Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

Researchers acknowledge that advertising can play a significant role in the production andmaintenance of inequality due to the way people are portrayed in advertisements (Cortese, 1999; Lyonski,1983). The importance of researching the trends in gender role portrayals also is acknowledged;especially as research on gender role portrayals has produced inconsistent results (Wolin, 2003). However,little is known about the physical and cultural characteristics that are important in the design and analysisof portrayals of message sources in advertisements for use in EMs, especially those targeted at lowincomeconsumers. Most print advertisements are designed by people employed in the formal financialsector, who typically have high formal education but little day-to-day contact with people who have lowincomes (Kuzwayo, 2000).Physical Characteristics of the Message SourceGender display characteristics. Goffman (1979) contends that power relations are an importantaspect of gender representations in advertisements portraying women and men in social scenes. The sixcharacteristics or gender display categories that Goffman associated with the female message sources inadvertisements are relative size, feminine touch, function ranking, family scenes, ritualization ofsubordination, and licensed withdrawal (see Table 1). Goffman‘s display categories have been adoptedand used frequently in the literature (e.g., Hovland, et al., 2005; Kang, 1997).Table 1Coding Categories based on Goffman‟s (1979) ScaleCategoryRelative sizeFeminine touchFunction rankingDescription and category dimensionsPerson is larger, taller, elevated over others; person is heavier or in theforeground.Person‘s hands or fingers are used to caress, touch, or trace the outline of anobject. Person‘s face is used instead of hand or fingers to touch objects orother people. Person touches her/himself.Person is instructor or is being served by person of other sex or is in superioroccupational role compared to person of other sex.