..”.

Here the advertisement ends (YouTube, 2011). Looking at the advertisement closely then, it can

be seen that the role for women is minimal. This finding is in alignment with the cultural

42

findings about the gender roles. The lead roles are taken by the men in the country. It is to be

focused upon here that there are no women to be seen on the road while the highway seen is

being conducted. This again is a culturally and strategically correct move by coca cola because if

women were shown to be driving and socializing on the roads of Saudi Arabia, no real women

would have been able to relate to that and then the notion of coca cola as a foreign drink would

have been significant. Even though the gender roles are not found to be extremely equal in

Pakistan, the advertisement for the country is actually quite liberal and promotes socialization.

The advertisement analyzed, which was expected to be the closed in gender role portrayal was

for Pakistan. The Pakistani advertisement for coca cola is a scene from a restaurant, where the

focus is on a group of friends (male), who are sitting on a table and their food is being served by

the waiters. As the food and the drinks (coca cola) is being served, the guys go hyper and coca

cola makes them dance and go crazy. They are apparently unconcerned about how the rest of

the people in the restaurant (boys and girls, mostly in western attire) are looking at them and

laughing. After a while the boys realize and calm down, embarrassed and begin to sit on their

chairs telling each other to behave. Before they can sit however, everybody around them in the

restaurant including the girls and boys (basically everybody in the restaurant) starts to dance.

The idea that coca cola gives through this advertisement is to eat and live and drink coca cola

(YouTube, 2011). It can be seen through this then that coca cola here is mostly targeting the

urban societies of Pakistan and is therefore aligning the advertisement to cater to that society

in the country.

Next, the advertisement in India for coca cola was seen. The Indian advertisement for coca cola

starts with a scene of a classroom where the teacher is turned towards the board, writing

something and a girl (dressed in western attire, sitting next to the window) is conscious about

her boyfriend who is right outside the window and is holding a bottle of coca cola and a red

rose. The boyfriend tries to hand the bottle of coke over to the girl and in fact, the teacher

grabs it and drinks it immediately. Unexpectedly, the teacher goes “brrr” and everybody starts

laughing and the boyfriend is shocked. The scene changes to show a girl with open hair in the

middle of the street with a lot of pigeons flying around her, holding a bottle of coca cola and

going “brrr”. Next scene shows people (both boys and girls, individually and together) going

43

“brrr” on having drunk coca cola (YouTube, 2011). In comparison to the above two, the case for

India and coca cola seems to be most liberal till now. There is no hint of any special gender

roles and both the genders are depicted to be free willed, independent and socially accepted in

all roles.

Finally, the commercial for the United States of America by coca cola shows the hard times on

the people caused by the financial crises of 2008 and 2009. The advertisement however, came

in late 2010. In this, the Simpson cartoon’s character Mr. Burns has faced a business decline

majorly and has gone bankrupt such that all of his assets are being taken away from him. There

is a yard sale of his things in which women are shown to be getting things from there, loading

them into their cars and leaving the sad Mr. Burns behind. He loses everything and is left along

in the world. Walking he, reaches a park where people, unconcerned are having fun with their

families, lying down in the sun. A happy police has captured a happy criminal and both have

bottle of coca cola in their hands. Then a person taking lots of coca cola bottles (from his Indian

family that can be seen in the background) sees sad Mr. Burns and gets an idea. He offers him a

bottle of Coca Cola and after one sip somebody through soccer ball in Mr. Burns’ hands. Before

he realizes then, people are carrying him in their hands and making him feel better. Then a

bottle of coca cola in the air shows with the message, “open happiness” (YouTube, 2011). Once

again, there is no hint of any inclination towards gender discrimination. Everybody is

independent in their decisions and suffers the results of their decisions accordingly.

Cadbury’s ChocolatesAgain, Cadbury is probably one of the names for “chocolate” itself. It is a far moving consumer

item and is actually adored by a number of people around the globe. Even if it is not directly

present in the country in the form of business, it is imported and sold at high volumes.

Unfortunately for the research, Cadbury’s was not found to have any advertisement specifically

directed for Saudi Arabia. The closet thing that could have been used was the official

international Cadbury advertisement however, this was not broadcasted in Pakistan and

therefore, since standardization there is not achieved, to assume that it might be broadcasted

in Saudi Arabia and to base the analysis on it is not considered to be a good idea.

44

Moving on to the next country, the Pakistani advertisement for Cadbury dairy milk chocolate

shows a scene of a house in which a “to be soon bride” is surrounded by family. The entire

house is decorated, everybody is dressed up. Sitting together are three old female relatives of

the girl lecturing the girl as to how to behave properly in her new house and how to deal with

mother in law and then how to set her ground in the kitchen. The brother sitting a little away

from the group but a part of the conversation actually tells the elder relatives that she will not

be able to do it and that she doesn’t do anything or has ever entered the kitchen. This happens

three times on all the three things that the elder female relatives tell the girl to do. Finally, the

elder women leave but the girl is angry at her brother and tells her to stop because she’s

getting married tomorrow. The brother takes two big bar of Cadbury out of a hidden place and

tells her with a smile that they might not be able to fight after today so they might as well fight

as much as they can. The girl has tears in her eyes and the scene shifts to her wedding day

where she is being sent off to the new home by the family. Sitting in the car with her husband

she sees a Cadbury bar on the seat and looks for her brother in the crowd. Seeing him she

smiles and then Cadbury shows with the message of “kuch meetha ho jae” meaning, have

something sweet to eat on an occasion like this. A family culture prevailing in the households

has been shown (YouTube, 2011). Through the dialogue that is taking place, the roles of a

woman in the family are explained. According to the advertisement then, the main roles of a

woman are to look after the house and the family and obey the elders. For the brother shown

on the other hand, a sense of authority and a need to prove him is depicted. Through the

country wise cultural findings of Pakistan, again, this is found to be in alignment. The intensity

of this advertisement however in depicting the scenes is milder and targeting a larger

population. In the literature review, Wood (2010) has been found to say that one of the

strongest factors in the creation of stereotypical roles is media. With this portrayal, the

stereotypical role of a good woman in the society is reinforced. Not in relation to these roles

are the ones depicted in the Indian ad for the same campaign of the chocolate. The Indian

commercial for Cadbury was also a part of the “kuch meetha ho jae”, let’s have something

sweet to eat on a sweet occasion theme. This commercial shows the scene of a bus stop

throughout which shows that a girl in western attire, around 15 to 20 years of age is waiting on

45

the bus stop for the bus. The girl is eating Cadbury and is pretty unconcerned with the rest of

the world. This boy (around 15 to 20 years of age and holding what looks like a college bag)

watching her walks up to her and says if he could have a bite of the chocolate. The girl

questions whether she knows him and he says no and on this the girl turns her face away in

attitude showing manner. The boy tells her that his mother says that people should always eat

something sweet before doing something special. The girl just gives up and breaks a small piece

off from the chocolate and gives to the guy. After the guy has eaten the piece, the girl asks as to

what special thing has he to do anyway. On this the guy says that he was thinking is he could

drop her home (basically asking her out). The girl smiles and looks away. The sign of Cadbury

shows with a “shubh aharambh” (YouTube, 2011). Something good for a good occasion!

Finally, the least gender discrimination found to be in accordance with the cultural finding was

in the ad for the United States of America. The Cadbury TV commercial for the United States of

America practically stars nobody but the genders are implied through the clothes. This scene is

from a clothes shop and shows that it is late in the night when all the nights have been

switched off and everybody has left. In this a male dress comes out of the hanger and starts

dancing. In a matter of a few seconds, he is joined by other “people” in the form of the clothes

(bodiless) dancing around the store. The portrayal is of both men and women dancing like crazy

together thinking of nothing else except the night, and that are also the wordings of the song

played in the background. This keeps on going and the dresses are still dancing when the

commercial ends and the message of Cadbury, “a glass and a half full of joy” shows with the

same music playing in the background (YouTube, 2011).

Pantene Shampoo Pantene in next in the list and it is to be noted that Pantene is one of most used shampoo

around the globe. This then focuses directly on the women in the world and is an important

variable if one is to analyze how women solely are portrayed around the globe.

The commercial for Saudi Arabia for the product Pantene is basically a 30 seconds

advertisement in which a girl alone is shown to be having fun in the sea and on the sea shore.

Because of the water and the moisture, she expresses her concern about her hair. The entire

46

advertisement is in Arabic language and therefore could not be understood. However, the

gender role depicted could be seen. This advertisement then will be seen in special reference

with the telecom commercials that are discussed in the next part of this section.

The girl in this ad then is shown to express her satisfaction with the fact that Pantene is there in

her life and that through the use of Pantene, her hair actually become soft, shiny, strong and

amazingly beautiful. The adv ends on the face of the girl and is basically depicting her beauty.

Interestingly, the advertisement played for the Pakistani market is the one actually made for

the Indian masses and star a famous Indian movie star Katrina Kaif. In the advertisement, which

presents one of the amazing examples of cinematography, Katrina Kaif is talking about how the

constant styling of her hair through blow drying and straightening has made it necessary to get

her hair cut at the end. She basically tells the audience that she always wanted long her but

because of the split end and damaged, this was made difficult and she had to get her hair

chopped off each and every time. She then tells the audience that she found her solution and

the recognition of her wishes for long hair in the shape of Pantene. Then the bottle of Pantene

shows as well as the amazing hair that the star gets because of the use of Pantene and on that,

the commercial ends (YouTube, 2011).

For India, the same commercial as Pakistan was broadcast as well. However, of the same

theme, there were two other Pantene TV commercials. Both of these TV commercial starred

Indian movie stars, some that were known for their beauty and styles and also because of their

popularity in the film fraternity and amongst the masses. The two other actresses that played

the same role for Pantene commercials were Shushmita Sen (ex Miss Universe) and Shilpa

Shetty (once winner of big brother, London). The theme of the advertisements, as mentioned

above, were same and the girls (in three individual ads) were sitting and telling the audience

about their hair problems and how they got sorted out because of Pantene (YouTube, 2011). In

basic, the role that the women played in these three advertisements in India, one of which was

broadcast in Pakistan (mostly because of the popularity of Katrina kaif in the Pakistani masses

and because she is actually considered to have an influence on the minds of the Pakistani

people because of her beauty and innocence), were that they were supposed to look beautiful

47

and give one reason for that beauty to the masses through which the masses overall will be

influenced.

The Pantene advertisement for the United States is starred by Stacy London who is in fact the

brand ambassador for the United States for all Pantene products. The advertisement basically

starts with Stacy giving information about the problems that hair face and then a scientific

formulation emerges to show the making of the unique Pantene product. Two other girls, to

show the curly hair and the straight hair look through Pantene are shown but only in glimpses.

Even Stacy London is not shown that much and in fact, for the most part of the commercial, the

scientific formulation and the bottles of Pantene are shown to the audience of the United

States.

For the advertisements of Pantene an almost smooth result was retrieved for the portrayal of

women across the globe. It can be clearly seen that women around the globe are meant to be

pretty, beautiful and well groomed. They are considered to be concerned about their hair, their

styles and their looks. The hiring of superstar or public faces for this advertisement again

depicts and reinforces the fact that prettiness for women is important not only for the societies

as a whole, but also to the women who are and who aspire to be beautiful and well groomed.

Telecom Commercials Before moving on with the actual description of these products, it has to be noted that the

products selected in this criteria were all different. This is because different telecom

organization operates in different countries and even if a telecom organization is multinational,

its share in the mother market is considered to be more important. Therefore, the strongest

telecom companies in each of the countries have been taken and their advertisements have

been analyzed for the gender roles.

The telecom advertisement for Saudi Arabia was for the leading telecom organization in the

country by the name of Saudi Telecom Company. The advertisement starts with four men

receiving short service message on their phones. All four of them are shown to be businessmen

and all four of them are shown to be tracked by another agency who has them on camera at all

times and is watching all four of them on screens at the same time. The four businessmen

48

travel, each through a different mode of transportation, one travels by car, and one takes a

yacht, one takes a helicopter and the last is shown to be travelling through a heavy bike and it is

not sure through the ad at that time as to where their destination is and whether or not they

are aware of each other’s presence or not. The scenes basically show that the four men are

travelling at high speed and that speed at the moment and long route are the only important

thing. Then, the network of the agency tracking these men is shown to fail and the screens turn

blur whereas the four men are still shown to be in complete connectivity because of the

network that the Saudi Telecom Company has provided them (YouTube, 2011). Very clearly, the

missing of women in the business field is there. The same advertisement for the other three

countries hardly show any discrimination considering the fact that phones are a commodity

that is to be used by everyone irrespective of their gender. In other parts of the world, women

(at least one to depiction so that women in the society could relate to that role and therefore

be influenced by that product’s advertisement) would have been shown to have a role in the

advertisement, but owning to the culture of Saudi Arabia, this is not the case.

The advertisement for Pakistan focuses on the culture of Pakistan quite similar to the way

commercial for Saudi Arabia focuses on its. The telecom organization chosen for the study of

Pakistan is ufone. This is one of the leading service providers in the country and is linked to the

once government landline network. The advertisement analyzed for ufone is the one that

promotes the lady’s package. The advertisement starts with a scene from a kitchen of a family

in which two children a husband, a wife, the husband’s parents and his brother are shown to be

living. The wife in this is shown to be serving breakfast and is depicted to be extremely busy and

careful as to what everybody wants. She is shown to be a perfect housewife and the

understanding of the scenes is aided by the customized song that is being sung in the

background. The second seen shows the wife to be ironing the clothes which the brother in law

does not care about spoiling and then she’s shown to cook, wash, sew and do literally

everything that a perfect house wife is required to do. The problem however is that nobody

seems to even consider that she is doing so much; everybody except ufone! The scene then

changes in which the setup is of a royal palace and the family is sitting and waiting for the

queen who is actually the wife. The queen is presented with a lavish treasure which is in fact an

49

ufone SIM which is allowing her to make unlimited calls at very low rates. The rest of the family

then is shown to be subservient to the wife (YouTube, 2011). In a way, this advertisement is

similar to the Pakistani advertisement for Cadburys.

Moving on to the third analysis of advertisement, the Indian advertisement for a telecom

network again was for the leading telecom company, Reliance mobile. In this, a couple is shown

to be travelling in the car and are whining over their mobile with the respective friends about

how their partner is making their life miserable and how they are actually loads of trouble and

that nothing that they do actually turn out to be right. The fight is basically about the fact that

they are getting late for a movie and both of them consider it to be the other person’s fault.

After a while however, the talk time in the guy’s phone ends and the girl tells rubs the fact in his

face and says that her network is reliance which gives unlimited talk time at the most affordable

rates. The commercial then ends when the girl tells the driver of the car that “madam is always

right” because of the fact that she is using reliance mobile network (YouTube, 2011). No

particular role of gender is depicted. It is not clear as to whether the couple is married or are

living in together in which case this is will a particularly modern advertisement even considering

the Indian, fast moving culture. One important thing however is the culture of equal authority

that is shown to exist between the two genders as the couple orders the driver and whines to

one another’s friends on each other.

The final country for the final product was United States of America. The telecom organization

selected for the United States of America is AT & T. the commercial shows a scene of the grand

central station where everybody is in their own routine and is shown to be busy. The camera

turns to focus on one guy, who is wearing a long coat and is reading a newspaper always in the

middle of the station. The guy eyes the clock in the station and as soon as the clock strikes 12,

the guy throws the newspaper, takes of his coat and starts dancing like crazy. After a while he

realizes that he is the only one doing this and that the rest of the public in the station is actually

staring at him in which the female worker at the station and a couple are highlighted by the

camera. As the guy stops, he receives the text message that the “Flash Mob has been moved to

12 30” instead of 12. The idea is that he basically receives the message the last and that is why

50

he actually made a fool out of himself in the public. The rest of people are just disappointed by

the network that the guy uses. The background then says that for receiving the messages

instantly use AT & T as the mobile network. There is no hint of focus on any one gender.

Women are shown to be working, socializing, moving at will and be critical of men publicly

(YouTube, 2011).

4.3

51

Chapter Five: ConclusionSo what has the dissertation, with its research methodology, aims and objectives, its culture

related advertisement studies and its data analysis boiled down to?

Basically, this dissertation has focused upon the question as to whether culture as a strong

element and an influential factor in the society affects the way that the gender roles are

portrayed in the society.

Advertisement is an important overall link in the marketing function of the business and this

link has a strong impact on the overall performance of the organization as far as the sales of a

product are concerned. This simple logic behind this phenomenon is that the more the people

in the society know about a particular product, and the more they are attracted towards it and

are aware of its benefits and features, the more will be the overall revenue generation for that

product by the customers mainly because more customers will be coming for the purchase of

that product (Kotler, 2009).

It has been studied in this dissertation through the review of literature that if the link of the

advertising that an organization does falls weak, its sales are affected and therefore, the

organization has to manage its advertisement functions in the most strategic manners possible.

One important element when deciding upon the advertisement functions for an organization is

the consideration of the cultures of the society that the organization is working in. for example,

taking an example of a multinational organization such as Unilever which is producing fast

moving consumer goods and is facing tough competition for organization such as proctor and

gamble, applying the same advertising strategy all around the world to its businesses will

basically not maximize the returns for Unilever. In the arena of tough competition where the

other organizations will be trying to gain each and every bit of competitive advantage that they

can get, this will actually make unilever worse off. This is because, one society of the world, for

example Pakistan may be affected by affective television commercials more than attractive

billboards when it is about the purchase of a particular product and another society, let’s say

United States may be affected more by online advertisements than television commercials. If

52

the organization is to maximize its gains from an advertising strategy, it has to make sure that it

is one which focuses on the characteristics and the behaviours of the people that it is targeting.

In this talk about the culture and its impact on advertising decision, strategies and implications

of the organization, one important cultural factor that this paper focused upon was gender.

It has been learnt through the paper that gender is an important element for everybody and is

something through which a person is able to relate to a particular situation and be more

affected by it. For example, a woman would relate better to the other women being shown to

be not given time by her husband than by a man whining about how his wife spends too much

of his hard earned money. The literature review presented in chapter two of this report focuses

on the importance of gender and how various schools of thoughts build literature on it. One

important theory that the literature review noted was that the concept of gender is actually

purely cultural and neither religious or naturally occurring and therefore, the concept of gender

would be found to be variable across cultures. The point that the feminists tried to prove

through this was that men in each society have tried to mould the concept of gender for their

own benefits and authority in the society and have therefore distorted the naturally occurring

system for the two genders which were originally meant to live in equality.

Nonetheless, it was found that distorted or forcefully created or not, gender played an

important psychology, personal and social role in the understanding and the behaviours of the

people in a society and therefore, given a function that is targeting a particular behaviour out of

those very people in the society, the consideration of gender and its implications is a must.

This research then shed light on the impact of culture on gender related advertisement. About

gender related advertisement it has been found that the gender role portrayed in commercials

and ads have a significant impact on how the people in the society perceive the product. This

then is found to have an impact on the overall buying behaviour of those people. Also, again, to

maximize the return of a particular advertisement campaign, it is important to take into

consideration how various gender roles will be perceived and then reacted upon.

53

The data collection was done by seeing the television commercials for four products in four

countries of the world. These products were all operative in all of the four countries that were

selected and the point of doing this was just that the advertisement of the product as

broadcasted in each country could be studied. The secondary data then, basically studied the

previously created literature on the topic and on collecting information about the four cultures

taken into consideration. These four countries were Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United States of

America and India.

The findings of the research are then found to be consistent with what was expected that is,

various cultures are found to have a role to play on the kinds of advertisement that are created

for a particular society.

The most significant case for this was that of Saudi Arabia and the role of women that was

depicted in the advertisement. Out of the four advertisement studied, only one advertisement

starred a woman (for the advertisement of Pantene) and that too, the only role that she was

playing was to look beautiful, all alone on the beach, without anybody staring at her or

appreciating or discouraging her beauty. Saudi Arabia then has been found to be a country

where there are strict discriminating laws against women. first and foremost, girls are not

allowed the right to higher education in the country, girls are not allowed to drive at all, they

are not allowed to work in a professional organization and finally, they are not even allowed to

vote or stand up for a national seat. At most, in Saudi Arabia, the role of the women is

restricted to providing an element of pleasure for the men and also for raising children and

caring for the home for which the man is the sole breadwinner. Interestingly, the advertisement

for the Saudi Telecommunication company very significantly portrayed this gendered culture by

eliminating all women from the overall depiction of business and professional meeting between

people. Next, even in the advertisement for coca cola, it is significantly visible on the scene

when the two cars stop simultaneously on a traffic signal and no woman is allowed to have

access to socializing (also visible in the concert seen where no woman is shown) and driving.

Coming next, to the gender roles and the culture of Pakistan as depicted in the advertisements

made for the country, it was found that the role of the women was most specific ones again to

54

the household. The most significant role that was depicted for the women in Pakistan

(especially as shown through the advertisement of ufone and Cadbury) was that they care for

their family, their household, and their kids and that they are versatile and sentimental when it

comes to that. Through the culture study for Pakistan, it was found that by law women in the

country are under no obligation to do anything and that by law they are granted almost the

same rights as the men. However, the social norms and the culture of the country are different

than the law and that most women are found to be non working house wives even in the urban

centres. It was however depicted through the advertisements (of coca cola especially) that girls

do socialize in co gathering and that they have no restrictions upon what they should or should

not wear or what they should or should not do.

Moving on next is the society of United States of America, where freedom and equality was

found to rule. And this was consistent both in the culture study and the advertisement study

findings. In all four of the advertisement, Pantene, coca cola, AT & T and Cadbury, men and

women were found to be standing on equal ground. The portrayal of gender then was actually

much less significant in magnitude for the advertisement in the United States of America then

in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Finally, for the fourth and final society studied, the same holds to be true. Through the cultural

study it was found that gender roles in India are substantially on the move and that even

though there is an inclination towards male domination (especially in the conservative and

traditional rural sects) and that practices such as the killing of baby girls and torture of wife is

still practiced, overall the advertisements for India portrayed and open and equal society in

which women were found to have all the rights that a man was found to found. Most of all this

was visible through the advertisement of coca cola in which women were found to be free and

authoritative in the same way as the men of the society were found to be. The equality of

authority was mostly visible through the ad of reliance telecommunication network and the

freedom of choice was visible through the Cadbury advertisement.

Overall, the research has concluded through the focus on its data results that the cultures of

the country have a significant impact on how the advertisement policies are made in the

55

organization regarding a product and that this role can be most important seen for the

multinational organization. Advertising managers then, need to take this finding into

consideration and apply it for the overall benefit of their organization as operating in a

particular society. Especially in regards to the multinational organizations, since local cultures

are not directly inbuilt or inherited by the organizations’ management, focus needs to be placed

on the understanding of the various cultures and the gender roles and expectations in the

culture and the alignment of the advertisements according to them.

56

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YouTube. (2011). Coca Cola Ad for Saudi Arabia. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=90y4L2pDBeM

YouTube. (2011). Coca Cola Ad for Pakistan. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro7u0FjMMBI

YouTube. (2011). Coca Cola Ad for India. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=4LP4t5kvAyQ

YouTube. (2011). Coca Cola Ad for USA. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnUKurl7Fog

YouTube. (2011). Cadbury Ad for Pakistan. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlB4hFTAxOo

YouTube. (2011). Cadbury Ad for India. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9jBTpjmO4

YouTube. (2011). Cadbury Ad for USA. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk4U2uJuFAI

YouTube. (2011). Pantene Ad for Saudi Arabia. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfH7309ZS-0

YouTube. (2011). Pantene Ad for Pakistan. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLuVoqArKh0

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YouTube. (2011). Pantene Ad for India. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLuVoqArKh0

YouTube. (2011). Pantene Ad for USA. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYjJzk5ChQ

YouTube. (2011). STC Ad. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQk1gKVN0Vg

YouTube. (2011). Ufone Ad. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGhest06FE

YouTube. (2011). AT&T Ad. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8ppk0UCx8

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Appendix A: Tabularized Culture Findings with respect to Gender

Saudi Arabia

Pakistan India USA

Depicted Role of Women in society

low mediocre high High

Depicted authority of women in society

low mediocre Strongly growing

High

Depicted gender equality

low Relatively low

Strongly growing

High

Role of men in society

High High High High

Depicted Freedom of gender speech

low mediocre high High

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