Gender Stereotypes in English Advertising

The aim of the present study is to investigate gender stereotypes represented in electric vehicles advertisements dating from the late 19th century – early 20th century. The methodology employed in this research work has gone through a process of data collection, data processing, and data analysis. For the purposes of this study, the data were collected from the Internet sites, resulting in the qualitative and quantitative content analyses of 1,000 early electric vehicles advertisements. The research work explores gender-marked language used in sample advertisements. The analyzed linguistic material demonstrates that words with gender connotation are frequently employed. The author of the paper has found out quantitative differences in the usage of the masculine and feminine gender-marked vocabulary in sample advertisements. The findings indicate that feminine nominations significantly outnumber the masculine ones. According to investigation more than 80% of all gender-marked nouns used in advertisements denote women. Adjectives that are used to modify gender-marked nouns have a positive evaluative meaning and refer to either women’s physical appearance or men’s competence. Results also show that in early electric vehicles advertisements representations of men and women are very often consistent with gender stereotypes. The main gender stereotypes are identified. In sample advertisements, men are often featured in professional roles and are portrayed as competent, ambitious, and successful. Women are portrayed as focusing more on their appearance and are depicted in non-working recreational roles. In advertising, women often appear in a traditional gender role of a wife, daughter, sister.